HOUSTON – After news broke that charges were filed against Barbie Robinson, the former executive director of Harris County Public Health who was fired earlier this year, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is calling out District Attorney Kim Ogg.
KPRC 2 broke the news Monday afternoon that Robinson has now been charged with felony misuse of official information. She is currently not in custody and is wanted for her arrest.
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READ: Harris County Public Health Executive Director Barbie Robinson has been ‘fired’ from role
Robinson was selected to lead the county’s health department in March of 2021. She came to the Houston area from Sonoma County, California, where she was director of the county’s Department of Health Services for four years.
According to court records, from April 2021 and continuing through November 2021, Robinson, while a public servant, is accused of aiding International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in gaining a pecuniary interest by sharing non-public information and facilitating sole-source contracts.
RELATED: Charges filed against ex-Harris County Public Health executive director who was recently fired
The investigation revealed her prior relationship with IBM during her tenure in Sonoma County and emails suggesting collaboration for a public contract in Harris County. The case raised concerns about transparency and oversight in county operations.
Ogg will hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon to outline the charges against Robinson.
Hidalgo’s response to Ogg
Hidalgo rebutted the allegations against Robinson in a statement, stating the “attack” on Robinson is the same her former staff members were accused of by Ogg.
Hidalgo released the following statement in response to Ogg’s prosecution against Robinson:
“Kim Ogg’s attack on Barbie Robinson is the same thing my former staff members were falsely accused of by her. Nothing to show for it 3 years later, because, as we’ve said, they did absolutely nothing wrong and her accusations are rife with falsehoods. She’s been voted out, but Kim Ogg continues her pattern of weaponizing her office against those who disagree with her, like Director Robinson, who led a successful program DA Ogg did not like. Only the prosecution (not the defense) presents to Harris County Grand Juries, so it is easy for her to obtain these false indictments.”
The county judge is referring to the indictment of three senior staffers for her office.
Alex Triantaphyllis, Wallis Nader and Aaron Dunn were indicted in an investigation in the spring of 2022 surrounding an $11,000,000 COVID-19 outreach contract awarded to Elevate Strategies. Triantaphyllis was Hidalgo’s former Chief of Staff, while Nader was her Policy Director and Dunn was a Senior Advisor.
Elevate Strategies was a one-person organization recommended by County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s staffers despite other entities achieving higher scores on the internal evaluations. It was awarded the multi-million dollar contract by the county.
Hidalgo staffers are accused of waiving typical financial fitness requirements during the bidding process even sharing details of the potential bid with Elevate Strategies weeks before the information was made public. The contract was revoked last fall after questions surfaced about how it was awarded.
The cases of Triantaphyllis, Nader and Dunn have been moving slowly through the Harris County judicial system due to various hearings being reset, primarily by defense teams according to Harris County legal records.
The cases that have resulted in indictments by a Harris County grand jury after being investigated by Texas Rangers are still moving forward in Harris County with the next hearing set for May 13, according to the District Clerk’s Office.
KPRC 2 Investigates
Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey of Precinct 3 weighed in with KPRC 2 Investigates when Robinson was fired, making it clear he’s had concerns for quite some time.
Ramsey released the following statement on Monday:
“I’ve had concerns over the value of ACCESS Harris considering we spent over $25M to help just over 1,200 people. Now we have a whole new element to this ACCESS Harris and IBM contract, and I hope we get to the bottom of this.”
Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia has issued the following statement:
”While I have no comment on the former director’s guilt or innocence, the IBM contract under question was one of several agreements under her tenure that I had significant concerns about and raised questions about in public meetings. I will continue to serve as a watchdog for Harris County taxpayers.”
Documents detail allegations against Barbie Robinson
Documents and communications between IBM and Robinson were subpoenaed from IBM for the time she was the executive director of HCPH until her termination in August, according to records.
The affiant read in Harris County public documents from the county administrator’s database that Access Harris also used IBM as a key vendor after Robinson arrived in Harris County. According to records, Harris County initially awarded IBM approximately $16 million for an “enabling technology solution” for Access Harris.
Investigators collected IBM e-mails between IBM employee, Kenneth Wolsey, and non-IBM employees Ronish Lal, Carolyn Staats and Robinson. In the emails, they allegedly discussed sole-source contracts.
Records show Robinson had a previous relationship with IBM for Access Sonoma and wanted to replicate the Access program in Harris County.
Investigators believe that when Robinson began her work in Harris County, she continued communicating with IBM. The e-mails reportedly show that Robinson attempted to work with IBM to sole-source the public contract. Court documents show investigators also believe that non-public information was shared with people not authorized to receive or possess that information.
According to documents, the e-mails show that IBM was aware of the scope of the project before bidding began and had already started working on it. The alleged head start on the public bid is also underscored by the fact that IBM was able to promote its Access-enabling technologies through its strategic planning workshop in the months leading up to the technology Request For Proposal.