Thanks to bulldog reporting by GV Wire’s David Taub and Edward Smith and Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad, a stinking pile of self-dealing costing taxpayers more than half-million dollars has been exposed at City Hall.

Rashad’s articles this week about a loophole in the city’s rules for outside contracts follow Taub’s and Smith’s work on the cozy relationship between former councilmember Luis Chavez and campaign consultant/communications specialist Alex Tavlian. Kudos to Rashad for connecting the dots in the maze of obfuscation that is the Fresno City Council and the City Attorney’s Office.

Chavez funneled $318,873 to Tavlian and his consulting firm. In addition, current councilmember Mike Karbassi engaged Tavlian’s company to the tune of $93,700 in taxpayer funds for services to his District 2 office. And the city council awarded Tavlian’s firm a no-bid $145,000 contract on a unanimous vote set in motion by Chavez.

I’ll let the councilmembers, Mayor Jerry Dyer’s administration, and the lawyers figure out when a full council vote should be required for consultant contracts, as well as how to tighten the loopholes in the rules.

How This Con Works

But let’s get to the truth, shall we?

What some councilmembers call “constituent services” is just image burnishing for their re-election bids and dreams of higher office. The way this con works, councilmembers flood constituent email accounts and doorsteps with flattering pictures and stories of themselves doing good deeds for “the people.” All at taxpayer expense.

Chavez, who is now a Fresno County supervisor, took the con a step farther in last year’s special election to elect his successor. How? His so-called District 5 “newsletter” featured his wife, Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, a candidate to replace him on the council. What’s more, Tavlian was responsible for a hit piece on his wife’s opponent, Brandon Vang, who ultimately won the race. Like I said, cozy. Very cozy.

Bottom line: Taxpayers are subsidizing political campaigns. What’s more, taxpayers have no say in the matter. You might think that Politician A or Politician B is the worst councilmember your neighborhood has ever had. Yet you’re footing the bill to help keep him or her in office.

Backed by the City’s Full Faith and Credit

What campaign consultants love about this arrangement is they know these contracts are backed by the full faith and credit of Fresno’s city treasury. Meaning: They’ll get paid every dime owed.

That’s sometimes not the case for consultants managing political election campaigns. Losing candidates might pay their campaign debts slowly or negotiate a haircut.

Because winning candidates don’t like being exposed as deadbeats, the first thing they do after election night is schedule a fundraiser. Anyone whose business relies on “yea” votes at City Hall pays the freight. If they don’t, they might get punished with a “nay” vote down the line.

Human nature being what it is, we also can’t rule out the possibility of a councilmember paying an inflated price for constituent communications and then negotiating a bargain price for campaign services.

Casting Out the Self-Dealing

What’s gone down at City Hall is a back-stabbing betrayal of Fresno taxpayers and an erosion of trust. There is a way to fix it, however.

Pass legislation banning contracts for consultants to provide constituent services and communications for councilmembers. And then set a limit on the hours that council aides can spend working on district communications. Most of the aides are young and have mastered social media long ago. They can crank out these puff pieces in a jiffy and at considerably less expense to the public.

As for councilmembers Nick Richardson and Vang, their bumbling “transparency” news conference Wednesday was an exercise in futility.

Does anyone doubt they called it in reaction to the Fresnoland stories? I don’t. But instead they stood there like two know-nothings and refused to take questions.

They could have told you what I’ve just written. Funny how they suddenly came down with my-tongue-is-tied-itis. It sweeps through City Hall every time another stinking pile is exposed.