Houston holds Investor Conference without city employees after mayor warns them not to attend

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A battle between two of Houston's top elected officials is escalating.

Last week, Mayor John Whitmire called for a city ethics investigation into a conference put on by City Controller Chris Hollins.

Now, Hollins is firing back, requesting that, if he's being investigated, the mayor's well-known State of the City event should be, too.

The Houston Investor Conference isn't usually thought of as the most thrilling of city events.

Representatives from major companies attend to learn how to invest in the city.

But here's what Whitmire had to say last week about this year's conference:

"It's wrong. It violates everything I stood for when I was sworn in, transparency," he said. "I won't be there, and city employees shouldn't be there."

Whitmire accused the controller of creating the appearance of a "pay-for-play" system.

Hollins vowed to continue with the conference, denying the mayor's allegations.

On Tuesday, Hollins said the conference was still a success, even though one panel had to be canceled because city employees did not attend.

RELATED: Houston mayor accuses city controller of pay-to-play in latest public spat

"The mayor's support was a lot less impactful than what we might have thought. Today has gone great; every single sponsor continued to participate, and five of our six panels continued," he said at a press conference during the event. "We've also been told that a lot of folks that were attending our conference might have stepped out for lunch to go have a meeting with those exact same people who should have been here. The whole thing is kind of goofy that they're not here."

This year, companies that donate between $10,000 and $100,000 can get perks, like private dinners with the controller.

Hollins said the money raised will go toward a program called Bank On Houston, which aims to increase financial literacy among low-income Houstonians.

Bank On Houston is a program his office works with, but Hollins says he has no power over how money there is spent.

Hollins claims the controller's conference has had sponsorships in the past, but he hasn't been able to provide many details.

"This was just phone calls and outreach, saying, 'Hey, can you give support?' Not a lot of documentation on phone calls and outreach from 12 years ago," he said.

Now, Whitmire is calling for an ethics investigation into Hollins.

Hollins says if he's being investigated, he wants an investigation into Whitmire's State of the City event, which also has sponsorships.

The mayor's office is responding to the request by the controller, saying the mayor did his job by bringing the issue to light and saying he won't comment on active investigations.

Bob Stein, a Rice University political science professor, said that the infighting raised questions about Hollins and Whitmire.

"I think the issue here is optics. How does it look? And to the average citizen, my suspicions are it doesn't look good, particularly when the mayor draws attention to it. Now, be careful what you wish for, Mayor Whitmire," Stein said.

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