Fresno politician breaks his silence on old city contracts

"After Fresnoland published its two-part investigation on Jan. 7 into city leaders' use of a policy "loophole" to hand out dozens of contracts worth $100,000 or less, Chavez spoke to Fresnoland over the phone about how and why he handed out city contracts to political consultant Alex Tavlian's company."

"Chavez said it shouldn't have taken the City of Fresno eight months to provide Fresnoland invoice and payment records with Tavlian's Local Government Strategic Consulting. "No, I think they should be divulged quickly," Chavez told Fresnoland. "At the end of the day, this isn't anybody's money - this is taxpayer money.""

"At a news conference last week, Councilmember Brandon Vang said he was "appalled that it took an outside investigation to bring this issue to light," in reference to Fresnoland's two-part accountability probe."

Luis Chavez broke months of silence after a two-part probe into Fresno leaders' use of a policy loophole to award multiple contracts under $100,000. Chavez explained that he gave city contracts to political consultant Alex Tavlian's company and criticized an eight-month delay in producing invoice and payment records. Chavez emphasized that taxpayer funds require prompt disclosure. Five of seven current councilmembers supported expanding transparency reforms to cover all no-bid contracts, not only those under $100,000. Councilmember Brandon Vang said it was appalling that an outside investigation was needed to expose the practice. A key question remains about repeated use of the $100,000 threshold.

Read at Fresnoland