Wal-Mart Withdrawl? Fear Not.

For those of you jonesin' for more Mart, yours truly has a run-down of the council debate last week in Beside the Point, while Katherine Gregor traces the history and future of the controversial project in Developing Stories.

With Futrell recusing herself from the Wal-Mart case, due to "rumor" of a conflict of interest (some rumor), we hearken back to a quote from her earlier this year. Astute readers may remember that Bill Moriarty, former head of the Austin Clean Water Program, was ousted by Futrell over what she characterized as perception of a conflict of interest.

The offending passage, from the pages of the Chronicle (It should be noted this ran in Michael King's column less than a week after submission of the Northcross site plan, and Futrell's COI filing):

"Whatever the contractual details, Futrell said, it would appear to the public that "under the program that he manages, he was in a position to influence the hiring of the person that he was living with.

"To me," the city manager continued, "that raises a judgment issue, that raises a conflict of interest issue, and that raises a realm of influence issue. ... These are high-level principles with a whole host of ramifications." Faced with that apparent situation, says Futrell, the city had no choice but to go to Earth Tech and request that it replace Moriarty."

Familiar, no?