Family connections raise new questions in state contract controversy

AUSTIN - When then-Texas health official Jack Stick suggested earlier this year that a company he had helped land $20 million in no-bid state contracts might get another one through a sister department, he was referring the firm to a familiar face: Frianita Wilson, wife of Doug Wilson, who as Stick's boss was overseeing the first project.

Of course, Stick - then the top lawyer at the state health commission - could also have turned for help to his own wife, Erica Stick, who served as chief of staff at the mega-agency, which runs all health and human services and has a $33 billion annual budget.

And that wasn't his only family connection at a state agency. His brother, Jeremy Stick, worked at the same department as Frianita Wilson.

The web of family ties at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is raising new questions in a growing contract controversy roiling the Capitol.

Doug Wilson, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2011 to be the commission's inspector general, resigned Friday, following Jack Stick, who stepped down a week earlier when officials discovered problems with the awarding of no-bid contracts worth up to $110 million to Austin technology firm 21CT.

Frianita Wilson and Erica Stick were among three staffers put on paid leave Friday for the duration of investigations by the State Auditor's Office and the Travis County District Attorney's Office. The federal government has also been asked by a state lawmaker to investigate.

Neither the Wilsons nor the Sticks have returned multiple requests for comment. State officials have emphasized there was no indication that any family member did anything wrong.

"There is not even a hint of wrongdoing on their part," said health commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman, explaining that the two men's wives were put on leave out of an abundance of caution.

"We employ 58,000 people so there are numerous cases where relatives work for our agencies," Goodman added. "Each of these individuals is highly qualified for the position they hold."

Still, to watchdogs and now-leery lawmakers, the connections are troubling, especially because they extend to 21CT, where CEO Irene Williams is married to chief operating officer Robert Williams.

"It certainly seems like there was something going on, and that that may have enabled this to take place," suggested state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, who described the familial relations at the health commission as forming a "kingdom."

Jack Stick referred 21CT

Coleman and other skeptics have focused on the fact that Doug Wilson was in charge of the first of the two contracts, a 2012 deal given by the Office of Inspector General for a Medicaid fraud detection system, while Frianita Wilson is listed as a contact on the second, a pact through the Department of Family and Protective Services for a system to track child abuse investigations that was signed just three months ago.

The second contract, for $452,000, pales in comparison to the first, which was initially expected to be worth $20 million but was set this fall to be extended to $110 million.

Jack Stick, who signed the first contract, referred 21CT to Family and Protective Services, said Irene Williams. Both no-bid contracts, which went through the same, little-known state purchasing program designed for smaller projects, were canceled earlier this month.

"It sounds like a web of nepotism that helped to hide something that should've been out in the public," Craig McDonald, head of Texans for Public Justice, which tracks the influence of money in politics, said about the family connections. "It's at least cronyism."

Goodman, the commission spokeswoman, pointedly noted that Frianita Wilson was serving as director of purchased client services at Family and Protective Services, meaning her job was to work on contracts.

But department spokesman Patrick Crimmins said Frianita Wilson was only involved in some contracts, which raises questions about why she worked on the 21CT project and chose not to recuse herself.

Frianita Wilson was typically involved on child abuse contracts but not on technology contracts, Crimmins said.

Jeremy Stick was hired in May at an $86,700 annual salary to work as an employee retention specialist at Family and Protective Services, working to improve turnover rates.

He had previously worked for nine months as the founder of an e-commerce company selling nutrition and sports supplements, and before that for three years as a quality control manager at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, according to his job application.

Varied job history

Jack Stick was hired in 2011 as deputy inspector general after a varied job history that included serving as an Austin-area Republican state representative and working as a lawyer for several companies - including one, Frindar Inc., run by a man who is now 21CT's lobbyist, according to his job application.

Jack Stick was making $201,450 at the time of his resignation.

Erica Stick was making $164,832, according to the state. She had joined the health commission in 2005 after working for state Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth.

The two married in October 2004, when Jack Stick was 39 and she - then Erica Phillips - was 24, according to county records.

Doug and Frianita Wilson, who have both worked for the state many years in a variety of roles, married in April 1992, when he was 27 and she was 26, according to county records.