Mayor’s aide used public TV to promote personal project
Emails reveal press secretary was trying to produce a reality show
Mayor Sylvester Turner’s press secretary used Houston’s publicly funded television station to promote contestants in a reality show she was developing as one of many private business ventures, emails show, part of her sustained use of public office to further her personal interests.
Darian Ward sent or received roughly 5,000 pages of emails about personal business from her government account over the last four years, some of which dealt with a reality series she was pitching to television networks.
The show, “My First Million,” does not appear to have come to fruition but would have featured six female entrepreneurs seeking to earn $1 million.
Ward described the idea in 2015 emails as “the Apprentice meets Shark Tank in stilettos.”
Ward not only pitched “My First Million” to producers and networks from her city email account, often during business hours, but also featured the six contestants in a Houston Television show that she hosted in her official capacity as press secretary.
Ward interviewed each of the women about their businesses in an April 2015 episode of “Press Pass to the City,” which was filmed and produced by city employees using public funds.
She did not directly reference her side project on air, but told the audience, “These ladies, keep your
eyes on them, because over the next six months — by the end of this year — they will all be millionaires.”
Ward joined former Mayor Annise Parker’s staff as press secretary in 2014, and Turner has kept her on in the same role.
Turner suspended Ward for two weeks without pay last month for conducting personal business on city time but otherwise has brushed off critiques of Ward’s behavior.
“She’s done her job extremely well since I’ve been here, over and above,” the mayor told reporters two weeks ago. “I have no question with regard to her work performance.”
Ward, who earns $93,712 annually, did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Actions were unacceptable’
Alan Bernstein, Turner’s director of communications, issued a statement Friday night attributed to the mayor: “Darian Ward’s actions were unacceptable and against policy. She was suspended for two full weeks without pay and was instructed to cease doing personal business on city time. Any subsequent violation could result in termination. A letter was also sent to all employees advising them of the policy.”
Ward appears to have routinely leveraged her public title and the access it afforded to boost her private interests.
“Hello, I’m Darian Ward, TV host and press secretary for Houston Mayor Annise Parker and we have a fantastic ‘business experiment’ underway which is the basis of a TV series — ‘My First Million’ aka ‘Driven,’” Ward wrote in a January 2015 email pitching her idea to a Los Angeles-based producer.
In another instance, in February of that year, she used her city email to contact a producer from a CNBC program that had just visited Houston to tape a segment.
“It was great working with you last week with Mayor Parker,” Ward wrote.
She then pivoted to her private venture: “I would love to see if we could find a production partner for a TV series we would like to pitch. … We have a treatment, the women have been selected and I’m talking with a CNBC executive next week about the project.”
Similarly, in a July 2017 exchange with Warner Bros. representatives, Ward used the same email to arrange Turner’s appearance at an event and reference two projects she wanted to pitch to the studio.
“One project is a docu-series, similar to Shark Tank, the other is Hotel Alessandra which is a scripted series,” she wrote.
Ward cast some of her ideas as talk shows that would build on the success of current or planned TV shows. Ward pitched two such shows in 2014: “Scandalicious,” a play on the show “Scandal,” and “Astrowives After Party,” a take on “The Astronauts Wives Club.” Other concepts included “Playbook of Love,” a matchmaking show she also pitched that year.
Ward also leveraged her position for the benefit of charities she supported, chiefly the Smahrt Girl Foundation, on whose board she sits. In addition to promoting the nonprofit, Ward recommended the private business of the charity’s founder, Pamela Ellis, to city officials.
“I truly believe Pamela would be a great person to consider. I’ve known her for more than 10 years,” Ward wrote to former Houston IT director Charles Thompson. “I think her firm would be an asset.”
It is not clear those referrals to Thompson and others yielded any city work for Ellis.
During the final seven months of Parker’s tenure, Ward also used the Houston municipal television station’s studios to film a pilot for another show, titled “The Good Life,” records show.
The television station, known as HTV, allows the public to rent out its studios for private use, and Ward in Oct. 2015 wrote a $720 check from her production company for a minimum of four hours of studio time, plus graphics creation.
However, HTV’s rate sheet shows that four hours of time in that studio, Studio A, is supposed to cost $1,200.
‘That is not the norm’
In total, HTV’s calendar shows staff blocked off at least 19 hours on five separate days from June 2015 to Sept. 2015 to work on Ward’s project.
“No, we didn’t charge her for that,” said Dwight Williams, HTV division manager, specifically referring to a two-hour event listed in HTV’s calendar as “Casting Call ‘The Good Life’ with Darian Ward.” “That should have been included in the overall cost of the project.”
He later added that HTV often tries to foster relationships with new clients by “giving them extras they wouldn’t otherwise get.”
“If we have the opportunity to build a relationship with someone and maybe that person is challenged financially, then I think we would do that for just about anybody,” Williams said. “I don’t think we gave her any special treatment.”
Williams also said Ward was the only city employee during his tenure who asked to work with HTV on a personal production.
“That is not the norm,” Williams said.
Former mayor Parker said she was unaware Ward was conducting personal business on city time during her tenure.
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s a fireable offense,” she said. “The work I was aware that she was doing was acceptable, which is why she kept her job, but this is unacceptable.”
Parker added that she did not authorize Ward to use footage of her in a promotional video for “My First Million.”
“Women face all of the same challenges that male entrepreneurs face, but they also have to contend with some issues around how women are socialized and access to capital that was actively denied women for many, many years,” Parker says in the video.
“She certainly didn’t have permission to use my images for commercial purposes,” Parker said Friday.
Meanwhile, Ward occasionally copied Tanya Makany-Rivera, now Turner’s deputy press secretary, on emails about “My First Million.”
“I never responded because I had too many other things going on,” said Makany-Rivera, who worked in the city’s Office of Business Opportunity at the time.
Makany-Rivera added that she thought “My First Million” was a city project and, therefore, did not formally report Ward’s behavior.
Ward’s December suspension stemmed from a journalist’s records request for emails related to her business, Joy in Motion, or other personal matters.
Ward produced just 30 pages of emails in response.
Her boss, Bernstein, then requested the city’s Office of Inspector General search Ward’s email to ensure her reply to the records request was accurate.
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s a fireable offense. The work I was aware that she was doing was acceptable, which is why she kept her job, but this is unacceptable.”
Former Mayor Annise Parker
DA to review data
The OIG discovered 5,000 pages of emails about her personal business endeavors. The city initially said there were 5,000 emails but has corrected that figure.
“Ms. Ward, you misrepresented to the requestor the volume of documents regarding the TPIA request under state law, and you misinformed the chief of staff and me; you spent a significant amount of city time conducting your personal business rather than focusing on your work task,” Bernstein wrote Ward on Dec. 11, informing her that she had violated multiple city policies.
The city has not brought complaints with the Texas attorney general or Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, the mayor has said.
Nevertheless, Ogg spokesman Dane Schiller said last week the DA’s office has asked the city’s OIG to share evidence.
“We will review the evidence and apply the law once the evidence is received from the City of Houston’s Office of Inspector General,” the district attorney said in a statement.