The Texas Ethics Commission has accepted jurisdiction over the allegation of impropriety with Houston Mayor John Whitmire’ s $60,000+ “901 Bagby: Inside the Mayor’s Office” podcast.
John Whitmire
The Texas Ethics Commission received a sworn complaint (SC-32604324) on April 27th, 2026, concerning Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s podcast titled “901 Bagby: Inside the Mayor’s Office.” The complaint alleges that the mayor spent or authorized the spending of public funds for political advertising in violation of Section 255.003 of the Election Code.
Podcasting is not expensive, yet the mayor is spending $60,000 of taxpayer money on this endeavor. As reported by the Houston Chronicle:
A cool $60,000 is how much taxpayer money Whitmire has apparently spent on his podcast, 901 Bagby: Inside The Mayor’s Office, according to public records published by Houston Public Media. The podcast is hosted by former KPRC 2 news anchor Owen Conflenti and, as of this writing, has three episodes that are between 17 and 27 minutes in length. Per HPM, Conflenti’s name was on the purchase order for the podcast and there was no competitive bidding process allowing for production companies other than Conflenti’s to submit bids for the project. Conflenti told Chron’s Ariana Garcia that the podcast is an opportunity for Whitmire to “give more context to important issues” and go beyond “sound bites and social media videos.”
The mayor seems to have proclivities for budget-busting, from unaffordable police and fire contracts to irresponsible use of resources.
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