Getting by with a little help from her friends

City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado, who has found herself at the center of a city employee spending scandal, got a little more defensive Monday, hiring high-profile lawyer Rusty Hardin and a PR firm to help her cope.

Though Alvarado has maintained that she didn't have anything to do with the employees in the mayor pro tem office taking extravagant payraises and more than $140,000 in unauthorized bonuses, the question remains how all this could have gone on in her office without her noticing. Alvarado hasn't been implicated in an HPD probe of the scandal; yesterday she talked with investigators for two hours and was "very pleased with the conversation," according to her new spokesman, Joe Householder. Hardin, who has represented clients including ex-Oilers quarterback Warren Moon, the Arthur Andersen accounting firm and J. Howard Marshall II (a.k.a. Mr. Anna Nicole Smith), will advise Alvarado during an expected investigation by Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal.

Householder said he's helping Alvarado as a friendly favor and Hardin is being paid, but not with taxpayers' money.