Did she or didn't she?

KHOU has gotten hold of a compilation of documents from the Office of Inspector General's probe into the City Hall payroll scandal, and it looks like temporarily former Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado may have a little explaining to do. Channel 11 points out the e-mail Alvarado was sent warning her about excessive bonuses her pro tem employees were taking, a detail that came out during the ex-employees' hearing on Tuesday.

For the first time, it was revealed that a warning from the Finance and Administration Department had been sent to the mayor pro tem's office, with a copy sent directly to Councilmember Carol Alvarado via e-mail.

It said the office was going over budget and specifically mentioned the bonuses Alvarado said she knew nothing about.

Alvarado, you may remember, said she never read the e-mail. Well, OK, yes, that's a fantastic explanation, Carol. Keep up the good work. Another interesting bit from the OIG documents was a "handwritten note from a finance and administration official saying that one of the employees who was getting big bonuses was warned the office was going way over budget." Which, if the pro temmers were busy giving themselves thousands of dollars in bonuses and payraises, we're sure they ignored.

(If you're looking for a little light weekend reading, you can download the OIG documents from KHOU. It's 264 pages and about 43 megs — don't say we didn't warn you.)