HISD's steakhouse meeting: ethical or not?

Remember the Houston school board's mostly private meeting at Vic & Anthony's a couple of weeks ago? The one where HISD trustees racked up a bill of $1,786.50 — that's $150 per person — while discussing Superintendent Abelardo Saavedera's job performance? The one that a private company paid for? Yeah, well, the Chronicle brings the meeting up again today and asks the question that's been on our minds: Was it ethical? And the answer is no. And yes.

Coming down on the "no" side is Harvey Tucker, a Texas A&M political scientist who said school board members should remember the old saying, "Caesar's wife should be above suspicion."

"The reality is, school board members, they're volunteers. It's so easy for them to think, 'I'm giving so much. It's a small thing for a meal to be provided,' " said Tucker, who has studied the politics of school boards. "And they're right — it is a small price. But the best advice is, Caesar's wife, avoid any appearance of making a mistake, of being biased."

But maybe not, says Howard Prince, director of the Center for Ethical Leadership at UT's LBJ School of Public Affairs. Prince pointed out the fact that the dinner bill was picked up by Bracewell & Giuliani, a law firm HISD regularly does business with.

"If this is a law firm that has a history of providing legal services to the school district, I think this ought to be of less concern than if it were a new firm that said, 'Hey, let's take you out to dinner,' " said Howard Prince, director of the university's Center for Ethical Leadership.

Bracewell partner David Thompson, who attended the meeting, said the firm wasn't trying to influence the school district in any way. And his attending the meeting made it legal: According to state law, public officials may accept free meals if they are guests, and Thompson's being at the meeting made the trustees his guests.

As for other school boards, they have no idea how they would handle a meeting at a fancy steakhouse — representatives of several Texas boards interviewed by the Chronicle said they had never considered holding a meeting at a private restaurant. Clearly, they didn't end up on the right school board.