Bevers said his goals are to strengthen the city’s oversight, enhance accountability and build trust.
“Public trust is something that's earned,” Bevers said. "I think people should care because public trust is the glue that holds effective government together."
Bevers is currently a criminal defense attorney. He served as former inspector general of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, a position he was appointed to by former Governor Rick Perry in 2007, and stayed in until 2011. He also worked previously as an assistant Dallas County District Attorney.
Bevers’ role as inspector general became official two weeks ago. And, on Thursday, city council members and Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson welcomed him to city hall.
"For far too long, the people who occupied this building didn't take all of the steps necessary to build that trust with an ethics code that was frankly too weak and too difficult to interpret,” Johnson said.
Dallas has had several corruption scandals in the past. Former Council Member Dwaine Caraway went to prison in 2018 for selling his votes and Dallas developer Ruel Hamilton ended up in prison in 2021 for bribing another former council member.
Johnson described Dallas as a city government that “in years past has operated under a cloud of suspicion,” and promised to improve transparency and accountability within local government. He spearheaded the creation of an inspector general office with the help of the Ethics Reform Task Force.
In the inspector general role, Bevers will build a team from scratch that will investigate abuse and fraud in the city. His office will receive and investigate all internal fraud, waste, abuse and corruption complaints and field anonymous tips.
The division will have the subpoena power and the ability to launch investigations that catch “wrongdoings” early. Johnson said the goal is to take the burden away from Dallas residents to flag corruption.
Bevers will start the job on Monday, March 14 and report to City Attorney Chris Caso.
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Got a tip? Alejandra Martinez is a Report For America corps member for KERA News. Email Alejandra at amartinez@kera.org. You can follow Alejandra on Twitter @alereports.
