| The addition of Talmadge Heflin to the Republican Party of Texas is a shock. He is a man twice rejected by the voters of his Harris County district. He was defeated in 2004 and again in 2006 largely because of his role as chairman of appropriations cutting funding for necessary social program and bending to the will of special interests.
Helfin’s hiring is a strong signal to the people of Texas, give big bucks or continue to be ignored by the Grand Old Party.
“The hiring of twice defeated Talmadge Heflin provides indisputable proof that the Republican Party is way out of step with Texas voters,” said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie.
“When Heflin had to choose between making the special interests pay their fair share or cutting the heart of the state budget, Heflin cut 200,000 children off of CHIP, forced students to use out of date textbooks in classrooms, and proposed a tax on groceries.” Richie recalled. “After Heflin’s failure as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in 2003, the voters who knew him best said ‘no’ to misplaced Republican priorities.”
Yesterday we alluded to the fact that Heflin was immediately tapped by good friend James Leininger to work at the conservative think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Since leaving the Texas House, Heflin has been an odd figure. In 2004, he took his defeat to the Texas House nearly instigating a bitter partisan battle. He then applied to become director of the Texas Lottery Comission (he hadn’t miss used state funds enough in is career as a state legislator) but withdrew the application to try and regain his House seat. After hundreds of thousands of dollars, the people of Houston went from barely electing Hubert Vo in 2004 (he won by just 16 votes) to re-electing Vo by nearly 2,000 votes in 2006.
What did the Republican Party do with this overwhelming mandate? This is the man that ended up becoming their executive director.
The best part of Heflin’s legacy is his literal attempt to steal a baby away from his loving parents.
Heflin also gained attention in 2004 for a custody battle over a then 20-month-old boy whose African immigrant mother once lived in Talmadge's home. Heflin and his wife contended the boy's mother took little interest in the child and often left him in their care. The woman disagreed, saying the Heflins simply watched the child while she found a job outside their home.
A district court judge ruled the Heflins had no standing in the case, dismissed their request to keep temporary custody of the child and ordered the boy returned to his mother.
All this and Heflin’s bizarre position to challenging our fighting men and women’s right to vote.
Yesterday we joked around about Heflin’s appointment to the Republican Party, but Heflin could seriously harm Texans. He is known for taking babies from families, caving to special interest, refusing to allow people to vote, and ignoring sound public policy so he can implement strange ideology.
Heflin is a symbol for everything wrong with the Republican Party, and now he is directing its future. |
