In a letter to Gov. Rick Perry, State Rep. Hubert Vo (D-Houston) said a website should be created to track stimulus spending in order to ensure "the strictest level of accountability and transparency."
From Rep. Vo's letter:
... I am respectfully requesting that your office create an official state website to track the money as it comes in and to show exactly where it goes. Texas taxpayers have a right to strict accountability and deserve to have this one stop online resource.
As you know, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will direct funds to your office and other state agencies for distribution to local programs. A lot of data is expected to be made available in the next few weeks. Texas taxpayers should be able to count on a simple online resource to determine where that money is being spent. Which communities are benefiting? Which federal or state contractors are being hired? Which school districts, hospitals, or other organizations are receiving this assistance -- and how are they putting it to use?
This would be a great way to open up the process and let people see exactly where this money will end up. Whether Rick Perry will decide to do it, well, that's another story.
There's really only three points that need to be made about this race:
Rep. Hubert Vo twice beat an incumbent Chair of House Appropriations. This was a Vietnamese man beating the King of the Castle in a conservative-leaning district. Twice. Clearly, he's got great district-level organizatoin.
The only reason this race is even close is because of the charges of apartment neglect that Myers and the Chronicle blew up about. Never mind the facts of the case -- or that Vo addressed the problems immediately. The chattering class is dead set on believing this is a bigger story than it really is.
Myers' only hope is to keep Democrats home; no part of his campaign strategy is based on turning out Republicans. In a year with an historical Harris County Coordinated campaign efforts and with Obama atop the ticket, that's not a winning strategy.
After becoming the first Vietnamese-American to serve in the state Legislature, this incumbent Democrat has been a champion for fully funding CHIP and reclaiming millions of federal matching funds for the program. Revelations of Vo's failure to maintain rundown apartment complexes he owned in Houston have been a stain on his reputation. To his credit, he did react to the revelations by quickly performing city-mandated repairs. The Chronicle believes Vo has learned his lesson and deserves to continue representing his constituents.
Now -- those strong points aside -- we could only classify this race as "Lean Democrat" because it is impossible to gauge how much the apartment accusations are going to have legs until we see where some of the early voting totals come in and/or until we get some good poll numbers on the district.
Here are some other links that previous coverage of the race on Burnt Orange Report:
For Houston Democratic State Rep. Hubert Vo, a bit of a scandal has been going on. He owns some apartments in Houston, and the Houston Chronicle broke out that the apartments were not nearly up to the standards that they should be.
It was a disappointing development about a good state representative. At the time, I could only hope that it was an innocent mishap, and that Mr. Vo would remedy the problems as soon as possible. They certainly couldn't be good for his reelection prospects (which are bound to be tough again in a close district.)
State Rep. Hubert Vo has completed structural and electrical repairs at two of his apartment complexes, correcting conditions that prompted code enforcement citations in April, city inspectors say.
The inspectors say Vo cooperated in "good faith" with their demands to replace rotting wood, missing balcony railings and exposed wires.
His properties now meet code requirements, said Susan McMillian, an executive staff analyst with the Department of Public Works and Engineering.
Vo, D-Houston, said Friday that he had done more than required, and he pledged to continue working with residents and managers to improve conditions.
"I want people to know that I kept my promise," he said. "I told the city that I would take care of their concerns, and I worked as quickly as possible to make all the needed repairs."
It's a good thing he has this fixed now. Now he can work on the real issues of a legislator up for reelection. And, with any luck, he will prove to his constituents that this moment of flaw will be overshadowed by continuous service.
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.
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.
