Haldenwang on Monday attempted to present Harper-Brown with an invoice for $11,370 in mileage reimbursements the incumbent received for traveling on state business since September 2007. Haldenwang said public money should not have been used to pay for the wear and tear on a car that Harper-Brown doesn’t own.
“We’ll give her the gasoline reimbursement, but the money she’s not entitled to, we want back,” Haldewang said.
Harper-Brown was in Austin on state business Monday and could not be reached for comment. Her campaign manager said that the reimbursements were for legitimate wear and tear.
Wait a minute -- wear and tear? Doesn't that only matter if you own the car? Let's go to the statute. From the Government Code:
Sec. 660.041. REIMBURSEMENT REQUIREMENT. (a) A state employee is entitled to be reimbursed as provided by this subchapter for the employee's use of a personally owned or leased motor vehicle.
Rep. Linda Harper-Brown said Tuesday that she has stopped driving a luxury car owned by a company that makes millions through state contracts.
Rep. Linda Harper-Brown got caught in another big, big lie. Haldenwang called her out for it in a release. Here's her statement and campaign video about the latest scandal:
“She can’t have it both ways,” Haldenwang stated.“On one hand, Linda Harper-Brow told the Dallas Morning News that the $55,174 Mercedes she has been driving doesn’t belong to her (“Linda Harper-Brown of Irving has quit driving Mercedes linked to Durable Enterprises,” 6/30/2010), but on the other hand she is claiming it is a personally owned vehicle by making taxpayers write her a check for $15,000.”
“Even if you give her the benefit of the doubt that she drove more miles than it takes to drive around the world — on the equator — Harper-Brown owes taxpayers at least $11,370.22,” Haldenwang added
Candidates and elected officials are held to a higher standard in terms of honesty, integrity, and character. However, an emerging and rather disturbing trend among Texas Republican candidates and elected officials give reason for many voters to question whether possessing those qualities and upholding those standards are an integral part of the GOP candidate vetting process.
Voters are beginning to ask a fair question, which is whether the Republican Party cares about not only vetting candidates that live up to high standards that we as citizens expect of our elected officials, or if the Texas GOP simply takes for granted what power they hold as a Party and suffer from a dual case of incompetence and arrogance about who they are and what they stand for. We have no choice but to presume the latter based on the following evidence:
From a candidate perspective, the challenger to Representative Paula Pierson, Republican Barbara Nash, had serious questions raised about whether she was less than honest to voters about past business affairs nor was she forthcoming about horrendous allegations of elderly abuse at nursing homes managed by companies she and her husband owned. All of this leads one to question the character and integrity of the individual seeking to be a Texas Legislator representing House District 93. If you attempt and hide troubling allegations, attempt and hide questionable business affairs, and potentially falsify state documents in answering questions related to those allegations and business affairs, do you really believe Republican Barbara Nash is capable of being honest with District 93 voters?
Yet another candidate, Stefani Carter, the Republican challenger to Representative Carol Kent, raises questions about her character and integrity when she was caught on tape plagiarizing President Barack Obama's famous 2004 Democratic Convention speech. Republican Carter also embellished on her resume. If Republican Carter isn't original enough to articulate her own viewpoints without copying and pasting, or fails to be honest about her real background and work history, can voters in House District 102 expect Carter to be honest with them?
And finally the character and integrity of Republican Linda Harper-Brown, the State Representative from House District 105, is questioned because she was driving a $55,000 luxury car compliments of a highway contractor headquartered in her district. This contractor, with the help of Republican Harper-Brown, received over $12 million dollars in business with the state of Texas. Republican Harper-Brown is being challenged by Democrat Loretta Haldenwang. Can voters in House District 105 honestly say that Harper-Brown possess the character and integrity they expect from their elected officials?
Enough evidence has come forward to suggest that Republicans care little about the high standards and overall qualities that we as voters expect in candidates and elected officials. The ideas that politicians should be honest, possess integrity, and have moral character worthy of the office they seek or hold, are bedrock principles that Texas voters not only demand, but deserve. So far this election cycle a handful of Republican candidates and elected officials have fallen well short of voter standards.
Republican State Representative Linda Harper-Brown admitted she is involved in her husband's business and that she may be under criminal investigation today in the Dallas Morning News. The story -- "Rep. Linda Harper-Brown says she's given up company's Mercedes" -- lays out the following:
Harper-Brown told The Dallas Morning News that she was directing her husband to rework his compensation package from the company to exclude the cars. In theory, Brown would instead receive cash and then buy vehicles on his own. He said he could end up with the cars, but they would be in his name.
[...]
The Texas Values in Action Coalition, a group that pushes Democratic Party causes, has turned over information about Harper-Brown and Bryan’s companies to the Travis County District Attorney and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Dallas.
Harper-Brown fought back tears when she discussed dealing with perceptions that she was acting unethically by driving the car.
And she conceded that there could be a criminal investigation or one by the state ethics commision and that she would cooperate with authorities.
The Texas Values in Action Committee (TEXVAC), who initially filed the complaints, issued the following statement:
“This is clearly an admission of guilt by Linda Harper Brown that she illegally took a Mercedes from a company that benefitted from her role as a state legislator and has over 10 million dollars in state contracts. She can’t un-ring the bell, un-drive the Mercedes, or un-accept a bribe.”
“Once again, Linda Harper Brown is failing to address the serious issues at hand here, she can’t un-drive the car and think that the taking of it in the first place was ethical or legal. That’s like trying to give back the money after you’ve been caught robbing the bank."
Linda Harper-Brown could have provided documents proving her innocence. But she didn't.
Linda Harper-Brown could have responded directly to media requests for a statement. But she didn't.
Linda Harper-Brown could have held a press conference, filling a room with campaign supporters who stood behind her while she pronounced her innocence. But she didn't.
Instead, Republican State Representative Linda Harper-Brown -- much like Republican Governor Rick Perry -- wanted to work off a script. Harper-Brown got into a small, closed room with her campaign team. She squinted her eyes, looked at the teleprompter, and played the best card she had: THE VICTIM CARD.
It was her only card to play -- other than actually telling the truth -- and she bet the bank on it. Unfortunately, for Harper-Brown and Texas House Republicans, she's now gone all-in with a losing hand. The video she released online fails for several reasons:
The "I Am Not a Crook" Defense Doesn't Work Unless You Prove Your Innocence
Harper-Brown provided no evidence to disprove the mountain of evidence against her. Just saying there wasn't a "lick of proof" to the claims doesn't make it so. We get the messaging ploy -- Washington D.C. trial lawyer liberals are evil; congratulations, we now know you have the IQ of a potato. Just throwing a bunch of buzz words together doesn't address the serious charges leveled against her.
Blaming the Press Doesn't Work When You Refuse to Respond to Interview Requests
On Quorum Report right now, there's a link to Harper-Brown's statement, which starts off:
"State Representative Linda Harper Brown set the record straight today, countering false allegations raised in the press by Democrats, Washington, D.C. political operatives and trial lawyer front groups. Below are just a few of the facts omitted from recent press accounts:"
Harper-Brown chose not to respond to press. From the WFAA story:
Neither Bryan nor Harper-Brown would comment to WFAA about the car arrangement or their relationship regarding legislation.
She declined several requests for interviews this week. Her campaign spokesman referred questions to her husband.
Linda Harper-Brown will only release controlled statements, and not give interviews, because she knows she's done something wrong.
Harper-Brown and Her Husband's Business Are Not Completely Seperate, Despite What She Claims
If anything, Harper-Brown dug herself deeper in her statement, by claiming her and her husband's business are "completely separate." When you share office space and mailing addresses, it's pretty damn hard to pull off the "we're completely separate" line. I'd expect we'll see that claim challenged in the coming days.
Harper-Brown Doesn't Have a Social Network to Get Her Message Out
Harper-Brown has 850+ followers on Facebook, and 524+ followers on Twitter. I'd estimate, after having searched through her Twitter followers, that anywhere from 25% to 50% of people that follow her through social media are Austin Republicans or other Texas Republicans from around the state she gets to know speaking to conservative groups at conferences, town halls, etc.
Now, a large e-mail list would be impressive -- but it's unlikely she has built one herself. She could have a large e-mail list if another Republican group or consultant -- RPT, GOPAC, Dan Patrick, etc. -- helped her push her video out. For an effective enough e-mail list, there would be an in-kind to some Republucan group(s), or some Republican group(s) would have to own it themselves by getting their Republican brands behind it through social media. And in any event, you're still not getting your message through to the actual voters in Irving who will see the media reports and be turned off by Harper-Brown's scandalous behavior.
After all -- what Republucan group wants to stand next to someone who could soon be under investigation for bribery?
If a Republican group does choose to stand by her on this, they've done Democrats' work for them. If no group stands behind her, then the video will solely be seen by diehard supporters and Austin politicos, including lobbyists. Will lobbyists believe such an obvious political statement over the scandal, given Democrats track record of factual, proven research on House candidates in '06 and '08? I wouldn't bet on it.
This is a Sarah Palin type prayer. We've all seen Sarah Palin, and Harper-Brown is no Sarah Palin. Linda Harper-Brown is much more like Richard Nixon, who defiantly proclaimed "I am not a crook" in response to the Watergate scandal in the early 1970's.
And much like Nixon, I expect Harper-Brown to go down in a spiraling batch of flames in the coming days and weeks.
WFAA television in the Dallas/Fort-Worth media market reports that Republican Linda Harper-Brown, currently the State Representative in District 105 in Irving, drives a $55,000 Mercedes Benz owned by an influential highway contractor that does over $12 million dollars in business with the State of Texas. Harper-Brown sits on the highly influential Transportation Committee.
The Texas Values in Action Coalition, a North Texas based Political Action Committee, uncovered a number of the nitty-gritty details and have turned evidence over to the U.S. Attorney's office in Dallas.
You'll recall that Republican Linda Harper-Brown was re-elected to this Irving-based House Seat by only 19 votes in 2008. Democrat Loretta Haldenwang, a stellar candidate supported by Annie's List, is challenging Republican Harper-Brown. House District 105 is one of a handful of targeted House seats that Democrats are putting forward well-credentialed and aggressive candidates in an effort to win back the Texas House.
This just has not been a good week for Texas Republicans.
Earlier this week Republican Stefani Carter, challenging Carol Kent in HD-102, had questions about her honesty and integrity spring forward for embellishing on her resume and plagiarizing President Obama's famous 2004 DNC Convention speech.
Rick Perry's campaign failed miserably on an attempted press conference stunt at the Travis County Coordinated Campaign headquarters for Democrats in which Bill White supporters drowned out Perry's minions with chants of "Debate Bill Now!"
Republican Joe Barton cemented the cozy relationship between Big Oil and the GOP due to Barton's apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward during his congressional testimony yesterday. Republican Barton was later forced by Republican leadership to apologize to the American people or lose his leadership position, but only after clearly demonstrating that the GOP will defend BP and not AP (American people).
And now Republican Linda Harper-Brown brings forward serious questions about her integrity and whether or not, ethically speaking, she should be driving a car paid for by a highway contractor who has millions of dollars in business deals with the State of Texas. With the additional caveat that Republican Harper-Brown sits on the powerful and influential House Transportation Committee.
What a really, really bad week for Texas Republicans.
Update:TDP Chairman Boyd Richie has called on Republican Speaker Joe Strauss to remove Harper-Brown from the Transportation Committee:
"It appears Linda Harper-Brown has profited by securing luxury vehicles in return for doing legislative favors for an industry with business before her committee," said Richie. "Speaker Straus should remove her from the Transportation Committee until a time when these charges have been addressed."
"If this information proves true, Linda Harper-Brown ran a legal and ethical red light, and she could no longer properly represent hardworking Texans who pay for their own cars and trucks with an honest day's work," Richie concluded.
Republican State Representative Linda Harper-Brown only cares about cancer survivors when she can capitalize, politically, from reaching out to them. When it comes to taking real legislative action on their behalf, she steadfastly refuses to help them. Her blatant hypocrisy about caring for cancer is disgusting.
Saturday morning, Rep. Harper-Brown's campaign sent out the following tweet:
It's nice of Rep. Harper-Brown to hand out sashes to cancer survivors. It would be meaningful, and not just a photo-op, if she actively worked to ensure more Texans survived from cancer.
In 2007, Rep. Harper-Brown voted against HJR 90, the constitutional amendment that established the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The legislation was championed by Lance Armstrong, the Livestrong community, and countless cancer survivors and advocates for finding treatment for cancer. But Rep. Harper-Brown -- when it came time for actual action (and not just handing out sashes) -- voted against the legislation:
So to all cancer survivors living in Rep. Harper-Brown's district, remember: she's only there to use you as a prop in her campaign.
Jason Embry of the Austin American-Statesman released his top five endangered lawmakers list this past Sunday. I really have no quibble with the order of Embry's list and I understand that it is early and so people may go up the list and people may go down the list. Heck, you might find a few new ones on there as well at some point. I do believe he was accurate in at least placing second on the list House District 105 in North Texas.
Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving. (2) Harper-Brown barely hung onto her seat last year against a Democrat who had no money and no support from the state party. Now Democrats are paying attention. Democrat Loretta Haldenwang is off and running, having posted a strong fundraising report for the first half of the year. She also has the backing of Annie's List, which has been extremely successful in winning House races in recent years. On the other hand, Republicans need this seat to keep their majority, and even though Harper-Brown is not in Speaker Joe Straus' inner circle, he'll have plenty of money to spend and could spend heavily to help her. The same could be said for Bohac. Obama won Harper-Brown's district, 52-47.
Harper-Brown is most certainly endangered, but nothing has been won yet. Business analyst and former state house district director, Loretta Haldenwang, is considered by most the Democrat to beat in the March 2010 primary. Haldewang, formerly an external affairs director with the Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, continues to boast impressive financial numbers, Party insider muscle with Annie's List, and campaign infrastructure--particularly with regard to field, that she'll need to weather a tough primary and potential general election battle.
Haldenwang has in no way sewn up victory and she'll be the first to tell you that as she did at our September Mid-Cities Democrats meeting. This race is going to be a trench battle every single day. Obama may have won this district with 52% of the vote in 2008, and Democrats narrowly lost this seat overall---by just 19 votes, but that does not equate to easy victory. Turnout will be lower in 2010 versus 2008. Voter communication will be critical, which means a robust field operation is mandatory. Most importantly, however, will be money. Those three factors will determine whether HD-105 is the barometer by which Democrats can expect a 2010 House takeover, or the race was one of those "the one that got away" stories
Below please find a copy of the press release Kim Limberg issued last week in her announced bid for Texas House District 105 in Dallas County:
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Members of the Press Greetings!
I write to announce my Candidacy for State Representative for District 105 in Irving, Texas. District 105 is a key player in this election cycle. After years of serving in the Democratic Party I'm excited about finally running.
Why am I running? I want to go to the front lines where the laws are made, so I can defend our Democratic ideals.
I will work to improve and protect our environment, our public education and our transportation infrastructure. These are the keys to good health, a thriving democracy and our freedom of movement. I will work to maintain the separation between what is public and what is private. And above all I will defend our basic rights.
Job creation in the three sectors mentioned are the right direction to take. More jobs in education, public infrastructure, and sustainable living (from energy to recycling and producing ever more efficient products).
I will work to be in sync with the Obama Administration to maximize our ability to tap any resources, incentives or stimulus packages that are offered.
These are just a few of the many important issues we are facing. For more details, please check out the Issues page as I continue to build my website.
What qualifies me? Besides the passion, my years of public service has given me the opportunity to listen and respond to the needs of many from elected officials to the general public. As a professional engineer with over 21 years of service with the Texas Department of Transportation, I have the technical expertise to understand and find solutions to our transportation issues. As a parent, I am determined to give our children the best public education I can. As a wife and mother of three, I am committed to fighting for the health of our families by working toward a better environment and encouraging a sustainable lifestyle. My passion to act on these issues in a direct way, together with my real life experiences as an mother, an engineer, and an environmentalist make me a good fit for Irving.
I am a life long resident of Dallas County, who has enjoyed serving the Irving community since moving here 13 years ago. For more about me click on the Green Ribbon and check out the About Kim webpage.
To practice good environmental stewardship, I am running a Green campaign by minimizing paper use and maximizing web, email and phone use. The Green Ribbon will symbolize this effort. I challenge all other candidates to do the same.
I would be honored to have your endorsement. Please solidify your decision to support my campaign, by endorsing me for State Representative for District 105.
With your help I can get to the front lines and represent you.
Thank You, and have a great day!
Kim Limberg
Kim Limberg Campaign
Contact Info:
Address
Kim Limberg Campaign
1910 Cartwright St
Irving, Texas 75062
Phone
(214)493-9079
Email
kimlimberg@kimlimberg.com
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NOTE: Kim is running against a 24-year old from San Antonio who just recently moved to the Irving area. Kim is the only Majority-Minority candidate so far whose announced in this Majority-Minority District. A 46-year old wife and mother of 3, Kim is a Civil Engineer and long-time community activist in the Irving area (resident of Irving for 13 years, lifelong resident of Dallas County).
Smith floated another draft of a possible compromise bill on the floor today. Smith has been leaving Sen. Troy Fraser's SB 362 parked in committee in hopes of finding something that will pull a few swing-district Democrats to vote "aye."
But that's getting push-back from GOP hardliners on the committee and stopping him short of the five votes he needs.
"I have a really good agreement with [Republican] Rep. [Dennis] Bonnen and Rep. [Dwayne] Bohac, and [Democratic] Rep. [Joe] Heflin," Smith said. "I'm having trouble getting Rep. [Betty] Brown and Rep. [Linda] Harper-Brown on board.
Linda Harper-Brown won her re-election by a mere 19 votes. Harper-Brown beat Democrat Bob Romano 19,857 to 19,838 or 48.72% to 48.67%. Former Texas Republican Party Political Director Royal Masset estimated that a photo ID requirement would reduce Democratic turnout in Texas by 3%. In House District 105, that would have cost Bob Romano about 595 votes.
Is Harper-Brown pushing a fundamental political ideology or is she worried about re-election?
The recount requested in HD-105 has been completed under the guidelines directed by the Secretary of State, TDP lawsuits notwithstanding. The end result was a one vote gain for Democrat Bob Romano leaving incumbent Republican Representative Linda Harper-Brown with a 19 vote lead and win for her re-election bid in the Irving based house district.
Austin American-Statesman: Romano's lawyer, Buck Wood of Austin, said his client is weighing whether to challenge the results. The Texas Democratic Party also has a separate federal lawsuit pending.
This leaves a 76-74 Republican majority in the Texas House. In 2003, after redistricting, it was an 88-62 Republican majority. That is a change from having a 26 vote gap to a 2 vote gap. Not co-incidentally Tom Craddick has served as Speaker during this same time frame. Hm.
