if you watched any TV at all the last few days, you know about the angr that's erupted over sevral racially charged incidents at the Houston Fire Department. Mayor Bill White reponded today, and you can catch up to my colleague Andy Cerota's work here.
However, I've been interested in the wide variety of responses from City Council members. Read this letter from Council Member Jolanda Jones, the most vocal of the bunch.
First on the Political Blog:
Houston City Council Member Wanda Adams is the defendant in a civil lawsuit. Her former campaign consultant, Kathryn McNiel, has filed suit asking for back consulting fees and legal costs totalling around $47,000.
This is a case that first began in 2008, and both sides have been working hard to keep it quiet. Neither attorneys involved wanted really to comment on the record, but they also did not dispute the public records available. In fact, I have posted some of the key pages, but you can download the entire lawsuit by clicking on this Download Mcniel-petition.
Sources first tipped us off that there would be a trial on the matter this Monday, July 6th. However, last week, a legislative continuance was filed by Adams' attorney, State Rep. Sylvester Turner. As you can see from the filing, the date was Thursday, July 2nd. The continuance asks for the standard 90 day delay. However, we should point out that the Special Session ended last Thursday. It was only a two day session. We've been told that Richard Flowers, attorney for McNiel, intends to ask for a trial at the quickest possible date. You can download the continuance petition right here. Download Mcniel-continuence
According to the documents in the lawsuit, McNiel contends that she consulted for Adams during her 2007 race for City Council. She alleges that she is owed $34,255.20. Obviously, Council Member Adams disagrees. The two did not part on happy terms. McNiel left before the campaign was over, but knowledgable sources say she feels like she played an important role in shaping Adams campaign. Since she did win, McNiel expected to be paid. Adams, however feels that McNiel did not play a vital role in her eventual victory. Both parties have tried mediation, but could not agree to terms. The images you see here are from court documents. Simply click to enlarge.
Could this end up in a trial where various local current and former politicians (such as Ada Edwards) are forced to testify in open court? Absolutely, but for now, the case is continued. Of course, if both sides come to some sort of happy arrangement, the case could disappear. So far, they have not agreed on a number.
So we hear current City Council Member Toni Lawrence is eying her next move, possibly toward County Commissioner. Multiple people have told me that Lawrence is seriously considering running for Commissioner Jerry Eversole's seat, whenever that becomes available. She has already begun privately gauging support. Contacted last night, Lawrence said it was definitely something she is looking at. This apparently, after another formidable female elected official decided to take a pass at the seat... again, whenever it becomes available, which of course, it's currently NOT.
That's not stopping others from considering a run. I blogged a few weeks ago that Larry Lindsay, son of former State Sen. Jon Lindsay, is looking at the seat. So is apparently, Court Koenning, State Sen. Dan Patrick's right hand man. Gee, that's a lot of eager folks for a seat still occupied.
They weren’t planning on coming back to Austin this quickly. However, exactly one month after they adjourned, your esteemed lawmakers returned. Okay, it is mainly to pass a crucial bill that would keep state agencies, you know – like TXDOT and TDI open.
So if you aren’t on one of those committees that really do the work, what did you do all day? Well, if you’re State Rep. Gary Elkins, you chat up reporters and give sound bites.
“I was expecting it, we knew that there would be no way those agencies would be allowed to sunset, we knew we’d be coming back to session,” mused Elkins. By the way, he is quite active on Twitter and was trying to convince me that I need to buy a MAC.
But back to the issues at hand. Your esteemed lawmakers moved quickly in committee meetings to pass the bills that would keep state agencies running and authorize the use of road building bonds. However, Governor Rick Perry’s third item, sort of hit a snag. Lawmakers are not so warm to the idea of more private toll roads. They would rather just pass the two crucial bills and go home.
Unless, of course, you’re State Rep. Garnet Coleman or State Sen. Rodney Ellis. Both men are trying to get the Guv to add to the call. Coleman, of course, wants the Children’s Healthcare Insurance to get a go. Ellis, meanwhile, wants Perry to posthumously grant a pardon to a man who was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t do. Neither is likely to get what they want.
What seems more likely today that other days is the fact that there is a chance that the lawmakers may actually finish the Special Session in three days. Heck, I have a coffee riding on the length of the special.
I don't know how he exactly came to the decision, but Gene Locke has to be one happy guy. Controller Annise Parker and Council Member Peter Brown were hoping that Turner would jump in, but guess not. State Rep. Sylvester Turner is not running for Mayor, and put out the following statement today.
After careful consideration and consultation with a number of individuals, I have decided I will not run for mayor of the City of Houston in 2009.
Although I believe the race is eminently winnable, a late entry into the campaign would have required that I drop every other project in which I am involved—community endeavors such as the Houston Astros MLB Urban Youth Baseball Academy in Acres Homes and continuing my work in the Texas Legislature, to which I am deeply committed and thoroughly enjoy.
I thank everyone who took the time to discuss this race with me and the many, many supporters who urged me to run. I have much more to accomplish in my life and I will continue to work hard for the citizens of my district, my city and my state.
The City Council added a new District H Council Member today, as Ed Gonzalez was sworn in. It was a packed house. Besides his family, Sheriff Adrian Garcia, Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, State Rep. Carol Alvarado, and a dozens of others made the trek to watch the ceremony.
Afterward, many of the Council Members offered kind words of encouragement to Gonzalez. The advice ranged from working with constituents to being patient. But most interestingly, Council Member Wanda Adams suggested that Gonzalez go by a seersucker suit. Why? It seems everyone at City Hall likes wearing seersucker.
Just today, City Council Member James Rodriguez and Toni Lawrence both sported the seersucker look at council. I've seen Mayor White, Peter Brown, and Ronald green all turn up wearing the stuff. So there. Now that Ed Gonzalez has officially become an esteemed elected official, he has lots of work and a little shopping ahead.
Commissioners Court in downtown Houston was a busy place today. The ongoing drought conditions caused commissioners to unanimously pass a burn ban for the county. It will be in place for 90 days. Less certain, but more contentious, is what will happen with your Fourth of July fireworks.
County Judge Ed Emmett is considering a wide ranging ban on the use and sale of fireworks. The concern, obviously, is that amateur fireworks can be a big fire hazard given the dry spell. However, the people who run these fireworks stands testified emotionally at Commissioners Court that they don't wan the ban to happen.
The fireworks stand operators also brought along a bunch of kids from area high school bands. Many of these kids volunteer to sell fireworks during the summer. In return, the fireworks operators give a percentage of those profits to the band booster clubs. It's a major fundraiser for the bands, who use the money to pay for school trips, etc. Judge Emmett says he'll be making the decision soon, but it will be based on safety, not what is good for business.
On a different note, the Court did pass an ethics reform plan. There's been much controversy over the lack of ethics standards in Harris County ever since the scandals over former District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal as well as questionable emails from the staff of former Sheriff Tommy Thomas. Since then, ethics reform has been a stickler in the County, but with very little movement. The formation of an ethics review committee and the promise to put more data online for the public are important changes. Whether any of that will become reality... let's hope so.
Let's get a few things straight, the media doesn't decide what city facilities close. Council members do. They are elected to make the tough decisions, and face the good and the bad reactions from their constituents.
Last week, several media outlets, including this one, reported that the City Council is looking into the possibility of closing Brock Golf Course on the North side. Our information comes from an amendment offered by Council Member Anne Clutterbuck, which requested a study of all golf courses owned by the city. Although the amendment doesn't name Brock, several council members told us the original target of the amendment is Brock Golf Course. The Mayor didn't deny it during his news conference, and it was further confirmed by people inside the Parks Department, and many others as well.
Fast forward a week later, and a lot of concerned community members went to City Hall to voice their concerns about the potential course closure. That's when Council Member Jarvis Johnson, whose district Brock resides in, blamed the media for spreading false reports that Brock could close. He continued that line of attack today, claiming the media erroneously reported that Brock is on the chopping block, and that other Council Members left him out of the loop.
Well, late this afternoon, I got a hold of a copy of the original amendment before it was changed. It specifically talks about closing Brock. Every council member got a copy of this original amendment. See the photo below. Click to enlarge. The media did not make it up.
While no member of the media is perfect, no one has questioned any of our reporting, nor the reporting of other media outlets on this issue. That's because it was true. In fact, this afternoon, the entire City Council spent a ton of time on the Brock golf course and other golf courses. Council Member Toni Lawrence talked about how much money Brock is losing every year. Council Member Sue Lovell talked about turning Brock into a park, and on and on.
I can understand why it's difficult for one council member to explain to his community why a golf course should or should not close. However, don't blame the media. We didn't come up with the idea of closing a golf course, and we certainly don't get a vote on the issue. We just reported the facts. Facts that Council Member Jarvis Johnson knew full well. In the end, the public outcry led the amendment to be tabled. The golf course stays. Your elected officials spent two hours talking about it.
Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt was passed over for a job as the top cop of San Francisco. he was a finalist, but did not get the job. The Police Chief in Mesa, Arizona got the gig. That would be George Gascon, who was introduced by San Fran's mayor earlier today.
Former Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Bill White is set to be appointed as the next member of the METRO board. Terence Fontaine, who left the Mayor's office earlier this year, will be replacing Pastor James Dixon. Fontaine joined the private sector a few months ago, but it's no secret that he holds aspirations for higher political office. Fontaine was pretty popular during his tenure at the Mayor's office. I remember he cut down on the city's communications budget by getting rid of pagers when people had cell phones. He also was really into solving flooding problems around the city. The appointment, if approved, will give him a visible and powerful perch to develop his political acumen. No word on whether he'll ride the light rail to the board meetings.
Mayor Bill White sure is ramping up his campaign these days. Heck, his campaign Twitter username, TX4BillWhite, has about 1,100 followers. Okay, it's not quite a million, but they are Tweeting a lot.
Okay, back to what's going on today. It's the Mayor's 55th birthday, and his kids sent out a campaign appeal to donate $55 bucks to the Mayor on his birthday. Don't know how much money he'll pull in at tonight's birthday party yet, but he's been running around the state shaking hands and finding money.
Just last week, White’s campaign held a fundraiser for young people at Discovery Green. The price tag was light, around $25 bucks, but the idea was to get the younger set excited. The campaign was selling t-shirts with something that’s supposed to be considered a “hip” logo printed on them. The logo’s appeal was debatable. You can see for it yourself on this blog. I thought it tended to accentuate White’s ears more than normal. However, the event was fairly successful. They raised about $15,000. That’s decent for the cash bar, happy hour crowd.
Having young professionals events for politicians are nothing new. However, I’m always entertained by how many not-so-young folks showed up. Namely, there were three of the current five Mayoral candidates, a few judicial candidates, and several potential council members. White tried to be diplomatic, and didn’t refer to any of them by name. Gene Locke, Annise Parker, and Peter Brown all seemed to get along. Then again, they do have to go to a lot Mayoral forums from now until election day.
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HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A grand jury is considering whether or not to charge a local judge who is accused of vandalizing his neighbor's SUV. The neighbor says he caught the whole thing on video.
Woody Densen, a retired visiting judge in Harris County, is under investigation for possibly scratching a neighbor's car. Multiple sources have confirmed to Eyewitness News that Judge Densen is scheduled to testify in front of the grand jury later this week. The case centers on surveillance video captured by the neighbor. On it, the neighbor describes the man to be Judge Densen, first walking his dog, approaching the car and then appearing to pause behind the neighbor's trunk.
The neighbor says the judge then returns sometime later, without the dog. He claims again the judge pauses behind the vehicle, then continues walking. Investigators are trying to determine if Densen keyed or scratched the car and whether or not charges should be filed.
Our legal analyst says depending on what the grand jury decides, this could be extremely damaging to Judge Densen. "His law license is at stake, and that's a source of income and responsibility for him," explained KTRK legal analyst Joel Androphy. "This has an immense potential to disrupt his life, not just in the criminal arena, but in the State Bar of Texas."
see video below.
Tax Assessor Collector Leo Vasquez and his Associate Voter Registrar Ed Johnson has been the subject of plenty of accusations on the internet and in the media of late. This afternoon, Vasquez issued a long defense of Johnson, whose side gig of selling voter data alongside State Rep. Dwayne Bohac has come under scrutiny. You can see the full statement here. Download Response from Leo Vasquez. This is a portion of that statement:
The Texas Democratic Party, in conjunction with the Harris County Democratic Party, went on a legal fishing expedition last fall and filed a nuisance lawsuit against the Harris County Tax Office with unspecified aggrieved parties and unspecified remedies. ... They have most recently pointed their finger at Mr. Ed Johnson, the voter department’s associate director, and yelled "Witch!" due to his well-documented, and legal, outside business activities. You can watch my television coverage of the story below, and decide for yourself. However, Dr. Richard Murray, our political consultant, did say the whole thing "smells."
By all accounts, it's just a few thousand votes. The winner will have to run again in November anyway. But, judging by the number of emails and calls I've been getting you'd think the District H race to replace Sheriff Adrian Garcia is a race for Mayor or something. yesterday, I had a chance to talk to the two remaining candidates: Maverick Welsh and Ed Gonzalez. You can see a video of the story at the end of this link.
During the past few days, there's been much ink spilled over so called negative campaign flyers by Welsh. To be honest, after looking at the flyers, I thought they were pretty mild. Sure, Welsh might be acting like he's behind, and our political guru, Dr. Richard Murray, still says Gonzalez is the man to beat. However, it's not like either man is accusing the other of not living in the district, brandishing a gun, violating election laws, or any of those other things we've seen published by other people running for office.
Overall, the men have been pretty civil to each other. There might be some yard sign stealing going on, but in reality, it's nothing out of the ordinary. Besides, it'll all be over on Saturday. Or so we hope. May the best candidate win, and good luck in November.
Rep. Sylvester Turner is thinking about running for Mayor of Houston, again. His press folks just confirmed to me that he's "thinking it over" and will make a decision in two weeks. You'll remember that six years ago, Turner failed to make the runoff against Bill White, coming in third behind Orlando Sanchez.
He ran for Mayor before that as well, if you remembered what happened then, you've truly been around for a while.
Anyway, Rep. Turner, a Tom Craddick D, saw his Speaker Pro Tem job handed to Rep. Craig Eiland, (D) Galveston, this session in Austin. He was thinking of running for Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee's job, had she moved on to a job in the State Department. Since Jackson-Lee is staying put, so is Turner (and a whole bunch of other Dems.)
Anyway, with Gene Locke, Annise Parker, Peter Brown, and Roy Morales already in the race... is there room for one more?
Well, somebody had to jump in. You knew it was coming. So the Facebook group is up, the Twitter account his open, there's a website, and Sean Roberts' sister is awfully proud. His website, like all good local politicians, show a Houston skyline. It's just an exploratory committee for now. But, who knows? The email blasts have been going strong for the past 24 hours, it certainly looks like Sean has every intention of running.
The political reality is that anyone who wants to challenge Rep, Sheila Jackson-Lee will have an oh-so-uphill battle. For everything that is said or unsaid in the community, Jackson-Lee has incredible name ID. Running against her is betting against the odds. Still, a lot of people have wanted to.
When the whispers of Jackson-Lee possibly going to work for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton first surfaced, the names started jumping out. There was State Rep. Sylvester Turner, Council Members Jolanda Jones, Jarvis Johnson, and Ronald Green. Community activists like Marcus Davis and local attorneys including Marlen Whitley have all sort of publicly mulled over the idea. Now that Roberts actually has a website up, will someone else be willing to jump in? It's could get to be a very crowded pond, but we all know who the big fish still is... and she's not going anywhere.
Um.. the answer is, probably not. In fact, most bills died a slow, though not too painful death, depending on who you ask. Anyway, as I made it through the House chamber yesterday, there was Houston State Rep. Gary Elkins, with his ever trusty bags of mints. I guess he wants to make sure everyone debates with fresh breath. He says he goes through about 100 bags of the stuff every session. That's a lot of mints.
Meanwhile, things are either heating up or grinding to a halt on the TexasSenate, depending on who you ask. Senator John Carona of Dallas held a news conference yesterday, where he huffed angrily at his Republican colleagues. The Senator is threatening a filibuster over the Transportation bill. Senator Deuell was seen flying a mobile helicopter around the Senate chambers. Sorry, no photo of that.
Today, we are looking to see if the CHIP, or Children's Health Insurance Program, gets a much needed expansion. State Rep. Garnet Coleman is a big proponent of the program. He was delayed in Houston for much of yesterday, because he had a child graduating from high school But, he's back in fighting mood today, so we'll see if he can salvage the bill.
Stay tuned!
Judge Sim Lake (Enron Judge!) has dismissed a major case against the City of Houston.
Earlier this year, a group of local activists, including the Houston Hispanic Chamber, filed a lawsuit against the City of Houston to force redistricting this year. They wanted to add two council seats this year, therefore increasing the possibility that more Latinos would be elected to City Council. The argument being that according to the City Charter, the city must redraw lines when the population reaches a certain point.
The City resisted, saying they only wanted to redistrict AFTER the census because that is the official. Federal Judge Sim Lake agreed, saying in his opinion that the plaintiffs basically didn't prove how they were damaged by the city waiting for the census. I've uploaded an image of the final paragraph, just click and read. So, no new council seats for now. We'll have to wait another two years.
Jim McIngvale, otherwise known as Mattress Mac, made his way to City Council today to say "thanks." You know by now the famous furniture seller's warehouse burned down last Thursday. It was a spectacular fire that could be seen for miles.
Today, an emotional McIngvale spoke during public session at City Council. He said that basically, if it wasn't for the Houston Fire Department, the showroom would have burned as well. He said it was because of the HFD's heroic efforts that the showroom could be saved.
As McIngvale spoke, his voice choked up. Council members were quick to heap on the praise, telling him that if there is anything he needed, just ask. McIngvale says it will take about six months to rebuild the showroom.
Okay, there might be a small chance they came out for the good grub, but Cindy Clifford does a pretty good job of drawing the politicos and the movers and shakers to her little events. Earlier this week, Clifford toasted the folks from Klotz and Associates for some high quality mingling.
I think there was almost a quorum of City Council there. We saw Ronald Green and fellow controller candidate Pam Holm. Toni Lawrence, Sue Lovell, County Attorney Vince Ryan, the ever chipper County Clerk Beverly Kaufman, and former State Senator Jon Lindsay all made an appearance.
Speaking of Lindsay, the elder Lindsay is touting his son, Larry, as the next County Commissioner, when current Commissioner Jerry Eversole retires. Of course, a few other people will want that job too. Anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves.
A few judges made the rounds as well. We expect the political gossip/socialcircles to heat up as we get closer to the election this fall. Besides Clifford's little mixer, there are almost daily fundraisers, civic club meetings, and a few candidate forums. We'll try to make it out to a few more as the months go by, so you can see all the fun and sometimes frivolous stuff that goes on in local political circles.
As for the Klotz guys, they are engineers and drainage experts. They should have no problems staying busy, with hurricane season just around the corner. I can think of several flooding hot spots they should head to right now. Let's pre-engineer some drainage solutions!
I filed the story below yesterday, After the folks at METRO gushed that the federal government will be helping to fund the North and South routes. Will it actually happen? METRO Board Chair David Wolff says ground breaking will take place sometime in June. He says the biggest challenge is to find a date when all the Congressional Delegation will be in town. Therefore, groundbreaking will most likely be on a Saturday. Completion time? 2012.
You can see the video here, but basically, a neighborhood has been complainting for quite a while.. hoping City Hall listens. A neighborhood that has been around for decades is now dealing with a new problem -- flooding. They claim development around I-10 has caused flooding in the neighborhood between Bunker Hill and Blalock.
Kim Clack doesn't have much of a house to show off. On April 28, flood waters poured through the streets of west Houston and into her Bunker Hill home. "We had to take out 48 inches," said Clack of the damage.
Longtime homeowners say this could have been prevented if city leaders and big name developers had listened to their concerns years ago, but they didn't.
"We had neighborhood meetings. We talked. We expressed our concerns and they basically decided that our concerns were not practical," said homeowner Barbara Hunt.
Hunt says homeowners grew worried when a large development along I-10 and Bunker Hill were allowed to be built without additional retention, and when heavy rain fell, it ran off the parking lots and into their homes.
"I was answering emails about this," said Houston Mayor Bill White Monday.
But Mayor White says the developers didn't get special treatment because the property was already covered in asphalt before the developers bought the land and began building.
"If something is built, and somebody buys it form somebody where it already has some paved over and is already developed, we don't have new detention requirements," said Mayor White.
Mayor White says the city will invest $30 million to build and improve drainage across Houston, but it's too late for the Bunker Hill homeowners. They have a lot to clean up and no permanent solution in sight.
"They voiced their concerns whenever everything was built around here and Bunker Hill being widened, and now we're flooded and everyone's upset," said Clack.
The homeowners know they won't get a drainage basin, but they would like to see some retroactive drainage options for their area. So far, city leaders have no plans to do so.
Richard Vacar, head of the Houston Airport System, retired. Yesterday. I'm being told by the Mayor's office that Vacar has been talking about retiring for "a while." The Mayor's office is getting ready a news release on the retirement, and that Eric Potts will be the aiport system's acting director.
Vacar has been thehead of the airport for years. I asked Mayor White's person when did he know of Vacar's retirement. He replied "yesterday afternoon." I asked when Vacar's retirement was effective, he replied "yesterday afternoon."
Now waiting for the news release