White profited from co. hired during Rita
AUSTIN, Texas — Former Houston Mayor Bill White, who was widely praised for guiding his city through Hurricane Rita, acknowledged to The Associated Press that he made money off one one of the private companies he had enlisted for help.
The revelation comes as White, the Democratic candidate for Texas governor, released tax returns dating back to 2004, when he took the reins at Houston City Hall.
As the storm was walloping Houston in September 2005, White helped line up private companies to provide goods and services as part of a massive relief effort. One of those companies was Btec Turbines, where White had served on the board of directors. White said he called the company to help, and the company then got an emergency contract with the Coastal Water Authority.
A little more than a year later, White invested about $1 million in the privately held Btec, and has reported more than $500,000 in profit. .
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Drip, drip... and so it begins... Bill White personally profited from Hurricane...
Bill White fails to release his full taxes...
This is just sad...high school kids try to organize debate... but Bill White won't release his taxes...
EL PASO, Texas -- The Coronado High School students at the KFOX studios on Saturday weren't even old enough to vote, but that's not keeping them from getting involved in the political process."What better than a gubernatorial debate held here at a high school, and run and completely youth generated by students and by other youth in the community," said Rachel Jackson, a junior at the school.They've already decided to have the debate in September at the 1,000-seat fine arts auditorium at Coronado High School. They have the Texas Association of Broadcasters signed on to broadcast it statewide, and young people can submit questions for the candidates via their Facebook page.
The Texas press repeat most of Bill White's press releases verbatim...
Kay left out of the Chamber of Commerce's awards...
Got spirit?
Texas Republicans, as usual, cleaned up in this year's "Spirit of Enterprise Awards" given by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which awarded lawmakers for their pro-business record during the first session of the 111th Congress.
In fact, almost the entire 20-member Texas GOP U.S. House delegation were winners.
There were two exceptions to the Republican sweep -- U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was not on the list, nor was U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson.
Oh, and none of the Lone Star State's 12 U.S. House Democrats won, either.
Monday, June 7, 2010
How badly will Bill White's membership in an anti-gun group hurt him in November?
"There is really no such thing as a moderate position on guns that's going to help in Texas," said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.
As mayor of Houston, White joined Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group that supports individual gun rights, but wants more controls on gun show sales, restrictions on the reach of conceal-and-carry laws and more oversight of federal gun purchase records.
White said he joined the gun-control group in 2006 at the urging of its founder, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. That year, Houston's crime rate hit a 12-year high.
"I joined because Mayor Bloomberg told me that that we needed to do more to crack down on guns which were transported in violation of federal law," White told The Associated Press. "I believe that people shouldn't steal guns and sell them to people where it's against the law for them to have guns, period."
In 2009, facing his first statewide political campaign, White quietly resigned from the group. White says he quit because the group opposed a federal law that would have allowed conceal-carry permit holders to carry their firearms across state lines.
Perry spokesman Mark Miner questioned White's reason for leaving the group, saying he only quit after he caught flak from pro-gun Democrat John Sharp when both were running for the U.S. Senate. White's name had appeared earlier on a letter opposing the expansion of rights for conceal-carry permit holders.
"He's totally lying," Miner said. "He is anti-gun and he'll do anything including lying to try to get elected."
Arizona Consultant helps Green Party onto Texas ballot, Rick to blame?
AUSTIN – The liberal Green Party's uphill battle to get on the Texas ballot this fall has been fueled by a surprising benefactor: an out-of-state Republican consultant with a history of helping conservative causes and GOP candidates.
If the state validates the petitions the consultant arranged for the party – for free – a Green Party slate could drain support from Democrat Bill White in his bid to oust Republican Gov. Rick Perry.
What's unknown is who paid for the previously undisclosed arrangement, pieced together by The Dallas Morning News. Green Party officials said they don't know who funded the effort. The Perry campaign denied any involvement. And Arizona Republican operative Tim Mooney, who set up the petition drive, refused to say.
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"It's good news for Rick Perry, in the sense that the Green Party label draws votes away from White rather than Perry," said Rice University political science professor Mark Jones. "It's likely to take a small amount from White. This is only going to have an effect if it's a very close election."
Perry campaign spokesman Mark Miner said the governor's campaign had nothing to do with the petition-gathering effort and knew of no supporter who might have bankrolled it.
"But it's a democracy, and they're free to run," he said. "If they have the signatures to quality for the ballot, they'll be part of the race."
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Asked last week whether the Texas petition drive was aimed at helping Perry, Mooney said: "I don't know if it benefits any individual person or whatever. It's all up to what the individual voter wants.
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Minor parties typically draw a very small percentage of the vote in statewide races. But if the battle between Perry and White is close, as some analysts expect, the campaigns will be counting on each ballot.
White campaign spokeswoman Katy Bacon said it was premature to comment on how the help for the Green Party was arranged. But of Perry, she said, "we do know he'll say and do anything."
[SNIP]
Jones, the Rice political scientist, said the Green candidate will give voters "another option on the left."
"If they don't vote for Bill White, their options are a Libertarian or Rick Perry. This gives them another option," he said. "Given the disenchantment with incumbents in general and mainstream politics, it's likely to get 1 or 2 percent. So that's bad news for White."