Last week I posted a story about how a longtime Right wing Republican State Rep from Houston, Talmadge Heflin, was trying to steal an election against the Democratic candidate that beat him after 22 years of disservice to the people of Texas- Hubert Vo. The elections supervisor in Houston was sending vote counters home before the count was finished and changing the final tally in the middle of the night. She was scheduling recounts for times that she was forbidden to do so and doing a whole host of other crooked things. The Speaker of the Texas House- a longtime hatchet man for Tom DeLay and the subject of an ongoing corruption investigation- had sent Tom DeLay's stock attorney and defender of redistricting to Houston with the ominous words "don't come back without Heflin." As a result I posted the number for Talmadge Heflin and the elections supervisor.
I wanted to tell you the good news first- your efforts worked. The elections supervisor was quoted in the Houston Chronicle as being upset at all of the phone calls she was getting and pressure mounted on the Republican Secretary of State to rebuke the supervisor and order her to conduct a fair and legal count. After he did just that and a total of 2 dozen pollwatchers- a dozen from each party- as well has almost as many people from the media intensely scrutinized the final count, Vo won by 31 votes.
I wish I could just rest by saying "Job Well Done" and leaving it at that, but the fight isn't over. There are two options available to Heflin at this point. The first is a recount, which is unlikely to change the outcome of the election and will simply reinforce the fact that he lost the race. The second is much more likely and much more serious. There is a provision in Texas law- invoked only 3 times in the history of the state- that says that if one side can prove fraud occurred in the election, the Speaker of the Texas House (now a DeLay hatchet man, Right wing crook) can appoint a panel of Representatives to investigate the case with subpoena power and all of the rights of a traditional court to decide who won the race. They can seat either candidate or call for a new election. In the 3 previous cases Republican candidates barely won over Democrats in a time when the Democrats dominated the House (1981, 1993, 1995) and in two of the cases (93 and 95) the Democrats sided with the Republican- choosing fair elections over party loyalty. In one case (81) a new election was called for and the Republican won easily. But in the age of TRMPAC, redistricting, closed door meetings and the discarding of long time rules and traditions, who knows what can happen.
There is an incredibly high chance that the GOP will manufacture evidence of corruption where none exists. Threats against immigrant businessmen, bribes, blowing things out of proportion and using the dominant GOP machine in Harris County to rig up a case against Vo are all very likely possibilities. And with such a hard right, ethically-challenged House, it is also likely that the man with fewer votes will win the election. We need to turn the tables on the GOP and point out that after 2 counts, both under intense scrutiny from the media and both political parties Vo has still come out on top. Get ready to call in to radio shows, write letters to the editor and keep the heat up. In the meantime, call Heflin and tell him that fair is fair and the people of Texas don't like sore losers:
TALMADGE HEFLIN -- 281-530-1110 Campaign office
campaign@talmadgeheflin.com