When Texas legislators used their redistricting clout in 1991 to draw a Houston congressional district that a Hispanic could win, a wily state senator named Gene Green helped in the design. He had ulterior motives.
Ulterior motives, yes indeed. As they further note:
Green knew better, banking on the core group of Anglo voters he had represented for 19 years in the Texas House and Senate. The legislator jumped into the 1992 Democratic primary race, and with equal measures of luck and gritty campaigning, he managed to beat out then-Houston city councilman Ben Reyes in a marathon fight that was extended to a second runoff after the first was invalidated because of voter irregularities.
Pay close attention to that last line, we’ll get to it in a bit. For now, let’s focus on his recent town hall meetings. He started off in early August with three of them, covered here, here and here. Apparently, someone on his staff convinced him that the meetings were too disruptive and hostile, so he implemented a requirement for the next round that attendees had to produce a photo id and prove they were in his district.
Unfortunately, due to a coordinated effort to disrupt our town hall meetings, we will be restricting further attendance to residents of the 29th Congressional District and verifying residency by requiring photo identification.
The problem with that is, of course, that there has been no “coordinated effort to disrupt” these meetings. There have been attempts by President Obama’s OFA and FireDogLake to have supporters “stack” the meetings but as we know that hasn’t worked out very well. Besides which, the meetings weren’t disruptive on a large scale and Rep. Green had handled them with ease. Still, someone talked him into requiring a photo id. That person should be fired for exposing just how hypocritical Rep. Green is. First of, let’s talk about his record on requiring voters to provide identificaion. Twice, as a “representative” of the 29th, he has voted against requiring voters to produce identification. He joined with then Sen. Obama to defeat SC53 in 2005. He then voted NO on HR 4844, a bill introduced by Illinois Rep. Henry Hyde which would have required photo id for federal elections. Why would he be against those measures but require a citizen to produce a photo id simply to talk to him? We have to go back to that 1992 election for his answer. At both town hall meetings this week, he stated that the reason he was against voter id is because in his election in 1992 he had to spend a ton of money going through voter records and only found a handful of illegal votes. He stated it didn’t change a thing. Let’s look at the last line of that Houston Press article again:
he managed to beat out then-Houston city councilman Ben Reyes in a marathon fight that was extended to a second runoff after the first was invalidated because of voter irregularities.
Read that again. It was Ben Reyes that challenged the election results and the election was invalidated, forcing a second runoff. That is very, very different than telling his constituents that he doesn’t think voter id is required because there aren’t enough fraudulent votes to matter. Very different. In fact, it is so different that it just doesn’t fly. Come up with something else, Rep. Green. (click here for a NY Times article on that election) Let’s go ahead and accept that he is against voter id, regardless of the reason. Let’s take a look at his reason for wanting to require photo id to speak to him. First, his spokesperson claims that 8 of 10 attendees were found to be out of his district.
After the policy went into effect at the fourth town hall Green hosted this month, she said eight out of 10 attendees were found not to be constituents.
A huge exaggeration of what her boss said at the town halls. I’ll pull the videos if you don’t believe me. At the second town hall, he claimed that 40{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} were from out of district and told the crowd he wanted to hear from constituents. This week, at both town halls thus far, he upped that claim to 60{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. And stated again that he wanted to hear from his constituents. As did his spokesperson.
“Those people are welcome to call their members of Congress and voice their opinions,” she said, adding that Green is trying to listen to his constituents.
Trying to listen to his constituents. Rep. Green wants them to be heard so much that he is excluding people that are not in his district, telling them to call their own congressman. Let me ask you something. Is he going to require photo id from people donating to his campaign? Do you think constituents are heard when most of the money flowing into his campaign comes from outside his district? Let’s take a look at page 1 of his most recent campaign finance filing. There are three contributions listed for a total of $1,250.
| Name | City/St | Amount |
| Matthew Berzok | Washington, DC | $500 |
| Sharon Cohen | Potomac, MD | $250 |
| Susan Dobbs Curling | Humble, TX | $500 |
And that is just the first page, folks. Not a single one from his district. Want something even better? I cannot begin to tell you how many times Rep. Green has chastised the attendees at these town halls by telling them that if their congressman is Michael McCaul or Ted Poe, they need to go talk to them. Let’s take a look at Susan Dobbs Curling’s voter registration (certificate # 25484700). Did you notice who her congressman is? That’s right folks, Ted Poe. I wonder: is Rep. Green going to tell her to give that money to Rep. Poe from now on? Why is he accepting contributions from another congressional district if he thinks that only his constituents should be heard? Hypocrite.
Now I want to introduce you to Dr. John Hurr, DDS. Dr. Hurr stopped me last night and told me he had a story to tell. After listening to his story, about how he started a practice at 7912 Bayway in Baytown in 1968, about paying taxes in Rep. Green’s district every year since 1968, how he moved out of the district in 1973 but continues to work there, how he is guardian for his mother who lives in Rep. Green’s district, about calling Rep. Green’s office and explaining why he thought he should be allowed in his meeting only to be told no, I thought you’d like to hear it yourself. I think that Dr. Hurr’s story is important. Here we have a man that has paid taxes into Rep. Green’s district for 42 years yet cannot get in the door of a town hall meeting. As Leonard and Perry said at Tuesday’s town hall, that is un-American. Especially when they were letting some in without id, just ask Mary Ann Joeckl, who was allowed in after flat out telling the door watcher that she was not a constituent.
You know what I think? I agree with Dr. Hurr. That is pathetic. Pathetically hypocritical.