Where to start today? Okay, look back at my post from August 2nd and you’ll see that I noted but soft-pedaled their ties to the Democratic Party. If only I had read this before going to that luncheon . That’s right, it is their own letter, one they wrote to Mr. Vasquez in July, well before I heard of them. They’ve released it as part of their joint PR campaign with “Top Houston political bloggers” in an effort to bolster their defense of their self-admitted fraud. The problem is that it does nothing of the sort and only goes to show that their entire campaign needs to be viewed in a negative light. Why do I say that? Because I know a little something about Harris County politics, the first lawsuit against the Tax Assessor Collector, and the reason it was settled so quickly, with the illusion but not reality of a Democratic “win”.
Look at that letter again and see not just the hostility from the outset but also to whom it is addressed. Not just to Mr. Vasquez but to the new Democrat Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan. Right off the bat, that tells me that Houston, we have a problem. You see, Vince Ryan is a partisan hack who did everything he could do to undermine Mr. Vasquez’s defense of the lawsuit filed against Paul Bettencourt. Hang in there, like I said yesterday, this is a complicated and big story.
Vince Ryan was swept into office in 2008 by the same numbnuts that thought Barack Obama was the next coming of the Messiah. In any ordinary year, his candidacy would have had about as much impact as a gnat on a cow’s butt. But thanks to the moronic new voters that simply walked into the booth and clicked on the big D straight party line, the guy squeaked out a victory. Here is a little background on him.
It turns out that Mr. Vasquez hired professional counsel to represent him in that lawsuit, a “super lawyer” by the name of Andy Taylor. Mr. Ryan, acting in his new role as county attorney, took control of the lawsuit and fired Mr. Taylor against the wishes of Mr. Vasquez. At the time, the three Republicans on the court chose to let Mr. Ryan’s dismissal of Mr. Taylor stand – why they would do this remains a mystery but I suspect they were a bit shell-shocked after the county wide Republican losses in 2008. Just a guess though.
Lest you think I’m blowing smoke here, think again. Look at this excerpt from a letter that Mr. Vasquez had to send Mr. Ryan ordering him to withdraw a motion from one of the subtexts of the lawsuit:
You gave me and the members of the Harris County Commissioners Court your personal promise to vigorously defend my Office in this litigation. Your actions via this filing have evidenced a clear breaking of that promise.
For more information on their adversarial relationship and Mr. Ryan’s undermining of Mr. Vasquez’s defense, read this motion from the suit. Now do you get the picture?
From the very beginning, Houston Votes SOUGHT a fight. They wanted this to happen. Is it any wonder that their efforts were so sloppy? Note that in this video, the one in which Project Director Sean Caddle admits that fraud has occurred, he says that “we send the cards through our own process internally, we do our best to clean up what we can”. And then think about the fact that Mr. Caddle himself submitted cards that were certain to be kicked out (slides 55 & 57). Suddenly, the immediate defense of Houston Votes and filing of yet another lawsuit by the Texas Democratic Party begins to make sense.
They wanted a fight, and they surely have one. Mr. Vasquez has confirmed that the Secretary of State’s Office has accepted his referral and has forwarded the information gathered by Mr. Vasquez’s office to the Texas Attorney General’s office for further investigation and possible prosecution. This ain’t New Jersey, Mr. Caddle.
Speaking of that referral, if “Top Houston political blogger” Perry Dorrell would have taken the time to read the statement put out by Mr. Vasquez or had a basic understanding of the voter registration system, he wouldn’t have made this erroneous statement in his attack on Mr. Vasquez (warning – the language Mr. Dorrell uses at his blog is Not Safe For Work at many companies):
Then turn it over the the DA or the AG and le (sic) them prosecute. Simple as that.
Um, dude, that is exactly what the press conference was for. Duh. Here, let me quote it for you:
As the official Voter Registrar of Harris County, Texas, I am referring the following patterns of action, along with associated documentation, for investigation and possible prosecution to the Texas Secretary of State and the Harris County District Attorney.
What? No cursing or vulgarity so you can’t understand that simple language? Damn, these “Top Houston political bloggers”, man, I don’t know about those guys.
In the same post, he links to the Kingwood Tea Party with a “Douchebags in Action” tag. Nice. Like I said yesterday, these people HATE you. Don’t ever forget that.
I don’t know much about this particular “Top Houston political blogger” “party blogger” having only met him once very briefly. After reading through his blog, it is obvious that he is afflicted with “white man guilt” (I suspect some of the other party bloggers are afflicted with this disease as well), as in “I wish someone would put a foot on my butt and kick me back into my mama so maybe I’d come out as a person of color because I’m white and have too many privileges in my life”. His is of the “angry I’m white” variety, so he gets very nasty at times. Click on the above link at your intellectual peril.
It is clear that Houston Votes is not the angelic organization that party bloggers (and the Bill White1 Texas Tribune) portray. More to come.
1 I stole that tagline from Cory Crow at Harris County Almanac.