If the THpb’s had bothered to ask a few Republicans about the issue before blockquoting and spewing the garbage they have, they would have found out that Leo Vasquez has promoted Voter Registration at his own peril. Yes, that is correct, he attempted to register more voters and that was one of the whisper campaigns against him in the Republican primary. You see, many Republican primary voters are still of the mindset that smaller is better because it makes each person more important. They figure that by registering more people, their vote is diluted. Of course, this would require that all these newly registered voters get up and vote, which in reality doesn’t seem to happen, but they believe it nonetheless.
In addition, Mr. Vasquez had the nerve to go into minority communities and register voters! And that really doesn’t set well with those neanderthals that continue to believe that minority voters are automatic Democrat voters. Which, if you really sit and ponder it, is one of the reasons minorities DO tend to vote Democrat. The truth is different. The truth is that minority voters aren’t much different than non-minority voters when it comes to everyday values. A person of black or brown descent is just as likely to be conservative as they are to be liberal. They are probably less likely to be “progressive” because “progressives” tend to focus on social issues from a liberal point of view. Many blacks and browns are very socially conservative and should be natural allies with the right. Unfortunately, we haven’t engaged them very well – until now. Think not? Meet Raging Elephants or the Latino National Republican Coalition.
Back to Mr. Vasquez. The THpb’s could have called the tax office and inquired about the number of voter registration efforts held this year by the Tax Office if they wanted the truth. I did. No, once again, it wasn’t some super secret Republican controlled number I called. I left a detailed message with Anna Nunez, the Community Outreach Director for the Tax Office, whom I met when I attended this town hall, held by…Mr. Vasquez. Sometimes, it pays to get out and meet people instead of sitting behind a keyboard and blockquoting news reports.
After a day or so, I received a call from Fred King, who also works in the office. Ms. Nunez had passed my request to Mr. King and he had pulled up all of the various meetings at which Mr. Vasquez had sent representatives from his office to REGISTER VOTERS (yes, I’m screaming there). Mr. King told me that between January 1, 2010 and August 31, 2010, Tax Office personnel had participated in over 350 events trying to REGISTER VOTERS (screaming again). These events included Republican events, Democratic events, festivals, union events,carnivals, health fairs, etc. Even, now get this, one event organized by…Organizing for America! That’s right, Barack Obama’s very own little Democratic Party machine enlisted the HELP of Leo Vasquez’s office.
And yet the Top Houston political bloggers spread the lie that Leo Vasquez is a voter suppression machine. All it took was a phone call.
I also asked about the process. You know, as in, I’m a volunteer deputy registrar, I go out and get a hundred cards filled in, what the heck happens after that? Hey, I thought it was a good question! Here is what happens.
First, the deputy presents the cards to an employee at the tax office. Not to Mr. Vasquez, not to a Republican insider, not to a supervisor, not to an assistant supervisor, but to a random front line county employee. Raise your hand if you think that employee is a Republican plant. Now spank yourself for your idiocy.
Next, that same random front line county employee scans the bar code from each card and gives the deputy a receipt. That is called traceability. Raise your hand if you think that a Republican programmer hacked the system and provides fake receipts. Now spank yourself again for your idiocy.
Next, the employee scans the card and creates an electronic copy. The original is then filed for traceability. The electronic copy is routed to another employee to be input into the county system. That employee attempts to input the card – if critical data is missing, a attempt to send a notice is made. Obviously, if there is no address, it is hard to send a notice but you get the idea.
Now, think about this for just a millisecond. At what point does that great Republican suppression machine get an opportunity to suppress the voter registration process? Do you seriously think that a bunch of R’s are working the frontlines at the tax office? If so, raise your hand, proceed accordingly.
These frontline workers aren’t stupid. If they are processing a batch of records, they notice the deputy’s name. They also notice addresses, right. I mean, if you type the same address five times in a row, you’re probably going to notice it. Same goes for David Jennings, Dave Jennings, D Jennings, DP Jennings, BigJolly Jennings – you’re going to notice that. And that is how the problem with Houston Votes came to the attention of the supervisors. Workers noticed. Again, if you think it was some R machine, raise your hand, proceed to spank.
Mr. Vasquez is about five layers up and yet we are supposed to believe that he is deliberately suppressing voter registration cards. If that kind of thinking gets you to the “top” of Houston’s political blogging, it doesn’t say much for the “top”, now does it? All they had to do was call. But they didn’t bother and I don’t think it would have changed anything if they had. After all, one of the people that they are accusing of being part of this Republican led voter suppression machine is a well known left of left Houston activist that happens to be a county employee.
Let’s choose a “Top Houston political blogger” to mock. Hmm, so many choices…we’ll go with John Cobarruvias (aka John Coby) of Bay Area Houston (warning – sometimes NSFW). Let’s just take the first paragraph of one of many attacks on Mr. Vasquez, this one titled Harris County Voter Registrar, Leo Vasquez, should resign.
Leo Vasquez, the Tax Assessor Collector and Voter Registrar should resign while another lawsuit against him and his office for voter suppression winds its way through the United States Department of Justice. Vasquez, after surrendering in a settlement in 2009 for voter suppression, cost the taxpayers over $70,000 in attorney’s fees and agreed to abide by 29 specific rules.
Where to start? Well, first off, shouldn’t a “Top Houston political blogger” be required to know that lawsuits don’t wind their way through an office of the Executive Branch? Just to make certain, I re-read the press release from the Texas Democratic Party announcing the lawsuit:
Today, the Texas Democratic Party filed suit in federal court against Leo Vasquez, in his capacity as Voter Registrar in the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector’s office.
Yep, just as I thought. Federal Court. First sentence at that. For those not “in the know”, Federal Courts are not the same as or under the jurisdiction of, the US Department of Justice. Gotta be “in the know” to know that, I guess.
Then we get the “surrendering” narrative. I addressed that earlier, you are welcome to read the settlement again, just click here.
Then Mr. Coby (I think I know why he shortened it, have you tried typing it?) proceeds to say that “Vasquez…cost the taxpayers over $70,000”. Poppycock. Mr. Vasquez didn’t cost the taxpayers a dime. The Texas Democratic Party cost the taxpayers $70,000 by filing the bogus lawsuit which was settled because the county attorney didn’t want to fight it. All of that is public information, yet this “top” guy doesn’t bother to use it because that isn’t what “party bloggers” do.
That is just the first paragraph from one of six attacks the guy has made on Mr. Vasquez since the original press conference on 8/23. Like I said in the first one, these guys just don’t need no truth.
A more fun one to mock would have been his thinking that Republicans burned up the voting machines to help Rick Perry. These people are bizzaro.
I can’t blame white-guilt for this one as Mr. Coby (who ditched his heritage name) is of some type of Latino descent himself. Who knows what drives his vitriol towards white folks? Was he picked on as a child by a white bully? Left in the rain by a white babysitter? Given a failing grade in high school government class by a white teacher? Is he envious of white skinned people? Could be anything, I guess. Just for fun, here is a snipped that once again shows he is clueless about history and might have a grudge because we are invaders:
Maybe they need to remember that we were in this state before they decided to do what they do best even to this day, invade other countries.
I’ll let you play with that one.
But I think I have a clue as to why he hates Leo Vasquez so much. Think he doesn’t? Heck, Paul Bettencourt was in office 8 years and Mr. Coby only mentions him 32 times in his screeds. Leo Vasquez has only been in office a year and eight months yet is mentioned 30 times. Big dog’s ratio is about right given the high profile lawsuit and Bettencourt’s resignation in 2008, mentioning Bettencourt 429 times and Vasquez 203 times. Plus, the attacks on Mr. Vasquez are vicious and personal. What could drive that?
How about old fashioned jealousy? Hey, why not? Two males of Latino heritage, one successful, one…maybe not as much as he’d like? I mean, Mr. Vasquez has an undergraduate degree from Yale, an MBA from Columbia, was successful on Wall Street, successful in manufacturing, successful in consulting, and serves on the boards of many public and private firms. Mr. Coby? Well, I guess he is a “Top Houston political blogger”.
Bottom line? If you are looking for truth, don’t read party bloggers. More to come.