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Texas: Harris County Tax Assessor

November 13, 2009 - 10:36 pm
NEWS FEED: Bay Area Houston

Team Locke in desperation mode

By johncoby@sbcglobal.net (John Coby)

Gene Locke is looking for votes anywhere he can, even from the white wing of the right wing party including Paul Bettencourt who quit just a few days after being re-elected to the Harris County Tax Assessor. What could be worse than seeking the endorsement of a quitter? How about...... seeking the endorsement of Steven Hotze?

Locke has also met with and sought the endorsement of Dr. Steven Hotze, a longtime local kingmaker in conservative politics and author of the Straight Slate in 1985, a coterie of eight City Council candidates he recruited who ran on an anti-gay platform.

Of course this may help Locke with the white wing loony right, but who knows what they intend to do.

Read More at Bay Area Houston >
There have been 2 comments posted in response to this story.

July 29, 2009 - 07:46 pm
NEWS FEED: Bay Area Houston

Harris County Tax Assessor under fire again.

By noreply@blogger.com (John Coby)

Now this is interesting. According to Lone Star Project, Ed Johnson, the deputy voter registrar of Leo Vasquez office, (Leo took over the office of Tax Assessor and Collector when Paul Bettencourt quit, much like Sarah Palin) is under fire again.
Last month, the Lone Star Project revealed that Harris County Associate Voter Registrar, Ed Johnson, is a paid employee of a GOP political consulting firm, Campaign Data Systems (CDS), owned by Republican State Representative Dwayne Bohac. On the firm’s website Bohac boasted that the CDS voter data file is enhanced by information culled from “driver license” records.

Read More at Bay Area Houston >
There have been 28 comments posted in response to this story.

July 2, 2009 - 05:46 pm
NEWS FEED: Bay Area Houston

Clear Lakers to teabag again.

By noreply@blogger.com (John Coby)

Clear Lake teabaggers are going to have a rally on the 4th of July with special guest speaker Paul Bettencourt, the same Bettencourt who quit as Harris County Tax Assessor just two weeks after winning the election. His topic will be "Sticking it out during hard times".

Bettencourts' former office has come under fire recently concerning the Assistant Voter Registrar who has been moonlighting selling voter data on the side.

Those interested in teabagging each other are encouraged to attend. If you need a teabag partner, one will be provided.

Read More at Bay Area Houston >
There have been 55 comments posted in response to this story.

June 26, 2009 - 07:39 am
NEWS FEED: Bay Area Houston

More emails from Gov. Mark Sanford

By noreply@blogger.com (John Coby)

As a friend of mine said: Don't ever write something on an email that you don't want spread on the internet. It can be a huge buzz kill, much like the following chat room discussion with Gov. Mark Sanford:

Sanford has entered the room.
Sanford: Anyone here yet?

Newt has entered the room.
Ensign has entered the room.
Craig has entered the room.

Newt: Here!

Ensign: Me too!

Craig: I am not gay.

Vitter has entered the room.
Vitter: I did her!

Sanford: Thanks for coming. As you know I have sinned, got caught, and tried to cover it up. Damnit. I am screwed. Any advice?

Newt: Dont worry about it. Take a few years off, then run for President.

Read More at Bay Area Houston >
There have been 53 comments posted in response to this story.

June 22, 2009 - 08:56 pm
NEWS FEED: Bay Area Houston

Leo Vasquez releases emails.

By noreply@blogger.com (John Coby)

Well, Give the Harris County Tax Assessor credit for releasing some of the emails between Ed Johnson, assistant voter registrar and State Representative Dwayne Bohac concerning the voter registration data. It is clear something hot and heavy is going on between the two. The emails are very damning.

Take a look. This is a few from a conversation over a couple of days in July 2008:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Almost ready
From: Ed Johnson
Date: July 14, 2008 16:53:35 PM CDT
To: Dwayne Bohac

Dwayne,
Data is ready. Have to merge the drivers license info and HCAD data. Then, create a report and download the data in your format.

Read More at Bay Area Houston >
There have been 50 comments posted in response to this story.

June 11, 2009 - 07:43 am
NEWS FEED: Bay Area Houston

What did he do and when did he do it?

By noreply@blogger.com (John Coby)

Ed Johnson is the associate voter registrar at the Harris County Tax Assessor office as well as a paid director of Computer Data Systems selling voter information to republican candidates. It seems odd that a county official in charge of voter information is actually selling that information to his republican buddies, especially since that information is public records. From the Houston Chronicle:
Ed Johnson is associate voter registrar at the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office, where he’s worked since 1999. He’s also a paid director for Computer Data Systems, a venture started in 2003 with state Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston. The company sells the same voter information Johnson is paid by taxpayers to manage in a nonpolitical manner.

Read More at Bay Area Houston >
There have been 49 comments posted in response to this story.

June 9, 2009 - 06:23 am
NEWS FEED: Bay Area Houston

Harris County Tax Assessor needs to fire someone

By noreply@blogger.com (John Coby)

Paul Bettencourt's office has some explaining to do in a lawsuit filed against them for voter suppression. Turns out there is much more to the story than expected. KHOU has the story:
Johnson is the associate voter registrar at the Harris County Tax Assessor Collectors office, but according to state documents, that's just his day job. Johnson is also a paid director of a small company that provides voter data to Republican candidates for office. That company, Campaign Data Systems, billed at least $140,000 in 2008.
But there is even more to this. From Off the Kuff:
Campaign Data Systems happens to be owned by

Read More at Bay Area Houston >
There have been 54 comments posted in response to this story.