Texas Watchdog

• Additional media coverage of the tax return issue in the Houston mayor’s race

  A few weeks ago, Texas Watchdog called on Houston’s mayoral candidates to release their tax returns going back three years. Annise Parker released her tax returns soon after. And late last week, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, Gene Locke released his. We appreciate the candidates doing so. We asked for them [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 2:49pm EST
  by Trent Seibert

• KHOU-TV features Texas Watchdog in story looking at Houston car ‘booting’

  Thanks to Lee McGuire and KHOU 11 News for featuring Texas Watchdog in a story examining booting illegally parked cars for a news feature on Friday. If you haven’t see Texas Watchdog’s version of the booting issue — and the potential conflicts surrounding it — please give it a read. There’s more [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 1:03pm EST
  by Trent Seibert

• Houston mayoral hopeful Gene Locke finally lifts veil on personal finances

  Locke's release of his tax forms comes three weeks after Texas Watchdog called on Locke and opponent Annise Parker to make their tax forms public so voters could judge whether the two candidates had conflicts of interest that might cloud their decision-making as mayor. Parker made public her tax forms [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 4:56pm EST
  by Steve Miller

• Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke releases income tax returns; view the tax returns here

  Number of comments: 1
  Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke released three years of income tax returns today, following a request by Texas Watchdog on Nov. 4 for Locke and opponent Annise Parker to release their tax returns. Parker released forms for herself and her longtime domestic partner, accountant Kathy Hubbard, two weeks ago. Check back [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 3:44pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke tells Texas Watchdog he will release tax forms “soon” (with video)

  Houston mayoral hopeful Gene Locke will release his tax forms “soon,” he told Texas Watchdog Monday evening at a fundraiser in River Oaks. A cordial Locke emerged from a maroon Chevrolet SUV, with his wife at his side, and said he was ready to release the personal tax forms to “everybody.” [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 9:01am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal and Steve Miller

• Houston Mayor Bill White to run for governor? We’ve got the new candidate’s details

  If you haven’t heard already, there’s more talk today that there’s a new face in the race for Texas governor, and it looks a whole lot like Houston Mayor Bill White. That’s the word from Chron.com as well as the Texas Tribune, with the word attributed in both cases to [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 1:59pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Houston parking commissioners launched ‘booting’ firm after crafting rules for program

  Number of comments: 1
  Two members of the city of Houston's Parking Commission who helped craft the rules for the city's "booting" program for illegally parked vehicles last year joined forces as partners in a new business just before the new rules were approved by the city. Their new business venture? It's a company [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 12:50pm EST
  by Steve Miller

• Houston Chronicle: Settlement delay costs Houston Independent School District $82 million

  The Houston Independent School District has missed out on $82 million in technology upgrades while feds investigate whether employees accepted improper gifts from school vendors, the Houston Chronicle reports. Superintendent Terry Grier said this week that the district is nearing a legal settlement so that schools can get the funds for [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 10:39am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Public not invited to meetings about Brownsville master plan

  Brownsville city and civic officials have met privately about a growth plan for the city. The Brownsville Herald has the story: Elected and appointed officials of public entities have been meeting to prepare for the implementation of the city’s near $900,000 master plan called “Imagine Brownsville” — but most Brownsville residents have [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 12:22pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Federal stimulus Web site says $14.7 million in aid went to Texas Congressional districts that don’t exist

  Number of comments: 2
  Texas is big. But it isn’t quite this big. The federal Web site tracking stimulus money shows aid dollars going to Texas’ 91st Congressional District, as well as five others that don’t exist and a curious district by the number 00. All told, the site recovery.gov lists $14.7 million going to districts [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:25am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Houston Chronicle: Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker criticizes Gene Locke’s business ties

  Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker has been relentless in her criticism of fellow candidate Gene Locke’s ties to quasi-governmental groups that helped fill the coffers of his law firm, Andrews Kurth. The Houston Chronicle offers this wrap of yesterday’s back-and-forth: Locke’s firm, Andrews Kurth, has reaped more than $17 million in the [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 1:44pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• NewsRadio 740 KTRH interviews Texas Watchdog on Houston mayor tax return issue

  The NewsRadio 740 KTRH AM morning team interviewed Texas Watchdog this morning about Houston Mayoral candidate Annise Parker about Parker making public her tax returns. Right after the Nov. 3 election that led to the runoff, we asked for the tax returns of both Parker and opponent Gene Locke to see [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 10:19am EST
  by Trent Seibert

• KHOU spotlights Texas state Senate travel, including Maui trip, Ritz-Carlton hotel stay, private plane use

  Big thanks to KHOU 11 News for doing their own take on our state Senate travel story. Their report aired at 10 Friday night: Records show that while at a legislative conference in New York, Houston Sen. Rodney Ellis billed taxpayers for two nights at the Ritz Carlton, at a rate of [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 2:07pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Tribune, Sunlight blog on publication of Annise Parker’s tax returns

  Number of comments: 1
  We wanted to express our gratitude to both the Texas Tribune and the Sunlight Foundation for giving us shout-outs yesterday for our publication of Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker’s income tax returns. Thank you! [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 7:16am EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Will mayoral candidate Gene Locke release his tax returns?

  It’s been nine days now since Texas Watchdog called on the two contenders for mayor to release their income tax returns. Annise Parker has given up hers. So, where’s Gene Locke, and will we get to see his tax returns? Since we made our public request on Nov. 4, we haven’t [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 11:10am EST
  by Steve Miller

• Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker releases tax returns for self, partner to Texas Watchdog

  Number of comments: 1
  Annise Parker has made public the personal federal income tax returns for herself and her longtime domestic partner, responding to a request by Texas Watchdog earlier this month of both Parker and her opponent, attorney Gene Locke. Locke still has not made his tax forms public. [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 6:17am EST
  by Steve Miller

• More nontraditional funding of journalism: Labor unions funding news outlets

  David Westphal at the Online Journalism Review reports that labor unions are funding two new news organizations, a move he reminds us is not unprecedented in the history of news: Just in the last several months, two labor unions in southern California have provided six-figure funding for very different kinds of [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 4:26pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Gas tax hike buzz; jet-setting Senate transportation committee chairman John Carona keeps door open for gas tax hike

  Number of comments: 1
  A gas tax hike could be coming for Texas drivers. The El Paso Times covered a meeting of a legislative transportation committee where the idea was discussed: Some legislators concerned about how to pay for new highways in Texas suggested looking at increasing the 20 cents a gallon state fuel tax. [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 4:22pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Texas autopsy center subject to open records laws?

  An autopsy center with offices in Beaumont, Conroe and Tyler has asked the state attorney general to determine whether it is subject to the Texas Public Information Act. The Longview News-Journal has the story: The Southeast Texas Forensic Center … submitted the question to the state Oct. 6 after a Central Texas [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 12:03pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• What does the Texas Watchdog team do to relax on the weekends? Cover more news…

  You may have noticed a familiar name in the many bylines filing from Fort Hood, Texas this weekend. Texas Watchdog’s Steve Miller was tapped by the Washington Times to file stories about the killing rampage there for the Times’ national desk. Steve is back in Houston today, though, sifting through records [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 8:56am EST
  by Trent Seibert

• Houston City Council member’s shower plan all wet

  Number of comments: 7
  A proposal to build a shower in the women’s restroom near City Council offices in Houston’s City Hall Annex is dead, according to a councilman who opposed the project. At-Large City Councilmember Jolanda Jones, an attorney and an alum of the reality show Survivor, bikes to work each day. Last summer, [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 2:18pm EST
  by Steve Miller

• Politico highlights Congressional travel; make sure to check out Texas Watchdog’s story on taxpayer-funded state senator travel

  Politico has put the spotlight on travel by members of Congress paid for by outside groups. The story highlights international trips that lawmakers, and sometimes their family members, took, and says that in 2009 outside groups have spent more than $140,000 on such travel for senators. Two years after Congress toughened [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:17pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Sen. Judith Zaffirini’s travel, per diem costs: A correction to the final tally

  Sen. Judith Zaffirini spent about $58,800 on travel expenses and per diem payments over a year and a half period, outspending her state Senate colleagues. That’s based on a review of electronic travel records from Jan. 1, 2008, to May 1, 2009, that Texas Watchdog used as the basis for [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 10:55am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Texas state lawmakers can dip into campaign cash for travel, accept travel from special interests

  Texas lawmakers have multiple funds they can dip into to fund their travel. Our story published today looked at the bucket of money furnished by the state taxpayers. But lawmakers’ travel costs are routinely picked up by special interests or groups organizing the events. That kind of travel can be found [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 4:44pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Texas State Sen. Judith Zaffirini tops in travel spending; Kirk Watson lowest

  Sen. Judith Zaffirini spent more than $77,000 about $58,800 on her daily stipend and travel costs over a year and a half, more than any other senator during that time period. State travel records showed the bulk of Zaffirini’s spending was for her $139 per diem, a flat-rate daily stipend for [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 3:07pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Texas state senators travel in style; taxpayer money used for luxury hotels, private planes

  Number of comments: 3
  Texas state senators have used taxpayer money to attend a conference in Maui, stay overnight at a Ritz-Carlton in New York, and fly on charter or private planes. That's according to a Texas Watchdog review of expense reports and travel logs covering a year and a half. [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:16am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Sen. Robert Duncan’s hired flights

  (Return to story on state senators’ travel. Go to page 1 and page 2.) Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, spent more than $15,800 on flights through the state Department of Transportation or chartered through a hometown firm, Lubbock Aero. That’s according to state travel records covering Jan. 1, 2008 through May 1, [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:13am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Sen. Carlos Uresti’s hired flights

  (Return to story on state senators’ travel. Go to page 1 and page 2.) Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, billed $15,100 for four flights from TxDOT’s aviation division. That’s according to a year and a half of state travel records. Get more details on the flights: * A Feb. 9, 2008 flight between [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:12am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• State senators rack up big bills using charter flights, personal planes

  Number of comments: 4
  Continued from page 1. Where are senators traveling? Check out some highlights by clicking on the Google Map below. Click the text below the map to see a larger version. View Texas state senators’ travel, 2008-09 in a larger map Most senators bought commercial plane tickets when they needed to travel by air, [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:11am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Searchable database of Texas state senators’ travel expenses

  (Return to story on state senators’ travel. Go to page 1 and page 2.) Here is a database of Texas state senators’ travel expenses from Jan. 1, 2008, to May 1, 2009. The information is in two tables. The first table includes all per diem payments made to senators during that time, including [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 8:49am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal & Jennifer Peebles

• Tomorrow at Texas Watchdog: Texas state senators use taxpayer cash to fly to Maui, stay in luxury hotels, ride in private charter planes

  Number of comments: 3
  The Texas Watchdog team did some digging through the receipts submitted by Texas state senators for travel on the taxpayer dime. Here’s what we found: Texas state senators have racked up tens of thousands of dollars on the taxpayer’s tab jetting around the state in charter planes, relaxing in luxury hotels [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 5:16pm EST
  by Trent Seibert

• Texas Watchdog asks for the tax returns of Gene Locke and Annise Parker; voters deserve fully vetted Houston mayor

  Texas Watchdog has asked the mayoral candidates for their IRS tax returns for the last three years. Our email this morning to the campaigns of Annise Parker and Gene Locke asks: As part of our ongoing efforts to promote government transparency, Texas Watchdog asks that you release to us three years’ worth [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 10:42am EST
  by Trent Seibert

• A big welcome to the newly launched Texas Tribune

  We wanted to tip our hat to a cool new site that launched today, the Texas Tribune. We (as in “we the people”) can’t have enough eyes on government these days, so we’re glad for their arrival. Like us, they’re a nonprofit operation. So check out their site when you [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 1:19pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Council candidate Noel Freeman filing ethics form — that leaves five candidates still missing

  Noel Freeman, candidate for the City Council At-Large Position 4 currently held by Ronald C. Green, plans to get a copy of his personal financial statement to the city secretary’s office today — in fact, he may already have done so by the time you read this. You might have [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 3:36pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Pound signs (’#') on Twitter and what they mean

  Are you tired of seeing “#txlege” and “#tcot” and “#txsboe” in Twitter messages and not being able to figure out what all this stuff means with “#” in front of it? I’ve got a quick-and-dirty explainer that you need to read — it’s my newest post for the Society of [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 2:33pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Grits for Breakfast: Texas AG Greg Abbott ‘thwarting transparency’

  One of our favorite blogs, the law-related site Grits for Breakfast, is putting a whipping on Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for not making public records public in cases like school districts’ police forces’ use-of-force policies and the Cameron Todd Willingham execution case: There’s just no excuse for keeping these [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 1:38pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles