Ethics When?
May 3rd, 2008
Houston Chronicle
by Alan Bernstein
The Democratic candidate for chief of Harris County government criticized the Republican incumbent’s approach to ethics reform Friday in a demonstration of how Democrats plan to wage campaigns from multiple angles well ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
Democrat David Mincberg focused on the fact that an ethics task force appointed by County Judge Ed Emmett is considering recommending the establishment of a county ethics board to monitor government officials’ conduct.
“Having Harris County investigate its own ethical problems is a bit like bringing in the foxes to guard the hen house,” Mincberg wrote to the news media. “We need an independent board of ethics free of politics. We need real reform, now more than ever.”
Emmett was not reachable for comment Friday in India, where he was promoting international business opportunities for Harris County.
Emmett, whose private transportation consulting firm says it has affiliated operations in India, is paying for his own expenses on the official trip.
Emmett’s political consultant, Bryan Eppstein, responded Friday that Mincberg should first address any questions about whether the apartment complexes he developed were operated ethically.
“It sounds like he has enough to deal with in his own backyard,” Eppstein said.
Disputing allegations
Mincberg said his business record makes him the best candidate to run county government and that allegations about his former properties are an example of gutter politics.
The Democrat said that unlike Emmett, he would appoint a panel of experts to investigate all Harris County government real estate deals to determine if executives gain county contracts by contributing to the campaigns of elected officials.
Two-and-a-half months ago, Emmett appointed a task force to recommend ethics reforms in three months. The task force was created in response to scandals in county government such as the one that led to District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal’s resignation after the disclosure of lurid material and campaign communications on his county government computer.
The Texas Democratic Party this week criticized Emmett for participating in the India mission during a statewide hurricane preparedness drill involving dozens of county officials.
An Emmett spokesman said Democrats were playing politics with public safety, that Emmett already had been engaged in hurricane preparedness and that the India trip was planned before the safety drill.
Two-pronged attack
Also this week, Mincberg criticized Emmett over the county’s unsuccessful legal strategies — in a case related to the Rosenthal scandal — in which the county must pay more than $1.4 million in fees to the opposing side’s lawyers.
The multi-pronged criticisms displayed the Democrats’ strategy of having the party blast Emmett on some issues while Mincberg raises others.
The state party has deployed at least one official to Harris County, and the independent Texas Democratic Trust supported by trial lawyers has sent its own staffer here to help Democratic candidates try to regain control of judgeships and other elected county positions.
Mincberg said the coordinated efforts show that Democrats are “focusing on issues that, quite frankly, have not been addressed in a long time.”
Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill said his party is ready to meet the challenge and has won county elections in recent years when Democrats had declared they were finally able to do so.
“Democrats are trying to convince everyone that they are working harder and that this is going to be their year,” he said. “But the reality on the ground is that Republicans are more motivated than ever.”