Huffman (SD-17 GOP candidate) violates law with rally at poll

[PDittie]

Joan Huffman's campaign for state Senate appears to have broken the law against campaigning on property where voting is taking place, Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman said today.

Republican Huffman, opposing Democrat Chris Bell in next Tuesday's state Senate District 17 runoff, hosted a barbecue luncheon for voters today inside the Tracey Gee Community Center in far west Houston. Early voting in the state Senate election is taking place through Friday in another room in the same building.

Commissioner Steve Radack, a Republican, said he attended the luncheon along with Huffman and urged people to vote for her. She is a former felony court judge.

Under state law, it is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500, to campaign for or against a candidate "within 100 feet of an outside door through which a voter may enter the building in which a polling place is located."

http://blogs.chron.com/houstonpolitics/2008/12/former_judges_campaign_breaks_1.html

This is what passes for Republican integrity in Harris County. Huffman had made it obvious that she knew nothing about the issues, and now demonstrates she doesn't even know the law. Neither, of course, does Radack, the Republican county commissioner.

Maybe that's not crooked of course; perhaps it's just woefully stupid.

As I have been repeating, we can do better.

[sonias]

1. Ignorance of the law is no excuse

Joan Huffman and Steve Radack are just Tom DeLay style republicans that think the law applies to them. And they intentionally skirt the law or the intent of the law by using legal loopholes. You can't tell me no-one in her campaign knew the law. And if they didn't they have no business running for the Texas House or serving on the Commissioner's court either.

:grr:

Sonia

[tbyg52]

2. It's not ignorance of the law, I think

It's the attitude that the benefit might be worth the penalty. No thought at all that even if the penalty is small, it's still wrong to break the law. And, unfortunately, there are probably a lot of people who either will never know about this or have the same attitude.

[tbyg52]

3. So, my husband tells me he saw on the news

That she had an *outdoor* BBQ at some poling location and the TV station measured it at over 100 ft away.

(I was working all Friday night so I did not see it myself.)

My first thoughts were: Are these two separate events? (The one in this post says "indoors.") And, if so (which I'm assuming), was the second, legal one staged and publicized to draw attention away from the incident in this post?

As I say, I've been working and not looking at the news, but that's the first thought that popped into my head.

[PDittie]

4. No. Indoors, at Tracy Gee Community Center

and since it was down the hall from the EV poll, the 100-foot rule is considered (by the County Clerk, whose office is responsible for evaluating violations) a technicality. From the link in my OP:

Radack said a member of Kaufman's staff working at the early voting station took no action after checking into a complaint by a voter. But Kaufman said the event was "ill-advised" and should not have taken place there, regardless of the distance between the two rooms inside the community building.

Kaufman said it was up to a voter to pursue any charges against the campaign. The voter who complained to the election worker said she, indeed, would do so.

Bell has a hot dog give-away (Thursday afternoon) at Bayland Park -- in a pavilion away from the building where voting is taking place there.

Note also the phrase "avoiding even the appearance of violations" in both Bell's and Huffman's statements in response.

[tbyg52]

5. Well, my first thought was that the clearly legal one was getting reported on the TeeVee

and the probably illegal one kinda faded out of sight....

[art3]

6. PDitte-Your Post on OfftheKuff -WOW

pdittie-just read your report on offthekuff. roborcalls from huffamn-classy. and free bbq inside a polling place? is she nervous about the election or something? also interesting vote totals. bell as to boost jefferson co. tues it looks-

[Baby Snooks]

7. Walk your talk...

http://www.texasethicsreport.com/R-Christopher_Bell.pdf

Someone needs to learn to walk their talk...

[PDittie]

8. You're swallowing the GOP lies again, Charli.

[Baby Snooks]

9. Not at all...

There are obvious violations. And some of the other complaints this "group" has filed obviously are being investigated so it is reasonable to assume the one filed against Chris Bell will be investigated as well.

This is why so many are just completely turned off by the political process. The hypocrisy. And this apparent attitude that because the Republicans do it, the Democrats should be able to do it as well. And vice versa. Two wrongs do not make a right.

We have a right to know who has contributed to campaigns prior to the elections. The politicians, all of them, seem to think we don't.

All of this is moot. The election will not be determined on anything other than who turns out the most voters the vast majority of whom will vote according to the party rather than the candidates.

People who wallow in it should never throw it. Regardless of whether they are Republican or Democrat.

Politics in this country has become like a football game. Each side rooting for their team. No one seems to understand that both teams lose. The winner is always the sponsors.