Free Republic

Texas Republicans were spared a world of grief when Talmadge Heflin went away. Former state Rep. Heflin, who last legislative session was chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, had challenged the election of Hubert Vo to replace him this year. He asked the Texas House to overturn election results. State Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, who had been named a "master of discovery" to investigate the matter, reported last week that he had found "no evidence of any intentional voter fraud" that would have overturned the election result. That led Heflin to withdraw his challenge. Although Heflin could have pursued...

AUSTIN — Two losing Texas House Republican candidates, including House Speaker Tom Craddick's most powerful lieutenant, sought Wednesday to have the GOP-controlled House overturn their races' results or order new elections. Also Wednesday, one-term Rep. Ken Mercer of San Antonio decided against contesting his 498-vote loss to Democratic challenger David Leibowitz in a bitterly contested District 117 race. As expected, Talmadge Heflin of Houston and Eric Opiela of Karnes City filed documents Wednesday with the secretary of state's office formally contesting the results of their races. History is not on their side: In the 10 times since 1942 that such...

Talmadge Heflin Has Uncovered Widespread Illegal Voting, Including 32 Double Votes, in H.D.149 State Representative Talmadge Heflin will announce today at a 1pm press conference that he has “clear and convincing evidence” of “widespread illegal voting” in the race for State House District 149. “What we found in our initial examination of the voting was shocking,” said Heflin. “You hear tales of such things in politics but hardly believe they could be true. “We saw that more than 100 people came in from other counties and voted in District 149 and even were brazen enough to write down their actual...

AUSTIN — Up to three defeated Republican legislative candidates soon could ask the GOP-majority Texas House to declare them the legitimate victors because they claim the Nov. 2 outcomes likely were tinged by fraud. But an election-law expert who often consults Democratic candidates discounted the likelihood of the contests Monday, which he described as both rare and futile. Austin lawyer Buck Wood predicted no candidate ultimately will attempt a contest. "It's a waste of their time," Wood said. "If you get real lucky, you might get a new election, at which point you get your ass plastered." If the candidates...

Response to Perry’s ed plan lukewarm By APRIL CASTRO Associated Press Writer AUSTIN After debuting his long-awaited school finance plan, Gov. Rick Perry received a lukewarm reception from a potential key ally: state business leaders. While business leaders have applauded Perry for making the only formal proposal since the regular legislative session, they are slow to endorse an integral part of the proposal, a “constitutionally linked” property tax. Final passage of the plan in the Republican-controlled Legislature remains uncertain. “We’re studying it, we are looking at the constitutional linkage that Governor Perry is proposing,” said Jeff Clark, state director of...