Vo Faces the Challenge

Photo By John Anderson

Freshman lawmaker Rep. Hubert Vo, D-Houston, stood on the south steps of the Capitol last week during a break in freshman orientation and told a gaggle of reporters that it was time to get down to work. Vo is the political newcomer who challenged – and at this point has defeated – former Appropriations Chair Rep. Talmadge Heflin, a 22-year GOP veteran of the Texas House, by a razor-thin 33-vote margin. Vo told reporters he had every confidence that his win would stand.

"My faith in the democratic process is stronger today than it was when I first arrived in this country almost 30 years ago," Vo said. "The process has worked, and the voice of the people has been respected." But Heflin has challenged the results in District 149, and a specially appointed House of Representatives subcommittee will take up that challenge in January. Two other GOP candidates, former Rep. Jack Stick of Austin and Eric Opiela of Karnes City, also have filed challenges to their respective November defeats by Dems Mark Strama and Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles. The special committee includes five GOP and four Dem members and will be chaired by Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin; Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, has been appointed "master of discovery" and will head the actual investigation.

In an e-mail to supporters last week, Republican Party Chair Tina Benkiser alleged that GOP investigators had found "blatant disregard for the law or extremely suspicious activity that requires further review." Some of those allegations included 400 unregistered people voting in one county, a number of deceased voters casting ballots, and 113 ballots found without an election judge's signature, all of them cast for the Democratic candidate. Benkiser also wrote that almost 60 people were paid as much as $3,500 apiece in another county to "assist in mail-in ballots" for interested voters. In the Heflin-Vo race, Republicans allege that more than 100 out-of-county residents voted. That may be a flimsy excuse, however, since prior court cases have allowed voters to declare a primary residence in one county while living in another.

At the news conference, Vo brushed aside allegations from the Heflin camp that his own actual primary residence was in Fort Bend County (outside District 149), and said he was unaware of any voter fraud in the race. But even as Vo expressed his faith in the democratic process, another lawmaker was not so charitable. One House chair could be heard grousing to an aide as he left the Capitol grounds shortly before the press conference that House members had "no business" making the final decision on elections. With little to gain from the process, it's an opinion that many lawmakers appear to share.