We're sitting here tuning in to the final televised debate for the Houston mayoral candidates -- live on KHOU-TV and on KHOU.com -- but for your reading pleasure post-debate, a couple of watchdog links to share from the past few days regarding the candidates:

First, BlogHouston knocked candidate Roy Morales for charging his campaign a "usurious" interest rate -- 15% interest in this campaign, and 23% interest two years ago -- for money he loaned his campaign via credit cards. Says Rorschach at Red Ink Texas: "If this is in fact legal (and at this point I have no indication that it is not), this a loophole in the campaign finance laws big enough to fly a 747 through."

Second, Martha at Musings blogged on a piece she came across by an ethics group in Florida who dissected the ethical issues raised by our story about Gene Locke's potential conflicts of interest posed by his work as a private attorney for the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority.

Wrote Robert Wechsler in that piece for CityEthics.org:

If this lawyer is elected as mayor, can he deal responsibly with this difficult situation? Will an appearance of impropriety hang over the sports authority's activities, and possibly the other authorities' activities, as well? Would the most responsible thing be not to run at all? Can the leading partner in the government department of a firm deeply involved in city government become, effectively, a principal client, if not directly, at least in the eyes of the public?

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