Harris County Voter Registrar Leo Vasquez said his office has “fully and completely processed” voter registration applications and has not made public any information the law deems confidential.

As it did in 2008, the Texas Democratic Party has sued the Harris County voter registrar in federal district court for what it says are violations of voter registration laws, political favoritism and violations of voter privacy.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday with the federal court's Southern District, is the latest shot across the bow of registrar Leo Vasquez, who on Aug. 24 accused two Democratic-leaning activist groups of organized and systematic voter fraud involving more than 5,000 applications for voter registrations.

The lawsuit takes exception to Vasquez' making public the voter registration applications in question and making them available to a Tea Party activist group called the King Street Patriots, which has publicly pledged to monitor voter fraud in Texas. The suit says Vasquez "resisted" turning over the same documents to officials with the Harris County and Texas Democratic Party organizations.

The lawsuit also accuses Vasquez of violating a 2008 settlement of a lawsuit accusing his predecessor, Paul Bettencourt, of practices that blunted the ability of citizens to register to vote in a timely way. Both are Republicans. The original suit was settled without Bettencourt addressing whether the allegations against him were true or false.

"Given Mr. Vasquez' actions last week, we have been forced to take legal action to make sure his office does not repeat the same kind of practices that denied almost 70,000 Harris County citizens the right to register and vote in 2008," the Texas Democratic Party said in a press release issued after the suit was filed.

Exhibits in the lawsuit:

Exhibit A, the settlement agreement in a 2008 lawsuit by the party against then-Tax Assessor/Voter Registrar Paul Bettencourt

Exhibit B, letter from a Harris County attorney to the Justice Department and dated Jan. 21

Exhibit C, press release and materials issued by Voter Registrar Leo Vasquez on Aug. 24

Previously posted documents related to this story:

A press release from Houston Votes, Aug. 27

A briefing packet distributed to reporters by Voter Registrar Leo Vasquez, Aug. 24

A statement from Voter Registrar Leo Vasquez, Aug. 24

A news release from Voter Registrar Leo Vasquez, Aug. 24

Contact Mark Lisheron at 512-299-2318 or mark@texaswatchdog.org.

Photo of a gavel by flickr user Joe Gratz, used via a Creative Commons license.

If you are interested in learning more about public records and open meetings laws in Texas, you may wish to attend an open government seminar being held next week by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.

The event is sponsored by the Valley Morning Star, The Brownsville Herald and The Morning Star.

A report by the state auditor released today found that because of poor documentation it was impossible to determine how child-care provider Beacon of Hope Foster Care Agency Inc. spent its $1.5 million budget of federal and state funds in 2009.

The critique of Beacon of Hope, which last year served 218 children in Corpus Christi and Harlingen, was part of a review of five of the state's 232 child-care providers. The audit criticized Seton Home of San Antonio and Houston Serenity for failing to provide documents to support how they spent federal and state funds. Harmony Family Services of Abilene and Behavioral Healthcare Services Inc. of Arlington got clean financial bills of health from the auditor.

The audit criticized Beacon of Hope for lack of or poor documentation while preparing its report of costs in 2009. Revenue and expense records were inconsistent, and several expenditures were either not allowed or understated, the report said.

In a letter to the auditor agreeing in principle with the findings in the report, Adriana Orozco, executive director of Beacon of Hope, said changes would be made in documenting and reporting to address the Auditor's concerns. Orozco told the auditor that Beacon of Hope disagreed that its lapses constituted serious financial weakness.

Contact Mark Lisheron at 512-299-2318 or mark@texaswatchdog.org.

Photo of toy blocks by flickr user ladybugbkt, used via a Creative Commons license.

Standing in Doris Solomons' cramped but cool living room as the sobs choked her gratitude, I couldn't help but think all of this should have happened months ago.

Here was a woman who had recently lost her son to skin cancer, who had almost lost faith in a system that had promised to help her, testifying before a touring party of state and local officials on a swampy Tuesday in Houston. Across the little room from her was a brand new, properly ventilated space heater. In the tiny kitchen, separated by just a sheer hanging sheet, was a new refrigerator and her pride, a stove with hinges that actually kept the oven door from falling off. 

The new solar screens meant Solomons would no longer have to block the sun on the windows with aluminum foil. The doors were sealed, cracks were caulked and insulation blown in behind the walls. Blessedly brisk air poured from a new unit. And all "on account of you all and the good Lord," Solomons told her benefactors before tears shut her down. "Y'all don't understand. Oh, my God. I can't talk about it."

This, these officials told me after thanking Solomons for her graciousness, was what the Weatherization Assistance Program was all about. This was what Sheltering Arms Senior Services of Houston has been doing for people like Solomons for 30 or more years, Lynne Cook, the chief operating officer for the social services nonprofit, said. This is what the power of $326 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds was doing for people all over Texas, Michael DeYoung, a weatherization director for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, said.

Interested in digging into your local school system? Then please join us for the next TrentTV, when we'll be talking about strategies and tips for investigating schools, using examples from our coverage of the Houston Independent School District. The interactive webinar is free and open to the public. We hope you can join us at 11:30 a.m. CST on Tuesday, Sept. 28 at newmediatv.org.

Texas House administrators agreed to delay its annual shredding of travel reimbursement reports in cooperation with a Travis County investigation into alleged illegal double-billing by state Rep. Joe Driver.

Driver, R-Garland, told the Associated Press he and his campaign have also agreed to cooperate with District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, who asked that the travel records for state representatives for fiscal year 2005 be preserved for her examination. House travel records are shredded after five years.

Lehmberg initiated an investigation after Driver told the Associated Press he had for years paid for his government travel with money from his campaign fund while billing for and receiving reimbursement for those same bills from tax funds. The AP's review showed he had double-billed for at least $17,431.55 in travel expenses since 2005. Driver, a state representative since 1993, said he never realized he was doing anything wrong.

According to a 1994 ruling by the Texas Ethics Commission, a representative receiving taxpayer-funded reimbursement for such expenses must return that reimbursement to his or her campaign fund.

The campaign earlier said Driver had put $49,426 into his campaign account, a figure calculated from reimbursements claimed on travel records that were not yet shredded. It is uncertain how much reimbursement Driver received between 1993 and 2004.

Contact Mark Lisheron at 512-299-2318 or mark@texaswatchdog.org.

A watchdog committee for the Houston Independent School District’s major building projects could be injected with new membership after sitting members were notified they must reapply for their positions and verify they have no personal or professional conflicts of interest.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Rep. Solomon Ortiz has been contacted by House investigators who are looking into the use of overseas travel stipends, according to lawmakers who were also contacted. This follows the newspaper's reporting in March that stipends had been used for unauthorized purposes, and that some lawmakers were apparently ignorant of the rules governing use of the money.

Congressional rules say the daily travel funds, called a per diem, must be spent on meals, cabs and other travel expenses. But when lawmakers travel, many of their meals and expenses are picked up by other people, such as foreign officials or U.S. ambassadors. That can leave lawmakers with leftover money. Lawmakers routinely keep the extra funds or spend it on gifts, shopping or to cover their spouses' travel expenses, according to dozens of current and former lawmakers.

Harris County officials will purchase and borrow voting machines after the Commissioners Court approved a plan to do "any and all things necessary and convenient" to be prepared to hold the November election.