October 21, 2010

When liberal trial lawyer Bill White ran for Houston mayor in 2003, he was asked, “Which city in the world could best serve as a role model for a future Houston?”

Bill White answer? “Chicago.” [1]

The video “Bill White’s Chicago Way” is available at www.YouTube.com:

“Liberal Bill White’s admiration for the Chicago Way was evident when he steered a contract following Hurricane Rita to a company he had a financial relationship with, then profited from a private investment in the company,” said Texans for Rick Perry spokesman Mark Miner. “While Houston mayor, Bill White met with two other followers of the Chicago Way, then-Senator Barack Obama and his future chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.”

The Associated Press has reported, “Barack Obama, before he became president, leads a list of luminaries who met with White in Houston during his six years leading the nation's fourth largest city, according to mayoral calendar records provided to The Associated Press by Perry's campaign. Former President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and former Democratic presidential candidates Bill Richardson, John Edwards and Wesley Clark also made the list. There is a phone call with Caroline Kennedy and a meeting with Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who later became White House chief of staff.” [2]

SOURCING

[1] “Campaign notebook,” Houston Chronicle, 11/2/03

[2] “White's schedule included politics, too,” Associated Press, 10/9/10, http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/whites-schedule-included-po...

October 14, 2010

“Bill White’s latest false attack ad from his trial lawyer friends is nothing more than an attempt to divert attention from the fact that Bill White profited from a company he had a financial relationship with in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita,” said Texans for Rick Perry spokesman Mark Miner. “In order to respond immediately, the state of Texas used general revenue funds for expenses incurred in response to Hurricane Ike, funds that were later reimbursed by the federal government and returned to the state’s general revenue fund and appropriated by the Texas legislature.”

From H.B. 4586 passed by the 81st Texas legislature:

SECTION 6. PRESERVATION BOARD OR HISTORICAL COMMISSION: RESTORATION OF THE GOVERNOR ’S MANSION. Out of reimbursements received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for expenditures that were paid for with funds transferred from the Health and Human Services Commission to the Department of Public Safety during the state fiscal year ending August 31, 2009, an amount not to exceed $11,000,000 is appropriated for the two-year period beginning on the effective date of this Act, in addition to other amounts appropriated for the state fiscal biennium ending August 31, 2009, for costs associated with the restoration of the Governor’s Mansion. The appropriation is to: (1) the State Preservation Board, contingent on the enactment and becoming law of S.B. 2307 or similar legislation by the 81st Legislature in regular session that imposes responsibility on the State Preservation Board for the preservation and maintenance of the Governor’s Mansion; or (2) the Texas Historical Commission, if the 81st Legislature in regular session does not enact S.B. 2307 or similar legislation that becomes law that imposes responsibility on the State Preservation Board for the preservation and maintenance of the Governor’s Mansion.
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/pdf/HB04586F.pdf#navpa...

S.B. 2307 became law May 27, 2009.
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=SB...