http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials ... 467650.php
The HCC has been mired in troubles, from funding to accusations of corruption.The Houston Community College system has never figured more prominently in this region's economic future than it does today. HCC voters gave the often troubled institution a ringing vote of confidence last fall with their approval of a $425 million bond issue. The bonds will fund a health care education college in the Medical Center, as well as upgrades in facilities across the system.
Prior to voter approval last November, the HCC board took the extraordinary step of passing a resolution assuring voters and entities such as the Greater Houston Partnership of its commitment to keep an appropriate distance from the bidding process for contracts.
As longtime Houstonians will recall, HCC's history has been marred by episodes of HCC board members using their influence improperly to steer contracts to favored parties - whether relatives, friends or political allies.
Since last August, when those board assurances were given, the leadership and some of the make-up of the board has changed. Chancellor Mary Spangler has had her contract bought out and has left. A leader on the prior board, Mary Ann Perez, won election to the Texas House and departed. Former HCC board chair Richard Schechter, a strong voice for reform, has resigned.
Meanwhile, the board's commitment to arm's length regarding contracts has been all but forgotten. Board members seeking to require contracts to give preference to Houston-based bidders on construction of new facilities and other major tasks have made an end run around the resolution by pushing for changes in state law to allow for those preferences to be created.
Meanwhile, the letting of contracts for the improvements outlined in the bond issue has been postponed, presumably in hopes that the Texas Legislature would fix things to the board majority's liking.
This just smells.
The last time we wrote about the HCC board and its troubles, we said we'd be watching and urged community leadership groups such as the Greater Houston Partnership to do likewise. We have watched, and so has the Partnership. We're not happy with what we're seeing.
Reneging on its commitment to voters not to meddle in the procurement process doesn't cut it. Fortunately, it appears the bill is stalled and just about dead in Austin. The Partnership says it would prefer to put the matter off until next session, in 2015. We're less kindly disposed: Let's drive a stake through the heart of this bill and bury the idea for good.
While we're at it, let's put off naming a new chancellor until after next November's election, when no less than five of the board's nine members are up for re-election.
We've seen enough evidence of an appetite for mischief to have real misgivings about the current board's judgment to entrust it with a chancellor search and selection.
There's plenty else to do, starting with keeping the promise to stay out of it as bids are let for new facilities. Time's wasting, and thousands of students who will become part of tomorrow's skilled work force are waiting patiently for completion of the new medical and engineering facilities to come.
We'll be watching.
Wilson actions against the college happened in the last two years!On Friday, Houston news station KHOU reported on the surprising election of Dave Wilson, a white anti-gay activist who beat a 24-year incumbent in a heavily Democratic and African-American district at least in part by pretending to be black. That story has blown up, but what few outlets are noting is that Wilson is a longtime and, heretofore, unsuccessful foe of the college system he has just joined.
During his run for District II trustee of the Houston Community College System, Wilson’s campaign materials never showed his face. Instead, they featured black families beside the words, “Please vote for our friend and neighbor Dave Wilson.” One mailer crowed, “Endorsed by Ron Wilson,” suggesting the support of a former state representative who is African American. But actually the endorsement came from Wilson’s cousin Ron, who lives in Iowa.
Wilson, an electrician known locally for nuisance lawsuits and homophobia, doesn’t deny his intent to mislead. “Every time a politician talks, he’s out there deceiving voters,” Wilson told KHOU.
But besides being non-representative of his district politically and racially, Wilson joins the ranks of conservative neophytes elected to political bodies they openly despise. At a tea party event in October of last year, Wilson delivered a 76-slide presentation on why voters should reject the $425 million bond proposal to fund HCC, the gist of which was that enrollment was down and money is expensive. Despite his heroic PowerPoint, that bond passed. In 2011, Wilson sued the HCC trustees to prevent the purchase of land Wilson claimed was overpriced. The suit was summarily dismissed with prejudice and Wilson had to pay court costs.
Most of Wilson’s 20 years of relapsing-remitting political activity in Houston has gone like that. But he has had one other taste of victory. Before turning his eye on HCC, Wilson fought homosexuality. In 2001, he gathered enough signatures to put a referendum on the ballot denying benefits to same-sex partners of city employees. That referendum passed. He followed up by running for mayor on an anti-gay platform, sending out tens of thousands of mailers saying Annise Parker, who is gay, should not be mayor because “homosexual behavior leads to extinction.”
In 2009, Wilson’s homophobia took a pitying stance. In one flier, he said, “I have nothing but compassion, respect, and sensitivity toward those trapped in homosexual behavior.” But by the time Parker won a second term, Wilson had gotten uglier. A capture of campaign website from December of 2011 features a Bible verse from Romans over an unsigned cartoon of Parker high-fiving Jerry Sandusky while saying, “You’re hired!”
The electorate that, perhaps inadvertently, elected Wilson last week also granted Parker a third mayoral term.
Wilson hinted at his new campaign strategy during his last failed run. Perhaps sensing that gay-bashing had lost its value as an electoral tool, Wilson released a statement two days before the 2011 election stating that he was not in the Ku Klux Klan, that Parker’s camp had spread a rumor to that effect, and that he had been a member of the NAACP for several years.
How much Wilson’s racial subterfuge helped him in last week’s election is unknown. The HCC system has been plagued by poor performance, and other trustees were forced into runoffs. But the effect could have been tiny and still decisive. Wilson beat incumbent Bruce Austin by only 26 votes in a race with more than 11,000 cast. Austin has asked for a recount, but with electronic voting, a reversal seems unlikely. An HCC trustee term is six years.
You literally couldn't have known that the man didn't exist if you were a stakeholder. Now, its entirely possible that this was a protest vote and the racial campaign HELPED the protest vote to emerge. Just look at the angle.
HCC is in trouble.
We have a guy who been campaigning against the 'corruption' in the system.
He presents himself as someone on your side, willing to lead.
Sounds like a good candidate, eh? At least, he's not Bush/Austin.
But none of this STILL changes the fact that if any of the 26 votes margin was won by Wilson racial campaign, the voters SHOULD be mocked for not doing their due diligence in working. Again, this isn't a mayoral campaign where his actions will inevitably affect yours. Its an election for a COMMUNITY college. If you're that interested in campaigning for an issue, you should be bothered to do due diligence.
Or are we no longer mocking the dihydrogen monoxide crowd for not doing due diligence?
