Houston Mayor Bill White Defends Annise Parker

Bill White has been quiet … too quiet if you ask me but today he came out of the rock he has been hiding under (ergo his Senate Campaign Race) and stepped up to the plate to set the record straight.

In a mailer sent out to potential voters by the Peter Brown campaign … it alleged that Parker “twice missed legally required deadlines for preparing the city’s official financial reports.”

Bradley Olson adds, “The mail piece accuses City Controller Annise Parker of missing reporting deadlines for annual audits and “significant deficiencies” that left “Houston's financial security at risk.”

So, what did current Houston Mayor and United States Senator hopeful say about these allegations?

Bill White states, “The city has not been put at financial risk. The Controller is not responsible for these delays and the reasons for delays were discussed openly at City Council meetings with some frequency.”

Score 1 for Annise Parker and 0 for Peter Brown, right?

Well, the Peter Brown campaign is sticking to their guns and not budging an inch. Even after Annise Parker has called for Brown to “correct the record and withdraw his misleading accusations” … the Brown campaign claims that the “mailer is well documented.”

The mailer does have citations, unfortunately … the only copy I have seen is such a low resolution image that I cannot decipher the url or the original source.

I am not surprised that Peter Brown has responded to attacks from both Gene Locke and Annise Parker … what surprises me is how long it took for him to react.

The mail piece has become a rallying call for the cash strapped Parker who is running on fumes at $83K … the last time I saw … just days before election day next week.

Parker has asked supporters to help her raise $100K in the next 24 hours (most likely TV money) in response to the “deceptive attacks on Annise.”

Brown’s attack has been rather low-key as it only appeared in print material and I have not heard of a commercial whether it is on the radio or television regarding this matter.

I am curious though of the other allegations that Brown asserts about Parker which are that Annise Parker:

• Supported a “rain tax” for drainage and proposed a new garbage tax for trash pickup
• Pocketed a $14,000 pay raise - a pay raise refused by Mayor White – today Houston is in a recession and $1.5 billion in debt

What are the facts and the truth regarding these claims? Do they hold any water?