Just a few days ago, a judge ordered a Vietnamese nonprofit organization to stop running ads promising items of value in exchange for turning out to vote, a circumstance that is prohibited by election law.
More recently, controversy has been generated over a plan by the City of Houston to offer flu shots at some early voting locations. Rorschach was one of the first bloggers to ask how this was different from the Heflin/Vo incident referenced above, and KSEV radio ran hard with the topic. Eventually, Harris County Republican chair Jared Woodfill sent out an email criticizing the plan, asserting that the early voting locations chosen for flu shots were heavily Democratic.
In the wake of mounting criticism, Mayor White announced today that the vaccination program was canceled. Matt Stiles reports for the Chronicle:
Mayor Bill White today ordered a halt to a privately funded drive to offer flu vaccinations at early voting sites in Hispanic and black neighborhoods, amid conservative criticism that the effort would boost Democratic votes.
Since Monday, the city had been offering the free vaccinations at four polling places around Houston under a national grant program, used in more than 20 other cities.
White defended the program at a news conference today, saying public health was the city’s only motive in launching the initiative. Still, he said he decided this morning to abandon the plan after today to avoid perception that it could be viewed as an effort to draw certain voters to the polls. White is a former chairman of the state Democratic Party.
“There was no political motive whatsoever to do it,” he said. “I don’t want to have to spend more money in defending a baseless lawsuit than we’re giving away in vaccine — or allow anybody to question the integrity of the political process.”
Mayor White made the right decision. I am not a mindreader and am not going to assume anything nefarious about the mayor’s intent, but the fact is that the specifics of the program (especially the locations) left the mayor open to charges of partisan manipulation. Furthermore, the program also doesn’t seem that different conceptually from the scheme above, which a judge stopped.
While we think the mayor made the right call here (finally), perhaps there’s still a good use for all those flu shots. Why not give them out at the Veteran’s Day Parade in a little over a week? Maybe that’s a proposal that Councilmember Michael Berry and San Antonio talker Joe Pags could even get behind on their Clear Channel radio programs if the mayor agrees!
That would be a nice bonus for people who come out on November 11 to honor our veterans.
BLOGVERSATION: Cigars, Donuts, and Coffee, Miya Shay, Isiah Carey’s Insite, HouStoned, TBIFOC.
