Texas Watchdog
Sen. Judith Zaffirini spent about $58,800 on travel expenses and per diem payments over a year and a half period, outspending her state Senate colleagues. That’s based on a review of electronic travel records from Jan. ...
Texas Watchdog
A proposal to build a shower in the women’s restroom near City Council offices in Houston’s City Hall Annex is dead, according to a councilman who opposed the project. At-Large City Councilmember Jolanda Jones, an attorney and an alum of the reality show Survivor, bikes to work each day. La...
Larry
Larry
Poor baby doesn't get her shower, but didn't Sullivan get a wall to segregate himself from the other rubber stampers? A $7,000 wall?
Fri at 2:05pm
Texas Watchdog
Politico has put the spotlight on travel by members of Congress paid for by outside groups. The story highlights international trips that lawmakers, and sometimes their family members, took, and says that in 2009 outside groups have spent more than $140,000 on such travel for senators...
Texas Watchdog
Texas state senators have used taxpayer money to attend a conference in Maui, stay overnight at a Ritz-Carlton in New York, and fly on charter or private planes. That's according to a Texas Watchdog review of expense reports and travel logs covering a year and a half.
Texas Watchdog
(Return to story on state senators’ travel. Go to page 1 and page 2.) Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, spent more than $15,800 on flights through the state Department of Transportation or chartered through a hometown firm, Lubbock Aero. That’s according to state travel records covering Jan. 1,...
Texas Watchdog
(Return to story on state senators’ travel. Go to page 1 and page 2.) Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, billed $15,100 for four flights from TxDOT’s aviation division. That’s according to a year and a half of state travel records. Get more details on the flights: * A Feb. 9, 2...
Scarlett
Scarlett
sign the petition against govt run healthcare:
http://www.grassfire.org/122/petition.asp?PID=21562248&NID=1
Fri at 8:29am
Texas Watchdog
Texas Watchdog has asked the mayoral candidates for their IRS tax returns for the last three years...
Ulf Lueders
Ulf Lueders
When was the last time that you went to a job interview and had to open up your tax returns. The demands you make are absurd! It is none of your business what income any of them have!
November 4 at 9:56am
Scott Lewis
Scott Lewis
Many jobs require criminal background and credit checks. Being mayor of the 4th larget American city and sharing a tax return should not be a big deal, unless of course you have tax liens out, are getting big paydays from dubious sources or even not filing, as has been the case with other candidates on a national level.
Thu at 8:48am
Texas Watchdog
The Texas Watchdog team did some digging through the receipts submitted by Texas state senators for travel on the taxpayer dime...
Texas Watchdog
We wanted to tip our hat to a cool new site that launched today, the Texas Tribune. We (as in “we the people”) can’t have enough eyes on government these days, so we’re glad for their arrival. Like us, they’re a nonprofit operation. So check out their site when you get a chance.
Texas Watchdog
One of our favorite blogs, the law-related site Grits for Breakfast, is putting a whipping on Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for not making public records public in cases like school districts’ police forces’ use-of-force policies and the Cameron Todd Willingham execution case: There’s just ...
Michael Donnelly
Michael Donnelly
This is not National Security, what are they trying to hide?
November 2 at 12:11pm
Texas Watchdog
Texas Watchdog
I'm with you, Michael -- Jennifer P. (jennifer@texaswatchdog.org)
November 3 at 5:30am
Texas Watchdog
Noel Freeman, candidate for the City Council At-Large Position 4 currently held by Ronald C. Green, plans to get a copy of his personal financial statement to the city secretary’s office today — in fact, he may already have done so by the time you read this. Y...
Texas Watchdog
Are you tired of seeing “#txlege” and “#tcot” and “#txsboe” in Twitter messages and not being able to figure out what all this stuff means with “#” in front of it? I’ve got a qui...
Texas Watchdog
Want to know what the state of Houston’s Metro system is? It’ll only cost you $65 to find out! Yep, kids, that’s right — Metro Chairman David Wolff, who may not have a job for much longer, is going to give a “State of Metro” speech next Thursday, Nov. 5, and it’ll cost you $65 to [...]
Texas Watchdog
Don’t play games with taxpayers’ money — or with Wayne Dolcefino. Too bad the folks at the Spring Independent School District have been doing both. The district has coughed up about $400,000 in the name of teaching chess to the kiddos. Unfo...
Texas Watchdog
Establishing that the Houston Independent School District has handed over credit cards to people with dubious credit is one thing; naming those employees with the bad credit is another. Texas Watchdog isn’t dinging those folks by name in our story today. ...