Terry Abbott has a New Job August 29, 2008

One of the last times I interviewed Abbott at HISD

 

UPDATES WITH RESPONSE FROM COUNTY JUDGE ED EMMETT:

2 on the Beat was a little surprised this morning to get an email from former HISD spokesman Terry Abbott on behalf of  David Miincberg, the democratic candidate for Harris County Judge.

 Abbott is chairman of Drive West Communications and Mincberg is one of his clients.

Depending on your point of  view, Abbott is either  one of the best or the worst in the business.  He clashed happily and often with members of the media.

Abbott also never hesitated to call a reporter (and his or her boss) to complain about a story he didn’t like.

2 on the Beatalways had a solid  working relationship with Abbott, but thought that his style was a little tooooo aggressive for a taxpayer supported public school system.

His approach is  better suited for the take no prisoners world of partisan politics.

This morning’s email accused Appointed Republican County Judge Ed Emmett of  making confused public statements and politicizing the county’s office of emergency management.

According the the statement, Mincberg says Judge Emmett’s actions  “are badly hurting the area’s effort to prepare for the potential arrival of a Hurricane Gustav.”  Mincberg is also criticizing Emmett for saying that the Astrodome would not be available to evacuees who come to Houston to flee the storm.

 Response from Harris County Judge Ed Emmett

 1. It is bad policy to evacuate people from a flood-prone hurricane zone (i.e. New Orleans) to another flood-prone hurricane zone (i.e. Houston) – especially when there could be another hurricane entering the Gulf soon.

2. It is REALLY BAD policy to take those evacuees and house then in a building that has been deemed UNSAFE FOR OCCUPANCY by the fire marshal. If Mincberg didn’t know this, he should.

3. It is REALLY, REALLY BAD policy to tell people to ignore the advice of their state, their city and their emergency officials who call for an INLAND evacuation.

 To intentionally send out a misleading message in which you advocate having evacuees ignore the advice of their local experts and instead evacuate to a potentially unsafe building in another hurricane zone is just beyond irresponsible.

 

Is This Billboard Unethical? August 26, 2008

 

controversial billboard

OK, so 2 on The Beat learned this morning to NOT point and shoot my camera into the sun.

That aside, this seemingly innocent and informative billboard is stirring up some controversy in the race for Harris County Judge.

Democrat David Mincberg is calling on Judge Ed Emmett to remove what he calls are “unethical campaign billboards” by Labor Day.

Mincberg takes issue with the fact that the billboards urge residents to visit a website of the Harris County Office of Emergency Management to learn about hurricane preparedness.

The billboards were paid for with Emmett’s campaign funds, but Mincberg says it is unethical to mix campaign funds with county tax dollars.

Meanwhile, 2 on The Beat spoke with Emmett spokesman Joe Stinebaker this morning for his response. 

“Mincberg is trying to confuse voters. Not one penny of tax payer money was used to pay for those billboards. Judge Emmett used his campaign money to educate the public about hurricane season..”

As for promoting the website, Stinebaker says “there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. He’s doing a good thing. There is no way you can spin this as being unethical.”

2 on The Beat wants to know what you think about this issue.