In a Feb. 8 column, Rick Casey of the Houston Chronicle quotes the editor of the Texas Civil Rights Review to the effect that the election-contest hearing in the Heflin-Vo race had not demonstrated fraud BY Democrat voters of West Houston, but instead had “served up a fine public record of practices by Republicans and unknown others that would suppress their rights.”
Casey then goes on to show that “unknown others” included folks who were not Republicans. On that basis, Casey concludes that the sentence written by the editor of the Texas Civil Rights Review is false. But the sentence above expressly admits that some parties to fraud perpetrated against voters of West Houston would NOT be Republican, and that’s why we called them “unknown others.”
So we conclude that the purpose of Casey’s column was simply to discredit the work of the Texas Civil Rights Review. But we will not be deterred. Thanks to our prodding, Casey’s column addresses issues that did not previously appear in the Houston Chronicle’s coverage of the Heflin-Vo hearing.
We’re not saying we’re perfect here. Like any editor or reporter, I wish I never made a mistake. But when we put in more hours than anyone else on an issue, and when we take the time to point out what is not being covered in the corporate media, and when we make claims that are logically sound, we expect a fair hearing.
We certainly expect introductory level logic. When we claim that Democratic voters of West Houston have been wronged by Republicans and unknown others, and when Rick Casey proves that West Houston voters have in fact been wronged by unknown others, then we expect the decency of admitting that we were right, not wrong. Otherwise, there is nothing going on in Rick Casey’s column beyond a blatant use of his corporate space to suprress other voices around him, which is a misuse of his power.
We picked no fights with Casey, and we feel he owes us an apology. Either in the form of a direct apology or in the form of serious attention to our continuing work on the Heflin-Vo docs, this time by name.
MoPress 