I have to admit, it pains me to see Bill White remain within 15 points of Gov. Rick Perry in the polls because I think that if Texans across the state knew the Bill White that those of us in Harris County know, he’d be in the same range as Kathie Glass. Or worse, because Texans don’t like bullies that try to take advantage of the lowest among us. Bill White is about Bill White and nothing else. I thought that perhaps we should look back on a few of his “moments” as Mayor of the City of Houston. We’ll start with his attempt to kick the retarded to the curb because they happened to sleep on land that his developer friends wanted.

Let’s go back to, appropriately, April 1, 2007. I was sipping my coffee reading the Houston Chronicle’s Sunday edition and came across this gem:

For more than 40 years, it has occupied a prime chunk of public real estate near River Oaks caring for, employing and housing the mentally retarded.

But now the city of Houston is planning to sell the land to the highest bidder, meaning the nonprofit Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation has to find a new home.

By real estate broker Stan Creech's estimate, it's worth about $26 million.

"That's Class A. It doesn't get any better," said Creech, who thinks the land would be choice for high-rise condominiums, in large part because of the unobstructed view of downtown to the east and River Oaks to the west.

Class A. That doesn’t describe Bill White at all. Classless perhaps. It disturbed me so much that my wife and I drove down to the Center after church that day and walked around, meeting the residents and shaking our heads at how truly callous people can become in their pursuit of power and money. On April 2, I wrote about it on Lonestartimes.

Here is what the director of the Center had to say about it:

The West Dallas campus of The Center Serving Persons With Mental Retardation is in jeopardy. We need your help.

As a friend of The Center you know that we have provided services to people with mental retardation for many years -— as far back as 1952. Over the years, the West Dallas campus has served thousands of Houstonians with disabilities. Today, this central location serves over 600 individuals on a daily basis and employs 221.

The City of Houston wants The Center to sign a new lease which would require us to abandon the West Dallas campus within three years so that the City can sell the property. In a recent meeting with Mayor Bill White, we shared the affects such a move would have on the individuals we serve. Following that meeting the Mayor again advised us that it is his intent to sell the West Dallas property to third parties and require us to vacate this property. Moving is not an acceptable option due to the cost of acquiring land and constructing new buildings, and the likely inability to find property centrally located to adequately duplicate the complex of services we presently provide on a daily basis.

Read this letter to the editor from a former city attorney explaining how these agreements worked:

Many times in the past, the city has accepted donations for public use with conditions requiring the city to use the gift for the purposes intended. For example, land was taken off the tax roll when the city acquired Memorial Park by paying part of its market value and accepting the rest of its value as a gift. The city agreed to severe restrictions and those restrictions are perpetual.

In these cases, the city owned the land and had legal authority to build the buildings and perform all the services at taxpayer expense. Instead, they agreed to let the charities pay all those costs with the agreement that as long as the charity performed properly, it would be permitted to render the public service for a specified time.

By all accounts, the Center was doing an admirable job of providing free services to the city. But not admirably enough for Bill White.

Anyone in Houston will tell you that Bill White was a friend to developers and they were definitely friends to him when it came time for campaign contributions. The media around the state have largely ignored this but Jason Embry of the Austin American Statesman wrote about one of these shady deals this week – perhaps they will finally start looking hard at Bill White. I’m not holding my breath though.

Eventually, with enough pressure applied, Bill White backed off a little but he still forced the Center to come up with $6 million to pay for something that they shouldn’t have had to pay for, under the terms of their agreement with previous mayors and councils. You know, those of the honorable type. $6 million that could have been used to alleviate the pain and suffering of those less fortunate than Harvard Bill White.

I hope those of us in Harris County that remember the real Bill White will make it a point to tell someone outside of Harris County about him. You can gripe and moan all day long about Gov. Perry’s proposed Trans Texas Corridor and the large amount of land that would have been taken via eminent domain. At least Gov. Perry was trying to address a real, legitimate problem in Texas, that being transportation. And we still need to address it. But Bill White? All he wanted to do was shake down a few retarded people so that his developer friends from Harvard could make yet another buck. Or two. That is the real Bill White. Can you imagine what he would do if he was in control of the whole state? There’d be nothing here but high rise condos and toy trains. All taken from you courtesy of eminent domain.

Don’t let this happen. Vote to Re-Elect Rick Perry. And do it on the first day of early voting, October 18th. What would the gatekeeper say if you waited and something happened to send you up before you voted to protect Texas from Bill White? After all, he who fails to protect the least of these…

Links about this:

• SavetheCenter.org
• The City of Houston notifies The Center of plans to seize the West Dallas campus
• blogHOUSTON City readies "Boot the Mentally Retarded" revenue stream
• blogHOUSTON If only Tilman Fertitta were on the board of directors...
• Jewish Herald Voice Online "Where art thou"
• KUHF Hundreds Rally to Save Mental Retardation Center
• Red Ink Texas Shades of Kelo Haunt Home for the Mentally Retarded

And there are lots more out there. And lots more stories about this candidate. If only the media would tell the public at large.