Harris County Republican Early Vote Hypocrisy

(Houston, TX)-– Two years ago, Harris County Republicans shut down a program to provide free flu shots to folks over 60 because the vaccinations were being provided at sites where early voting was also going on. The local Republican Party Chair Jared Woodfill howled that giving anything of value at a place where early voting was going on was a crime. Mayor Bill White stopped the program in response to those complaints, and thousands of elderly individuals went without flu shots as a result.

This week, the Republicans are providing free barbeque at (and only at) early locations where people are casting ballots in the Senate District 17 runoff election between Joan Huffman and Democrat Chris Bell. County Commissioner Steve Radack is himself engaging in the very same conduct Republican County Party Chair Jared Woodfill called illegal (in fact, a crime) just two year ago.

“If it was illegal to provide flu shots for the elderly at locations where early voting was going on two years ago, it must be equally unlawful for Commissioner Radack to be providing free barbeque at early voting locations in traditionally Republican neighborhoods today,” said Harris County Democratic Party Chair Gerry Birnberg. “I call on Jared Woodfill and the Harris County Republican Party to denounce as illegal the conduct they so vehemently condemned two years ago, resulting in thousands of needy elderly citizens being denied vital immunizations.”