April 11, 2008
Hubert Vo

Marc Campos:


Commentary has noticed that local Dems have been eerily quiet on the not so good run that Harris County Dem State Rep Hubert Vo has received in the Chron. There is another Chron article today plus an E-Board special. It seems like on the internet yak-off lines, local Dems have a take on every thing. In fact, most go out of their way to let you know their opinion on all kinds of stuff. Commentary has not heard a single peep coming out of the local Dem camp on this matter - nada - silence. Then again, what can you say?

I'm guilty of this. What can be said, what needs to be said, is that I'm extremely disappointed in him. This shameful episode is nothing like the Rep. Hubert Vo that I have come to know over the past four years. I don't know how this came to be - a lack of attention is the most benign thing one can hope for, and that is far from exculpatory - but it needs to be fixed immediately, and in a manner that leaves the affected residents in conditions that are better than they would need to be if the minimum acceptable standard had been met all along. He owes them that much, and he owes all of his supporters a genuine assurance that this will never happen again.

There's a lot that can be said about the possible political implications of all this, but I'll save that for another time. I don't expect politicians to be any more or less human than the rest of us. As with any group of people, there's a range for things like decency among them. Rep. Vo is one I'd have put towards the top end of that scale, so these revelations are as much a surprise as they are a shock and embarrassment. I hope that decency that I and many others perceived about Hubert Vo is enough to make this right, for his residents and for him.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on April 11, 2008 to Scandalized!
Comments

Reality is he wouldn't have done a thing had the city not moved in on it. And that's the end of the discussion about Hubert Vo for a lot of people who have dealt with "slum landlords" which quite a few have at one time or another.

If he doesn't care about his tenants, or the neighborhoods his complexes are located in, what makes you think he cares about his constituents?

All Hubert Vo cares about is Hubert Vo.


Posted by: Baby Snooks on April 11, 2008 3:33 PM

I live two blocks away from two of Vo's complexes in the East End. There is no decency in an immigrant that is now a millionaire and is knowingly taking advantage of mostly immigrant families.

Vo was well aware that his tenants thought that they had no recourse against an unscrupulous landlord. I think we can put off worrying about his supporters for now. His priorities should be his tenants and property owners near his complexes. He owes us that much, before he starts focusing on his campaign.

Posted by: Sergio Davila on April 11, 2008 4:07 PM

Dems just go on feelings on most issues. Even Mr. Kuff's post here on Vo is about his feelings and his perceptions regarding Vo. Vo's response to these distasteful incidents are further instructive in that his first inclination is to worry about his own reputation: "It's going to affect me very much. It's going to kill my reputation." Chron 4/9/08. I think this is very instructive to a casual observer to note that Dems derive their political philosophy from their feelings and their concern about themselves.

Posted by: observer on April 11, 2008 9:23 PM

I think that observer's comment is baloney.

Sorry, what i meant to say was this: My feeling is that, as it concerns me, observer's comment is baloney.

Posted by: Kenneth Fair on April 12, 2008 8:55 PM

Uh oh. Craddick might be picking up a vote in this race. To bad, cause Hubert was a good listener in committee and could be dogged and determined pushing a bill. But this stuff just hurts.

Posted by: el_longhorn on April 14, 2008 9:02 PM