Part Two:
Bohac created a “Catch 22” to deny voter registration applications, hid financial ties to a Committee witness
Since being elected to the Legislature, Republican Dwayne Bohac (HD138 – Houston), has been a member of House Elections Committee. During the same period, he has owned and managed the Republican political consulting firm, Campaign Data Systems (CDS). Rather than measure his actions carefully to avoid conflict between official work on the Elections Committee and political work as a campaign consultant, Bohac has used his official position to improve the political environment for his consulting firm and his Republican clients.
Bohac’s clients include some of the most prominent Republican politicians in Harris County like Congressman Michael McCaul and State Senator Dan Patrick. Bohac also represents Freshman Republican State Representative Ken Legler, who was barely elected in 2008 and is seen as threatened in 2010, especially if mainstream conservative Democrat Joel Redmond enters the race.
Bohac’s “Catch 22” Bill
Dwayne Bohac wrote and passed a bill to alter voter registration forms, thereby creating a bureaucratic loophole later used to deny thousands of Harris County voter registration applications.
- During the 2005 Texas Legislative Session, Bohac authored HB 1268, which, on its face, seemed rather innocuous but created a confusing “Catch 22” technical requirement that voter registration applicants must “check” a new box on the form based on whether they provided a driver’s license number or a Social Security number on the form to verify their eligibility to vote. With the passage of the bill, voter registrars could choose to reject as incomplete any application where new voters failed to “check” a box – or “checked” the box when they shouldn’t have – even if the application otherwise included the driver’s license or social security information needed to verify the applicant’s eligibility.
- In fact, Bohac was referenced in a letter from the Secretary of State’s Office to the U.S. Department of Justice during the preclearance process of the bill.
- Bohac’s “inside man” AND business partner at Campaign Data Systems, Ed Johnson, who was the Associate Voter Registrar in Harris County until being reassigned last week, aggressively used the Bohac “Catch 22” bill to help reject more than 70,000 Harris County registration applications. By comparison, Dallas County did not reject applications based only upon the Bohac “Catch 22” provision and, as a result rejected only 1,800 registration applications.
Bohac Calls on Business Partner to Testify
Bohac uses his “inside man” for more than just business, as Johnson has also been involved in Bohac’s legislative work. In the past two legislative sessions, Johnson has registered to testify in favor of eight bills that his boss, Bohac, authored. In four of the hearings, he was the only person to testify in favor of Bohac’s bills. There is no evidence that Dwayne Bohac or Ed Johnson disclosed their business partnership. Article 3, Sec. 22 of the Texas Constitution states that “A member who has a personal or private interest in any measure or bill, proposed, or pending before the Legislature” must disclose the relationship and cannot vote on the legislation.
What does Bohac have to gain by abusing his office?
In Harris County and in other urban centers in Texas, demographic changes spell trouble for Republican candidates, office holders and campaign consultants. Dwayne Bohac is all three. The eligible voter groups that are increasing in numbers – Latinos, African Americans, Asians and younger citizens – are increasingly supporting Democratic candidates. To hold power over the long-term, Republicans must either devise strategies to win a greater share of support from these groups or use their administrative and legislative authority to create barriers to voting.
Dwayne Bohac chose the latter. His Republican clients and his own business and political pursuits benefit when Dwayne Bohac can disrupt and slow the expanded participation of the hundreds of thousands of new voters in Harris County.
