No-bid contracts have apparently become a way of life for State Rep. Vicki Truitt. Tax-subsidized contracts which didn’t start flowing until after she got a plumb committee assignment, and really started flowing after she entered Speaker Joe Straus’ inner circle. But as credentials with conservatives go, she’s always been a low-performer.
Now she’s out bashing the journalists who uncovered her no-bid relationship with the Tarrant County Hospital District, a governmental entity that operates – at least indirectly – under her authority in the Texas legislature generally, and specifically as a member of the Public Health committee.
State Rep. Vicki Truitt
The facts are incontrovertible. She was first elected to the Texas House in 1998. In 2003, she was assigned to the Public Health Committee. The very next year, in 2004, her company was awarded its first no-bid contract of just $40,000.
In early 2009, she joined in over-throwing Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick and replacing him with the Democrats choice, Joe Straus (R-San Antonio).
That same year, she and her husband suddenly received a $160,000 no-bid contract from the taxing entity. And they received a second $160,000 no-bid contract in 2010.
(It should be noted that in 2010, her husband was a candidate for Tarrant County clerk. He lost big.)
According to Texas Watchdog, the investigative journalists who broke the story originally, it is uncertain if the services the Truitt-owned company provide are even covered under the state’s laws governing no-bid contracts.
But distorting the record on her no-bid contracts is par for the course. Rep. Truitt also doesn’t want folks spending too much time looking at her abysmal representational record as a Republican.
As the respected Young Conservatives of Texas noted earlier this year, “Vicki Truitt has shown a tendency to fight for higher taxes, more intrusive government, and reduced transparency in government agencies. This is contrary to all bedrock principles of conservatives.”
She has also garnered low marks from Heritage Alliance and Eagle Forum, and others.
Vicki Truitt has voted to impose a tax on nursing home residents, to raise gasoline taxes, and even lessen property right protections.
Between more than $350,000 in no-bid contracts and her poor voting record, Vicki Truitt has a lot to hide.
