Up Close: Mayoral name game has insiders seeing double

10:32 AM CDT on Saturday, October 4, 2003

By Doug Miller / 11 News

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HOUSTON -- A bizarre story about Houston's race for mayor has had political insiders buzzing all week long. What would happen if somebody figured out a way to put on the ballot two candidates with the same name? A political activist claims she was hired to do just that in an elaborate plan that could have changed the outcome of the election.

As Houston voters gripe about traffic, think about rail and worry about the economy, a couple of candidates for mayor have been worrying about something else.

"Honey, we been workin' on this since June,” Brenda Flores said.

Her name appears on a $5,000 check signed by mayoral candidate Bill White. Brenda Flores also claimed she collected thousands from a freelance consultant working with Sylvester Turner's campaign.

"I don't know who Miss Flores is, as far as I know I've never had any contact with Miss Flores," Turner said.

"I think it's a typical dirty trick when, you know, somebody's the front-runner,” White said.

Brace yourself. You're about to take a ride inside a political mess. You're going to hear two sides of a strange story. Then, you'll have to decide who you believe.

When asked if she did a bad thing, Flores said, "I did. I did a bad thing."

Flores claimed a consultant working with Turner's campaign hired her as part of a plot to confuse Houston voters.

"They approached me and asked me, could I find another Bill White to get into the campaign,” Flores recalled.

“And I said, I believed it was a possibility. They asked me how much I wanted and I told them -- $5,000," she said.

She said she came up with this idea two years ago, and thought about recruiting what you might call a phony Orlando Sanchez to run against the real candidate Orlando Sanchez.

If two candidates with the same name appear on the ballot, a lot of confused voters presumably would vote for the sham candidate. This year, Flores claimed she found another guy named William White. She claimed she convinced him to sign filing papers to run for mayor.

Then, she said, she paid him a lot of money for his hat.

"Oh, it had great sentimental value to him, and I had been searching for one for so long," Flores said. "This is a $1200 hat."

The real candidate, Bill White, says when he heard rumors about the sham candidacy; he called one of Flores' old political acquaintances, Congressman Chris Bell.

"Basically, the only reason that I got involved is because I've been involved in some high-profile races myself,” Bell said.

“I know some of the tactics that can sometimes be discussed and I just don't think they have a place in politics," he said.

Bell confirmed he helped arrange a meeting between Flores and White and helped talk Flores out of filing papers for the phony White candidacy.

Flores said she asked her friend, Dennis Keim, to take cash back to the Turner campaign headquarters.

"She gave me a bank envelope, you know, a little deposit-type envelope, with $2500," Keim said.

"I picked up the money from her, took it over to the campaign and gave it back to a lady who identified herself as Doris Hubbard,” Keim said.

"I was really trying to help her,” Hubbard said.

She's a freelance political consultant working with the Turner campaign. Hubbard said she paid Flores $2,500, but only for work on Turner's early vote campaign.

"I had an agreement with her about early vote,” Hubbard said. “All this other (stuff) that Brenda's talking about, I have no idea about it."

Hubbard said she figures Flores made up a story and made some money.

Remember that check bearing White's signature?

"Why would she receive $5000?” Turner questioned.

“What services did she promise? What story did she promise to give? You know, what, why would anybody give to someone a $5000 check?" Turner added.

When 11 News asked candidate White why he paid the check to Flores he responded: "Because she said she told Congressman Chris Bell that she was being subject to retaliation by people who said they should pay her $5000 to hire a fellow named Bill White and unless she paid the money back that she was given that she would be retaliated against,” White said.

So you have to decide who you believe. This is the kind of thing candidates sometimes have to worry about, while voters worry about the big issues.

Flores said that she didn't make any money off the sham candidate plan.

11 News tried to contact the William White identified on those filing papers. A woman who said she's a friend of White's confirmed he met with Flores and agreed to run for mayor. But she said White, himself, is out of town.

And no, the other Bill White's name will not appear on the November ballot.