Letter To Houston City Council About Republican Chair Of Public Safety Committee

​Below is a letter I've sent to each member of Houston City Council regarding Republican Houston Vice Mayor Pro-Tem Amy Peck serving as Chair of the Public Safety Committee. Public Safety Committee membership is four Republicans and two Democrats. Given the extreme nature of today's Republican Party, are these the people who should be supervising public safety forces and public safety unions?  

There is no public safety without democracy.
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Here is how the Houston City Council webpage describes the committee:
 
Will review but not limited to: Performance and policies of any city department providing public safety services, purchases related to public safety, Independent Police Oversight Board.

(I've been watching Houston City Council sessions. You should as well.) 

I'll have further posts right here at the Houston Democracy Project to update responses-or lack of a response-from councilmembers. 

Here is the letter:    

In the new Council Committee structure, Mayor Whitmire has appointed Republican Vice Mayor Pro-Tem Amy Peck to be Chairwoman of Council's Public Safety Committee.    
 
Bipartisanship is essential to democracy. There is virtue in keeping divisive state and national politics distant from Houston City Hall. The business of the city must be conducted.   

At the same time, Vice Mayor Pro-Tem Peck represents a political party led by Donald Trump. Five other Houston City Councilmembers do as well. Where do these members stand on election denial and relentless Republican voter suppression? Where do they stand on the mass migrant round-ups promised by many Republicans? Houston would likely be an epicenter of such round-ups.         

Authoritarianism will require a local infrastructure. Our public safety unions are comfortable with supporting election deniers. Harris County Republican political leaders work to overturn elections, and are silent as Governor Abbott says he would shoot migrants other than that he would be prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department.      

Is Vice Mayor Pro-Tem Peck the right person to have a critical role in supervising and holding our public safety forces accountable as we face a clear authoritarian threat?

The six member Public Safety Committee has four Republican members. Republicans Peck, Huffman, Ramirez and Carter along with Democrats Jackson and Martinez are on the committee. Is this the right committee composition to ask questions about public safety union support of anti-democratic politicians, and to discuss the public safety threat to our diverse city represented by the political extremism of the Republican Party?      

Republicans such as Mike Pence and Liz Cheney have said they will not vote for Trump. So has Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Many Republican voters are choosing someone other than Donald Trump in Republican primaries.     

Vice Mayor Pro-Tem Peck and the other Republican members of the Public Safety Committee must publicly distance themselves from party officials calling for the shooting of migrants and “bloodbaths.” This is the least to be expected of those selected to oversee our public safety forces. There is no public safety without democracy.    

​History shows that the person next door or the person you work with daily is fully capable of repression and brutality. I urge Democratic Houston City Councilmembers to directly ask their Republican colleagues where they stand on the authoritarian threat, and to to call out political extremism among elected Republicans.

Thank you. 


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