Bill White gets a wedgie

From the Chronicle:

December 2003
After being elected mayor, Bill White resigned from the WEDGE Group and BTEC board. The WEDGE Group had a controlling interest in BTEC.

September 2005
Hurricane Rita struck, taking down power at the Lynchburg Reservoir pumping station. White was called in to help. Among other actions, he put the crisis team in touch with BTEC, which led an effort to get a supply of diesel generators under an agreement with the Coastal Water Authority.

December 2006
The Sterling Group bought an interest in BTEC and asked White to join. White invested $1 million in the group's interest in BTEC.

2007
White reported income of $524,582 from the BTEC investment.

I won't say if I think Bill White engaged in shady deals here. If he did, the corruption pales in comparison to, say, Chicago.

To me, the big issue is how inept and fumbling Bill White's campaign staff is. Bill White is an electable Democrat who is articulate and avoids the looney-tunes wing of his party. Rick Perry is very beatable. Yet White trails badly in the polls, and now that this news has come out, the few remaining fence-sitters will go to Perry.