Houston, where’s the movement to clean up government?

While Americans increasingly distrust state and federal institutions, local governments somehow continue to enjoy higher approval ratings. Polls from Gallup and Pew consistently show local governments earning 60% to 70% public trust, compared to just 20% to 30% for the federal government. That trust makes sense in theory: Local officials are closer to our day-to-day lives, especially when it matters most, like during hurricanes or blackouts. 

But in the Houston region, where political dysfunction too often meets low accountability, we might want to ask: Is all that trust really earned? At city and county levels, voters’ trust has routinely been betrayed by questionable ethics and criminal behavior. 

In February, a city public works employee was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for funneling more than $400,000 to her brother’s business. In March, a Houston ISD board member testified that she received bribes in a Walmart parking lot. In April, the district’s former chief operating officer was convicted on federal charges of conspiracy and bribery.