Paul Bettencourt, Republican candidate for Texas Senate District 7, today pledged serious legislative action after the disclosure that the City of Houston is keeping its management audit letters private, even though other large Texas cities routinely make them available as public record.

“It is outrageous that the City of Houston is trying to hide their independent external financial audit findings from public view that apparently show significant deficiencies in city accounting transactions.  There is simply no fact, or supposition of fact, that any audit letter, paid for by public tax dollars, should not be made public immediately, as transparent good government demands!” said Bettencourt.

“If elected, I will make this one of the first bills that I file,” Bettencourt continued.  “The public has a right to know, and the legal rulings by the city, and even the Attorney General’s Office, must not be used in lieu of good public practice and transparency.”

Bettencourt calls on Mayor Annise Parker to release these audit letters and publically explain why they have been hidden from public view.  By contrast, according to the Houston Chronicle article on January 28th entitled “City Keeping Audit Letters Secret”, by Jayme Fraser, Fort Worth and San Antonio post copies of their independent audit letters on their websites for public view.