September 17, 2004, 06:13 PM

Congratulations Kristen Mack! (Updated)

By Rob Booth

The Chronicle has apparently replaced columnist John Williams with Kristen Mack. Kristen's getting off to a great start, using incorrect information to attack Republicans. (Thanks to Off the Kuff for the link.)

Most of Kristen's column deals with Mayor White and Propositions 1 and 2, but at the end there's this:

Houston Chronicle: White courts Republicans to boost revenue measure

State Rep. Talmadge Heflin says he's in tune with his district. On a recent television show Heflin said: “I have been very much in touch with the district. It covers part of Katy school district, part of Alief, part of HISD, part of Spring Branch and part of Stafford. I know the district, I know the schools, I know the needs.”

Apparently he doesn't know it as well as he thinks. Turns out no part of the Spring Branch School District is in State House District 149, according to Heflin's Web site.

I thought that last line was odd. The first time I read it I got the impression that his web site said somewhere that he didn't represent Spring Branch ISD. Why would his web site say that no part of Spring Branch ISD is in district 149? So I went to look and found this:

DISTRICTS OF THE 78TH LEGISLATURE - SCHOOL DISTRICTS REPORT

SCHOOL DISTRICT — POPULATION IN DISTRICT 149 — TOTAL

Alief ISD — (44.8% in district) — 99,959
Houston ISD (2% in district) — 25,168
Katy ISD (9.8% in district) — 13,739
Spring Branch ISD (0% in district) — 0
Stafford MSD (1.6% in district) — 249

Why would his web site say that there was 0% of Spring Branch ISD in the district? He has 0% of Fort Bend ISD in the district, why would the site single out Spring Branch ISD? Notice at the top that it says “Population in District.” Ah-ha, so there is 0 population in district 149 from Spring Branch ISD.

So, I went to get a map of Spring Branch ISD. I downloaded the PDF file and found this:

See the little notch of Spring Branch ISD that goes west past Eldridge? That's in Harris County precinct 0095. Here's a map (courtesy Harris County GOP):

Representative Heflin represents precinct 0095:

HOUSE DISTRICT 149
DISTRICTS OF THE 78TH LEGISLATURE (2003)

PRECINCTS WITHIN DISTRICT BY COUNTY
COUNTY - PRECINCT
HARRIS - 0095

So, let's sum up:

• Rep. Heflin said on TV that his district covers part of Spring Branch.
• Kristen Mack said he didn't know the district because Spring Branch is not in his district.
• Part of Spring Branch ISD is in precinct 0095.
• Precinct 0095 is in district 149, Rep. Heflin's district.
• Rep. Heflin represents part of Spring Branch ISD.

So, Kristen, congratulations on the new gig! I look forward to reading your columns. Very closely. And checking them. Closely.

Update 9/18 1:15 PM: I did a little more poking around in the “notch” and posted a couple of comments to Off the Kuff. In a nutshell, I've confirmed through other sources that part of Spring Branch ISD is in District 149 and there is at least one person registered to vote there. There will soon be more.

I haven't noticed a correction from the Chronicle yet. C'mon, I know you're reading this.

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