Paul Burka's surprising answer is no. He responds to a Houston Chronicle article wondering why Houston's business leaders don't stand up to Governor Perry's refusal to address the state's crumbling infrastructure by stating:
there are no business leaders in this state. Ken Lay was the last one
(as painful as it is for me to write that), and his business turned out
to be a house of cards. The reason that today’s business leaders aren’t
leaders is that Houston and Dallas have become outposts of Wall Street.
The local banks are run by people who are sent to Texas, stay for five
years, and recycle themselves somewhere else. They have no long-term
stake in the success of their temporary place of residence, much less
Texas; they only care about what they can contribute to their
institution’s bottom line while they are here. The Greater Houston
Partnership is a shell of what it used to be. George R. Brown would weep
at its lack of influence. Bob Lanier must be appalled. It is just
another Perry echo chamber. It is inconceivable that CEO Jeff Moseley
would challenge Perry’s budget plans. If he dared to try, I suspect he
would be out of a job.
The Greater Houston Partnership - once very powerful - is now just a shell, a rubber stamp for the governor.
