Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Fifty point eight percent (and ten)

Against token opposition, Parker barely avoided a runoff. With all votes counted, the incumbent mayor garnered 50.8 percent of the vote over five underfunded and little-known challengers despite spending more than $2.3 million. Her predecessor, Bill White, won 86 percent of the vote in his last race for mayor in 2007.

Parker actually received fewer than 50 percent of the votes cast on Election Day but she rolled up greater tallies in early voting and absentee ballots cast.

A little humility might go a long way for the Mayor as she continues to "fix things" in her second term.

In her first term, Mayor Annise Parker consolidated departments, laid off city workers, raised fees, negotiated labor contracts with all three city employee unions, undertook historic designation of several neighborhoods over the opposition of those rallying around property rights, redrew the city’s political map, pushed for the addition of two Council seats and implemented two controversial voter-approved propositions to turn off the city’s red-light cameras and start charging a monthly drainage fee.

Upon winning a second term Tuesday, she said the work isn’t done.

“I’m going to continue to tackle every tough problem that I can find and fix things,” Parker told the Chronicle at her Election Night headquarters at Union Station.

If she can get some workers hired to begin projects funded by the drainage fee -- which had an "Against" slate in yesterday's races that was miserably defeated -- then she will do better in '13.

But this news last night is an inauspicious beginning: while Parker partied, seven Occupy Houston participants were arrested (three more were detained and then released) for refusing to move a tarp.

At approximately 11:00 PM, HPD arrested 10 Occupy Houston participants as a result of a dispute over a tarp being used to protect equipment belonging to Occupy Houston from inclement weather.

Police confronted one of the Occupy Houston participants about the placement of a tarp in Tranquility Park and requested its removal. The participant refused to remove the tarp on the grounds that it was necessary to protect equipment vital to the participants’ well-being. The participant discussed the matter with officers over a period of approximately 20 minutes, during which time HPD presence at the occupation site escalated dramatically, reaching a total of 27 officers and 19 police cruisers.

After failing to reach a resolution, police insisted that an arrest would be made if the tarp were not removed. The aforementioned participant remained steadfast in his position and 5 additional Occupy Houston participants indicated their willingness to be arrested on these terms as well. HPD then proceeded to arrest the participants and confiscate the tarp and other equipment belonging to the occupiers.

Four additional Occupy Houston participants were detained during the course of the arrests. Three individuals who were filming the event were detained for jaywalking after attempting to cross Walker St. at Bagby, where a police cruiser was obstructing the crosswalk. Another participant was arrested while requesting the name and badge number of one of the arresting officers. Three of the detained persons were released after a period of time, while the remaining 7 participants were booked into the municipal jail facility located on Lubbock. Video of the arrests may be viewed at Occupy Houston’s YouTube channel.

This confrontation occurred about two hours after Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee addressed the general assembly. An Iraq War veteran, Shaun Crump, was among those arrested.

Not a good way to start, Mayor Parker.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

A little tighter than everyone thought

I read some anti-incumbent anger into the closer-than-expected election results this evening.

Mayor Annise Parker leads her five rivals with 95 percent of Harris County precincts reporting (and all Fort Bend County precincts reporting; there is a tiny bit of Houston over the border) but her support has fallen from 52.76 percent in early-voting results to 50.94 percent now.

Though it appears unlikely, Parker would be faced into a runoff if her total ends below 50 percent; that would be a rare event for an incumbent mayor, particular one without any well-financed challengers.

Most close observers considered Parker a prohibitive favorite in the absence of a well-funded or well-known challenger among the five candidates who ran against her. [...]

A poll last month showed Parker with the lowest approval rating of any Houston mayor in decades, and only 37 percent of respondents said they would vote for her.

The Council races were a mixed bag of close and not-so-close. The tight ones:

With 838 of 885 Harris County precincts reporting, most incumbents are clear winners in Houston City Council elections.

+ District A (near northwest) is one exception. There, challenger Helena Brown leads incumbent Brenda Stardig 46.9 to 41.3 percent.

+ The crowded District B race (northeast and far north) is headed to a runoff, with Alvin Byrd leading at 25.1 percent, followed by Jerry Davis at 24.4 percent and Kathy Blueford-Daniels at 18 percent. Byrd is an aide to incumbent Jarvis Johnson, who is termed out.

+ Former state representative Ellen Cohen leads in District C (Montrose, Heights and other nearby neighborhoods) with 54.2 percent of the vote, having dominated fund-raising in the contest. She is trailed by Brian Cweren at 27.3 percent.

+ In At-Large 1, incumbent Stephen Costello was leading with 51.2 percent of the vote, followed by Scott Boates at 22.4 percent and Don Cook at 18.1 percent.

+ The 10-candidate race for At-Large 2 is still blurry. Perennial candidate Andrew Burks leads with 17.2 percent of the vote, followed by former state representative Kristi Thibaut at 15.8 percent, Elizabeth Perez at 14.2 percent and former planning commissioner David Robinson at 11.9 percent.

+ In At-Large 3, incumbent Melissa Noriega was leading with 55.8 percent of the vote, followed by Chris Carmona at 26.1 percent and J. Brad Batteau at 18.1 percent.

+ In At-Large 5, controversial incumbent Councilwoman Jolanda Jones looks set for her third straight runoff. She faces two strong contenders, chiropractor Jack Christie (who nearly defeated her two years ago) and regulatory compliance expert Laurie Robinson. Jones leads with 38.9 percent, followed by Christie at 32.7 percent and Robinson at 19.9 percent.

Stardig is going to be Teabagged next month. Cohen posts incumbent-like numbers in winning her election. Costello barely avoids a run-off. JoJo and Christie square off against each other in December, again, same as in '09.

The race for AL2 has the biggest surprise of the evening, with perennial candidate Burks leading the ten-person field, and Thibaut making the run-off against him.

“I just went and got me my favorite cigar,” Andrew Burks said when asked for his reaction to leading in early voting in the 10-candidate At-Large 2 race.

This is, by Burks’ count, his fifth race for a council seat. He took At-Large 2 incumbent Sue Lovell to a runoff two years ago. [...]

Burks also bought advertising in the Texas Conservative Review, whose endorsement he secured, and radio station KCOH.

The not-tight ones:

+ Incumbent Wanda Adams will hold her District D (south and southeast) seat, now leading challenger Larry McKinzie 81.7 to 18.3 percent.

+ Incumbent Mike Sullivan is unopposed in District E (Clear Lake and Kingwood).

+ In District F (southwest), incumbent Al Hoang also looks likely to avoid a runoff. He leads at 56 percent, trailed by Peter “Lyn” Rene at 26 percent and Hoc Thai Nguyen at 18 percent.

+ In District G (west), incumbent Oliver Pennington will top Clyde Bryan. Pennington leads 76.8 to 23.2 percent.

+ In District H (near north), incumbent Ed Gonzalez will beat Patricia Rodriguez. Gonzalez leads 68.2 to 31.8 percent.

+ In District I (East End and downtown), incumbent James Rodriguez will top Leticia Ablaza. He leads 64.5 to 35.5 percent.

+ In District J, (southwest) — newly formed based on the city’s growth according to 2010 Census data and crafted by Hispanic leaders as a “hard-earned” Latino opportunity district — non-Latino Mike Laster will win. Laster leads with 67.3 percent of the vote, with his closest challenger, Criselda Romero, at 21.7 percent.

+ In District K, (south-southwest) the second district added in response to 2010 Census data, Larry Green will win. He leads with 65.1 percent, trailed by Pat Frazier at 25.8 percent.

+ In At-Large 4, incumbent C.O. Bradford, a former police chief, will retain his seat. He leads with 67.9 percent, trailed by Amy Price at 21 percent.

While there is plenty to be happy about as it relates to Laster and Green, it's a disappointment that Hoang and Bradford will return to council. Bradford in particular seems to be demonstrating some Teflon ability with respect to the myriad of scandals with his fingerprints on them and the lack of any big hits that struck Parker, Costello, Stardig, and to a lesser extent Noriega.

Bradford will be first in line to challenge Parker in 2013 for mayor, and will attempt to reassemble the Gene Locke coalition of African-Americans and Republicans to take her out. I'm guessing the HGLBT Caucus won't be endorsing him then, but Dr. Hotze certainly will.

The odious Manuel Rodriguez survived his self-inflicted homophobia wounds, getting re-elected to the HISD board by 24 votes. The worst result by far.

More analysis tomorrow.

Monday, November 07, 2011

Houston Election Eve, poll results, and more

Tuesday Election Day update:

-- Ten developments to observe in today's elections.

-- A list of Election Night celebrations. Also, Harris County Green candidates Amy Price and Don Cook will watch the returns with supporters and friends at Bar Boheme, 307 Fairview at Taft.

===================

-- As you likely are aware, HISD trustee Manuel Rodriguez has been seared over his homo-mailer by the HGLBT Mafia, the Chronicle, and everybody in-between. But he still may be re-elected unless this late breaking news turns voters who haven't cast a ballot yet against him. We'll know in about 36 hours.

-- The National Hispanic Professional Organization conducted the only public poll of which I am aware of Houston's municipal and educational candidates. A SurveyMonkey poll. There were some surprises -- or not, depending on how much value you place in online polls. Most people who know more (and care more) about polling than I do not place much if any. So there's your *ahem* pillar of salt.

Mayor Annise Parker holds a commanding lead (59.2%) over Deputy Chief of the Fire Department and GOP hopeful Fernando Herrera (31.1%). We had 473 likely voters who answered the question - “If the election were held today, who would be your choice for Mayor of Houston”.

This poll's political party ID distribution was 58.7% Democrats, 16.3% indies, 0.6% Libertarians, 19.9% Republicans, 0.4% Socialists, and 4.1% "other". I believe that breakdown represents an undersampling of the conservative electorate, and may suggest that Mayor Parker's numbers will come in somewhat under 59%.

Could this poll, as flawed as it seems, represent a red flag to the Parker campaign? Is it actually possible she could be forced into a runoff?

We did find the results for the At-Large #2 race interesting with Bo Fraga, son of former City Council Member Felix Fraga, getting 22.4% of the total vote and Jennifer Rene Pool getting 16.9% of the vote. These two candidates were the top vote getters in this race. The number of Hispanics participating in the poll is 12% higher than the historical Hispanic voter turnout in Houston. We therefore believe that the results for this race may be off and we have confidence that this seat is wide open to all candidates in the race.

There's yet another clue something is wrong. Latino turnout is well off even its usual anemic proportion (via e-mail from the Harris County Tejano Democrats):

According to official reports from the Harris County Clerk's office, Latinos have comprised 12% of the total in person absentee and mail in ballots cast. Districts H, I and J are the three lowest turnout districts as far as percentage of the city turnout is concerned with District H turning out 5% of the city total; District I 6% of the city total and District J 4% of the city total.

This poll has Anglos at 41.1%, Asian at 1.8%, African-American ("Black") voters at 24.4%, Latinos ("Hispanic") at 27.8% and the rest at 4.9%.

Note also that the quoted paragraph above indicates different percentages for Fraga and Pool than the graphs displayed at the link. The AL2 candidates by rank are Fraga (23.2%), Pool (16.5%), Thibaut (14.4%), Perez (11.8%), Robinson (9.3%), Shorter (8.9%), Burks (8.1%), Dick (4.1%), Griffin (2.2%), and Goss (1.4%).

Another discrepancy appears in the the numbers of respondents in the press release (473) as compared with the charts and graphs (492). No explanation is given. So there appears to be some error in calculation as well. Maybe it's me looking at something wrong. You check and see and tell me what you find.

At the very least, Republicans are significantly under-sampled and Latinos are vastly over-sampled. On the presumption that surnames matter to Latino voters ... Herrera, Fraga, and Perez -- RepubLatinos all -- may or may not be in good shape.

But this poll is probably useless for predicting much of anything. Texas Tribune, take note.

-- There's a hilarious little spat going on between H-Town conservo-bloggers. Big Jolly called District C candidate Brian Cweren gay and this guy called Big Jolly a liberal. That's almost -- but not quite -- as funny as Me, Evan's response to mayoral candidate Jack O'Connor's calling us out. Don't jack with Evan, Jack.

Here's your progressive voters' guide for Houston's election once again. Remember that the only official poll is tomorrow. Make it count.

The Weekly Election Day Eve Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you that the right to complain about the results of an election are directly connected to having voted in it. Here is this week's blog roundup.

Off the Kuff has a school finance lawsuit update.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme catches Greg Abbott being a blithering hypocrite.

Shocker! Hold the presses: Herman Cain and Rick Perry each discover that running for President is hard! Letters From Texas weighs in.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is awakened from a 2011 blog sleep. The run-up to the 2012 Presidential Campaign is disgusting already. Nothing is as it seems and candidates are fluent in fairy tales. The distance between the educated voter and the uneducated voter is huge. Guess which group holds the majority ... Campaign Season Op Ed: BossKitty Awakens

There don't appear to be any obvious winners in the wake of Rick Perry's implosion and Herman Cain's Black Walnut meltdown, according to PDiddie at Brains and Eggs. Unless you count Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, that is. And they were winning beforehand.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the insanity of tax talk in Texas. We can't keep doing the same thing and expecting different results: Texas tax facts.

Irritated by road construction? McBlogger says don't blame TXDOT, blame the contractors.

Neil at Texas Liberal noted the unexpected passing of an old friend with a reminder that if you value someone in life, you should contact them now.

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Sunday Punching Back Funnies

Many Texas credit unions had a steady stream of new accounts open on Saturday as "Bank Transfer Day" drew attention online and on the streets across the state. While statistics for Bank Transfer Day are not yet available, credit unions reported a surge in traffic. Statewide, credit unions reported 47,000 Texans had joined, and $326 million was moved by November 2 –- four times the usual growth rate, reports the Texas Credit Union League.

HISD school lunch menu: Homophobia Burger with extra bigotry sauce

We just wouldn't be the City by the Bayou without a big steaming plate of this.

Some Houston residents are calling for the resignation of Manuel Rodriguez from the Houston school board after the incumbent distributed a campaign flyer to his constituents earlier this week that included language critical of gay people.

“His records show he spent years advocating for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender rights… not kids,” the campaign brochure says about Ramiro Fonseca, Rodriguez’s opponent in Tuesday’s election for the District III seat of Houston school system’s Board of Trustees.

The flyer states Fonseca has received the endorsement of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, “the South’s oldest civil rights organization dedicated solely to the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.” (The underlined words are underlined in the flyer.) [...]

Rodriguez said today that the brochure isn’t anti-gay.

“It’s the truth,” Rodriguez said during a phone interview, adding that he is not anti-gay. “I am not bashing gay people.”

Rodriguez said that the flyer emphasized the endorsement of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus to “indicate who (Fonseca) represents.”

The incumbent said he underlined the words, ‘gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights’ “to make sure parents know who’s going to make policy for their children.”

Sidebar first: go look at the flyer. You have to admire the unintended irony of the man who has been at the head of the board for one of the nation's largest school districts writing "Vote NO for my opponent".

The HLGBT Caucus -- which controls Houston elections and has for some time now -- launched itself into frenzied overdrive.

Noel A. Freeman, president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus called the Rodriguez brochure “trash politics at its worst.” The flyer also describes Fonseca as being 54 with no children and having a male partner.

“A homophobic bigot like this has no business making decisions that affect our children,” Freeman said.

Rodriguez should step down and officials from the Houston Independent School District should investigate him, said Art Pronin, president of the Meyerland Area Democrats Club.

“This is nauseating that a sitting public official would do this. He should be held to a higher standard than that,” said Pronin, who added that during the between 25 and 30 campaigns he’s worked on, he hadn’t seen anything like this.

“It’s inexcusable that a member of the school board would do the same thing that many students to do gay students,” Pronin said. “The flyer is vicious. It specifically makes it sound like it’s perverted to be gay and highlights multiple times that being gay is not ‘normal.’”

Worse, Pronin said, is that the HISD school board recently strengthened its anti-bullying policy.

“Now Rodriguez is doing it,” Pronin said. “What’s it saying to parents who have a gay child? He has to go.”

If Da Caucus decided to join forces with Occupy Wall Street's Houston chapter, I'm convinced that the Chase Tower in downtown Houston would resemble New York's World Trade Center in 2001 on rhetoric alone. (If that analogy offends you then substitute "the walls of Jericho". But back to the point ...)

I just don't understand why some conservative moron has to go there every single time we have an election in this town. Forget Dave Wilson. Forget Gene Locke two years ago. The Right has been playing the Fag Card -- or the Fagbait Card -- at least since Kathy Whitmire was controller.

I'm sure it was going on well before that, too. It was just a little more obvious and out in the open. For that matter it may have even won an election at some point in Houston's history.

It's done nothing but lose elections for the perpetrators of fear and loathing for the past generation, though, ever since "Louie, Don't Shoot!" lost his comeback bid against incumbent mayor Whitmire.

But that never seems to stop them from playing it.

This is the proof that the Freak Right is clinically insane: they keep doing the same thing repeatedly, expecting a different result.

Manuel Rodriguez is just version 1.6. And by his own words: vote No for his opponent, Ramiro Fonseca.

 No más de este mamarracho (I prefer caca de toro personally but my translator is polite).

Update: The Chron posts a retraction.

Earlier this campaign season, we endorsed Manuel Rodriguez Jr. for another term on the board of the Houston Independent School District. We now retract that endorsement in the race for HISD Position III trustee. [...]

With his hateful flier, Rodriguez perpetuates the kind of stereotypes that put our kids in danger. And he implies that all right-thinking people agree with him - an insult to his constituents, and precisely the kind of blithe, old-school homophobia that makes school hallways so treacherous.

Members of the school board are supposed to be role models, not bullies. They're supposed to support civil rights, not fight against them. They're supposed to fight hate speech, not commit it.

It's important to stand up to bullying, intolerant behavior, whether on the playground or at the ballot box.

Friday, November 04, 2011

Who wins with Cain and Perry's implosion?

First of all you must accept the premise that Pizza Man and Governor Goodhair have indeed imploded, joining the ranks of the walking dead on Halloween (aka Dia de los Muertos).

If you do, then IMHO the two men standing to gain the most are 1) Romney and 1a) Obama.

Romney's still not seeing any polling bump, but as Richard Viguerie told Ed Schultz last week, that's because Mittens has been polling around 25% for the last five years. He won't solidify support until his nomination appears more inevitable than it already is, and that may not be until late spring (Viguerie again points out that the GOP primaries are, for the first time in 40 years, apportioning delegates by percentage instead of winner-take-all until April 1).

Regular readers of this blog -- with the exception of Matt and Greg -- would not be likely to give much credence to what goes on at FreeRepublic.com, but the proprietor there has recently banned all Romney supporters from his site.


Free Republic is a pro-life, pro-family, pro-gun, pro-small government, pro-constitution, pro-liberty site. Governor Romney is none of the above. His record is that of an abortionist, gay rights pushing, gun grabbing, global warming advocating, big government, mandate loving, constitution trampling, flip-flopping liberal progressive with no core values. That and the fact that he is the chief architect and advocate for ObamaCare disqualifies him for any consideration whatsoever on Free Republic as a potential nominee for the presidency.


Jim Robinson may not speak for all of them, but he speaks for some sizable contingent of TeaBagging sympathizers who have appear to have no options once Romney is nominated (and he will be).

Herman Cain's Black Walnut is melting down to a mush of goop with a few nuts floating in it. Perry -- well, cuddling a small bottle of syrup like it is a puppy is the equivalent of a Dean Scream. "Not presidential", and twenty-five minutes of that behavior instead of half of one second.

Unlike some of the chattering class as well as a recent poll which suggests a comeback, I don't believe Gingrich can capitalize (he has the same ladies' baggage as Cain, essentially). Certainly not Bachmann or Santorum. Huntsman? Gary Johnson? Not the TP's cup of tea. Ron Paul's numbers are the same as ever; even the Bags think he's batshit crazy. I'm still hoping Dr. No wises up and goes Libertarian.

I wonder if Donald Trump, Tim Pawlenty, or Thaddeus McCotter have regrets about withdrawing. Could there yet be a Sarah Palin Mad Hat tossed into the ring? Again, highly doubtful.

I just don't see where the Loon Caucus may land, except on 'demoralized'. They may get re-energized if/when Romney picks Rubio or some other of their ilk, but that's just McCain-Palin all over again.

What do you think?

Update: Just to add that I think 2012 is going to be a good year -- relatively speaking -- for third-party ultraconservative candidates. Like the Constitution Party, for example, and possibly even this person, whom I have never heard of before today:

Just when you thought the field of candidates for president in 2012 was full, a national radio talk-show host is now in the race, claiming Barack Obama is not even eligible for office because he has presented a forged birth certificate to the nation.

Laurie Roth from Washington state is running not as a Republican, but as a self-described patriot and conservative on the American Independent Party ticket. She says she's already on the ballot in California, and will take steps to make sure her name is listed in the other 49 states.

Disregard MoveOn's ballot (and Peter Brown's endorsement)

Today is your last opportunity to cast an early vote in Houston's municipal elections. You have until 7 p.m this evening to do so, and then you have to wait until Election Day, next Tuesday.

MoveOn has distributed their "Progressive Ballot Guide", and for the most part it is a joke. That's because the ballot has been infiltrated with Republican disruptors. It's just "Operation Chaos" up to its usual tricks. For example ...

-- District A lists a split vote, but click in and you'll see several recommendations for incumbent Brenda Stardig -- Republican, incumbent, possible alcoholic -- as the 'progressive' choice. That would be laughably false.

-- At Large #4's recommendation is Chief Crime Labford -- who happens to be the least progressive choice.

-- Similarly, in a race with three Republicans and one Green candidate, the incumbent Republican-masquerading-as-a-Democrat is the leader.

MoveOn's clickers got it right a time or two, but overall this is a list you should avoid. I have made all of the recommendations you need to cast a progressive ballot this year. You may not agree with all of my picks, but if you use MoveOn's ballot for anything but lining the litter box, you're making a mistake.

And you're too smart for that.

The same goes for anyone who pays attention to anything Mr. Schlumberger says. I'm convinced that if Peter Brown and Bill White plan on running for office again, it won't be as Democrats. You just can't piss down the back of the African-American voting bloc and expect to get away with it.

Neither man is smart enough or devious enough to be playing three-dimensional chess/jiu-jitsu here, either. Conservatives are interpreting this move as a reason for them NOT to vote for Jack Christie, which is certainly reason enough. And they have a perfectly good 'B' option in At Large #5. What I said over two weeks ago:

Conservatives who seriously think that White's endorsement damns Christie with faint praise have another option in AL5: Bob Ryan. Bob's a longtime friend of my family, and earned some renown as the Harris County grand jury foreman that in 2008 indicted Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina on arson charges (that former DA Chuck Rosenthal refused to pursue). Ryan's about as principled a Republican as they come.

If Republicans are smart enough to figure this one out ... well, so is everybody else.

Thursday, November 03, 2011

Bank Transfer Day November 5

(This post first appeared on October 11, and is reposted to reflect the growth of the movement, which has seen 650,000 credit union accounts opened in the past four weeks -- as many as in all of 2010. Mine is one of them. Make yours one tomorrow or Saturday.)

Now this would be a statement.

Even with most credit unions closed for Columbus Day there was plenty of online buzz, and uncertainty, about what the credit union industry role might be on “Bank Transfer Day,” the latest event surfacing from the “Occupy Wall Street” protests.

Industry sources, speaking off the record, suggested any wholesale switch from large banks to CUs on Nov. 5, the day designated by one Californian and carried aTwitter Monday, could conceivably put net worth ratios out of whack.

The balance sheet problem was raised by several industry officials as a potential hazard as online articles focused on what “Occupy” supporters are calling now for a specific action to underscore their complaints against big banks and corporate greed.

For the record, Mark Wolff, CUNA senior vice president-communications, said only that the trade group welcomes the idea of “a viral 'Bank Transfer Day'” since it shows “just how angry consumers are becoming with their treatment by big banks” and will now look at CUs.

CUNA said its Facebook posts have already witnessed big jumps in traffic on www.asmarterchoice.org. There also have been big gains on www.findacreditunion.org.

I first saw this as a movement at least a year ago at the Move Your Money Project.

Wire service reports Monday identified the ringleader of “Bank Transfer Day” as Kristen Christian, a 27-year-old Los Angeles art gallery owner who said she is not affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street protest, but that demonstration organizers had reached out to her to express support.

Christian reportedly chose Nov. 5 because of its association with 17th century British folk hero Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up the British House of Lords but was captured on that day.

A Facebook page for the event states that "together we can ensure that these banking institutions will ALWAYS remember the 5th of November! If the 99% removes our funds from the major banking institutions on or by this date, we will send a clear message and give the 1% a taste of the fear that we experience every day when we aren't able to pay for our rent, food, medication, utilities, student loans, etc."

I'm in. How about you?

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

The latest on Houston's elections

-- Texas Watchdog has a in-depth story on where HISD's candidates get their campaign contributions from: HISD vendors. Yet another depressing expose' into how our local officials are compromised by the money in politics.

Our analysis of three years' worth of campaign donations shows that vendors and contractors to the Houston Independent School District gave nearly half of all contributions to the incumbents in the past three years.

Here's a spreadsheet of the twenty largest contributors, which include an executive search firm that wanted to conduct the headhunting for Terry Grier's replacement, Centaurus Advisors (they've been mentioned here recently) and the maintenance and construction contractor for the school district, which has earned over $3 million and given back $62,000 in campaign donations.

Go look at their interactive tools to see each candidate's contributions.

-- At Large #2 legacy candidate Bolivar Fraga may have cleared up his campaign loan woes by paying it off early, but there are still plenty of reasons not to vote for him. Big Jolly's Yvonne Larsen also throws rocks at Stephen Costello, Mayor Annise Parker, and Ellen Cohen.

See? We do agree on some things.

-- I got some calls this week on my reporting relative to "Swift Boat" Bob Perry's contributions to District C candidate Ellen Cohen. Those callers essentially asked the same question: why I was holding Cohen to a higher standard than I held, say, Melissa Noriega, or Mayor Annise Parker, or Controller Ronald Green. (I could not find any record of homebuilder Perry's contributions to the mayor or the controller, but I'm not as good at sleuthing these things out as others.)

I thought the answer was obvious, but I'll explain again: Noriega, Parker, and Green do not have acceptable alternative, much less progressive, challengers. And all three have also met -- at times exceeded -- minimum acceptable job performance standards for this observer. All three earned endorsement from this corner... if only half-heartedly in the mayor's case. And as posted earlier, the contribution itself wasn't so much my issue with Cohen as it was the controversy created in the atmosphere around it.

"Non-partisan" general elections with multiple candidates, like primary elections where all the choices are from the same party, are the voters' opportunity to pick the best candidate among several. And the quality of of a solid progressive choice in the general election in Karen Derr is what drove my endorsement. Cohen, again as previously written, may emerge as the only acceptable (and progressive) choice in a runoff. If she does, I can easily support her election.

I'm sure there will be more developments with Election Day less than a week away. Go vote early if you haven't already.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Don Boates (AL#1) caught working both sides of the street

More of this crap again.

Houston City Council candidate Scott Boates is listed on the Harris County Republican Party Web site as one of three GOP contestants for At-Large Position 1.

Texas Conservative Review editor and former county GOP chairman Gary Polland says that isn’t so, though, and has provided a link to a YouTube site in which Boates tells a Democratic group that he is a sustaining member of the party.

So which is it? Both, Boates said.

“I joined both parties this year as part of this run for office,” Boates said.

Let's look past Scott Boates and his disingenuousness for a moment. Polland is either stupid or lying, probably both. On the Harris County GOP website -- the same party he was chairman of -- it plainly says:

Party affiliation (based on latest primary vote) will be provided for your information
(i) Incumbent   (R) Republican   (D) Democrat  (-) No Primary vote found

Not real sure who Polland thinks he's fooling here. Boates, incumbent Stephen Costello, and perennial candidate James Partsch-Galvan all have a bold 'R' beside their name. In addition, Boates is listed as a Republican Leadership Council member, which is defined as "those elected officials and candidates who provide generous financial support to the Harris County Republican Party". There is a link to an application to join the RLC there; its minimum contribution level is $1,000.

By contrast, the Harris County Democratic Party's sustaining membership entry level is $150.

So Boates gave at least a thousand bucks to the HCGOP and voted in their most recent primary in 2010, and gave at least $150 to the HCDP. Which party do YOU think he belongs to? Pay no attention to his words; just look at his actions.

Incumbent Stephen Costello of course is playing the same game. From my post less than two weeks ago:

Costello, a civil engineer made wealthy on municipal contracts long before he was first elected to Council two years ago, allegedly bragged recently to the Pachyderm Club that his own drainage assessment was coming in well below the city average. As in about a third of the city's now-revised average of $8.25. On his $300,000+ HCAD-assessed domicile.

You have your choice of three Republicans -- at least two of which are congenital liars -- or one Green in At Large #1.

Boates, Costello, and Bolivar Fraga in AL#2 put the "tick" in politics, telling everyone they meet only what they want to hear. To a lesser degree, Mayor Parker is doing the same thing.

And this gives me the only opportunity I will ever take to say something nice about Eric Dick: at least he isn't pretending to be a Democrat.

Houston municipal elections update

Lots of people have clicked on my series of Houston progressive voter's guides published in the week prior to early voting, so if you haven't cast your ballot yet, please do so this week -- EV locations are open 7 to 7 through Friday -- and take it with you to your poll. Neil also has some recommendations (that don't exactly dovetail with mine). Charles has been tracking the vote tallies and turnout is sagging a bit from recent years. When fewer people vote, your vote has greater importance.

My picks appear below in summary if you're short on time. Candidates' names in bold represent the most important races for progressives.

Mayor: Annise Parker, with great reluctance. If you need to more about that, read this. And this posting from Chris Moran has more reasons why. And Neil also has his response to that.

Controller: Ronald Green

At Large #1: Don Cook

At Large #2: Jenifer Rene Pool or Kristi Thibaut, with David Robinson and Roz Shorter as co-third options. There are a handful of people in this ten-person contest who are completely unworthy of your vote.

At Large #3: Melissa Noriega

At Large #4: Amy Price. The best candidate in any race this cycle. Amy has her own blog post today about Harris County election manuals falsely instructing election judges to ask for voters' photo ID. Photo IDs are NOT required to vote until 2012.

At Large #5: Jolanda Jones. And on the strength of Bill White's endorsement of Republican Jack Christie, I recommend (for GOP voters only) Robert Ryan.

District A: Bob Schoellkopf

District B: No endorsement. Miya Shay reported last evening that one of the candidates, Phillip Paul Bryant, declined to answer her questions about his arrest two months ago for driving with a suspended license.

District C: Karen Derr. Here's the reason why I can't support my former state representative Ellen Cohen (but will do so if she is in a runoff with a conservative).

District D: Wanda Adams

District E: No endorsement.

District F: Peter Rene'

District G: No endorsement.

District H: Ed Gonzalez

District I: James Rodriguez

District J: Mike Laster

District K: Larry Green