Houston mayoral debate tonight

Starting in about an hour. You can livestream it at this link, or at this one and follow the Tweet-stream of the Chron's Kiah Collier.  I'll update this post with some thoughts during and after.

6:25 p.m.: All mayoral candidates were invited to participate tonight, but a couple are not.  Scheduled to appear, in alphabetical order, are Don Cook, Eric Dick,  Keryl Douglas, Charyl Drab, Michael Fitzsimmons, and of course Ben Hall and Annise Parker.

6:30 p.m.: Also showing immediately after the debate on KUHT (PBS Channel 8 is televising it, if you don't want to be cluttered up with all this new and social media) is the Frontline documentary on the NFL's concussion controversy, "League of Denial".

6:35 p.m.: The Twitter hashtag for tonight appears to be the the generic #HouNews. #HouVote

6:45 p.m.: Longtime Houston network anchor -- and host of Channel 8's political show, 'Red, White and Blue' -- Linda Lorelle will serve as moderator for the debate.  Asking the questions are Laurie Johnson of public radio's KUHF, Mike Morris of the Houston Chronicle, Doug Miller of KHOU and Pedro Rojas of Univision.

6:55 p.m.: Doug Miller's Tweet has a picture of six candidates in place just before the start. Left to right it looks like Douglas, Fitzsimmons, Dick, Hall, Parker, and Cook.

#Hounews Candidates in place for mayor debate at Channel 8. Watch it live on http://t.co/J5MF03pix3 pic.twitter.com/gguA4SpSg7
— Doug Miller (@DougMillerKHOU) October 8, 2013

Follow my Tweet feed at the right, as I make notes for blogging later.

9:00 p.m.: Well, that was brutal. Tune in later for some perspective, because after the last two hours... I got nothin'. (Until tomorrow morning, that is.)

Bloglunch with Mike Sullivan

Last Friday, the Harris County tax assessor/collector's new media and communications manager, Justin Concepcion -- he recently moved over from Mayor Annise Parker's office --  arranged a sit-down with us blogger types.

John filed a brief report about it already, and Noah has been a fan of Sullivan's for some time.

Sullivan's term as TA/C so far is in marked contrast with his way-too-high-profile predecessors Paul Bettencourt, Leo Vazquez, and Don Sumners.  (Between the three of those assholes, it seems I have written more than fifty blog posts.)  Sullivan appears to have figured out that the tax office doesn't need to make headlines, and that's to his credit.

Sullivan really wanted to brag a little on the improvements in customer service he's made, which include shortening the queues at the 16 branch offices and taking credit cards as payment for vehicle license registrations.  We wouldn't let him, however; much of our focus was on the voter registration side of things.

Mike Sullivan knew he had a big job ahead even before he was elected TA/C of Harris County. He just didn't know HOW big.
(photo courtesy Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)

Let's get some advisories out of the way first: it's too late, as of yesterday, to register to vote in Houston's municipal elections on tap.  You still have time to make sure you have the proper photo identification in order to do so, and here's everything you need to know about that.  Make sure you get that done, and do it now.

Sullivan was avuncular and candid in our hour-long meeting.  He makes a good impression as an administrator and his record so far seems to reflect that competence.  I'm still not bowled over by his efforts to be bipartisan (or non-partisan, as the case may be).  He demurred when asked about things connected with the controversies of the recent past in regard to voter registration; he said that purging of the voter rolls is continuous and ongoing and in coordination with the Texas Secretary of State, John Steen.  But he dodged my questions about whether he favored or disfavored the creation of a county elections administrator.  The topic of True the Vote and Catherine Engelbrecht unfortunately did not come up.

And I am not at all impressed with his appointment of voter registration manager Albert Cheng.  Greg has a couple of posts on Cheng's testimony during this past summer's redistricting hearings, and how badly he misunderstands the concept of "candidate of choice".

But overall, like John and Noah, I admire Sullivan's work ethic and his efforts to improve the county's tax office are apparent.  I just won't ever be a fan of the man's politics.  He does, however, set an example that other Republicans would be wise to follow: leave the BS about Obama outside and do your job.

I'd like to see a lot more of that.

Update: Greg and Charles were also in attendance.