Updates to earlier posts: BAF, Shami, Kinky, Kay, and Locke

-- Michael McCaul is getting all of the blame for letting the BAF Systems contract slip away to Wisconsin, despite even Bill White involving himself in some last-ditch effort to save it. More at Off the Kuff and Burnt Orange.

-- Farouk Shami -- in the wake of Hank Gilbert's withdrawal and endorsement -- is firing staffers and catching hell over his voting record -- or lack thereof.

-- Kinky is going to take a few more days to decide what to do. Update: Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson took out a personals ad begging for some competition.

-- Kay Bailey filed for governor yesterday, and then she quickly lost control of the day. She caught some flak for it, too.

-- The Gene Locke campaign has been paying for those gay-baiting mailers. Which also explains why he never renounced the endorsement from Hotze's group. How much deeper in the sewer can this campaign sink? Every day brings another fresh-yet-foul flush. More from Kuffner, Muse, Erik, Stace, Neil, and John.

Update: Nick Anderson again with the slam dunk.


Update II: Rick Casey ...

It was bad enough when mayoral candidate Gene Locke told us with a straight face that he wasn't rejecting the endorsement of Steve Hotze and his Conservative Republicans of Harris County political action committee because Hotze was backing him on the basis of something other than his opponent's sexual orientation.

“If it's based solely on that one issue I've rejected them,” Locke said when asked during a TV debate why he accepted Hotze's endorsement. “If it's based on looking at my record and seeing that I am the better candidate, I would accept them.” ...

Now Locke wants us to believe that neither he nor his campaign had anything to do with the fact that his campaign finance chairman, longtime political patron and activist Ned Holmes, and finance committee member James Dannenbaum each gave a whopping $20,000 to Hotze's political action committee just days before that committee sent out the mailer endorsing him over Parker. ...

According to Hotze's report, his committee was flat broke as of three weeks ago. Since then he raised $56,000, of which $40,000 came from Locke's two backers. (The) report shows about $9,700 in expenses for the mailing in November and a balance of $44,285 in the bank.

It's long past time for the Locke campaign to slither back into the ditch they came from. More with video at KHOU.

The Locke campaign's self-immolation

We're nearing the merciful end of a bad campaign run by a really bad candidate and some truly awful staff.

Parker campaign manager Adam Harris called the claims from Tejano Chair Sandra Puente and black Dems' leader Gabrielle Hadnot "twisted and misleading." Using the same spreadsheet from which Locke's team compiled its findings, Harris calculated that more than 71% of the Controller's Department staff is composed of minorities.

As Martha notes, one day the candidate says this:

“I am not going to go into issues of race, issues of sexuality ...”

And the next day his campaign says this:

“It is unacceptable that in this day and age, a citywide elected official would employ such discriminatory hiring practices,” said Sandra Puente, HCTD Chair. “Annise Parker is not someone we can trust to lead our city. The leadership of her office does not reflect the great diversity of our city.”

Imploding in a foul-smelling morass of lies, bigotry, and disgraceful conduct is no way to run for political office, people. You highly paid out-of-towners can now be dismissed to pack up and move on, and you locals need to line up to be deloused.

Update:

A day after black and Hispanic groups criticized Annise Parker's record of hiring minorities in the city controller's office, the diversity record of her runoff opponent's law firm has been called into question.

A January 2007 report compiled by four minority attorney organizations shows that Andrews Kurth, the law firm in which Gene Locke is a partner, scored a "D" under a formula the groups developed to assess minority representation in 21 of Houston's largest law firms.

The report, which was emailed anonymously to me, showed that Locke, an African-American, was one of 116 minority partners -- 5.2 percent -- at Andrews Kurth in 2006, when the figures were gathered. The scoring formula gave greater weight to partners than to lower-ranking attorneys. Winstead Sechrest & Minick had the highest proportion of minority partners at 17.4 percent.

The overall score for Andrews Kurth was 64 on a scale of 100, the sixth-lowest among the firms included. Weil, Gotshal & Manges was the winner with a score of 100.

Kimberly Devlin, a senior strategist for Locke, said his campaign didn't issue the statement criticizing Parker and would have no comment on the law firm diversity report.

Poor Sandra. Muse has the coup de grace.

Locke: Hotze endorsement acceptable based on "my record"

Just an amazing prevarication.

(Debate moderator and ABC-13 anchor Gina) Gaston: Mr. Locke, are you comfortable with political help or endorsements by people who oppose Annise Parker solely on the basis of her sexual orientation?

Locke: The reality is this: Both Annise and I oppose bigotry. Both Annise and I have been victims of bigoted attacks during this campaign. But this election is not about me or her. It's about which of us has the best chance to move this city forward -- to keep it safe, to grow jobs, to protect our neighborhoods and give a quality of life to our citizens. Understanding that, I will accept endorsements from those people who believe that I am the best candidate, and they would join a long list of folks who have endorsed me, from the police officers union to the firefighters to the Realtors to the home builders to the Teamsters. I think my criteria is, do you believe I am the best candidate, and if you do I accept your endorsement.

Parker: The mayor of Houston must represent all Houstonians and do it effectively. But the mayor of Houston does not have to embrace all of their ideas, and there are certain endorsements that I don't believe are appropriate to accept.

Gaston: Do you accept those endorsements of people who are choosing your campaign over hers based solely on that one issue?

Locke: If it's based solely on that one issue I've rejected them. If it's based on looking at my record and seeing that I am the better candidate I would accept them.

So let's get this straight (no pun intended): Locke will accept Hotze's endorsement not because Hotze is a homophobe, but because Locke isn't. The endorsement of a virulent bigot is acceptable not because Gene Locke is also the same sort of bigot, but because the bigot thinks Locke has been a successful attorney. Or has been endorsed by the police officer's union. Or something.

Seeing as how Locke insists he has never been a lobbyist when in fact he was registered with the state of Texas as one, perhaps he is also forgetting -- or wants us to forget -- that he asked for this endorsement. And he did not seek it because Hotze was about to endorse Parker. And Hotze most certainly is not endorsing Locke because of "his record", no matter what Locke says.

Then again ... maybe he is.

More from last night's debate here. KTRK has the entire debate file videos posted; you can see the specific exchange excerpted above here.

Vote today in Houston

You can actually vote any day all week at the usual early voting locations. Why not get it done and get back to your Black Monday shopping?

After failing to appear at the televised mayoral debate, Gene Locke went there over the holiday weekend --"there" being Hotze-ville. This mailing follows hot on the heels of high-profile homophobe Dave Wilson's ad last week. Rick Casey reminded us of Houston's illustrious past mayoral contests featuring gay-baiting -- the lesson being that they always fail. As shitty a campaign as Locke has run, there's no way he gets elected IMO ... but we still have to turn out and beat him. Vote for Annise for Mayor, so that Gene can hurry up and get back to the rackets.

In the controller's race, Ronald Green needs to survive his tax problems and defeat MJ Khan, who is -- like Locke -- desperate to consolidate conservative support. The difference between Locke and Khan is that Khan doesn't have to try to pretend to be a Republican; he actually is one.

The city council races have been lively; great story here about the progressive Lane Lewis and the TeaBagger Brenda Stardig having a spirited debate as they street-raced down Long Point, after Lewis photographed Stardig's car in a nearby bar's parking lot (apparently she preferred a couple of pops to showing up at a neighborhood association meet-up). Lewis is, again, the only choice.

And Karen Derr should get past "confused independent" Stephen Costello.

Sue Lovell over perennial candidate Andrew Burks and Jolanda Jones over neoconservative Jack Christie. Please.

What are you still doing here? Go vote.

The latest on the mayor's race, and more statewide

-- Annise Parker and Gene Locke have made plenty of headlines as the Houston mayoral contest moves closer to the December runoff date. In the wake of an internal poll showing Parker at the cusp of victory, Locke continues to try to distance himself from the gay-baiting and is assembling a last-minute smear against Parker as soft on crime. The TeaBagger wing of the Harris County Republican party is going full-throttle as well, with master of disaster Allen Blakemore arranging meetings between Locke and Roy Morales as well as advising Locke informally. Miya Shay:

While Locke may not have spoken with Hotze or Blakemore much, it’s clear that Blakemore’s had semi-consistent contact with parts of Locke’s campaign. Blakemore’s told me that on several occasions. Blakemore says he’s Republican, and he won’t work for Democrats, even though Locke’s campaign staffers have asked him several times if he’s interested in working with Locke. Blakemore, though, is offering up free advice here and there. It’s clear that Blakemore is relishing his role as an uncommitted, unpaid player.

Update: Of course match-making and power-playing doesn't work well if one of the player-matches is demonstrably insolent.

-- Dick came to town, after a little dithering Kay made it in with him, they got on all the news channels locally, she asked him if he was running for president in 2012, he said 'no chance', she's running some radio ads now. She's had a good week pushing back with media. Rick Perry let another man die by the needle last night despite the Parole Board's recommendations that he halt the execution. So he is certainly maintaining his, ah, 'credibility'.

-- Farouk Shami declared for governor and Kinky Friedman had to issue denials that he was getting out of the race because of it.

-- Barbara Radnofsky was Keith Obermann's "Best Person in the World" on last night's 'Countdown'.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

-- Hank Gilbert and Tom Schieffer and Felix Alvarado discussed the issues at the TCU Democratic gubernatorial candidate forum in Fort Worth on Wednesday. Haley Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, thinks that the hair-pulling contest between the two cheerleaders makes it more difficult for the GOP to hold Austin in 2010.

-- And Bill White got the Texas Monthly spotlight treatment, but continues to be dogged by rumors that he will file for governor. I don't think he will (and I don't think he should).

Gene Locke plays the hate card

I told you he wasn't a Democrat.

A cluster of socially conservative Houstonians is planning a campaign to discourage voters from choosing City Controller Annise Parker in the December mayoral runoff because she is a lesbian, according to multiple ministers and conservatives involved in the effort.

The group is motivated by concerns about a “gay takeover” of City Hall, given that two other candidates in the five remaining City Council races are also openly gay, as well as national interest driven by the possibility that Houston could become the first major U.S. city to elect an openly gay woman.

Another primary concern is that Parker or other elected officials would seek to overturn a 2001 city charter amendment that prohibits the city from providing benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees.

"The bottom line is that we didn't pick the battle, she did, when she made her agenda and sexual preference a central part of her campaign,” said Dave Welch, executive director of the Houston Area Pastor Council, numbering more than 200 senior pastors in the Greater Houston area. “National gay and lesbian activists see this as a historic opportunity. The reality is that's because they're promoting an agenda which we believe to be contrary to the concerns of the community and destructive to the family.”

So at this point you may be wondering, what does a good Democrat (sic) like Gene Locke have to do with this slime?

(Locke) strongly distanced himself from a previous anti-gay attack against her that ultimately proved to have been a hoax. But he has made recent efforts to court some of the staunch social conservatives who are either actively planning on attacking Parker's sexuality or strongly considering it.

He appeared at the Pastor Council's annual gala last Friday and was encouraged several times by State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, a featured speaker, to stand for conservative values.

Locke has also met with and sought the endorsement of Dr. Steven Hotze, a longtime local kingmaker in conservative politics and author of the Straight Slate in 1985, a coterie of eight City Council candidates he recruited who ran on an anti-gay platform. ...

Republican consultant Allen Blakemore, a longtime Hotze associate who spoke on his behalf, said he is considering mailing out a slate of endorsed runoff candidates, and Parker's sexuality is a “key factor” in his decision.

Ah, the exquisite stench emanating from Harris County's freak right: Stephen Hotze, Dan Patrick, Allen Blakemore. And all of their minions. Did I forget to mention Paul Bettencourt? Although he thinks Locke isn't coming out forcefully enough against gay rights.

Former Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Paul Bettencourt, another Republican close to Hotze, said that if Locke wishes to unite a strong African-American base with social conservatives, they will need his assurance that he will not seek to overturn the charter amendment.

Responding to the same debate question as Parker last month, Locke said same-sex benefits allow governments and businesses “a competitive advantage” and said he “would favor that,” although it would not be the first thing on his plate.

“That's not going to motivate us to come out and vote for somebody,” Bettencourt said of social conservatives. “You cannot get the positive good conservative turnout if you're trying to undo charter amendments. It's a line drawn in the sand. You just can't have it both ways.”

Kuffner and Muse have more to say about this development. Locke's campaign is also doing something funny with Democratic precinct chairs' e-mail addresses, which is a far cry from gay-baiting the electorate but in keeping with a organization so desperate to win that they will do whatever it takes -- lie, cheat, steal, misinform, obfuscate, smear, and fear-monger.

Epic fail.

Three point two million down the drain

All that money and he barely outdrew Roy Morales.

The unpredictable and unorthodox race for Houston mayor narrowed Tuesday to a choice between a veteran City Hall insider trying to become Houston's first openly gay leader and a former civil rights activist hoping to become only the second African-American to run the nation's fourth-largest city.

City Controller Annise Parker and former City Attorney Gene Locke, the two candidates originally predicted by many to prevail at the race's outset, face each other in a Dec. 12 runoff.

Roy. Freaking. Morales.

(T)he big surprise of the night was the strong showing by Roy Morales, the race's only conservative. The retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, who ran with virtually no money and no endorsements compared to his opponents, placed only a few percentage points behind City Councilman Peter Brown, who poured more than $3.2 million of his family fortune into his candidacy.

All of the teevee ads, all of the forests of dead trees who sacrificed their lives for his direct mail pieces, and all of Marc Campos' bleating about it came to naught.

The old axiom about choosing between a real Republican and a pretend one is only partly true in this case -- more people still chose Brown, but barely. Both his and Morales' endorsement will be sought (read: pandered to) over the next five weeks. Let's watch how hard Gene Locke runs to the right in the run-off. Will Beverly Kaufman endorse him a second time?

Meanwhile in the city council races, a pretend Democrat -- Stephen Costello -- did get into a run-off with a real one -- Karen Derr. A couple of incumbents, Sue Lovell and Jo Jones, will have to fight to keep their jobs next month. CO Bradford resurrects his political career after losing the very close Harris County DA race in 2008 with an outright win in Peter Brown's vacated council seat. And the controller's contest heads to a runoff with Ronald Green and MJ Khan barely eliminating Pam Holm.

Two Progressive Coalition candidates, Deb Shafto and Don Cook, managed double-digit vote percentages but missed the run-off.

More fun still to come, and if you want more excruciating detail, Kuffner and Muse and Wythe are where you want to be.

Ten things to watch tonight in the returns

My poll duty completed, I'll excerpt and link this from Richard Dunham in the Chron's DC bureau regarding election results this evening. (It leans a little too much to the right, but -- as we always do in Houston, a blue city inside a purple county in the middle of a red state -- we'll roll with it.) Let's start with #5, #6, and #7, since they are locally relevant ...

5. Breakthroughs for gays and lesbians?
Gay and lesbian groups are looking closely at elections in Houston and Maine. In Houston, City Controller Annise Parker is trying to win a spot in a mayoral runoff. If elected, she would become the first out-of-the-closet lesbian to run a major American city. In Maine, voters will decide whether to overturn the legislature's endorsement of same-sex marriage. Note: Gay marriage has been defeated in every single statewide election thus far. Will today be any different?

I predict 'yes, today will'.

6. Will Houston elect a City Council member as its mayor?

It's been 41 years since a former councilman was elected mayor. Remember Jim McConn? So while Peter Brown leads in the polls and has deep pockets, history is not on his side.

7. What will happen to the supporters of Houston's third- and fourth-place finishers?

Only two candidates in Houston's race to replace outgoing Mayor Bill White can make a runoff, and the losers' supporters could play a pivotal role in the runoff. Roy Morales is the only conservative Republican in the race and, if he loses today, his supporters could be decisive in a close race. Likewise, Gene Locke or Peter Brown's African- American backers or Annise Parker's community activists could tip the balance.

My prediction, like Muse's, is Parker and Brown in a run-off, with the Locke and Morales endorsements as high up in the air as tonight's finish.

1. Can the GOP “sweep” the Big Three races of the day?

Those are the Virginia and New Jersey governor's races and the special U.S. House election in upstate New York. Virginia's a gimme. State Attorney General Bob McDonnell is headed toward a landslide win — despite Obama's fairly high approval ratings in the Old Dominion. New Jersey is a toss-up. And the Republican has actually dropped out of New York's 23rd District race (and endorsed the Democrat). GOP hopes are pinned to the candidacy of Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman. If conservatives are charged up and beat the Dems in all three of these races, you can't help but call it a very bad day for Obama.

Two out of three -- Virginia and New York, but not New Jersey -- will still be interpreted as 'not bad' for the Repubes.

Rest here.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready for the start of the World Series, and it presents to you its weekly highlight reel as we await the first pitch.

quizas of South Texas Chisme wonders about the US detaining a Mexican human rights activist.

WWJD on Carter Avenue? TXsharon wants to know if Chesapeake Energy or anyone in Fort Worth government has stopped to consider the answer to that question. Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Bay Area Houston wonders if the Hispanic community will dump their endorsement of Gene Locke.

WhosPlayin lost a fight with the Lewisville ISD, whose board voted unanimously to define media as print and broadcast only and give itself permission to shut out bloggers (includes video of meeting).

Not sure how to green up your life? Lucky for you, there's a whole series of tips to that topic at Texas Vox, the Voice of Public Citizen in Texas. This week's suggestion: Start a compost pile! Even in your freezer ...

The Texas Cloverleaf picks up on the "pay to play" system, alive and well with Rick Perry and the TABC.

Problems for the Democrats in 2010? Harry Balczak at McBlogger uncovers something that says that's exactly where we're headed.

Dembones at Eye On Williamson posts on Rep. John Carter's latest hypocrisy: Carter's income disclosure problem spoils GOP tactic.

Progressive Coalition candidates for Houston city council (and a Socialist running for mayor) are the subject of PDiddie's post at Brains and Eggs.

Neil at Texas Liberal also suggested that voters in Houston consider the Progressive Coalition candidates running for Houston's city council. It is hard to see how voting for Democrats year-after-year in city elections has been of great benefit to the people of Houston.

Over at Texas Kaos, libby shaw provides a public service by providing a Republican hypocrisy scorecard. Check out her Texas GOP Hall of Hypocrites. You can't tell the hyprocrites without a program. Wait, you can. Almost. If there is an "R" beside their names, the odds are better than even ...

Off the Kuff notes that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit between Democrats and the Harris County tax assessor's office over allegations of voter suppression.

Locke's "black/brown coalition" turns red

Gene Locke, the African-American faux Democrat in the Houston mayoral tilt -- to be distinguished from the Anglo faux Dem Peter Brown -- has the full and unqualified support of the Republican elections administrator in Harris County, Beverly Kaufman.

Muse:

This is the same Beverly Kaufman who is on record as being against the pre-clearance portion of the Voting Rights Act. Pre-clearance is in place for nine Southern states that have a history of discrimination or suppressing minority voting, including Texas. ... What am I missing? How does having Beverly Kaufman on your team not drive away Democrats, especially minorities?

Neil:

Mr. Locke assumes black voters in Houston will support him for Mayor because he is black—But black support may not be enough to reach a runoff. To get the extra votes he feels he needs, Mr. Locke will engage in low-down tactics

He’ll sell out his core supporters in a heartbeat.

Mr. Locke thinks black folks in Houston are stupid. He thinks he can trumpet the support of people who don’t at all share the beliefs of his most important voters, and that people won’t catch on that he is a fraud.

Locke and Brown remind me of a couple of aluminum siding salesmen working both sides of the street; one goes into the rube's living room thirty minutes after the other promising them a set of eight steak knives instead of six.

How many people are going to fall for their act? Probably enough to get one of these scam artists into the runoff.

Locke, Brown, Costello and Holm: Vote No

The Houston mayoral and city council elections aren't this blog's typical beat, but what's being discussed elsewhere is worth repeating here. Namely ...

-- Gene Locke is a misogynist ass.

-- Stephen Costello is a duplicitous Republican masquerading as an independent.

-- Peter Brown can't get his supporters' list straight. No wonder, since he has demonstrated trouble remembering which candidates he is supporting.

-- And lastly, the one person among these four not afraid to call herself a Republican, city comptroller candidate Pam Holm, attended a fundraiser for District A Republican candidate Brenda Stardig last evening, skipping the Houston Hispanic Heritage awards presentation (via Carl Whitmarsh).

Holm appeared on Glenn Beck's program earlier this year. That's all anyone with a functioning brain stem should need to know.

So now you know who not to vote for in November.

The Weekly Wrangle

It's the week before Labor Day, the weather is measurably more pleasant, and the Texas Progressive Alliance is hard at work bringing you the best of the Texas blogosphere. Here are this week's highlights.

The Texas Cloverleaf wonders why only one person showed up to a budget meeting where taxes are being increased in Denton County. No tea bags left?

Neil at Texas Liberal offered the fullest extension of the back of his hand to opponents of Houston's Ashby high-rise.

TXsharon at Bluedaze wonders what Governor Perry is thinking to appoint a global warming denier as the highest environmental official in Texas at a time when polling shows Americans support Obama on reducing greenhouse emissions and when the EPA has just confirmed water contaminated with hydraulic fracture fluid. Maybe the question should be: Does Perry think?

South Texas Chisme wants you to know that Medicare is a PUBLIC heath care option. Ciro, stand up. Henry, wise up.

Bay Area Houston has video of Republican Pete Olson punking himself at his own town hall meeting while trying to use a sick kid for political gain.

Lightseeker over at TexasKaos insists that we not hold health care reform hostage to solving the struggle for reproductive choice. See this and more in his posting: Abortion Wars, Health care and Private Enterprise.

Off the Kuff analyzed some policy papers from Houston's leading mayoral candidates, examining Gene Locke's crimefighting plan, Annise Parker's education plan, and Peter Brown's energy plan.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts about the good news health care reform would bring to TX-31 and Williamson County.

Setting a date for the eventual US Senate special election is all about the MoFo, according to PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

This week, McBlogger asked a very good question... Why do we even care about Joe Lieberman?

At Texas Vox, Citizen Sarah reports on Houston mayor and Senate hopeful Bill White's energy security policy, per his panel at Netroots Nation. Video included.

Teddy at Left of College Station covers the Chet Edwards town hall on health reform live from the Brazos Center, and then shares his thoughts on it, and why a vocal minority is against health care reform. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines: remembering Senator Ted Kennedy.