Your voter's guide for November 8, 2011 Part 1: Mayor, AL1, C

You can vote early beginning Monday at most of the usual locations around the city. On the heels of Greg's G-Slate, here's some of my selections:

Mayor of Houston: Annise Parker

Yes, it's her and five also-rans. If I didn't like the mayor personally so much my protest vote would go to the Socialist, honestly. What bothers me about Parker is that she goes to the Pachyderm Club and brags about being a fiscal conservative, and then backs that up by laying off several hundred blue-collar city workers, cutting library hours, and reducing many other city services. The ongoing ominous threat is that she will reduce the city's contribution to the municipal pension fund, which is just another in a series of defensive moves to try to ward off a Republican challenger two years from now. She could have done something brave and bold, like raising property taxes on the richest Houstonians. Of which there are more than ever.

But because so few vote in our municipal elections -- in a city of 2 million-plus, perhaps 100,000 to 125,000 will turn out, or around 5% -- the voice and influence of the most powerful drown out the the rest of the people's to an even greater degree than would normally be the case.

About one-third of Houston's children -- depending on how it is statistically defined -- live in poverty (that would be a 4-person household earning just over $22K). Probably some of their number now include the children of furloughed city workers: clerks, parks and recreation workers, garbage men, librarians. Given that Mayor Parker will coast to re-election (the percentage of victory she posts will be divined as whatever strength or weakness she will have as she runs for re-election to a third and final term in 2013) what can we progressives do to get her attention to this and other of our causes?

For now ... our support, and then our righteous indignation if she continues to cater to the wealthiest and greediest. Some of us expect a lot more from you in your second term, Mayor. This blog's unofficial motto,'Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable', has to go into overdrive after November 8.

At Large #1:  Don Cook

Cook, as I have indicated previously, is the progressive running against incumbent Stephen Costello, who sponsored the now-infamous Rebuild Houston drainage fee, about which fresh and troubling questions  have arisen just this week. 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.

Many Democrats still seem to be operating under the mistaken impression -- as they were in 2009 -- that Costello has drifted away from the GOP. Don't bet on it.

Other candidates include perennial James Partsch-Galvan and Republican Scott Boates, who may draw off a chunk of Costello's support from his right flank. Boates has purchased sustaining membership in the HCDP, but that's just camoflage. He's pretty much a TeaBagger from what I have heard him say at candidate fora I've attended. But if you need proof: the Harris County GOP lists Boates on the Republican Leadership Council (and Costello and Partsch-Galvan also as Republicans).

Don Cook is simply the only choice for Democrats, liberals, and progressives in this race.

District C: Karen Derr

I started out this campaign cycle as a supporter of my former state representative in my former city council district. But after I observed that she received $10,000 from "Swift Boat" Bob Perry in 2009 -- around which a separate and recent kerfuffle has erupted -- and then in this cycle garnered the endorsement of the Houston Association of Realtors (who endorse Republicans only slightly less than 99% of the time), I simply couldn't get on that bandwagon. We should have elected Karen in '09 to the AL1 seat Stephen Costello sits in now; the city would be so much better off if we had.

Which means we're getting a do-over for Karen. And we need to get it right this time.

C leans a little to the right -- outgoing Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck previously worked for several years in constituent services for former Congressman and House Ways and Means chairman Bill Archer -- so it's possible the Cohen juggernaut will be stalled by one of the two RWNJs running: Brian Cweren and Randy Locke, who are busily trying to out-conservative each other. Forget them both. Josh Verde is also competing in this race and is a fine candidate. But Karen Derr is, once again, your best progressive option. I intend to help her into a runoff with Cohen and then get a real debate going on the issues.

More later this week.

Who won the 'Yet Another" Debate last night?

I really enjoy this particular site, and not just because the Paulians infest it. Cast your vote here.

Surprised to be leading in polls Herman Cain

Whom Republicans will settle for Mitt Romney

Fast fading and desperate Rick Perry

Wasting our time Michele Bachmann

Curio from a bygone era Newt Gingrich

Ideologically pure and tough as nails Ron Paul

Crapping his pants in a SF gay bar Rick Santorum

Already lost Jon Huntsman

It was an 8-way tie

Lorne Michaels

Dr. No currently leads with 79%. I voted for Frothy Mixture (hey, he had a good night. Really.)

Bill White, Jack Christie, and Jolanda Jones

Fail.

Former Mayor Bill White has endorsed Jack Christie for the At-Large 5 City Council seat. It is the only endorsement the ex-mayor has made in this year’s city elections.

[...]

White, last year’s Democratic nominee for governor, passed over two Democrats in the At-Large 5 race to endorse Christie. 

The reaction from the Khronically Konservative Kommenters seems to be the same as mine. Namely, WTF?

If Bill White so disliked Jolanda Jones that he had to endorse a Republican over the other African-American Democratic woman in the contest ... then I really doubt whether Bill White considers himself a Democrat any longer. Of course, if you have read this blog for very long, you know that my position is that the former mayor and loser to Rick Perry in 2010 is just coming out of the closet here.

Christie narrowly lost to JoJo two years ago in a runoff for At Large 5, and as Charles has noted, the Chron has not announced an endorsement in this race yet, moving on to propositions as of today.

Jolanda Jones has fought for every little guy in sight -- from the po' folks to the union men and women -- and she has paid the price for it: pointless investigations, vendettas from HPD, and even mockery by other city officials. She is by far the strongest progressive on Council and earns the enmity of her detractors as much for that as for her fighting spirit. (Of course, Houston voters can add a couple more progressive fighters to Council -- starting next Monday as early voting begins -- by replacing C.O. Bradford with Amy Price and Steven Costello with Don Cook, but that will be for another post later this week).

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.

In the interest of noting the widely differing opinions in this contest, I will observe here that my friend Neil, with whom I agree on nearly everything, does not agree that Jones has been an effective council member.

Personally I am going to walk my precinct for Jolanda this weekend, and work hard for her re-election.

Update: Nice job here by the Chron.

The defense attorney and former track star campaigned for office on the promise to serve as "the voice of the voiceless" at City Hall. Over the past four years she has more than fulfilled that commitment, winning a devoted following in the low-income communities of Houston while irritating and sometimes enraging critics and colleagues. She has rough edges, and certainly does not represent business as usual.

The Chronicle believes that on balance, Jones has served a valuable function on a City Council that has historically played a subservient role in Houston's strong-mayor form of government. She speaks out frequently, questioning administration proposals and demanding more information. That lengthens council meeting times and often delays action, but it also provides additional scrutiny and the impetus to improve legislation.

"I'm responsive to the people who put me in office," says Jones. "If I have to push, I will, but I do a lot behind the scenes. I don't brag about it, I just get things done."

Damn straight.

Update II: And a nice rejoinder to Bill White from Chris Bell:

Jo doesn’t mind ruffling feathers and obviously has made some people mad along the way. But if you’re just going to go around City Hall trying not to make anyone mad, you’re not going to get much done. Personally, I’m glad she’s willing to ask tough questions and stand up for people who otherwise might not have anyone in their corner. [...]

There are a lot of powerful people in Houston who would like to see Jolanda Jones off City Council. They don’t like it when someone stands up to them and refuses to go along to get along. But City Council Members aren’t supposed to just be voices for power brokers; they’re supposed to stand up for average citizens. That’s exactly what Jolanda Jones does and that’s why I’ll be standing with her on Election Day.

Update III: And a 4 bars of soap, walleyed, snot-nosed screamin' hissyfit from Juanita.

KochCain

If you want to get down. Down on the ground.

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation’s capital. But Cain’s economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity.

Cain’s campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an AFP advisory board with helping devise his “9-9-9” plan to rewrite the nation’s tax code. And his years of speaking at AFP events have given the businessman and radio host a network of loyal grassroots fans.

As the Not-Romney of the Month, Herman actually has a chance to stick around a little longer than Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry before him.

His links to the Koch brothers could undercut his outsider, non-political image among tea party fans who detest politics as usual and candidates connected with the party machine.

AFP tapped Cain as the public face of its “Prosperity Expansion Project,” and he traveled the country in 2005 and 2006 speaking to activists who were starting state-based AFP chapters from Wisconsin to Virginia. Through his AFP work he met Mark Block, a longtime Wisconsin Republican operative hired to lead that state’s AFP chapter in 2005 as he rebounded from an earlier campaign scandal that derailed his career.

Block and Cain sometimes traveled together as they built up AFP: Cain was the charismatic speaker preaching the ills of big government; Block was the operative helping with nuts and bolts.

When President Barack Obama’s election helped spawn the tea party, Cain was positioned to take advantage. He became a draw at growing AFP-backed rallies, impressing activists with a mix of humor and hard-hitting rhetoric against Obama’s stimulus, health care and budget policies.

So the Tea Pees have known about the Godfather for some time now.

Block is now Cain’s campaign manager. Other aides who had done AFP work were also brought on board.

Cain’s spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael, who recently left the campaign, was an AFP coordinator in Louisiana. His campaign’s outside law firm is representing AFP in a case challenging Wisconsin campaign finance regulations. At least six other current and former paid employees and consultants for Cain’s campaign have worked for AFP in various capacities.

And Cain has credited Rich Lowrie, a Cleveland businessman who served on AFP’s board of advisors from 2005 to 2008, with being a key economic adviser and with helping to develop his plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 9 percent, impose a national sales tax of 9 percent and set a flat income tax rate of 9 percent.

“He’s got a national network now that perhaps he wouldn’t have had 15 or 20 years ago because of his work with AFP,” said Republican Party of Wisconsin Vice Chair Brian Schimming, who has introduced Cain at events in Wisconsin. “For a presidential candidate, that’s obviously helpful to have.”

The political experts on your teevee keep saying Herman's got no on-the-ground organization, though. They are obviously mistaken. It's a stealth organization, flying under the Beltway radar. And like the rest of the conservative extremists, Cain is just as mean and ignorant as Perry or Bachmann ...

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain is pushing the idea of an electrified fence on the border with Mexico, complete with a sign in English and Spanish warning that it’s lethal, the New York Times reports:

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Saturday that part of his immigration policy would be to build an electrified fence on the country’s border with Mexico that could kill people trying to enter the country illegally.

The remarks, which came at two campaign rallies in Tennessee as part of a barnstorming bus tour across the state, drew loud cheers from crowds of several hundred people at each rally. At the second stop, in Harriman, Tenn., Mr. Cain added that he also would consider using military troops “with real guns and real bullets” on the border to stop illegal immigration.

The Times reported that Cain said a sign would accompany the fence saying, “It will kill you — Warning.”

It’s an idea that Cain has broached before. When President Obama joked that some would want a moat with alligators, Cain embraced that idea, too.

Here's the quote in context:

Cain made the fence comments Saturday at a Tennessee rally while kicking off his bus tour to promote his "9-9-9" tax plan.

Speaking to the crowd, Cain recalled a conversation he had on his conservative radio talk show with a caller who argued against building a fence to prevent illegal immigration.But Cain said he fought back, telling the caller:"When I'm in charge of the fence, we going to have a fence. It's going to be 20 feet high. It's going to have barbed wire on the top. It's going to be electrocuted, electrified," Cain said. "And there's going to be a sign on the other side that says it will kill you."

On yesterday's D.C. BS Talking Heads, Herman was quick to say "That was a joke." Good to hear. Cain, as much as anyone, ought to be well aware of the price some people pay not only for bad jokes but for the sort of thing an electrified border fence would meet the definition of: a high-tech lynching.

Of course, the price paid depends on who's getting bought and who's getting sold.

Here's a bit more on the topic from Eminem (unreleased and NSFW at the link):

This was a beat with no words at first, it's a blank painting
Exercising the mind, it's brain strength training
Starts off something like shady's an insane maniac
Yeah slim shady that's a zany name aint it
Now all you needs an image to go with the name, baby
Wife beaters and white t-shirts
Hanes mainly, it's a long shot but is it possible
There's a lane maybe,
If not, he's gonna have to come and change the whole game aint he
He wants the fame so bad he can taste it
He can see his name up in lights

[...]

But he aint trailing anymore he's ahead of the race
While maintaining his innocence
Little does he know his train is derailing...