Your voter's guide for November 8, 2011 Part 2: AL2, AL4, K

At Large #2: Kristi Thibaut, Jenifer Rene Pool

These are the two women I wish to get in the runoff for the seat from which Councilwoman Sue Lovell is retiring. Pool is the HGLBT Caucus endorsee and has been pretty tireless in campaigning; I've known Thibaut since we worked together on Borris Miles' first statehouse campaign in 2006. She also served a term in the Texas Lege (I walked blocks in that far west district for her then). Either would make a fine addition to Council. I hope we get to choose between the two in December.

There are mostly folks in this contest whom you should NOT vote for, and I have blogged extensively about him. Also avoid Bolivar Fraga, a candidate who has block-walked Republican houses telling them he's a Republican, and Democratic precincts claiming to be a D. An aspiring politico this disingenuous doesn't deserve anyone's vote. Elizabeth Perez has a huge rack and is a Republican; Griff is Houston's most lovable perennial loser. David Robinson has the resume' and lots of signs out, especially in the Montrose; Rozzy Shorter's been active in Democratic political circles, particularly in SD-13. Andrew Burks has been on the ballot previously but has no website and Gordon Goss is unknown to me. If you consult HCDP for a clue, you will see that only Pool is listed as a sustaining member. HCGOP lists Fraga, Perez, and Griff as R's based on their most recent primary voting activity. Dick, naturally, is an RLC contributor. The rest they show as D's except for Goss, who apparently is a ghost politically despite what he says about himself.

So that whittles ten options easily down to four: Thibaut, Pool, Robinson, or Shorter. Kristi and Jenifer are my top two -- I'll have to pick one when I vote and won't until then -- and David and Rozzy are acceptable alternatives.

Since AL2 will be settled in a December runoff, that's where the closer scrutiny will lie.

At Large #4: Amy Price

This one of course is easy for me. I've written a lot about this race, so if you need to be refreshed or need an introduction, by all means do so. Here I disclosed my limited participation in Amy's campaign and explained why her challengers fail the test to qualify for your vote. (Nothing personal against the two men; they just don't hold a candle to her.) Here is an embedded video and a link to her audio interview with Charles Kuffner. Amy's already earned the endorsements of people who say they would not normally consider a candidate like her. That speaks volumes about her and why I support her.

As I have mentioned previously, electing Amy Price sends the message that Houston City Council will not conduct "business as usual". Which is precisely what we need right now.

District K: Larry Green

Just as easy as the last one. Green has piled up endorsements in this new district -- my district -- while his two challengers are virtually invisible. Like Greg, I expect Larry Green to walk onto council. With expectations this grand, he needs to be able to deliver big things. I'll be watching closer than usual.

More as we draw closer to the early voting period beginning next Monday.

Gene Green, Al Green, Sheila Jackson Lee all support Keystone XL

If you thought that the Koch Bros only had their hands up the backsides of Republicans, think again.

Nearly two dozen Democrats led by Rep. Gene Green of Houston implored President Barack Obama today to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that would carry oil-sands crude from Canada to southeastern Texas refineries.

The project would boost America’s energy security and the U.S. economy, the lawmakers said in a letter (.pdf) to Obama.

“The proposed Keystone XL pipeline represents a true shovel-ready project that would directly create 20,000 high-quality domestic manufacturing and construction jobs for Americans who are desperately seeking employment,” the Democrats wrote.

False.

Sean Sweeney, director of the Cornell ILR Global Labor Institute, said today in an interview: "This report questions the jobs claims promoted by TransCanada Corporation, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and other proponents of the pipeline. The report's findings should generate a high level of skepticism regarding the value of KXL as an important source of American jobs."

"It is GLI's assessment that the construction of Keystone XL will create far fewer jobs in the U.S. than its proponents have claimed and may actually destroy more jobs than it generates," Sweeney said.

"The industry's U.S. job claims, and even the State Department's analysis, are linked to a $7 billion Keystone XL project budget. However, the budget for Keystone XL that will have a bearing on U.S. jobs figures is dramatically lower – only around $3 to $4 billion. A lower budget means fewer jobs."

TransCanada and API's job projections also fail to consider the large number of jobs that could be lost by construction of Keystone XL, Sweeney said. This includes jobs lost due to consumers in the Midwest paying 10 to 20 cents more per gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel, as Keystone XL diverts oil from refineries in the Midwest to the Gulf region.

These additional fuel costs -- $2 to $4 billion -- will suppress other spending and cost jobs, he said. "Furthermore, pipeline spills, pollution and increased greenhouse gas emissions incur significant human health and economic costs, thus eliminating jobs."

Lara Skinner, associate director of research at the Cornell Global Labor Institute, said: "The company's claim that Keystone XL will create 20,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs in the U.S. is unsubstantiated. There is strong evidence to suggest that a large portion of the primary material input for KXL – steel pipe- will not even be produced in the U.S."

Overall, she said, "Keystone XL could kill more jobs than it creates. There are alternatives to this kind of dirty energy that, if supported, could create large numbers of jobs in the emerging green economy."

Meh. Twenty-two House Democrats, including Texans Henry Cuellar, Charlie Gonzales, and Ruben Hinojosa swallowed the "jobs" BS and regurgitated it back onto this letter.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to decide by mid-November whether the 1,700-mile pipeline is in the “national interest,” paving the way for Obama’s final decision on whether to permit the project later this year.

But the question is a major political test for the White House, pitting two of Obama’s core constituencies — organized labor and environmentalists — against each other. Conservationists have cast the choice facing Obama as the biggest environmental dilemma he has experienced during three years in the White House, and they insist his chances of winning another term hang in the balance.

[...]

Environmental activists, native Americans and religious leaders insist that the 36-inch pipeline would jeopardize drinking water supplies in the nation’s heartland and keep the U.S. dependent on a form of bituminous oil that takes more energy to extract than other fossil fuels.

'Game over' for the environment didn't sway these Democrats. The sick and dying children who already live near where tar sands oil will be refined haven't swayed them. I doubt whether a revised economic forecast or another bunch of dirty effing hippies protesting is going to.

Houston's air already fails quality compliance, we're adding a coal plant to the mix, and hey, the Republicans want to kill EPA anyway. Now Gene Green and Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee have signed on to this rush to environmental apocalypse.

Hope the money is worth it to them. Meanwhile ... we need to get all the money out of politics.

Get. the money. out of politics. That happens to be moving rapidly in the way wrong direction as well.

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.