Houston mayor's race 2009

[kylejack]

I agree. I'm not the one claiming to be tough on crime.

You are alleging she claims that she has been tough on crime or that she will be tough on crime? There's a difference.

[musicman]

The City Controller doesn't exactly get veto power on all spending, so how does it all fall on her that the city has been deficit spending?

Earlier this yr, councilmember holm asked the controller whether the 2009 budget was balanced and she responded it was. In actuality it hasn't been since 2004. As a candidate claiming to be fiscally responsible, she has no voting power but does have a voice and can respond to any concerns she has with the budget. We've seen that in the past with Kathy Whitmire, Lance Lalor and George Greanias who were all vocal controllers in the 80's and 90's and each had no reservations elevating budget concerns. As mentioned earlier, the city has borrowed about $700 million by issuing pension bonds. About $200 million from these bonds have been funneled through the general fund to make contributions to the pension plans and thus went to “balance” the budget. Without borrowing money to make the pension plan contributions, the city’s general fund balance, instead of increasing, would have actually decreased by about $30 million since 2002. Is borrowing money a fiscally responsible way to balance the budget? Why is she now willing to admit that the budget has not been balanced for years but yet didn't answer that to councilmember holm earlier this year? i will add that i don't think gene locke is any better.

You are alleging she claims that she has been tough on crime or that she will be tough on crime? There's a difference.

she is claiming she has been tough on crime.

[JLWM8609]

Locke is willing to use this man's money to slander Parker for being a lesbian?

Locke's campaign has never put out anything to slander Parker for being a lesbian.

But if a white, right leaning candidate was in the running, Hotze would probably put out slander against Locke as he's done with Parker.

[Porchman]

Earlier this yr, councilmember holm asked the controller whether the 2009 budget was balanced and she responded it was. In actuality it hasn't been since 2004. As a candidate claiming to be fiscally responsible, she has no voting power but does have a voice and can respond to any concerns she has with the budget. We've seen that in the past with Kathy Whitmire, Lance Lalor and George Greanias who were all vocal controllers in the 80's and 90's and each had no reservations elevating budget concerns. As mentioned earlier, the city has borrowed about $700 million by issuing pension bonds. About $200 million from these bonds have been funneled through the general fund to make contributions to the pension plans and thus went to “balance” the budget. Without borrowing money to make the pension plan contributions, the city’s general fund balance, instead of increasing, would have actually decreased by about $30 million since 2002. Is borrowing money a fiscally responsible way to balance the budget? Why is she now willing to admit that the budget has not been balanced for years but yet didn't answer that to councilmember holm earlier this year? i will add that i don't think gene locke is any better.

Are you referencing this http://www.houstontx...09/20090331.pdf ? Councilmember Holms raised the question because of a red flag that the Controller had in her annotations. The Controller responded that measures were being taken to bring the FY numbers in conformance to the budget.

No doubt, the pension debt is a scary animal. From my read, it becomes scarier if considerable allotment to principal does not start in the next 3-4 years. It's sad that the White administration, this Council and this Controller have to wrestle with a problem that was caused by previous administration's poor tallying on pension estimates. In the end, this bond debt is part of the budget that's why it's "funneled" through the budget.

Is borrowing money a fiscally responsible way to balance the budget? It's not the preferred way, no. However, fiduciary responsibility for a government entity goes beyond just balancing short-term numbers. It means delivering services, making capital improvements, and, yes, paying off poorly constructed promises of the past as such needs arise. In the short-term, these bonds allow the City leaders to do City business, while remaining more liquid and more fiscally nimble, all while emerging from a period of lower revenues and maintaining a high rating on its bonds backed by its highly rated, $2 billion general investment pool.

[kylejack]

Locke's campaign has never put out anything to slander Parker for being a lesbian.

However, he has accepted endorsements from people who have.

[sevfiv]

Dave Wilson was the guy who mailed out those pro-discrimination fliers...people like him push our society in to dark and nasty places.

And didn't Locke seek out Hotze's endorsement? I know Locke was actually supportive of GLBT things in the past but he clearly is clearly scrambling around for conservative and religious votes. I think Locke also released a statement against Wilson's actions (can't find it though).

Hotze though...yuck. And the whole religious push. WTF.

The man who successfully pushed a city charter amendment barring benefits for the same-sex partners of Houston city employees in 2001 has launched a wave of campaign fliers that attack an openly gay candidate in the race for mayor.

Dave Wilson, an electrician who has spent years pestering incumbent politicians of both parties, has turned his sights on Houston Controller Annise Parker. He says that Parker should not be mayor because "homosexual behavior leads to extinction."

Wilson says he is mailing the fliers to 35,000 Houston voters who cast ballots both in the November mayoral election and in the 2008 Republican presidential primary. "I'd like to energize the conservative Christian base in Houston, and get them to vote," he said.

In the flier, Wilson says "I have nothing but compassion, respect, and sensitivity towards those trapped in homosexual behavior. I have family members and friends who have been ensnarled in this behavior, and I know something of the incredible pain and sorrow it has brought to them and their families."

The flier features a photo of Parker standing beside her longtime partner at a swearing-in ceremony after Parker had been elected as the city's Controller six years ago. Over the photo is a headline that asks "Is this the image Houston wants to portray?"

"I don't see a good family, a Christian family, one man, one woman," Wilson said. "It's a picture of her and her mate being sworn in in public and that's the image I have a problem with."

[TheNiche]

Are you referencing this http://www.houstontx...09/20090331.pdf ? Councilmember Holms raised the question because of a red flag that the Controller had in her annotations. The Controller responded that measures were being taken to bring the FY numbers in conformance to the budget.

No doubt, the pension debt is a scary animal. From my read, it becomes scarier if considerable allotment to principal does not start in the next 3-4 years. It's sad that the White administration, this Council and this Controller have to wrestle with a problem that was caused by previous administration's poor tallying on pension estimates. In the end, this bond debt is part of the budget that's why it's "funneled" through the budget.

Is borrowing money a fiscally responsible way to balance the budget? It's not the preferred way, no. However, fiduciary responsibility for a government entity goes beyond just balancing short-term numbers. It means delivering services, making capital improvements, and, yes, paying off poorly constructed promises of the past as such needs arise. In the short-term, these bonds allow the City leaders to do City business, while remaining more liquid and more fiscally nimble, all while emerging from a period of lower revenues and maintaining a high rating on its bonds backed by its highly rated, $2 billion general investment pool.

What's this now, with your calm, collected financial reasoning? We can't have any of that. Look outside. Houston has frozen over and the sky is falling. Explain that wise guy...and don't give me any of that highfalutin meteorological mumbo jumbo. Clearly this is the collective consequence of Annise Parker's fiscally-irresponsible racially-discriminatory anti-soccer lesbianism.

Vote Gene Locke for Mayor. Steve Hotze told me to tell you so.

[kylejack]

Dave Wilson was the guy who mailed out those pro-discrimination fliers...people like him push our society in to dark and nasty places.

And didn't Locke seek out Hotze's endorsement? I know Locke was actually supportive of GLBT things in the past but he clearly is clearly scrambling around for conservative and religious votes. I think Locke also released a statement against Wilson's actions (can't find it though).

Hotze though...yuck. And the whole religious push. WTF.

Some gay groups are pretty angry with Locke considering that he came to them requesting their endorsement and is now accepting endorsements from people running anti-gay attacks on Parker.

[JLWM8609]

I know Locke was actually supportive of GLBT things in the past but he clearly is clearly scrambling around for conservative and religious votes.

I just saw a commercial on Fox 26 in support of Parker and mentions her being endorsed by a group with a name beginning with "Texas Conservative...", I can't remember the complete name of the group though.

[sevfiv]

Locke + Hotze = ♥

http://www.houstonpress.com/2005-07-21/news/doctor-nice

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/6721264.html

I heard Locke on 88.7 the other day and he indeed said he had not accepted or denied the Hotze endorsement. I was going to retract my earlier Locke+Hotze statement, but there's still an air of intolerance in his campaign.

Also, this article was posted yesterday evening about Locke backers:

The finance chairman and a finance committee member of Gene Locke's mayoral campaign helped bankroll the conservative political action committee that sent out an anti-gay mailer targeting City Controller Annise Parker and other municipal candidates earlier this month, according to Texas Ethics Commission documents.

The revelation immediately drew accusations of illegal coordination from the campaign of Parker, whom the mailer urged voters not to choose because she was endorsed by the “gay and lesbian political caucus.” Parker is openly gay.

The Locke team denied the coordination charge and shot back with allegations of its own, saying Parker's campaign helped pay for a political mail piece sent by Harris County Board of Education Trustee Roy Morales, who lost in the general election but garnered a surprising 20 percent of the vote. A campaign spokeswoman asserted that Morales demanded exhorbitant payments to include Locke's answers to questions Morales posed in the mail piece and cut him out of it when the campaign refused.

The dueling assertions underscore the closeness of the mayoral contest in the race's final days and the extent to which each candidate is seeking the support of conservatives, the largest bloc of voters believed still in play.

Locke has been dogged by Parker, her supporters and some uncommitted Democrats for seeking the endorsement of conservative activist Steven Hotze, who has a long history of opposing gay candidates and causes. A mail piece Hotze sent out last week urged voters not to choose Parker and several others seeking municipal offices because they were “endorsed by gay lesbian political action committee,” a reference to Houston's Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Political Caucus. It labeled others as “radical liberals” and supported some candidates based on a record of fiscal conservatism.

According to financial documents, Hotze's political action committee received a $20,000 donation about a week before the mail pieces went out from Ned Holmes, finance chairman of Locke's campaign, and $20,000 from James Dannenbaum, who is on Locke's finance committee.

Hotze's PAC, Conservative Republicans of Harris County, lists $56,000 in donations between Oct. 25 and Dec. 2. Only two other donors, who contributed a total of $16,000, are listed.

The Parker camp also decried a $50,000 donation from homebuilder Bob Perry to the Houston Police Officers Union, which endorsed Locke and sent a mailer attacking the controller as “soft on crime.”

Parker campaign manager Adam Harris said evidence points to coordination.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6758319.html

[Porchman]

Some gay groups are pretty angry with Locke considering that he came to them requesting their endorsement and is now accepting endorsements from people running anti-gay attacks on Parker.

Apparently, Locke is more than just accepting such endorsements..

From The Houston Chronicle

According to financial documents, Hotze's political action committee received a $20,000 donation about a week before the mail pieces went out from Ned Holmes, finance chairman of Locke's campaign, and $20,000 from James Dannenbaum, who is on Locke's finance committee.

[kylejack]

Yeah, Twitter's been buzzing about that all this morning. Over the past couple months Hotze's PAC has received $56,000 in donations to run these anti-gay ads, and 71% of that funding came from two people on Locke's finance committee.

[KinkaidAlum]

I am disappointed to see James Dannenbaum as a contributor. His daughter and I went to school together for 14 years and they are a nice family. However, he and his engineering firm must be thinking they can get more city contracts with Locke than they can with Parker.

Again, that is my beef with Locke. He is being backed by long time Westside bizmen, many of whom have made a fortune off of city contracts. Locke definitely appears to be the candidate for the Good Ole Boy Network. I guess that means we've progressed that the face of the GOBN is dark.

[BryanS]

It'll be sad, but not unexpected, if Annise loses. Because so many people voted against her, just because of who she was - and nothing else.

[sarahiki]

I wasn't going to vote because it looks like both candidates would do a good job. But when certain people started making it a gay thing, I went out and voted for AP. If someone's going to try to make it an issue, then I'm going to go out and show them it's not an issue, to me. I hope other people stand up against that kind of bigotry, too.

It helps that the more interviews I've heard, the more AP stands out as a better candidate than GL. She seems to have more informed, more detailed answers to every questions. I felt good about voting for her.

[musicman]

i like how roy morales offered both candidates space on literature he was putting out if they gave him the 64k for the mailer. looks like annise parker paid.

[TheNiche]

I wasn't going to vote because it looks like both candidates would do a good job. But when certain people started making it a gay thing, I went out and voted for AP. If someone's going to try to make it an issue, then I'm going to go out and show them it's not an issue, to me. I hope other people stand up against that kind of bigotry, too.

It helps that the more interviews I've heard, the more AP stands out as a better candidate than GL. She seems to have more informed, more detailed answers to every questions. I felt good about voting for her.

I've preferred Annise Parker from the very beginning, and I still do. And frankly, I think that she's got it in the bag. But...if the tables were turned, she was straight and Locke was gay, and Locke was getting attacked by Hotze, with the swing vote being social conservatives, I'd hold it against her if she didn't exploit the circumstances. It's not about the principle of the thing, it's about sound judgement.

[AtticaFlinch]

I've preferred Annise Parker from the very beginning, and I still do. And frankly, I think that she's got it in the bag. But...if the tables were turned, she was straight and Locke was gay, and Locke was getting attacked by Hotze, with the swing vote being social conservatives, I'd hold it against her if she didn't exploit the circumstances. It's not about the principle of the thing, it's about sound judgement.

Always the pragmatist.

When I'm an old man sitting on a park bench complaining about how fast the world now is and how much it's changed since my day, I at least want to be able to say my politicians were ethical without too much irony.

[totheskies]

Well I did the early vote... in this race I've liked both candidates to a point, but I've gotten tired of Gene Locke offerring half-solutions to the issues. Annise Parker seems to be the best choice, because she has worked with Bill White, examined what he did right and wrong in office, and is ready to make improvements and keep us moving forward.

Just like the whole police officer debate... coordinating the city of Houston's agencies is a lot better (and cheaper) solution IMO. I work at UofH, and I get sick to my stomach every time I hear about some break-in or something going on in Third Ward, and eventhough the UHPD are less than a minute away from the accident, people have to wait on HPD to respond to the scene. I know the UHPD... they are trained policeman and they are ready to respond, but b/c they work exclusively for UH, they risk their jobs if they act off campus. It's ridiculous. That sealed the deal for AP in my book.

The whole gay thing ISN'T a big deal... it shouldn't be a deal at all.

[kylejack]

Final mayoral debate on KPRC right now!

Locke's opening statement urged his supporters not to engage in divisive campaigning. This is going to get bloody for Locke, I suspect.

[rsb320]

I think she smoked him. Nice guy and all, but all 'answers' were generalities. Hers were much more specific.

Someone spoke of the westside bizparts earlier. He mentioned flooding relief for the west side. WTH does it flood out west? Am I missing something?

I voted yesterday at lunch and was surprised by the size of the crowd (crowd looks totally rong, sorry).

EDIT: Who is Jolly on the Spot? The dude has problems with language.

[kylejack]

Locke quoted Beyonce in a debate response, heh.

[musicman]

He mentioned flooding relief for the west side. WTH does it flood out west? Am I missing something?

yes.

[Jeebus]

I think she smoked him. Nice guy and all, but all 'answers' were generalities. Hers were much more specific.

It seemed like all she wanted to do is attack him. In fact, if you watch her commercials, they're ALL attacks. All she's done is go on the offensive since the Run-off started. Not to say that Locke hasn't, but some of Parker's commercials are just petty and almost seem like they are a parody of a real campaign.

Someone spoke of the westside bizparts earlier. He mentioned flooding relief for the west side. WTH does it flood out west? Am I missing something?

Yes, yes you are. The beltway 8 and I-10 interchange was under 12 feet of water at one point during a storm last year. Remember the ambulance that got flooded out? The Westside floods all over.

What are biz-parts?

EDIT: Who is Jolly on the Spot? The dude has problems with language.

I got the opposite impression. Parker has a hard time with her ability to speak. Her pacing is horrible and she always makes awkward pauses before spitting out the rest of her thought in a rush manner that trails off at the end.

[musicman]

I enjoyed the portion where Annise emphasized that she worked closely with Bill White and she has many good ideas to cut the budget but the Mayor didn't implement them.

[TheNiche]

It seemed like all she wanted to do is attack him. In fact, if you watch her commercials, they're ALL attacks. All she's done is go on the offensive since the Run-off started. Not to say that Locke hasn't, but some of Parker's commercials are just petty and almost seem like they are a parody of a real campaign.

I haven't seen any of her commercials because I don't have a TV, but out of the four fliers that I've gotten in the mail from AP, the first touted her experience and qualifications, the next was an attack on Peter Brown, (and then the runoff election was held, after which) the third was an attack on Locke, and the latest has once again touted her credentials and her platform. I personally haven't seen an imbalance.

As I pointed out about Locke's endorsement by Hotze, however distateful the circumstance may be, if a candidate doesn't take advantage of whatever they can to influence a critical population of swing voters, then that reflects poorly on their judgement. Locke is open to attack and should expect it; I'd hold it against AP if she weren't on the offensive.

Yes, yes you are. The beltway 8 and I-10 interchange was under 12 feet of water at one point during a storm last year. Remember the ambulance that got flooded out? The Westside floods all over.

The interchange was designed to flood. The flood detention capacity offered by roadbeds performed as intended, keeping the water out of structures.

I'm not saying that flooding doesn't occur in west Houston, but it does strike me as an odd place to focus flood control efforts. I'd think that the Brays Bayou and White Oak Bayou watersheds should take priority.

[kylejack]

As I pointed out about Locke's endorsement by Hotze, however distateful the circumstance may be, if a candidate doesn't take advantage of whatever they can to influence a critical population of swing voters, then that reflects poorly on their judgement. Locke is open to attack and should expect it; I'd hold it against AP if she weren't on the offensive.

That's only sensible if its effective. Does it gain more votes than it alienates? Remember that Hotze has run potentially racist ads in the past (birds of a feather ad).

[TheNiche]

That's only sensible if its effective. Does it gain more votes than it alienates? Remember that Hotze has run potentially racist ads in the past (birds of a feather ad).

I'm pretty sure that the answer is yes, in this case. Hotze's ad pisses off Annise Parker's base something mighty, but they were going to vote for her anyway. Beyond Parker's base, the bulk of the population is either indifferent or hostile to gay/lesbian issues. Those that are hostile could've been expected to have low turnout at the polls because they wouldn't have thought of themselves as having a dog in the fight, but by Hotze making Parker's sexuality a hot-button issue, that could change.

I know that homosexuality hasn't been an effective issue in the past when considering who has actually won, but that's a mere correlation. And a correlation has very weak explanatory power.

Parker will win by a sizable enough margin, I think, but it could've been smaller w/o Hotze motivating the socially conservative Republicans to vote.

[HtownWxBoy]

Congratulations Mayor-elect Parker... :-)