Here's a sure sign that Orlando Sanchez's mayoral campaign is in trouble: Kevin is pissed at him, and for good reason.
[11 News has] found some intriguing details deep in the latest filings by the Orlando Sanchez campaign. Literally thousands of dollars have been spent on dining and drinking and travel. Page after page of entries written off as meetings with political supporters, from as little as ten bucks at a River Oaks Starbucks to six visits to the upper Kirby cigar bar Downing Street to hundreds of dollars of dining at nearby Pesce.In all more than $22,000 has been spent at bars and restaurants around Houston.
The Sanchez campaign funds also paid for quite an itinerary of trips all over the country. Three trips to Washington, D.C., Vail, Colorado, over New Years, two visits to New Orleans and trips to Charleston, South Carolina, Santa Fe, New Mexico, San Antonio, Austin and two weeks after he lost the 2001 mayoral race there was a pricey visit to Beverly Hills, California.
There he dined at the famous Spago restaurant running up a nearly $700 tab.
All those trips were taken after he had lost the mayor's race and before this campaign began.
Sorry, Orlando, but I didn't donate to your campaign last time so that you could continue to avoid EVER getting a private-sector job and paying for your OWN damn meals at La Colum Dor, Pesce, Vail, and elsewhere.This sort of spending is STUPID in purely political terms (and your spin is weak, my friend, OH SO WEAK).
But at a purely personal level, I find it offensive. I don't tolerate slackers and lazy asses who don't pay their way in my personal circle (at least not for long). And I don't find the slacker/user mentality very appealing in a mayoral candidate.
I really really really want to see a poll on this race. I know no one's paying attention yet, but still. I suspect the first poll numbers will contain some big surprises.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 21, 2003 to Election 2003 | TrackBackTeaser for my new Houston Polticial Hit Song...
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Orlando
--More to come.
Posted by: Michael on August 21, 2003 9:37 AMJudging by signs alone, Berry will win the vote of every vacant lot and abandoned building in the 6th Ward.
Seriously, I would never vote for him, but when I met Michael Berry and saw him speak earlier this year, I couldn't help but like the guy. Plus, I have to admire that a guy my age has the, um, ambition, to run for mayor.
Sanchez, on the other hand, does nothing for me. He has to be the least ambitious "frontrunner" I have ever seen. Stuff like this sours my opinion of him even more. Though, since I am a Democrat, he didn't have much of my respect to begin with.
Posted by: Rob Humenik on August 21, 2003 10:44 AMMichael, you're scaring me. But in a good way. I must say, the thing that would take this song right over the top would be for it to be performed by an a capella group. If only we knew of a local a capella group that enjoys doing parody songs...
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on August 21, 2003 11:39 AMAnyone who dines on the yellow curry at Raja, and lives to dine again, has to have some strength about him. But that doesn't qualify Berry to be mayor. Come to think of it, though, being unqualified hasn't stopped some people from serving as Houston's mayor in the past.
In any case, just ignore the campaign signs in Raja's window, drop whatever you're doing and go have a plate of that curry. It's heavenly stuff, and cheap, too. It's not for the fainthearted, but I'm absolutely certain none of Kuff's readers are fainthearted.
Posted by: Steve Bates on August 21, 2003 11:43 AMLee Brown is probably the most "qualified" mayor we've ever had. Resumes aren't everything. :)
Posted by: Kevin Whited on August 21, 2003 1:43 PM