One for two

The sleazy anti-Adrian Garcia mailer that went out in the days before the election did not have their intended effect, as Garcia was the leading vote getter and the candidate that everyone believes was behind the mailer failed to make the runoff. However, Garcia was not the only candidate was was on the receiving end of this attack, and in this case the target wasn't as lucky.

Houston Community College System trustee runoff candidates Herlinda Garcia and Diane Olmos Guzman on Thursday picked up their campaigns where they'd left them before Tuesday's election: bickering and vowing to rise above the fray.

Garcia, who received 41 percent of the vote, attributed the runoff to a last-minute mailing of mysterious origin that attacked her for failing to pay taxes and micromanaging the system. It was paid for by a group called Citizens for a Better America.

"Diane bears responsibility because her operatives started circulating the charges long ago," said Garcia, the incumbent. "It may be some other entity that wanted to force the runoff, but they wouldn't have had these charges if Diane hadn't brought them up in the first place."

Olmos Guzman, who received 39 percent of the vote, said she had nothing to do with the mailing and has no idea who was behind it.

Garcia and Olmos Guzman will go up against each other for the HCCS District 3 trustee job in the Dec. 6 runoff. They outpolled third candidate Jose De La Isla, who received 20 percent of the vote.

As you know but Todd Ackerman apparently doesn't, the individual or group that was behind this mailer is not the real CFABA, which still has its Open Letter to the people of Houston up on its website. I will try to contact Ackerman to let him know there's more to this story than he reported. I'm also hoping Tim Fleck will eventually uncover something. We shall see.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 07, 2003 to Election 2003 | TrackBack