At long last, here's my list of recommendations for the 2005 elections. I'm only going to make choices for races that will be on my ballot, and as James Campbell wrote today, these are just recommendations, not commands.

Mayor - Bill White

City Controller - Annise Parker

At Large #1 - Peter Brown

At Large #2 - Jay Aiyer

At Large #4 - Ron Green

District H - Adrian Garcia

HISD trustee position 1 - Natasha Kamrani

Ballot propositions:

Prop 1 - NO
Prop 2 - NO
Prop 3 - YES
Prop 4 - NO
Prop 5 - YES
Prop 6 - NO
Prop 7 - YES
Prop 8 - YES
Prop 9 - NO

Most of these decisions are fairly easy, since many races are not contested or not seriously contested. I can't think of any scenario in which I'd be likely to change my mind, however - these are all high-quality people, and I'm very happy to be voting for them. The two with real choices are At Large #2 and HISD1. While there is more than one worthy candidate in each of those slots, I believe that Jay Aiyer and Natasha Kamrani represent the best of those choices. I think Jay has the strongest credentials in that race, and I've been very favorably impressed by Kamrani's overall vision and plans for HISD. If you have the chance, in the waning days of the campaign, to meet either of these folks, or any of the others for that matter, I think you'll understand why I feel as I do about them.

I'm not offering any recommendations in At Large #3 and #5, but for different reasons. There's no one in #3 that I think is worth a vote. I wish there were someone running against Shelly Sekula Somthingorother that I could support, but the only thing that her opponent has done that I've noticed is leave spam comments on at least three different blogs, mine included (you didn't see it here because I deleted it). I realize that I myself floated the idea of spoofing another candidate's site in spam comments as a new-wave dirty trick, but I don't see that happening here. Frankly, if I thought Somethingorother were smart enough to do that kind of thing, I'd have a whole new respect for her. So feel free to skip that race.

At Large #5 is a little different. I'm definitely more in line with challenger Mike Stoma philosophically than I am with incumbent Michael Berry, and that's a consideration that normally carries a lot of weight for me. This is one of those times where it's not so clear-cut. I believe that Berry was uniquely qualified this term to lead any organized anti-Bill White effort, since he had spent a fair amount of time on the Mayoral campaign trail with White in 2003 and he certainly has his own vision of what Houston should be like. He also has more gravitas and experience than the other At Large members who might have acted as a counterweight. Finally, we all know he wants to run for Mayor again some day, right? Well, not only did he not do that, but right from the very beginning he was publicly appreciative of Mayor White's priority initiatives. Whatever you may think of the Boy Wonder, I feel that at some point, one must at least consider voting for someone who's been supportive of things you favor. For that reason, I say make your own choice and feel good about it either way.

As for the ballot amendments, the two I feel the most strongly about are #1 and #2. Beyond those two, there isn't much to get me all riled up. I've noted before that some people are advocating a blanket No on these propositions. Obviously, I think some are worthy of consideration, but none of them will break my heart if they don't pass. Vote No on the first two and you can do what you want with the rest as far as I'm concerned.