Here’s the lineup for the HISD District 8 seat that was vacated by Diana Davila:
Robert Centeno, a former teacher in the Houston Independent School District.
[Judith] Cruz, a stay-at-home mom who previously was the special education department chairwoman at HISD’s Liberty High School for immigrant students and an English-as-a-second-language teacher at Lee High School.
Cheryl Moodie, a former general manager at Ritz-Carlton hotels who now consults in the fields of hospitality and international medical education.
Dorothy Olmos, a former candidate for state representative and Harris County commissioner who runs a small business focused on rental renovations and works part-time for an industrial supply company.
Peter Schwethelm, the founder of a college placement service for high school athletes and a former geography and world history teacher at Yates High School and a math teacher at Milby High School.
Juliet Stipeche, an attorney at her own law firm who got her start at District VIII’s High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, where she graduated as the valedictorian.
Stipeche ran in the Democratic primary for Civil District Court #281, losing to Donna Roth. Olmos ran in the Republican primary for County Commissioner in Precinct 2, losing to Jack Morman. She has also run unsuccessfully three times for HD143, in the special election in 2005, in which she got 6% of the vote, then in 2006 and 2008 against Democratic Rep. Ana Hernandez, getting about 26% each time. Far as I know, none of the other candidates has run for office before. As the story notes, all but Moodie and Centeno appeared at the candidate screening in August when the Board was still thinking about appointing someone. You can be approximately 100% certain this race will result in a runoff, so be sure to pay attention if you live in District 8, because in the end not a whole lot of votes will pick the winner. I’ll be doing interviews with at least some of these candidates, so I hope that will help.
Cheryl Ann Moodie was disqualified due to residency. She has only lived in Texas 9 months. Also of note is Peter Schwethelm has never voted in Texas and only registered to vote in order to qualify for the ballot. The other four candidates have solid voter history.
The last poster didn’t mention that I was a registered voter in Pennsylvania, where I lived for 2 years before moving back home to Texas… I do think, however, that it’s fair game to point out that my voting track record consists of the 2008 presidential election only… I won’t offer any excuses for that… I will point out, however, that as an unpaid director of a computer-education non-profit (www.DreamsWithinReach.org) that has worked extensively with HISD over the years, I have a pretty solid track record of working my tail off to help impoverished children in Houston… it is, of course, up to the voters to decide which track record should matter more in this particular election…