Category Archives: Local politics

Since 1991, the city of Houston has had term limits in place for municipal offices – three two-year terms for a given office: Council, whether district or at-large; Comptroller; Mayor. Since not long after 1991, there’s been a push to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Brenda Flores, the woman involved in the bizarre “other Bill White” incident from last year’s Mayoral election, has passed away from cancer at the age of 51. Flores made an unsuccessful run for City Council in 1997, had served as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In one of his last pieces for the Press, Tim Fleck suggested that Mayor Bill White and Comptroller Annise Parker would sooner or later butt heads. I’m sure that he nodded knowingly as he read this story today. Mayor Bill … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Say what you will about the Harris County GOP, they’ve got a lot of money and they’re not afraid to spend it. The Harris County Republican Party took a marketing strategy successfully used by Coca-Cola and Nike to the East … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Not so bad, all things considered. The spending plan he released Thursday includes an increase of more than $47 million for the Police Department and $9 million for the Fire Department in the fiscal year that begins July 1. But … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The vote for City Proposition 1, which will determine whether or not Houston opts out of the constitutional amendment ratified last year to outlaw reducing pension benefits for a public employee, even if the employee was retired, is this Saturday, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Early voting has started for the May 15 election of City Proposition #1, which would allow Houston to opt out of the pension guarantee that was enacted last September. The numbers are scary (and getting scarier), but I’m rather torn … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Has it been 100 days already for Mayor White? The Chron says they’ve been pretty good days for him so far, and I’m inclined to agree. Although a few question marks and “incompletes” dot his report card in the early … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Boy, how things can change from a year ago when everyone was living high off the hog during that long, expensive mayoral race but now there are hardly any opportunities for a political consultant to make a few bucks. “There … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Towers Perrin, the firm which gave us that bogus report on pension fund costs, says that the city did too know that its liability was going to skyrocket. In its first public statement, actuarial giant Towers Perrin said “those involved … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The projected shortfall in the city employees’ pension fund is now $1.5 billion, and there’s a mad scramble to come up with ideas to fix the damn thing. Nobody’s committing to anything other than ruling out a property tax hike, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ugh. The city of Houston’s main pension program has a billion-dollar funding shortfall because benefits have been boosted so high that many employees will earn more in retirement than they received while working, according to a report obtained by the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Mayor Bill White, continuing with his Gather No Moss philosophy early on in his tenure, gave his first State of the City address yesterday. He touched on the usual quality-of-life highlights, like regional health care and mobility, and also called … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Say this for Mayor White: he knows when a party’s over and it’s time to get back to work. Mayor Bill White held out the prospect of employee layoffs Friday as he acknowledged that the projected budget gap for the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is a damn shame: Political writer Tim Fleck has apparently left the Houston Press. Citing a severance agreement that stipulated he not discuss the circumstances of his departure, Fleck isn’t saying much. Press Editor Margaret Downing was equally tight-lipped. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

New Mayor Bill White will get to make a very high-profile appointment shortly when he names a new police chief. “I want a police chief who understands our diverse community,” White said Monday, “and can communicate to the police force … Continue reading → Continue reading →

What the hell is going on in Fort Bend County? Fort Bend County Sheriff Milton Wright, the only Republican candidate for the office, was granted a temporary restraining order Friday, keeping the only Democratic candidate off his party’s ballot. The … Continue reading → Continue reading →

John Williams speculates about the future of soon-to-be-former City Council member Gabriel Vasquez, who surprised many people (including at least one of his opponents) by jumping into the City Controller race at the last second. I confess, I liked Vasquez … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It would appear that some of Rep. John Culberson’s constituents are not happy with his ideas about mobility solutions. Residents of the 7th congressional district this week launched a petition to oust U.S. Representative John Culberson. Leading the effort is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If you had asked me which local Democratic organization would be the first to get themselves a blog, I would not have guessed it would be the Brazoria County Democrats. And I would have been wrong, for there it is. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

About a month ago, the Houston Press ran a reasonably fair and balanced profile of Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal, who has had a difficult first term in office as the replacement for his retired mentor, the well-respected Johnny Holmes. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Looks like the Harris County GOP has backed off its idea to aid in the destruction of the former Democratic Party headquarters. County GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill said Friday night that the party received anonymous threats after announcing plans to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From the Unsubtle Symbolism Dept: Republicans in Harris County have pounded their Democratic opponents time and time again at the ballot box during the past decade. Sunday, they intend to throw a grand old party to batter the Democrats’ former … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is an amusing story about an important principle: The Harris County Commissioner’s Court is looking for a way to keep the wackos from wasting their time by adjourning their meetings before the floor is opened to the public. For … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I understand the reasons why some bloggers don’t have comments enabled, but by doing so they miss out on feedback like this. Whoever said that odd-numbered years have boring elections? Continue reading →

So yesterday Rob, Ted, and I spent five hours in a big meeting room at the University of Houston attending a “Grassroots Political Conference” given by the Billie Carr Institute and sponsored by the Harris County Democrats, the Harris County … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Sometimes, I just don’t know what to make of our City Council. Yesterday, they passed an anti-prostitution law which they themselves acknowledge is unconstitutional and a surefire bet to be challenged in court. Under the ordinance, effective within five days, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This article about the ongoing National Conference of Black Mayors gathering in Houston talks about how the growing proportion of Hispanic voters in the state’s population will make it challenging for cities like Houston and Dallas to elect their second … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m not exactly sure what we’re to make of this op-ed piece in today’s Chron. It outlines four “ground rules” that are supposed to produce “leadership that will protect and advance our city over the long term”. Frankly, they sound … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Just what the City of Houston needs, another rathole to throw its money down. The city of Houston Legal Department is asking for more money to preserve the city’s sexually oriented business law, which it beefed up five years ago … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The City of Houston is proposing new rules to its contracting ordinance that will forbid any business from doing business with the city if they or one of their owners owe more than $100 in city taxes. After months of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A little more than two weeks after the Houston Press gave an overview on fat times in the local political consulting market, the Chron follows suit with a Who’s Who of the men and women behind the candidates. This sort … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Looks like the two proposed anti-war resolutions before the Houston City Council will meet the same fate as the slavery reparations resolution did. Though I thought the whole thing was a waste of the Council’s time, I do want to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Last week I chastised the Houston City Council for taking time away from cleaning up its perilous finances (today’s cheery news is the possibility of unpaid furloughs for city workers and even fewer services for the city’s 100,000+ mentally ill … Continue reading → Continue reading →