It’s almost too depressing to read through this KHOU story about local bigot Dave Wilson and his pathetic attempt to affect the outcome of the Mayor’s race, but it needs to be done. Here’s what I have to say about it.
– Dave Wilson is a reprehensible, sorry excuse of a human being. The same is true of Dave Welch, Steven Hotze, and anyone else like them who has yet to crawl out from the woodwork. This cannot be emphasized enough.
– Wilson claims he’s sending his flyer on his own. My understanding is that it would cost in the neighborhood of $20,000 to print and mail the 35,000 pieces he says he’ll mail. There are any number of ways that he could hide a funding source for this, of course, and one cannot prove a negative. But if he really wants us to believe that, he ought to produce the paperwork to show it.
– That assumes he actually does print and send the thing. He’s already gotten way more eyeballs on his dirty work thanks to KHOU’s coverage than he’d ever have gotten otherwise. I’m sure he was aware of that when he called the station to let them know what he was up to.
– If Gene Locke really means what he says about rejecting any association with this kind of campaigning, the statement to make is to tell Dave Wilson to take his mailer and stick it where the sun don’t shine. Which won’t stop him, of course – you can’t make a deranged person not do whatever deranged thing he’s determined to do – but would at least send a clear message.
– Finally, to answer the question Wilson asks in his mailer: Yes, this is the image I want Houston to portray, so that the world will see the decent, tolerant, opportunity-granting, forward-thinking city that we are. The best way to do that is to forcefully reject what Dave Wilson and others like him stand for.
Did Gene Locke finance his previous endeavor in 2001? You lost me when you lent credence to the accusation that Gene Locke financed this. Annise Parker lost me the day she announced with Chris Bell and Borris Miles standing there with her. She lost quite a few that day. But most expected she would not allow her campaign to stoop to the lows it has. She is playing the “homophobe” card which may work and may not. Some will risk being labeled a homophobe and vote for Gene Locke not because they don’t like the idea of a lesbian as mayor. They don’t like the idea of Annise Parker as mayor. Some will risk being called a racist and vote for Annise Parker not because they don’t like the idea of an African-American as mayor. They don’t like the idea of Gene Locke as mayor. A growing number of people will vote but skip the mayoral race simply because they don’t like the idea of either Gene Locke or Annise Parker as mayor. Some simply won’t vote at all.
I posted something elsewhere about their “common ties” to the mess in Fourth Ward. The bottom line is they both have about as much integrity as Bernie Madoff which is to say they have none. They both in the end will serve the same master. Just as they both did in Fourth Ward.
That is a disgusting, horrible mailer, indefensible. I have been at some of Parker’s swearing-ins and liked it that she did it with her partner beside her.
But I am wary of tagging Locke with any sort of responsibility and demanding that he get out front on this yet again, after he has done so several times already (I remember some Christians for Good Govt endorsement that he slammed within 1-2 hours).
When Annie’s List sent around a very nasty email accusing Locke of being a sexist and a misogynist (citing pretty silly “examples”), Parker said that the email was appropriate and raised valid questions. To be sure, I don’t think falsely attacking someone as a sexist and misogynist is nearly as bad as this anti-gay attack, but Parker’s response was extremely disappointing to me. As a result, I don’t think she has any standing to make demands on Locke. And her attacking Locke pretty much as if he put this out seems baseless and perhaps 25% as disgusting as the mailer itself.
(to disclose my position: I have voted for Parker at least 6 times. I like her. She had my vote for a couple months, lost it with the misogynist stuff, won it back later, then lost it when she attacked Locke over all the stadiums that she herself had fully supported)
I am not convinced that this mailing really has been sent out that broadly. Wilson may be pulling a publicity stunt. I fall within the guidelines, and have not gotten it. But we’ll keep you posted.
I just saw the address on the mailer, and I’m sad to see that hate mongerer is in my neighborhood. As a licensed electrician, from a family of electricians, his Texas Electrical Safety Association will not be receiving any membership, support or business from anyone I know.
When Annie’s List sent around a very nasty email accusing Locke of being a sexist and a misogynist (citing pretty silly “examples”), Parker said that the email was appropriate and raised valid questions. To be sure, I don’t think falsely attacking someone as a sexist and misogynist is nearly as bad as this anti-gay attack, but Parker’s response was extremely disappointing to me. As a result, I don’t think she has any standing to make demands on Locke. And her attacking Locke pretty much as if he put this out seems baseless and perhaps 25% as disgusting as the mailer itself.
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Thank you for pointing out her hypocrisy. Labeling someone is labeling someone. If you’re going to throw it, better be prepared for it coming back and hitting you in the face. And being labeled a misogynist is just as hateful as being labeled a lesbian in the sense that it stirs emotions and causes someone not to want to vote for you.
Personally I would like to know where the $18 million went. I really would like someone to ask. But of course the media won’t. They knew about the $18 million. And didn’t ask.
In a perfect world, no one would vote in the mayor’s race and neither would win. What a headline. Locke 0. Parker 0. Sums up the sentiment of a growing number of Houstonians who don’t want either of them because in the end they’re both the same.
Their own communities don’t support them 100% because they’ve done very little for their own communities through the years. As someone put it the real problem is Gene Locke thinks he’s white and Annise Parker thinks she’s straight. And neither believes they are “those people” any more. As some are pointing out, they are.
Just FYI, he could send 35,000 pieces of that mailer for about $8,000.
Not that important an issue, but I continue to doubt the mailer was sent so broadly. I did finally receive one, but mine came hand addressed and not to my voting residence. Hard to imagine that 35,000 were hand-addressed.
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