Tag Archives: Houston

Endorsement watch: HISD Trustee

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron finishes up their work for this election by making its endorsements in the HISD Trustee races. For HISD Trustee in District I, an open seat, we recommend Anna Eastman. As the president of the Travis Elementary PTA, Eastman … Continue reading →

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Early voting starts today

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I feel confident saying that if you’re reading this blog, you’re probably aware that there’s an election coming up, and that Early Voting starts today. Here’s the early voting schedule and locations. It’s the usual places you’re familiar with, and … Continue reading →

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Casey on the Chron poll

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Casey has some good observations about that Chron poll that was released Saturday. The main point I want to focus on is here: [Peter Brown] leads with 24 percent of the vote, but given that he had the airwaves … Continue reading →

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Parker profile

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

And here’s the Chron profile of Annise Parker, which I didn’t get to link to last week and which rounds out their four-part series. I’ve linked all of them on the 2009 Elections page in case you want to go … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: It’s a twofer

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Well, this is unusual. Houstonians are fortunate to face a difficult choice for mayor this year between two exceptional candidates, public law attorney Gene Locke and City Controller Annise Parker. It’s likely one or both will be in a runoff … Continue reading →

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We’ve got mail

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Campos observed the other day that he’d hardly received any campaign mailers so far this year. That’s largely been true for me as well – before this week, I’d gotten the Peter Brown pieces, an Anna Eastman mailer, and maybe … Continue reading →

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Chron poll: Brown leads

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Campos teased the news earlier today, and now the story is up: Peter Brown leads in a new Zogby poll of the Mayor’s race. According to the poll, Brown leads the field with 23.8 percent of the vote, followed by … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: At Large

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Having dispatched with the District Council races yesterday, the Chron continues with the schedule I’d hoped they’d follow by making their endorsements in the At Large races. As I thought, they went with incumbents Sue Lovell in #2 and Jolanda … Continue reading →

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Correction!

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Now that everyone has had a chance to look over everyone else’s campaign finance reports, a number of candidates have made some corrections to their reports. Former City Attorney Gene Locke and City Controller Annise Parker received money from donors … Continue reading →

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Where to find the candidates on YouTube

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve mentioned candidate videos on here a few times, and it occurs to me that I ought to just do a search through YouTube to see what’s out there for the people running in this election. So here you have … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: ABCDEFG

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve been hard on the Chron lately for being so lackadaisical about getting to some of their endorsements. In my opinion, they should all be done before Early Voting begins, or else their value erodes. So I’m pleased to see … Continue reading →

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What the candidates say about mobility

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Citizens Transportation Coalition has done a candidate questionnaire every election in which the hopefuls are asked a bunch of questions about various transportation-related topics. This year is no exception, and as always there are a lot of detailed questions … Continue reading →

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Roy gets his moment in the sun

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the Chron overview of Roy Morales, which like the Locke and Brown stories was done with a bit of gauze over the lens. Well, except for the bit where they quoted those mean ol’ bloggers. Political observers and bloggers … Continue reading →

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Term limits review on the horizon

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Without much fanfare, the Houston City Council agreed to the creation of a committee to study the often talked about issue of term limits. Currently, the Mayor, Controller, and City Council are elected for two years terms a maximum … Continue reading →

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Interview with City Controller Annise Parker

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We wrap up our 2009 interview season with a conversation with Annise Parker. Parker is serving her third term as Houston City Controller, having served three terms as an At Large Council Member before that. She is a native Houstonian … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: A late roundup

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Some recent endorsements in City elections over the past few days. Going back to last week, here are the endorsements from the Houston Black American Democrats (HBAD): Mayor – Gene Locke Controller – Ronald Green At Large #1 – Karen … Continue reading →

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School construction update

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As I read this story about the progress of school construction authorized by the 2007 bond referendum, it strikes me that we picked a heck of a good time to do this. Piney Point is one of about 160 campuses … Continue reading →

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Interview with Council Member Peter Brown

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Our next Mayoral candidate interview is with City Council Member Peter Brown, who is currently serving his second term as the Member from At Large #1. Brown is a Houston native and UH grad who served six years in the … Continue reading →

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The Mayorals on public safety

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Reading this story about the Mayoral candidates and their public safety plans, I have the same questions that I’ve had from the beginning. How do they plan to pay for the things they want to do? Hiring more officers, obviously, … Continue reading →

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Downtown grocery store coming

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Not a traditional big-box kind of place, but this seems like a good fit for downtown. While it won’t be on the scale of a large grocery chain, local caterer Jerrell “Rusty” Powers is preparing to open a market at … Continue reading →

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Brown’s fourth ad

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Team Peter maintains the air assault: Okay, I’m a math major, so maybe I’m the wrong person to bring this up, but shouldn’t that be “I look at city government differently than other politicians”? I had to watch a few … Continue reading →

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Khan goes on the air

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We knew it was coming, and now here we have MJ Khan’s first TV ad. It’s…okay. Unlike Greg, I think Pam Holm’s ad, which was strong up until the last few seconds, was better. The presentation in Khan’s ad, with … Continue reading →

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Interview with Gene Locke

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

And we come to the end of the campaign interview season for 2009 with a conversation with each of the three leading contenders for Mayor. First up is Gene Locke, a native of East Texas and longtime resident of Houston … Continue reading →

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Spending on voter outreach: At Large races

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I did this exercise for the Controller’s race last week, let’s see now what we can learn about the four contested At Large Council races. First, At Large #1: Candidate Amount Purpose ========================================================== Karen Derr 88.32 Advertising (Allen Jamail) Karen … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: The Chron goes Green

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In their first endorsement for an elected office on the ballot this November, the Chronicle endorsed Council Member Ronald Green for Controller. A practicing attorney with a master’s in business administration from the University of Houston, Green chaired the Council … Continue reading →

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Koozie!

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Well, the Pam Holm campaign may not have received the Chron’s endorsement, but they did make my weekend by delivering this fine piece of campaign swag to me: As you can see, it’s primed and ready to go for today’s … Continue reading →

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Ethics complaint filed against Bradford

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve received word via email that an ethics complaint has been filed against At Large #4 candidate C.O. Bradford, alleging violations in his October campaign finance report. The sender included a PDF of the complaint, but I’m not posting it … Continue reading →

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Three cheers for Montrose

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Always nice to get recognition. Montrose, the central Houston community known for its diverse lifestyles, vibrant street life and stately historic homes, is being honored by the American Planning Association today as one of the country’s 10 great neighborhoods. Houston’s … Continue reading →

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34 > 20, and other campaign finance news

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve added two more candidate reports to my campaign finance report spreadsheet, Robert Kane and KA Khan, both in District F. Each of them had filed paper reports instead of electronic reports. You can see a list of such reports … Continue reading →

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Change in course on 287 (g)

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron notes a change in course on how the city wants to deal with undocumented immigrants. Mayor Bill White is distancing himself from a controversial federal program that trains local law enforcement to identify suspected illegal immigrants, saying this … Continue reading →

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So what do you think will happen?

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Dr. Murray offers some thoughts on turnout in the November election. Public interest may finally be picking up a bit, but I still think turnout will lag well behind 2003, when 304,907 ballots were cast in the city. Two reasons … Continue reading →

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KTRK Mayoral forum

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone catch the KTRK Mayoral forum? The four major candidates vying to be Houston’s next mayor took some of the first steps toward engaging each other directly in a live televised debate on KTRK Wednesday evening. With just four weeks … Continue reading →

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Spending on voter outreach: The Controller candidates

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We know that this has been, relatively speaking, a low-dollar, low-profile election. I’ve been curious as to what the candidates’ strategies for doing voter outreach have been. We’ll probably know more when we see the eight-days-out reports, but for now, … Continue reading →

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Don’t let politics get in the way of commuter rail

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

For once, we have a broad consensus about the need to build rail lines. Let’s please not let turf war pissing matches be an even bigger obstacle to getting them built than old-fashioned opposition ever was. Three agencies are actively … Continue reading →

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