Mayoral Musings with Nancy Sims

With 42.78% of Harris County Precincts reporting, Parker widens her lead but it is still a close race.

Parker:           52.84%           57,569 votes

Locke             47.16%           51,380 votes

With 34.60% of Harris County Precincts reporting, Parker widens her lead but it is still a close race.

Parker:           52.66%           52,868 votes

Locke             47.34%           47,536 votes

With 13% of Harris County Precincts reporting, Parker widens her lead but it is still a close race.

Parker:           51.71%           40,796 votes

Locke             48.29%           38,101 votes

Parker has a very slight lead over Locke. 

Parker:  50.99%

Locke:               49.01%

The candidates are separated by less than 1500 votes. 

In early vote, we’ll call this a squeaker. 

Stay tuned for updates as we receive them.

We are down to the final hours.  Today, I was home for a bit and I was astounded at the number of recorded calls we received.   It felt as though the phone was ringing every 5 minutes or so.  Why we received calls from Annise Parker, Peter Brown, a police officer, and even live volunteers who told me the polling location and reminded me of the hours. 

 These folks are organized. 

It has been a long campaign.  I feel most for the candidates and for their hard-working teams.  These individuals have poured their heart and souls to help their candidates get elected.  Annise Parker and Gene Locke have both worked tirelessly as well as Peter Brown and Roy Morales.  I applaud all of you and thank you for offering yourselves to the citizens of Houston.

At this point, even the voters are weary of the campaign.  Voters – thought I would let you know that you shouldn’t get too lazy as the Governor’s race is already in full swing as well as many other races that we will vote on in March and November of 2010.

I just want to say a quick THANK YOU to all of the candidates, their teams, the volunteers, the donors and every one who has been a part of this election cycle.  

We’ll be blogging tomorrow night and monitoring the returns. 

Don’t forget to go vote!

ELECTION DAY – SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12 – POLLS ARE OPEN – 7:00 A.M. TO 7:00 P.M. 

Don’t know about you folks but these last few days of the campaign make me feel like I need a long, hot shower.  The Mayor’s race has gotten so nasty that it is almost unbearable.

The bulk of the nastiness has come from third party groups.  They have taken on the fringe issues that everyone says they don’t care about.  The hatemongers have been in full swing.  Last I checked, these tactics did not work in 1985 Houston and I think they will be even less effective in 2009 Houston.  Houstonians seem to have a sense of righteous indignation when people spew hatred for any population – be it gay, minority or gender oriented. 

But in all honesty, the candidates are not “clean” on this topic either.  Locke initiated attacks on Parker’s handling of city finances.  Parker initiated attacks on Locke’s involvement with the Sports Authority.  I was o.k. with both of these as they seemed fair game.  Both exaggerated the other’s role a bit but these issues seemed fair game.  I also felt that both camps were fully prepared for attacks on these issues and handled their responses appropriately.

Then they started reaching further.  Locke stretched some votes that Parker made on Council.  They were based in fact but he took them further.  Parker stretched Locke’s involvement with a lawsuit.  Both have been called out on these charges by local media and bloggers. 

The television ads have deteriorated into virtual name calling. 

Parker used an interesting approach in the run-off.  Her press releases were well written and used the theme, “Come Clean Gene”.  It’s been a good theme and worked well.  Then, in one of the debates, Locke started calling on Parker to “come clean” with her facts. 

I just want everyone to come clean.  How about we clean up the last few days of this campaign?  Tell us why you are the person to lead this city.  Don’t tell me why your opponent is the wrong person to lead the city. 

And, to the voters and my readers – Pay Attention.  It is Now or Never time in this election. 

ELECTION DAY IS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12.  POLLS ARE OPEN 7:00 A.M. – 7:00 P.M. 

Let me be right up front on this – I’m no fan of the “Independent Committee” style of politics.  I don’t like it during Presidential elections and I don’t like it in local races.

The fact is that these “third parties” are supposed to act independently of the candidates and their campaigns.  They are not subject to the same campaign finance restrictions that apply to candidates.  And, they are not held accountable for their actions.  They don’t have to justify their falsehoods like the candidates do, either. 

Believe me – I know I’m stepping on some serious toes here.  Whether it is swift boat veterans or labor unions, conservative Republicans or trial lawyers, I just don’t like them.

When a candidate makes a wild and invalid statement, they will be called out by the media.  We know who they are and they will be held accountable by those that cover politics and the voters. 

With these third party groups, it is sometimes more difficult to determine who is behind the message until financial reports are filed.  Even then, it is not always clear.  They are required to list their donors. 

There have been a number of legal cases around the country on this topic.  Personally, I have not believed for one second that these groups are independent of candidates.  Though they have to claim independence and their paperwork is most likely in order, no one can prove that “hallway” conversations didn’t take place.  Additionally, there may be someone involved with the committee that happens to be close friends with a campaign staffer, etc.  The world of people involved in politics on a day-to-day basis is fairly small.  It is near impossible not to know someone connected if you are engaged in the process. 

This Mayoral election has become flooded with third party poopers.  From Dr. Steven Hotze, the Police Union, Fire Fighters, SEIU/HOPE, Conservative Republicans and more. 

There has been a greater advantage (or disadvantage) for Locke from support by these groups.  The HPOU has sent mail on Locke’s behalf and aggressively attacked Parker.  Dr. Hotze and his group have sent mail pieces and campaigned against Parker.  We now know that donors are shared by Locke and the Hotze group.  The union sent mail on behalf of Parker, however, it did not specifically attack Locke. 

It seems to me that third party poopers are being utilized to  say things that a candidate or campaign cannot. 

I’ve had enough!  These candidates have been very forthcoming with their positions on issues.  Their web pages are full of details on their plans and vision for this great city.  Don’t rely on these special interest groups to make your decision.  Take the time to study and decide who you think will be best to guide this city! 

ELECTION DAY IS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12!

The Run-off Finance Reports have been submitted (click here to view)  and the candidates raised substantial sums of money in a short period approaching the holiday season.

Parker really came into her own during the run-off fundraising period.  She raised nearly $1.6 million.  This is an impressive sum of money in such a short time.  A quick review of the donors indicates that there are many, many donors making small to mid-size contributions.  Parker also picked up some of the traditional money in this round, with many givers hedging their bets by donating to both campaigns.

Some people have said that Parker’s money has come from “out of town special interests”.  After perusing the reports, I found contributors from out of town.  However, they were a small percentage of donors and gave mostly small to mid-size contributions. 

The dominant number of donors to Parker appear to be Houstonians parting with their own hard earned dollars to support their candidate of choice.

Parker seems to have paid the majority of her major expenses, based on her expenditure report.  She’s purchased her media, paid for direct mail and seems in good shape.

Gene Locke raised nearly $1.2 million.  This is keeping pace with his initial fundraising achievements.  A quick review of Locke’s donors indicates that they make a much larger average donation than Parker’s.  They tend to be primarily from the Houston business and civic leader community.  He also has significantly more Political Action Committee donations than Parker.   Locke has a smaller number of donors.

Locke still has a need to finish paying his campaign expenses.  We understand that his top-notch fundraising team has been pulled into action to raise the funds to push him across the finish line. 

These numbers give a slight edge to Parker but it is not definitive.

Some of you have asked how we can read election outcomes into finance numbers.  When one campaign is significantly better funded than others, it can define a race.  With Locke and Parker, both have raised adequate funds to identify and mobilize their voters.  If one of them had broken away in fundraising, we might gain more insight from the filings.

Bottom Line – You are empowered to make the decision on who will lead this city! 

ELECTION DAY IS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12! 

Weather can wreak havoc on campaigns.  It can make or break careers in a flurry.

Did today’s snow and resulting cold weather have an impact on early voting and will it cause numbers to drop over the weekend?

Maybe.  But prior to today, early vote numbers were on the rise.  If the pace continues, it might indicate that voter turnout will be up. 

Candidates have to work hard to convince people in this city to come out in freezing cold temperatures to cast ballots.  The only weekend for early voting is NOW.  People still have the opportunity to cast a ballot.  Please brave the weather and make your choice.

I worked until 5:00 today but I watched the traffic on the West Loop from noon until 2:00.  It looked like a normal end of day traffic jam.  When I left after 5:00, the freeways were empty. 

Houstonians truly flipped over the snow!  Businesses closed, schools closed, and people raced to their homes.  Why?

Maybe they were worried about infrastructure.  If the roads ice, will they be sanded enough to protect drivers?  If we have a hard freeze, will the wet tree branches fall on houses/businesses?  Can this city sustain snow, a hard freeze and the outcomes?

Of course we can.  We survived Ike!

So bundle up and go vote this weekend!

The Tejano Democrats and Houston Black American Democrats issued a press release attacking Annise Parker for minority hiring and salaries in the Controller’s office.  In their own release, they note that nearly 1/3 of the top ten employees are Hispanic, African-American and Asian American.  They claim the diverse employees are not paid equally.

Intrigued by the research, I thought I would check on Andrews Kurth – where Gene Locke practices law.  The press release indicates that Locke serves on the firm’s diversity committee and has worked hard to recruit minority lawyers.

However, the firm itself is not recognized for their minority hiring and is a white-male dominant firm.  In a report compiled by various minority bar association groups, Andrews Kurth received a “D” for their hiring practices.

A more pertinent question and a more comparable discussion would be to assess Locke’s time in the City Attorney’s office.  I haven’t found anyone that has conducted that research.

As you may recall, this site introduced you to the campaign teams during the first round.  The Parker campaign looks like Houston and has staff and support from a cross section of the community as does the Locke campaign.

Both camps are managed by white males but have females and people of color throughout their operations.  The pay is all public record.  You can view it for yourself in their campaign and expenditure reports – click here. 

Bottom line is that Parker and Locke will most likely hire staff in the Mayor’s office and as department leaders that will reflect the population of the city. 

Correction:

The Parker camp has informed me that I made a mistake in my post yesterday.  Apparently, Parker did NOT vote to support Reliant Stadium.  Ted Oberg of Channel 13 has a great fact check story as a follow-up to the debate.  You can judge for yourself by viewing it here.