More on the announced candidates

We know who's running for city offices this year (well, we think we know - more on that in a minute). But who are some of these people? Today's Chron story gives a few answers.

Four incumbent council members will face opposition. District C Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck faces two challengers, Alfred Molison, a Green Party member who works for the Social Security Administration, and Robert Glaser. At-large Position 2 Councilwoman Sue Lovell will square off against private investigator and frequent candidate Michael "Griff" Griffin. District B Councilman Jarvis Johnson will face Kenneth Perkins. And Melissa Noriega, who won a special election to fill the At-large Position 3 seat vacated by Shelley Sekula Gibbs earlier this year, will have a rematch against retired Air Force officer Roy Morales. Noriega defeated Morales in a June runoff.

[...]

Eight people have filed for District D. The lineup includes the Rev. Michael Patrick Williams, a Houston Community College trustee; Wanda Adams, a city employee; Lana Edwards, the principal of Windsor Village Elementary; retail manager Keith Caldwell; and Lawrence Allen Jr., director of special projects for HISD, a state Board of Education member and son of state Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston.

Also filing for District D were Leatrice Watson, Florida "Flo" Cooper, and Larry McKinzie.

The District E race often ends up being a Kingwood-versus-Clear Lake fight. This year's contest will be between Annette Dwyer, who lives in Clear Lake and is on Wiseman's citizens advisory committee; former Humble school board member Michael Sullivan; William R. Williams; and Manisha Mehta. A narrow strip of incorporated area in District E connects the far-flung suburban communities on Houston's northeast and southeast.

Alvarado's former chief of staff, James Rodriguez; former union leader and retired Southwestern Bell employee John Marron; and J. Brad Batteau are running for District I.

The At-large Position 5 race will be between lawyer Jolanda Jones; engineer Zaf Tahir; lawyer and former Houston police officer Tom Nixon; minister John Gibbs; mortgage company owner Marlon Barabin; Jack Christie and Ray Ramirez.

First things first - where's Joe Trevino in that enumeration of At Large #5 candidates. Note that the story doesn't say "The At-large Position 5 race includes", which would imply a partial listing. I've received an email from Trevino this morning confirming that he's in the race. I've sent an email to Kristen Mack and Jennifer Radcliffe to ask them about this. I'm guessing it's just an oversight, but we'll see.

Beyond that, well, there's still a lot we don't know about some of these folks. I realize it may be a tall order with the flurry of last-minute filings to even find out what they all do (or did) for a living, but since I'd bet that the next time we see some of these names will be in the election results stories, it would have been nice to have known more.

Here's a philosophical question for you: Why is Outlaw Josey Wales IV a "perennial candidate", while Michael "Grif" Griffin is merely a "frequent" one? Especially when you consider that Grif (or "Griff", depending on the year) has been on every November municipal ballot but one (plus one special election in January) since 1993, while the Outlaw is making only his second appearance (he ran against Lee Brown in 1999)? Don't take my word for it - see for yourself. Maybe the reporters are conflating him with Jack Josey Terence (sometimes just Jack Terence), who's been on at least three ballots since then, including the same Mayoral one with the Outlaw in '99. Perhaps the distinction being drawn here is just for the purpose of avoiding adjective repetition. If that's the case, though, I'd argue that these two should be swapped.

Moving on to the other races:

Five contenders -- including former City Council members Carol Mims Galloway and Michael Yarbrough -- will run for the HISD school board seat being vacated by Harris County employee Kevin Hoffman. Galloway on the board before running for City Council.

The other contenders for the post are pastor Larry Williams, marketing director Charles McCloud and Reginald Adams, executive director of the Museum of Cultural Arts, Houston.

Former HISD principal Davetta M. Daniels will face businesswoman Paula Harris for the seat being vacated by 81-year-old Arthur Gaines.

Well, at least we know all these folks' occupations. I should note that there are also HCC Trustee elections going on this November, though that didn't get a mention in the story. There are two races that I know of, one featuring Kevin J. Hoffman (not to be confused with outgoing HISD Trustee Kevin H. Hoffman) running against incumbent Yolanda Navarro Flores in District I, which is where I live. Another is in District VII, where Jay Aiyer has stepped down. Former candidate for Fort Bend Treasurer Neeta Sane is in that one; I don't know offhand who she's running against. And of course there's the HISD bond referendum, which is experiencing a bumpy road right now, and the various constitutional amendments, the best-publicized of which is surely to be Prop 15. Lots to learn about all these candidates and issues, and only two months in which to do it.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 06, 2007 to Election 2007