Category Archives: Election 2011

We have a contested HISD election

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

School Zone: Houston ISD school board president Paula Harris is the first incumbent to draw an opponent in the November elections. Arturo “Art” Huerta — who, according to the board office, is a parent of a child at Lanier Middle … Continue reading →

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Interview with Joshua Verde

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Joshua Verde is the newcomer to politics in the District C field. A former pilot with Continental’s ExpressJet, Verde has worked for the Houston Airport System and is now a student at the South Texas College of Law. He lives … Continue reading →

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Interview with Karen Derr

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Karen Derr wound up in District C after redistricting by living in the western portion of the Heights. She ran for At Large #1 in 2009, losing in the runoff to CM Stephen Costello. She is the founder of Karen … Continue reading →

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Interview with Ellen Cohen

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We move now into District C, where a newly-drawn inner Loop district has drawn a fair amount of interest. First up is former two-term State Rep. Ellen Cohen, who represented a fair piece of this district while serving in HD134. … Continue reading →

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Boney to run for HCC Trustee

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We have our first contested race for a non-city of Houston office as former Council member and Mayor Pro Tem Jew Don Boney has announced his candidacy for the HCC Trustee District IV seat. You can see his press release … Continue reading →

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Where the line is

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Me, July 17: I disagree that anyone who might think about challenging the Mayor will wait two years before taking action. They’ll simply wait to see how Parker does in November. Like all three of her predecessors in the term-limits … Continue reading →

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Interview with Larry Green

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

District K is one of the two new Council seats that resulted from the redistricting plan this year. You’d think a brand new seat like that would draw a crowd, but this new district has basically drawn a crowd of … Continue reading →

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A closer look at finance reports: Spending on consultants

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Now that we’ve looked at who gives to candidates in Houston, let’s take a look at what those candidates spend their money on. Broadly speaking, your main forms of expenditures include overhead (rent, food, office supplies, transportation, webhosting, etc), advertising, … Continue reading →

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Who has filed so far

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Today is the first day of the filing season for Houston Mayor, Controller, and City Council. The filing period runs through September 7. You can see the list of official filers here; as of this moment, it’s Ellen Cohen in … Continue reading →

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Interview with CM James Rodriguez

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

CM James Rodriguez is running for his third term in District I. He was Chief of Staff for his predecessor, Rep. Carol Alvarado, so he has actually been serving the district a lot longer than that. Rodriguez has been in … Continue reading →

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Look at me! Look at meeeeee!

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I have one thing to say about this. With three months until election day, attorney Benjamin Hall still hasn’t declared whether he’s running against Mayor Annise Parker. “I have not taken myself out of the contest,” Hall told me late … Continue reading →

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Interview with CM Oliver Pennington

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

CM Oliver Pennington was elected in 2009 as the Council member for District G. Pennington was a partner at the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski, where he specialized in various aspects of municipal law. He’s also a graduate of … Continue reading →

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A closer look at finance reports: Elected officials

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

In addition to contributions from PACs, there was another class of donor that I thought was worth highlighting: Elected officials and candidates for public office. Basically, the idea is to see who “the establishment” is supporting, to see what we … Continue reading →

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Interview with CM Brad Bradford

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

CM C.O. “Brad” Bradford is in his first term of service in At Large #4. A former Chief of Police with HPD and the Democratic nominee for District Attorney in 2008, CM Bradford has been one of the more high … Continue reading →

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A closer look at finance reports: PACs

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Having taken the time to download all of those campaign finance reports for the city of Houston elections, which you can view on my 2011 Election page, I wanted to see what I could learn from all this data. So … Continue reading →

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Update on HISD and HCC finance reports

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I had mentioned before that it was hard to find campaign finance reports for HISD and HCC Trustees. I now have some updated information about this, so I wanted to share it with you. First, HISD Trustee Anna Eastman (who … Continue reading →

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Interview with CM Ed Gonzalez

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

CM Ed Gonzalez was elected to complete the unexpired term of now-Sheriff Adrian Garcia in June of 2009, and is now running for his second full term on Council. He’s a former homicide investigator for HPD, and was elected by … Continue reading →

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A word about endorsements

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

As I have done in prior elections, I will be keeping track of endorsements for the 2011 elections. You can argue all you want about the value of endorsements – clearly, some are more valuable than others, and some mean … Continue reading →

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Those darned propositions

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. Houston voters can be forgiven if they feel a bit confused. They voted down red-light cameras, but the cameras are on. They may have heard the mayor say that voting for a … Continue reading →

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Interview with CM Wanda Adams

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

CM Wanda Adams was first elected in District D in 2007, and is now running for her third term. She was employed by the City of Houston before being elected to Council, so it was interesting to get her perspective … Continue reading →

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The non-filers

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We are now more than a week beyond the deadline to file campaign finance reports for City of Houston elections. The following candidates for city office have not yet filed a campaign finance report for July: Michael Williams, At Large … Continue reading →

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The other races

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

In addition to the city of Houston races, I am trying to follow the HISD and HCC Trustee elections as well. I say “trying” because there’s just no information out there that I can find. For one thing, though there … Continue reading →

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Interview with CM Melissa Noriega

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Council Member Melissa Noriega was elected to finish the unexpired At Large #3 term of Shelley Sekula Gibbs in June of 2007, and has been re-elected for full terms twice since. She’s the chair of the Public Safety and Homeland … Continue reading →

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Tuesday late filers report

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This is a semi-regular tracker of late campaign finance report filings for City of Houston elections. I’ll keep this up until either everyone has filed, or we all get sick of it and I move onto other trivial obsessions. With … Continue reading →

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Interview with CM Stephen Costello

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We begin the 2011 election interview season with first term Council Member Stephen Costello, elected in 2009 in At Large #1. He had a mission in mind when he ran for office, and that was a plan to fund street … Continue reading →

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Finance reports and the Mayor’s race

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Finance report updates: David Robinson has filed his corrected report, which includes the $53,095.57 cash on hand total that was omitted in the original. There were no other changes made. Mayoral candidate Kevin Simms has now filed his report. He … Continue reading →

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Constitutional amendments for 2011

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

There will be ten constitutional amendments on the ballot this November. I may revise this opinion later, but my initial impression is that none of them are particularly controversial or momentous. No cancer bonds, no tort “reform”, no gambling – … Continue reading →

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The anti-gay stuff has already started

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

For the most part, we didn’t see any nasty homophobia in the 2009 Mayoral election until the runoff, at which point it oozed out from several locations. This time around, the gay bashers aren’t wasting any time. First, usual suspect … Continue reading →

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More campaign finance reports for July

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Following up on the earlier post, here are some more highlights from the July campaign finance reports for City of Houston elections. All reports can be found on my 2011 Election page. – Since I dinged Al Hoang for not … Continue reading →

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Some early fundraising numbers

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Today is the day that campaign finance reports are due for candidates in this November’s city of Houston elections. Some early filer’s reports are already up on the city’s Campaign Finance webpage. I’ve uploaded copies of these reports to my … Continue reading →

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The 2011 interview season has begun

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

As of this week, I will begin interviewing candidates for the 2011 elections. At the top of the site, you can see the 2011 Election page, where I will be keeping track of interviews, endorsements, campaign finance reports, and possibly … Continue reading →

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Possible challenger in At Large #5

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

CM Jolanda Jones gets her first announced opponent for At Large #5, but it comes with an asterisk. Physician Joe Edmonds announced today his candidacy for City Council At-Large Position 5, currently occupied by Councilwoman Jolanda Jones. “I feel there … Continue reading →

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More on the new Council districts

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

For just about everything you could want to know about the new Council districts, go read Greg. Population and registered voter data, 2009 election returns, a look at how the districts have changed and may change in the future, it’s … Continue reading →

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Two more for At Large #2

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Open Council seats always draw a crowd, and when there’s only one of them for the At Large positions, it’s usually a big crowd. There were already several entrants in the At Large #2 sweepstakes, and as of today there … Continue reading →

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