Category Archives: Election 2009

Jones gets another opponent

Posted on July 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In the wake of her comments about Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Jeff Caynon, Council Member Jolanda Jones has drawn a new challenger for her seat. On Friday, retired HISD administrator Davetta Daniels filed to challenge Jones in November. … Continue reading →

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City or county?

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Like Nancy Sims, I was at the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce candidate forum yesterday morning. And like Nancy, I thought this bit was one of the more interesting parts of the debate. Several questions focused on city finances and … Continue reading →

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Interview with Lane Lewis

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Moving on to the first district Council race of this interview cycle, today’s subject is Lane Lewis, who is running for the District A seat currently held by Toni Lawrence. Lewis has worked as a social worker and has been … Continue reading →

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The five-thousand dollar club

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

David Ortez does some digging through the campaign finance reports for the three Mayoral contenders and comes up with a list of those who gave the legal maximum of $5000 to each. Gene Locke is the big winner, with more … Continue reading →

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The HISD Trustee races

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Most of the electoral action this fall will be for City of Houston races, but there are also five HISD Trustee seats on the ballot, one of which will be open. School Zone reports on the two races that will … Continue reading →

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Interview with Stephen Costello

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Continuing with the At Large candidates, today we hear from Stephen Costello, who is running for At Large #1. Stephen is a civil engineer, whose firm has been rated one of the best places to work in Houston, and is … Continue reading →

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City candidates on Twitter

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Since I brought up the subject of Houston city candidates on Twitter last week, I figured I’d put together as complete a list of such candidates’ Twitter feeds as I could, since I’d already gotten such a head start on … Continue reading →

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The immigration question in the Mayor’s race

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Man, we need comprehensive immigration reform we can all live with. The city’s plans to step up cooperation with federal authorities in efforts to deport illegal immigrants is garnering new debate in the 2009 mayoral contest. Latino advocates have pressed … Continue reading →

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The Controller’s race

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron writes about fundraising in the race to replace Annise Parker as Houston City Controller. The three major candidates vying to replace Controller Annise Parker, who is term-limited and angling to become the city’s next mayor, raised more than … Continue reading →

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City campaign finance reports followup

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

A few things to add to last night’s post. – Ronald Green’s numbers for City Controller are now in – my spreadsheet has been updated to reflect that. He took in $48,515 and has $32,700 on hand. Which is to … Continue reading →

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Twenty-one questions

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I meant to link to this earlier, but didn’t manage to get to it. It’s a 21-question survey of mostly personal and non-political things for the Mayoral candidates done by local blogger David Ortez, who got responses from the three … Continue reading →

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City campaign finance reports come rolling in

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As the campaign finance reports for City of Houston races come online, I’ve been collecting all the reports and putting them together into an easier-to-read format. I’ve also received a bunch of press releases, which I’ll be reproducing beneath the … Continue reading →

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Interview with CO Bradford

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Next up in the interview series is C.O. “Brad” Bradford, who is running for At Large #4, currently held by the term-limited Ronald Green. Bradford was the Democratic candidate for Harris County District Attorney last year, and though he lost … Continue reading →

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Parker reports $800K raised for Mayoral race

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Tomorrow is the deadline for filing campaign finance reports for City of Houston elections. In the meantime, expect campaigns that did well in that department to announce their results ahead of time. One such announcement comes from the Annise Parker … Continue reading →

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Interview with Karen Derr

Posted on July 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Today we start my series of interviews for the November 2009 elections. I hope interview as many candidates for City Council, City Controller, and Mayor as possible, as well as candidates for HISD Trustee. First up is Karen Derr, who … Continue reading →

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HISD trustee Dianne Johnson not running for re-election

Posted on July 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

There’s plenty of action in the City of Houston elections this fall, but they are not the only races on the ballot, as HISD and HCC will be electing Trustees as well. At least one of the five HISD Trustee … Continue reading →

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Interview season

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We may be just two days past July 4, but it’s time to focus on the upcoming November elections. In particular, that means it’s time to start doing interviews with candidates for city offices. I’ve got a few lined up … Continue reading →

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Turner not running for Mayor

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Mayoral field for this November should now be set. State Rep. Sylvester Turner announced today he would not attempt a run for mayor of Houston. The 11-term Democrat representative’s announcement comes a little more than three weeks after he … Continue reading →

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Council Member Gonzalez

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Now that he has been officially sworn in to represent District H, new City Council Member Ed Gonzalez has hit the ground running. He was called upon by City Councilwoman Sue Lovell to speak first about the death of Officer … Continue reading →

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Another Mayoral wants Hurtt out

Posted on June 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

It’s just Roy, so it’s not like this materially affects Chief Harold Hurtt’s status, but still. “We want police officers to stay,” said Harris County Department of Education Trustee Roy Morales, one of five candidates who talked about crime and … Continue reading →

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Rerun for Welsh?

Posted on June 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Maverick Welsh is a young first-time candidate who exceeded expectations in his initial campaign. I most certainly do expect we’ll see him run for office again. “I absolutely will run for council again,” Welsh said. “I had way too good … Continue reading →

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Rick Rodriguez to announce for At Large #1

Posted on June 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’d heard rumors to this effect, and now it’s official: Former District H candidate Rick Rodriguez is joining the race for At Large #1 in November. From the email announcement: Rick Rodriguez to launch campaign for Houston City Council At-Large, … Continue reading →

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Gonzalez wins in District H

Posted on June 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In the end, it wasn’t that close. Houston police officer Ed Gonzalez won the runoff special election to fill Houston City Council District H Saturday, defeating former high school teacher and City Council staffer Maverick Welsh. Although the campaign was … Continue reading →

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Foulard announces in G, Khan for Controller

Posted on June 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

With the Legislature out of session (hopefully till 2011) and the District H special election about to wrap up, it’s time to refocus on the November elections for Houston. I think we will have a pretty good idea of who … Continue reading →

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Early voting ends for District H runoff

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Tuesday was the last day of early voting for the District H runoff, and as is often the case it was the busiest, with 278 in-person ballots being cast. That brings the final total up to 2188 early votes, or … Continue reading →

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Parker wants to boot Hurtt

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

And the Mayoral campaign just got a little more interesting. Mayoral candidate Annise Parker has plans get rid of Police Chief Harold Hurtt if she’s elected. “I will replace the police chief. I think he’s ineffective,” Parker told the Houston … Continue reading →

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Last day of early voting in District H runoff

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Today is the last day to vote early in the District H runoff. The early voting locations will be open from 7 AM to 7 PM, so take advantage of the chance while you still can. Runoff Day itself will … Continue reading →

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One week of early voting in the District H runoff

Posted on June 6, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I did my civic duty on Friday at Moody Park, early in the morning – according to the sign-in sheet, I was the fifth person to vote that day. That makes me one of 1302 people to cast their ballot, … Continue reading →

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A third try for Sly?

Posted on June 6, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I find this a little hard to understand. Rep. Sylvester Turner is thinking about running for Mayor of Houston, again. His press folks just confirmed to me that he’s “thinking it over” and will make a decision in two weeks. … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Ed again

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron reiterates its earlier endorsement of Ed Gonzalez for the District H special election runoff. In a matchup of two well qualified candidates to replace former District H council member and now Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, the Chronicle … Continue reading →

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Early voting underway in District H runoff

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I know it’s been a lot of Lege stuff around here lately, but the end of the session means the start of early voting for the District H runoff. I figure I’ll probably do my civic duty this weekend, maybe … Continue reading →

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Who should represent District H?

Posted on May 30, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the question, isn’t it? It took only a few minutes at the District H candidate forum Thursday morning for discussion to turn to the elephant in the room. “District H is supposed to be a Hispanic district,” said Edgar … Continue reading →

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A look at the District H runoff

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Professor Murray takes a look at the upcoming runoff in District H, taking into consideration the 1992 Congressional election in which Rep. Gene Green won a runoff against Ben Reyes and the early and absentee voting patterns from this election. … Continue reading →

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Parker on education

Posted on May 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Last week, I noted that Mayoral candidates Peter Brown and Gene Locke expressed very different opinions at a candidate forum about the Mayor’s role in public education, with Brown advocating an urban school district with Mayoral appointees for its board, … Continue reading →

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