No, not me. David Ortez, over at Hair Balls. It’s just getting underway now. I’m sure Twitter will be lighting up with commentary as well, so head over there or run for the hills, as the case may be.
UPDATE: Here’s the Chron story on the debate, which not surprisingly was rather heated. Of interest:
During a heated 10 or 15 minutes in which the two were allowed to ask each other questions, Locke accused Parker of making an attack she knew to be baseless. He said he pledged to resign his partnership at the law firm Andrews Kurth at a forum in which she was present eight months ago.
“I’m going to give up my law practice,” he said.
She has repeatedly called on him to pledge that he will not return to the firm after his time as mayor, a step he has not yet taken.
At another point, Locke claimed never to have been a lobbyist, a statement that appears to be inaccurate. According to Texas Ethics Commission records, he was registered in 1999 as a lobbyist for the sports authority. Houston Chronicle archives also show that Locke was retained along with a variety of consultants to help a company win a lucrative airport concession contract.
The TEC records are here; search for “Locke, Gene L.” and you’ll find him. Here’s a link to the Chron archive story mentioned, with the key graf:
The Hudson Group includes businessman and concessionaire Gerald Wilson; entrepreneur Art Lopez, who also operates golf courses for the city; engineer Bobby Singh; and Brooks & Brooks, a company co-owned by Harlan Brooks of Harlan’s Bar-B-Que. Lobbying on their behalf are Andrews & Kurth attorney Gene Locke and consultant Kathryn McNeil.
So there you have it. More comments on the debate are in Miya’s post, with more on related matters from Martha and Nancy Sims.
She does very well with the rehearsed deliveries but not so well with the spontaneous responses. And of course some of her responses this evening do raise some questions about her honesty and she did vote for the bond issues on Reliant Stadium and that is a major problem for her given the importance she has placed on the taxpayers getting stiffed and her denying she voted for it when she did. The Sports Authority does require city approval which means city council approval. In fact many of the issues she’s raised with regard to Gene Locke were probably issues she voted on as a city councilmember and issues she could have and should have raised questions about as controller.
She reminds me of Kay Bailey Hutchison. Sitting on the fence and claiming to be on one side when everyone can see she’s on the other side. And then claiming not to be on the side she first claimed she was on.
No doubt she will be mayor. But not by my vote.