Deputy Fire Chief Fernando Herrera, who had previously said he was 95% sure he wasn’t running for Mayor, has now decided that he will in fact run for Mayor.
Houston Fire Department Deputy Chief Fernando Herrera plans to formally announce his candidacy for mayor on Thursday, according to a press release.
In his press release he says he can steer the city out of its budget mess without layoffs, furloughs or cuts in city services that would compromise public safety. At the same time, he says in the release, ”Nor should we put the burden on taxpayers, homeowners and businesses with tax increases, fees, or costly regulations.”
Herrera was not available Tuesday to explain how he would close a $130 million budget gap without raising fees or laying off employees, whose salaries and benefits account for the vast majority of the budget. Herrera could not spend time on political activity while on duty for the fire department Tuesday, a campaign aide explained.
Sadly, I’m not on his press release distribution list, so I can’t tell you what else he said. I did discuss his budget ideas before, and let’s just say that if you rule out raising revenue and cutting costs it can be difficult to bridge a budget gap. Maybe he’ll talk about some other ideas when he formally announces, like voucherizing Medicare or something.
Whatever. As a Republican, he’s guaranteed to get a certain amount of support, and maybe he’ll pull some Latino votes from Mayor Parker. I’ll be very interested to see what his June campaign finance report looks like. In the meantime, remember that just because someone says they’re running doesn’t mean they’ll run – see, for instance, Michael Berry’s Mayoral campaign of 2003. Until the filing deadline passes, anything can happen.
Unfortunately it sounds like the continued stupidification of the Republican party.
We’re going to close a $130 million budget gap with eco-fonts??
Has the Mayor released her 2010 tax return yet? I recall that was a very big issue for her versus Gene Locke last time.
I am in favor of a canidate that will support a referendum on Proposition 1, or a new election altogether, now that people have a somewhat better idea of what they will actually be charged.
Kuff,
Don’t forget Chris Bell running for mayor in 2001.
And I CAN give some answers to the riddle of steering the city out of the budget mess without cutting public safety.