Miya talks to the latest hopeful in the 2009 Mayor’s race field, former City Attorney Gene Locke.
Locke served as City Attorney under Mayor Bob Lanier. A partner with Andrews and Kurth for the past decade, Locke says pretty close to deciding to run for mayor. Locke says he’s been thinking about it for a while, and has talked to “a lot” of people (which, of course, includes Mayor Lanier.) Currently, Council Member Peter Brown, Controller Annise Parker, former Kemah Mayor Bill King have all said they intend to run. Former Governor Mark White is also seriously thinking about it. Though if Locke runs… well… let’s just say that Gov. White and Locke have talked. Political experts say Locke would immediately have an impact because he would be the first minority candidate in a growing field, and has the backing of Mayor Lanier.
Alan Bernstein has more. I’m just passing these along, as they represent the sum total of what I know about Mr. Locke. Anyone have anything to add?
Locke was there when I worked at AK a few years ago. I never had much interaction with him, but he seemed fairly well-respected and was regarded as highly knowledgeable on municipal issues.