I suspect a lot of people have been wondering the same thing.
Sheriff Adrian Garcia
Standing on the cusp of what could easily be the most competitive mayoral race in Houston history many wonder what Adrian Garcia is waiting for.
Still officially on the sidelines, the longtime cop, former councilman and current Harris County Sheriff appears to be clinging to the benefits of his badge as long as politically possible.
“In many ways being Sheriff provides him with a level of visibility that he’s going to lose when he announces for mayor,” said Mark Jones, Chairman of Political Science at Rice University.
But there’s also a price exacted for remaining in office and running a sort of shadow campaign. For Garcia, cash, the life-blood of any successful run, is in short supply for a contest that will likely cost well north of $1 million to win.
“Every day that you don’t announce that’s less money that you raise and that’s less of a campaign that you can put together,” said Mustafa Tameez, a Fox 26 political commentator.
But political analyst Jones believes the Sheriff, unlike his competition, can afford to wait a month or two longer and still raise big money.
We’ve had signals, we’ve had sources, we’ve had replacement Sheriff discussions, but we’ve still not had any word from the man himself. Of course, he can’t do any of the considering/exploring/announcing that he’s going to announce stuff that others get to do, because at the first whiff of anything announcement-like, he has to resign. I presume he’s not ready to do that yet, and that this is about timing and not that there isn’t anything to say. As far as the ability to raise big money on a shortened schedule, well, maybe, I don’t know. It’s not like the other candidates are sitting still, and remember there are contribution limits. You can’t just ask a few sugar daddies to write six-figure checks in Houston, you have to raise money from small and medium donors, too. These things take time, and it’s the amount of time on the calendar we’re discussing. I don’t know what the plan is, but we’ll find out when he’s ready for us to know. Campos has more.