The Harris County Republican Party released a flyer Monday attacking Houston mayoral candidate Ben Hall for his Democratic ties and previous support for a nondiscrimination ordinance.
Among top-tier mayoral candidates, Hall, a Democrat, is the most ardent critic of the city’s equal rights ordinance, known as HERO. The law is set to appear on November’s ballot.
“Ben Hall says yes to HERO ordinance in 2013,” the GOP flyer reads, citing a 2013 Harris County Democratic Party questionnaire on which Hall said he would support a nondiscrimination ordinance.
The ad also labels Hall a “current Democratic Party sustaining member” and claims he contributed more than $100,000 to Democrats, including President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry, citing campaign finance reports.
Hall responded in a statement Tuesday afternoon saying he has been “crystal clear” on HERO.
“Ben Hall is the only candidate, Democrat or Republican, who has been opposed to the HERO ordinance from the very beginning, long before the campaign began for Houston Mayor, long before the court put it on the November ballot,” he said.
The full Chron story is here, and here’s the interview I did with Hall in 2013. I have no desire to go back and listen to it, but my recollection is that he said No when I asked if he would support an equal rights ordinance. He wasn’t a firebrand about it, just matter-of-fact. I also recall being surprised by that, as to my knowledge he hadn’t been opposed it before. I can’t swear to that latter part, I can just say what I remember thinking at the time. Whether Hall is virgin pure on hating HERO since the dawn of time or he cynically came to oppose it as a matter of political expediency somewhere along the line is irrelevant to me, and should be irrelevant to any decent person. He’s a hater now, he’s loud and proud about it, and that’s what matters.
Not that I really care, but I am a little curious as to why the Harris County GOP decided to pick this fight. I get their objections, I just think this is an odd hill to engage on. Hall’s HERO history was no problem for uber hater Steven Hotze, who endorsed Hall, among others. It’s fine by me if the antis spread their votes around in the Mayor’s race; better odds for good candidates making it to the runoff that way.
Anyway. I’ve seen some people asking about which candidates support what things – HERO and otherwise. You can listen to my interviews, of course, or do something crazy like check out the candidates’ websites and attend candidate forums and things like that. If you’re looking for a shortcut, both the local GOP and the HCDP have candidate guides that may help answer your questions. And at some point, one presumes, the candidates – the Mayoral candidates in particular – will start flooding our mailboxes and the airwaves. Greg has more.
I don’t understand this either. Why hall? Why not turner? Why not Garcia? Why not chris bell? Hall of all people. It would seem to me that this is more aabout republican in fighting then about hall. (I.e. woodfill supports this candidate so I can’t).
FOOD FIGHT!
(Do you think it’s something… racial?)
PK, they “know” Hall is a democrat based on his long term record and support. As long as there is a reasonable GOP alternative to be had, some feel the need to focus the party on supporting a “real” republican, not just someone who chooses their right answer on a single issue. Just as Jolly Jennings has been beating up on King, some will beat up on Hall and others on Costello.
They have nothing to gain from attacking those you mention, 100% confirmed democrats that they would never vote for, and none of the more conservative candidates are going to step down. This relates to what I said recently about too many running for the same office.
Steven,
I don’t see a republican in this race. I think everyone is a democrat. It would be nice if the republicans would back their best candidate and run with it. They cry and moan about Parker and I say the deserve what they get.
PK, for whatever reason, some of the power players appear to think Costello is “more republican” than Hall or King, despite Costello’s stance on HERO and the Flooding measure. I don’t believe the opposition cares about race but direct ties to Hillary, Obama and Kerry with big dollar checks sure doesn’t make Hall worthy of their support.
Well as much as I wish you were.wrong its hard for me to me argue with you on that note.
Both the Harris Co. Democratic Party information on candidates, and the GOP comparison contain errors.
Offhand, I see two errors on the Democrat data:
former GOP Judge Dwight Jefferson, now running for controller, has been mixed up with a Sharpstown voter of the same name. Jefferson has voted in one D primary, and R the other times.
Both the Harris Co. Democratic Party information on candidates, and the GOP comparison contain errors.
(cont’d)
Democrat data leaves out Larry Blackmon, who voted in the 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 D primaries. The GOP data also leaves this out.
The GOP is working to update and correct its data. Right now the data is wrong about M. J. Khan, who voted in all four of the last R primaries, and never has voted in a D primary.
Their data is also wrong about Abel Davila, who has voted D most of the time, and only one R primary.
The GOP data also misses that Demetria Smith and Rafael Munoz have voted D, that Thai Hoc Nguyen is a regular R voter, and several other details.
“I don’t see a republican in this race. I think everyone is a democrat.”
HAHAHAHA what a maroon.