The Chron endorses Greg Travis in a close call in District G.
Greg Travis
Attorney Greg Travis, 52, is going head-to-head against media consultant and current Houston Community College Trustee Sandie Mullins Moger, 50. Each candidate brought an excellent resume and knowledge of government to our editorial board screening. We give the nod to Travis in a race that almost is too close to call.
It was an encounter that thousands of us regularly face that served as Travis’ call to action. He hit a pothole that blew out a tire and paid more than $700 for repairs. Days later, in another auto shop, he overheard a woman who was spending hundreds of dollars because of a similar experience. “I watched her face when she handed over her credit card … she was reprioritizing. I got angry and said, I’ve got time and money. I’m going to run for City Council to stop this.”
This is not Travis’ first venture into partisan politics. The University of Texas Law School graduate missed a runoff by fewer than 100 votes in a 1999 run for Houston City Council.
Travis understands that in a strong-mayor system, “one city councilman can’t solve all of the problems.” But he promises to work tirelessly to identify budget excesses. “We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem,” he said, as one of the few candidates to sound an alarm bell about the slumping energy market.
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Both candidates oppose the Houston equal right ordinance but Travis does so on procedural grounds. Moger, however, bases her opposition on unfounded fear-mongering that lowers the standard of debate.
As for those nagging potholes, Travis says the solution will come with better management of Rebuild Houston, a task he promises to embrace.
Moger bills herself as a “motorcycle-riding, gun-shooting girl.” That may have worked for Ann Richards, but the attraction has faded.
Travis tells that pothole story – it’s a good one, and a good reason to want to run for office – in the interview I did with him. I made Travis to be a 55-45 favorite over Sandie Moger for the endorsement, so it’s another win for me, but I called it for the wrong reason. It wasn’t Moger’s involvement with the HCC Board that the Chron didn’t like, it was one part swagger and one part tone about HERO. They work in mysterious ways over there, that’s all I can say.
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