They clutch their pearls a bit over his (gasp!) negative advertising, but the Chron is still on board with Sylvester Turner.
Sylvester Turner
The long-time state representative – and three-time mayoral candidate – offers voters the best balance between policy expertise and political acumen. As Houstonians have witnessed on issues like red light cameras, pensions and the Houston equal rights ordinance, having the right ideas isn’t enough. The mayor also has to usher policies through a political system of competing perspectives and countervailing powers.
Houston’s City Charter grants our mayor a degree of authority unique among Texas cities, with nearly total control over the executive and legislative functions at City Hall. But the mayor isn’t a dictator and still needs to build consensus – one of Turner’s political skills.
There’s much to admire in King’s passion for public policy. He has a firm grasp on the challenges facing City Hall, and there’s often little difference between him and Turner when it comes to listing the problems that vex our city.
But Houstonians deserve a City Hall that can address more than the mere basics. Yes, we can fix the roads, balance the budget and catch the crooks. We can also build roads that serve pedestrians and cyclists alongside drivers. We can balance the budget without burdening public servants. And we can catch the crooks while offering the after school programs that keep kids from falling into a life of crime.
We’ve also yet to see a solid proposal that sets Houston on a fiscally sustainable path without raising the revenue cap, which restricts property tax collection combined rates of inflation and population growth. Moody’s Investors Service specifically pointed to the trifecta of rising pension obligations, spiking debt payments and the city’s revenue cap as threats to Houston’s financial well-being. Turner wants to address all three of those issues. King instead continues to falsely equate lifting the revenue cap with a tax hike.
Here’s the original. You know how I feel, so that’s about all there is to say.
On the same day the Chronicle was anguishing about “negative attacks”, I got four mailers in support of Bill King from allied organizations, nearly identical in appearance, and while the attacks against Turner in them were not personal, one of them claimed that Turner wants to bring “failed liberal policies from New York and San Francisco to Houston.” Another refers to a “Turner tax”, and another that he will “bankrupt Houston.”
A conservative idea turner could adopt from nyc by bloomberg was a city basic income and/or conditional cash transfer.