Tag Archives: Mayor

Day One EV 2015 totals

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Here they are, fresh from the inbox: Year Early Mail Total Mailed ====================================== 2015 8,889 14,240 23,129 40,626 2013 5,028 8,560 13,588 28,620 The 2015 Day One file is here, and the final 2013 file is here. A few observations: … Continue reading →

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Interview with Adrian Garcia

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We come to the end of my Mayoral interviews, and almost the end of all my interviews for this cycle. Adrian Garcia was the last major candidate to officially join the race, though he was unofficially in it for months … Continue reading →

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My sense of where things stand right now

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s an aggregation of the polls we’ve seen so far: Candidate HAR HRBC KHOU KPRC Avg ======================================== Turner 19 24 19 20 20.50 Garcia 19 14 9 13 13.75 King 10 18 9 14 12.75 Bell 10 11 6 12 … Continue reading →

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KPRC poll: Turner 20, others close together

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Yet another poll with Sylvester Turner in the lead. As of Oct. 15, State Representative Sylvester Turner finishes just ahead of the rest of the pack of 13 candidates with 20 percent of the vote; attorney Bill King gets 14 … Continue reading →

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Interview with Chris Bell

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We come to the end of this week of Mayoral candidate interviews. I still have one more to go, which will run on Monday, and I will have one more (non-Mayoral) interview to run after that. Today we have Chris … Continue reading →

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Turner’s public agency work

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

A lot of the attacks in the Mayoral campaign so far have been aimed at Adrian Garcia, in part to knock him out of second place where he is perceived to be, and in part because there’s some real material … Continue reading →

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Interview with Steve Costello

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We continue with Mayoral candidate interviews. Steve Costello is finishing up his third term as Council Member, At Large position 1, where he has served as chair of the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee and chair of the Transportation Policy … Continue reading →

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30 day finance reports, citywide races

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a brief summary of the 30 Day campaign finance reports that I’ve been able to find, some of which are on this page and some of which are findable via the normal campaign finance report website, and all of … Continue reading →

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Interview with Bill King

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We continue with Mayoral candidate interviews. There are many candidates running for Mayor of Houston this year, but only one who has actually been a Mayor before – Bill King, who served two terms as Mayor of Kemah. King is … Continue reading →

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Race and runoffs and Turner

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Everyone agrees that Sylvester Turner will be one of the candidates to make it to the runoff for Mayor this year. But what happens then? Yet, to succeed term-limited Mayor Annise Parker, Turner, an African-American, will need to broaden his … Continue reading →

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Interview with Marty McVey

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We continue with Mayoral candidate interviews. Marty McVey is making his first run for elective office, in Houston or anywhere else. A businessman, McVey is the founder and shareholder of private equity businesses in the Real Estate, Energy Services and … Continue reading →

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KHOU poll: Turner 19, King and Garcia 9

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Our third poll result in the past week. Sylvester Turner remains the front-runner, but Adrian Garcia has lost his once firm grip on second place and Bill King rises into the top tier of contenders in the race for Houston … Continue reading →

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Interview with Sylvester Turner

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We are officially down to the wire. The last group of interviews I have to do is with Mayoral candidates. I’ve got six of them for you, which will run through Friday this week plus Monday next week, in the … Continue reading →

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More focus on inequality

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Good to see. As Houston’s mayoral candidates spar over the city’s largely agreed upon top issues – finances, infrastructure and public safety – a fourth policy concern is percolating: economic inequality. Concerns about disparity underpin discussions about the city’s revenue … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Going for Turner

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chronicle endorses Sylvester Turner for Mayor. Because there is no perfect candidate on the ballot, voters should look for someone who has the talents best suited to fixing the problems that currently threaten Houston’s long-term success: Sylvester Turner. For … Continue reading →

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Mimi Swartz’s Mayoral campaign rant

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Here it is. What if they held a mayoral race and nobody came? That’s the question plaguing many people currently involved in Houston politics—even if no one else in town is asking it. This phenomenon isn’t entirely new: in 2009,* … Continue reading →

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HRBC poll: Turner 24, King 18

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Looks like we’re going to see more polling than usual this cycle. This was sent as a press release from the Bill King campaign, which was kind enough to forward the full poll data to me when I requested it: … Continue reading →

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Finally, some coverage on the pension issue

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I kid, I kid. Like it or not, HERO or not, it’s what this race has been about. The top candidates for Houston mayor are talking far more about the city’s growing cost of retiree benefits than voters are, which … Continue reading →

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HAR poll

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

And some more good news here. With less than four weeks to go before the election, the Houston mayoral race remains “fluid,” according to a new poll commissioned by the Houston Association of REALTORS® (HAR). The poll finds Adrian Garcia … Continue reading →

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Chron Mayoral profile: Sylvester Turner

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This is the seventh (and last!) in a series of profiles on the top candidates running for mayor in Houston. Sylvester Turner followed his mother’s wisdom like a beacon, through the University of Houston, where he graduated magna cum laude … Continue reading →

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Mail ballot update

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Carl Whitmarsh forwarded me a breakdown of all mail ballot applications that have been received by the County Clerk’s office as of Friday, October 2. I saved the file here, but for ease of discussion here’s a screenshot: That’s a … Continue reading →

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More jail troubles

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s ugly, both in content and in timing for Adrian Garcia. Over the past nine months, the Houston Chronicle has reviewed more than 1,000 disciplinary reports provided by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Nearly half of those internal affairs investigations … Continue reading →

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Highlighting wages in the Mayor’s race

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Coalition Calls on Next Mayor to Raise Minimum Wage for Publicly Funded Projects Today, a coalition of community and labor organizations staged a tour of of sites that received tax dollars to tell the story of how … Continue reading →

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Chron Mayoral profile: Marty McVey

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This is the sixth in a series of profiles on the top candidates running for mayor in Houston. Standing in his sparse west Houston office this summer, Marty McVey traced his route to victory across a city map hung on … Continue reading →

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Uber update, parts 2 and 3

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Driving for Uber is a tough way to make a living. One hundred job applications and still nothing. Jennifer Cantrell, 34, partway through a master’s degree in social work, had depleted her savings and needed a new plan. Through Facebook, … Continue reading →

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Uber update, part 1

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron, in conjunction with Al Jazeera Americas, gives the first of what should be a four-part look at how Uber is doing in Houson. Less than a year after Houston began regulating so-called transportation network companies, questions persist about … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Our first twofer

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

My first clear misses, too. For our next controller, voters should look for a candidate who can refocus the distracted office on the straight and narrow of Houston’s financial picture. In our current straits, we don’t have the luxury of … Continue reading →

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Get ready for the TV ads to begin

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Keep that DVR remote handy, because you’re going to have to start fast-forwarding through Mayoral campaign ads on TV soon. After nearly topping the July fundraising that put this year’s mayor’s race on track to be the most expensive in … Continue reading →

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GOP versus Hall

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Pass the popcorn. 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 … Continue reading →

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Chron Mayoral profile: Bill King

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This is the fifth in a series of profiles on the top candidates running for mayor in Houston. A fiscal conservative concerned with shoring up the city’s finances, [Bill] King would be Houston’s first Republican mayor in more than 30 … Continue reading →

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A broader overview of the Mayor’s race

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The TL;dr version of this is basically “meh, not much happening”. With a bevy of candidates and midyear fundraising that collectively topped $7 million, Houston’s 2015 mayoral race has been poised to be a blockbuster. Yet, just five weeks before … Continue reading →

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Chron Mayoral profile: Ben Hall

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This is the fourth in a series of profiles on the top candidates running for mayor in Houston. His dedication to accomplish whatever he sets out to do – regardless of public reaction – has jumped out for friend and … Continue reading →

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Time to guess the Chronicle’s endorsements

Posted on September 13, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We are a bit more than a month out from the start of early voting, and as such we are getting close to the start of Chronicle endorsement season. I know from doing candidate interviews that the Chron has been … Continue reading →

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Mayoral debate #1

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Who watched? In the first televised debate in the Houston mayor’s race, three of the candidates jockeying to replace Mayor Annise Parker took aim at former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia and the agency’s allegedly low crime clearance rates. The … Continue reading →

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