Tag Archives: Mike Laster

Council approves vehicles for hire overhaul

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

At long last. Technology companies that have unapologetically disrupted vehicle-for-hire markets in cities across the country will be able to operate legally in Houston after City Council on Wednesday ended 16 months of wrangling by approving new rules. Council voted … Continue reading →

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Vehicles for hire vote put off till end of July

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Seriously? The Houston City Council delayed a vote until July 30 on regulations for the vehicles-for-hire industry, keeping Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.’s legal status in Houston in limbo. Council member Mike Laster proposed an initial delay of 60 … Continue reading →

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Vehicle for hire vote tagged

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

No surprise here. I had thought the ordinance was still in committee, but it went before the full Council yesterday. It was of course tagged – we weren’t going to have this vote only one week after the HERO vote, … Continue reading →

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Counting votes on the non-discrimination ordinance

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the Houston GLBT Political Caucus Facebook page: Members have asked for the responses on our questionnaires to the questions below. The President of the Caucus, Maverick Welsh, has asked me to post the information. As the chair of the … Continue reading →

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Keep runoffs on Saturday

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Put me on record as opposing this. A Houston City Council committee [Tuesday] recommended keeping the city’s run-off election day on a Saturday. But committee members remained open for the possibility of changing it to a Tuesday in the future. … Continue reading →

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July 2013 finance reports for district Council candidates

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We move now to the remaining Council races, which are the district races. Here are the July finance reports for candidates in District Council races. Please note that all reports now appear on my newly-published Election 2013 page. Refer to … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Planned Parenthood gets an early start

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox on Friday: Today the Board of Directors of the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast ACTION FUND Inc, (PPGCAF) voted to endorse the following candidates for the November City Election. Each of the endorsed candidates has demonstrated a strong … Continue reading →

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Rey Guerra: Latinos in Houston 2012

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The following is from a series of guest posts that I will be presenting over the next few weeks. White, Black, Asian, or other, if you live in Houston, you’ve more than likely adopted aspects of Latino culture into your … Continue reading →

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Tag this

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Live by the pointless parliamentary maneuver, die by the pointless parliamentary maneuver. City Councilwoman Helena Brown’s colleagues, after weeks of frustration over her delays of what they consider vital city business, reached the limit of their patience Wednesday and twice … Continue reading →

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2011 Houston results

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s go through the races… – Mayor Parker won with a shade under 51%, with none of her opponents cracking 15% on their own. Obviously, this is not a position a Mayor with no serious opposition wants to be in, … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of District J

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s the “Latino opportunity district” that isn’t quite a Latino opportunity district. Southwest Houston was supposed to be the land of opportunity for aspiring Latino city leaders. Whether it actually starts out that way will be up to first-time candidates … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Laster and Green

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Today is a twofer as the Chron finishes its endorsements in the district races with recommendations for the two new seats. In District J, they pick Mike Laster: District J’s inaugural City Council race has drawn three capable candidates from … Continue reading →

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Interview with Mike Laster

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Our third and final candidate in District J is Mike Laster. Laster is an attorney and neighborhood activist who has also been active in Democratic politics. He ran in 2009 for District F, losing in the runoff to Council Member … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis, District Council races

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In addition to the five citywide runoffs, there were two runoffs in district Council races, in A and F. In each case, they were run in territory that, judging by the citywide results, were modestly (F) or very (A) friendly … Continue reading →

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Eight days out finance reports, District Council candidates

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

To wrap up our tour of the finance reports for the city runoffs, here’s a look at the two District Council races. First, District A, in which Lane Lewis is up against Brenda Stardig: Candidate Raised Spent Loans Cash PAC … Continue reading →

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District F runoff overview

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the Chron story on the District F runoff. The condensed version of Al Hoang’s vision for Sharps town’s shopping center echoes a Reagan-era foreign policy pronouncement: Tear down this mall. Mike Laster’s recent work on Sharpstown Mall is more … Continue reading →

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Khan has an announcement

Posted on November 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Council Member and candidate for Controller MJ Khan has an announcement to make tomorrow. From his press release: Who: Councilman M.J. Khan, Candidate for Houston City Controller What: Press Conference on a major announcement from the M.J. Khan for City … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: ABCDEFG

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve been hard on the Chron lately for being so lackadaisical about getting to some of their endorsements. In my opinion, they should all be done before Early Voting begins, or else their value erodes. So I’m pleased to see … Continue reading →

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Interview with Mike Laster

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Moving back to District F, today’s interview subject is Mike Laster. Mike is an attorney specializing in real estate, and was for six years a Senior Assistant City Attorney in the Real Estate Division of the City Attorney’s Office. Mike … Continue reading →

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City campaign finance reports come rolling in

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As the campaign finance reports for City of Houston races come online, I’ve been collecting all the reports and putting them together into an easier-to-read format. I’ve also received a bunch of press releases, which I’ll be reproducing beneath the … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: The City Council districts

Posted on April 2, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’d been wondering for a long time how the 2008 vote broke down by City Council districts, as well as for the city of Houston versus non-Houston Harris County. I finally did something about it awhile ago and made a … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Shorter to challenge Lovell

Posted on March 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Isiah Carey reports. The Insite had a brief conversation with Houstonian Rozzy ‘Roz’ Shorter. She’s not quite given up on her political career. You may remember Shorter as the local woman chosen by the Barack Obama camp to get the … Continue reading →

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A list of who has actually filed treasurer’s reports so far

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Noel Freeman did us all the public service of trooping over to the City Secretary’s office and compiling a list of people who had filed treasurer’s reports as of Monday for election to a municipal office in 2009. As I … Continue reading →

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