Tag Archives: Chris Bell

Mayoral finance reports: Out of town cash and max donors

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

You may have noticed that there’s a lot of money in the Mayoral race this year, even after subtracting what the candidates have given or loaned to themselves. You may be wondering where all that money came from. This post … Continue reading →

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Seeking GLBT support in the Mayor’s race

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

In a crowded field where a small number of votes could be the difference between making the runoff and not, endorsements will be of greater importance. One endorsement that several Mayoral candidates would really like to have if the endorsement … Continue reading →

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Mayoral finance reports: PACs and consultants

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s take a deeper dive into Mayoral candidate fundraising by examining one of the main categories of raised funds, and one of the main categories of spent funds. I speak of PAC money for the former, and consultant fees/staff salaries … Continue reading →

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Finance reports come trickling in

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

As always, the Mayoral reports lead the story. Former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia closed out the first half of the year with more than $1.3 million in the bank, eclipsing City Councilman Stephen Costello by a mere $7,423. According … Continue reading →

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Initial Mayoral fundraising totals

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Lotta money being raised out there, though not quite as much as the topline totals say. Former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia was first out of the gate with his figures, announcing Tuesday that he raised $1.5 million since announcing … Continue reading →

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Turner and Garcia lead early Mayoral poll

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We have our first polling numbers for the 2015 Mayoral election. Sylvester Turner and Adrian Garcia have emerged as the clear front-runners in the first independent poll before the election that will determine Houston’s next mayor. The KHOU – Houston … Continue reading →

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Bell wants Meyerland flooding investigated

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a story about flooding and the Mayor’s race, but not the story about flooding and the Mayor’s race you might have been expecting. Mayoral candidate Chris Bell on Sunday called for an independent investigation into why so many Meyerland … Continue reading →

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ReBuild Houston and the Mayor’s race

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s all about the conservative voters, because no one cares what anyone else thinks. When the most conservative candidate in the Houston mayor’s race dropped out two months ago, the battle to win over right-leaning voters became a two-man show: … Continue reading →

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New litigation against ReBuild Houston

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

To be expected at this point. A class action lawsuit has been filed against the city, seeking to reimburse residents who pay the drainage fee that helps fund ReBuild Houston, the multibillion-dollar streets and drainage improvement program that voters narrowly … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court deals a blow to ReBuild Houston

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. Houston’s divisive, multibillion-dollar effort to fund two decades of street and drainage improvements faces an uncertain future after the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the ballot measure voters narrowly approved in 2010 obscured the nature and cost of … Continue reading →

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The other stuff that got discussed at the third forum

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The third Mayoral candidate forum on Saturday was supposedly about “labor and workers’ rights”, but of course the story is all about the great and powerful pension question, because there’s been so little coverage of it and where the candidates … Continue reading →

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Reviewing the Mayoral websites

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron reviews the candidates’ online presence so far. Five months before voters head to the polls, the candidates’ digital platforms are up and running, but most are heavy on biography, light on ideas. “They’re checking the box. They have … Continue reading →

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Mayoral candidate forum season is underway

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

They talk about the arts. Houston’s mayoral candidates were full of praise for the city’s arts scene Wednesday, when they appeared at a forum together for the first time, though most said they would not support raising taxes or allocating … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Pushback on the process

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The early endorsement by the firefighters’ union – and now the Houston Police Officers Union – of Rep. Sylvester Turner for Mayor has ruffled some feathers. The Houston Police Officers’ Union on Tuesday followed their firefighter counterparts who on Monday … Continue reading →

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Ethics Commission rejects Bell’s complaint

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

No go. The Houston Ethics Commission has ruled against mayoral candidate Chris Bell’s complaint that City Hall was letting Rep. Sylvester Turner start the race with a $900,000 head start in fundraising. […] Bell argues that Turner’s legislative account should … Continue reading →

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Two city race updates

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Item one: We have another candidate for Comptroller. Jew Don Boney, who sat on City Council for three terms in the 1990′s, will run for City Controller, he told the Chronicle Wednesday. Boney joins Houston Community College trustee Carroll Robinson … Continue reading →

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Bell makes his announcement tomorrow

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Making official what we had long known. Former Democratic congressman Chris Bell will announce his mayoral bid this Sunday afternoon in Sam Houston Park, becoming the first candidate in a crowded field to officially kick off a run to lead … Continue reading →

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January campaign finance reports – San Antonio

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, while we wait for the Mayoral field to shape up here in Houston, there’s already a hot open-seat race going on in San Antonio, featuring now-former State Rep. Mike Villarreal, State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (who … Continue reading →

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January campaign finance reports – Mayoral wannabes

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I wrote yesterday about the start of the 2015 campaign season in Houston, and how it’s started a bit early thanks to the ruling in the lawsuit filed by Trebor Gordon that invalidated the blackout period. This week also marked … Continue reading →

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Feldman’s parting memo

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Outgoing City Attorney David Feldman shares his thoughts on the state of the city’s campaign finance rules as he makes his exit. City Hall began its attempt to use a federal court ruling declaring its own election rule unconstitutional to … Continue reading →

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And they’re off

Posted on January 17, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Gentlemen, start your fundraising engines. The Twitter handles have been rechristened, the first attacks have been fired and the “DONATE!” buttons have gone live. The yearlong slugfest for mayor of Houston has begun. In what is expected to be Houston’s … Continue reading →

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City does a 180 on campaign finances

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Not all losses in court are created equal. City officials will argue that the city’s election ordinance is unconstitutional as part of a strategy to strengthen their position in a lawsuit that could shape the early stages of this year’s … Continue reading →

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Injunction granted against Houston fundraising blackout period

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a whole new ballgame out there. A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked a law limiting when candidates in Houston municipal elections can raise money, prompting a scramble to contact donors sooner than campaigns had intended. The injunction, two … Continue reading →

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Laurie Robinson to run in At Large #4

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

From Texpatriate: Laurie Robinson, a local businesswoman, will run for the Houston City Council next year. Specifically, as Houston Chronicle reported Theodore Schleifer reported on Twitter, she will seek out At-Large Position #4. The seat is currently held by Councilmember … Continue reading →

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Three thoughts on the state of the Mayor’s race

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Inspired by this story, which doesn’t name any potential additions to the ever-large field of Mayoral wannabes for 2015 but which does put some things in context. Most observers consider Rep. Sylvester Turner, with his support base from the African-American … Continue reading →

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Bell fundraising lawsuit to be heard in January

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

A busy legal calendar just got a little fuller. A judge in January will hear likely mayoral candidate Chris Bell’s request to block Sylvester Turner’s plan to transfer money from his officeholder account to his mayoral account when the fundraising … Continue reading →

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Bell ordered to pay $300K to RGA

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Ouch. Unsuccessful 2006 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell, once awarded $2 million in his lawsuit against the Republican Governors Association, has instead been ordered to pay the organization $300,000 in legal fees after losing on appeal. The case dates to … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over Houston campaign blackout rules

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Late Tuesday afternoon, Houston City Council candidate Trebor Gordon filed a First Amendment lawsuit challenging a discriminatory Houston ordinance that prevents city candidates from fundraising until February. Gordon is a conservative candidate for Houston City Council at … Continue reading →

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Mayoral fundraising 2015

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Yeah, I know, another post about the 2015 election. I sure am doing a lousy job of not thinking about that just yet, but this raises an interesting point. Likely mayoral candidate Chris Bell is asking the city of Houston … Continue reading →

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And we’re still talking about the 2015 Mayor’s race

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go again. The mayor’s race may be more than a year away, but nearly all candidates have launched shadow campaigns – and not all shadow campaigns are created equal. [State Rep. Sylvester] Turner and Harris County Sheriff Adrian … Continue reading →

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Do we really have to talk about the 2015 Mayoral race right now?

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

sigh All right, all right, if you insist. But let’s make it quick. The list of possible candidates thus far includes mainly those who have held or sought public office before, though analysts said the guessing game at this point … Continue reading →

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Laura Murillo

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Campos tosses a hat into the ring for Mayor 2015. Laura Murillo, CEO and President of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, is telling folks she will be running for H-Town Mayor next year. I said this yesterday: She would … Continue reading →

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Bell op-ed for eliminating the revenue cap

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

More like this, please. A decade ago, Houston voters restricted city property tax revenues to the combined rates of inflation and population increases. Like most arbitrary rules that politicians apply to math, this revenue cap sounds like a great idea … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of Dem Ag Commissioner runoff

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

It’s the same story we’ve known all along. Texas Democrats’ dreams of taking over statewide offices surely never envisioned the kind of race they have in the primary runoff for agriculture commissioner where musician and writer Kinky Friedman faces off … Continue reading →

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