Tag Archives: Houston City Controller

The mandatory furlough plan

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Happy New Year, city employees. Thousands of city of Houston employees will have to take six unpaid days off in the coming six months, one of a series of actions Mayor Annise Parker is taking to close a $29 million … Continue reading →

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Interview with County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Finishing off the county interviews, we have County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, who has served Precinct 2 since she was first elected in 2002. Prior to that, she served three terms as Houston City Controller, and was Director and Presiding Judge … Continue reading →

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Meet George Greanias

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, former City Controller and member of Mayor Parker’s transition team George Greanias has taken over, at least on an interim basis, as the CEO of Metro. Houston Tomorrow has a brief intro to Greanias, including a pointer … Continue reading →

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Mayor Parker’s first budget

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

It sounds good, and she kept her promises about not raising the property tax rate, at least for this year, but there are some blanks that still need to be filled in. Mayor Annise Parker unveiled a $4.1 billion spending … Continue reading →

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Another term limits commission meeting

Posted on February 24, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: The City of Houston Term Limits Review Commission invites you to an open session for public input concerning term limits for Houston’s Mayor, City Controller and City Council    Saturday, February 27, 2010 10:30 a.m. Judson Robinson, Jr. Community … Continue reading →

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Runoff precinct analysis, Controller’s race

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Picking up from where I left off yesterday, here’s the breakdown of the Controller’s race by Council district. For comparison purposes, here’s the November analysis. Dist Green Khan Holm Green % Khan % Tot votes ========================================================= A 4,685 6,750 7,125 … Continue reading →

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Initial thoughts on the runoffs

Posted on December 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll go through them one race at a time, with the unofficial vote totals minus Montgomery County for each. Once I have precinct results, I’ll go through those and do a more detailed analysis. Mayor Annise Parker – 81,971, 52.78% … Continue reading →

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Eight days out finance reports, Green and Khan

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve seen the eight days out finance reports for the Mayor’s race, now here’s the same thing for the Controller’s race. As before, the campaign finance spreadsheet has been updated with all of the raw data. Here’s how it breaks … Continue reading →

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Parker leads in another poll

Posted on December 6, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a Zogby poll, so don’t get too excited, but that’s still four out of four since Election Day. While the race for Houston mayor remains too close to call, Parker’s 5.5 percentage point lead stems from advantages among several … Continue reading →

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What the others are saying about Hotze’s endorsement

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

So here’s the Chron coverage of the Hotze endorsement. Of the many things I find unfathomable about this, here’s the item at the top of the list. Kris Banks, president of Houston’s GLBT Political Caucus, which has endorsed Parker, questioned … Continue reading →

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Controller’s runoff overview

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the Chron overview of the Controller’s runoff. Two points of interest to note. One is what presence, if any, the two candidates will have on the airwaves. Tactically, both campaigns said they intend to focus on direct-mail, block-walking and … Continue reading →

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2009 Runoff Candidate Meet and Greet

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Want to meet the candidates who are in the December 12 runoff? Here’s your chance: You are invited to attend … 2009 Runoff Candidate Meet and Greet DECEMBER 3, 2009 – 6:30 PM – The Upper Kirby Building (details below) … Continue reading →

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Third poll shows Parker leading

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

And we have our first poll from a source other than one of the campaigns, but like those two before it, this one shows Annise Parker in the lead. The poll consisted of 500 telephone interviews with registered Houston voters … Continue reading →

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Brown for Parker, Holm for Khan

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As expected, Peter Brown endorsed Annise Parker for Mayor in the runoff. In a news conference on the steps of City Hall, Brown today announced that he would be casting his vote for Parker in the runoff election December 12 … 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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Precinct analysis: The City Controller race

Posted on November 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here are my numbers. As before, for maps, go see what Greg‘s got. Dist Green Khan Holm ============================= A 4,685 6,750 7,125 B 7,483 3,329 1,362 C 7,356 7,494 6,332 D 13,410 4,673 3,047 E 5,133 7,684 6,633 F 2,403 … Continue reading →

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Six questions for the runoffs

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Six questions that I can think of, anyway. 1. What will Peter do? Will Peter Brown endorse someone in the runoff? If so, how vigorously does he support that person? He’s in a position to have an effect on the … Continue reading →

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Nancy and me on TV

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

If you missed it from last night, here’s a clip of Nancy Sims and me doing the pundit thing on KHOU: Among other things, it’s a rare opportunity to see me in a suit and tie. My thanks to Greg … Continue reading →

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The Controller’s race

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’m still somewhat amazed by this result. City Councilman Ronald Green led a three-candidate field in the race for Houston city controller Tuesday and will face Councilman M.J. Khan in a Dec. 12 runoff. Green, whose campaign appeared unharmed by … Continue reading →

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Initial thoughts on tonight’s results

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

– My skepticism of those earlier polls that showed Peter Brown in the lead has been justified. Especially in what wound up being a lower-than-expected turnout election, I just couldn’t believe a survey of registered voters that was self-screened for … Continue reading →

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Election results thread

Posted on November 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

It’s gonna be a long night…Here are the early vote results from Harris County. Candidate Votes Pct ========================= Locke 17,183 28.76 Parker 17,169 28.74 Brown 15,387 25.75 Morales 9,451 15.82 Green 19,389 39.97 Holm 16,939 32.26 Khan 15,631 29.77 That’s … Continue reading →

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White condemns anti-Green robocalls

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve heard from numerous people, including several in the comments here, who have received a nasty anti-Ronald Green robocall in the past week or so; at this point, I believe there are at least two variants on the call. It … Continue reading →

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Comparing Controller’s races

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In 2009, we have a Controller’s race that features an At Large Council member, a Council member from a high-turnout, mostly white district, and Council member from a low-turnout, mostly non-white district. In 2003, we had a Controller’s race that … Continue reading →

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“I don’t know” wins big!

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Just as the Chron poll also asked about the Controller’s race, so did the recent KHOU poll, which went it one better and also asked about the At Large Council races. Not that this told us anything useful. The poll, … Continue reading →

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Eight days out: What the Controller candidates are spending their money on

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

You may recall I looked at how the Controller candidates were spending their money after the 30 day reports came out, and I figured I’d do it again with the 8 day reports. Along the way, I found a little … Continue reading →

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Tuesday mail call

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

After several politics-free days, my mailbox was overflowing with campaign literature today. Two pieces from the Houston Turnout Project, one that generically advocated early voting and one that advocated for Annise Parker, using language that I daresay we’ll all find … Continue reading →

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Green’s tax liens

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I know some people think that the Mayor’s race is boring, so perhaps they should take a look at the City Controller’s race instead. The Internal Revenue Service has filed two tax liens on City Councilman Ronald Green for more … Continue reading →

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Chron reports Controller numbers from its poll

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, the Chron poll from the weekend also included a question about the Controller’s race. Here now is the Chron story on that part of the poll. Most of the details you know, most of the rest of … Continue reading →

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More details on the Chron poll

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here we have crosstabs and more details about that Chron poll from the weekend. The first thing that leaps out at me is that they also polled the Controller’s race: “If the election for city controller was held today and … Continue reading →

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We’ve got mail

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Campos observed the other day that he’d hardly received any campaign mailers so far this year. That’s largely been true for me as well – before this week, I’d gotten the Peter Brown pieces, an Anna Eastman mailer, and maybe … Continue reading →

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What the candidates say about mobility

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Citizens Transportation Coalition has done a candidate questionnaire every election in which the hopefuls are asked a bunch of questions about various transportation-related topics. This year is no exception, and as always there are a lot of detailed questions … Continue reading →

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Interview with City Controller Annise Parker

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We wrap up our 2009 interview season with a conversation with Annise Parker. Parker is serving her third term as Houston City Controller, having served three terms as an At Large Council Member before that. She is a native Houstonian … Continue reading →

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Khan goes on the air

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We knew it was coming, and now here we have MJ Khan’s first TV ad. It’s…okay. Unlike Greg, I think Pam Holm’s ad, which was strong up until the last few seconds, was better. The presentation in Khan’s ad, with … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: The Chron goes Green

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In their first endorsement for an elected office on the ballot this November, the Chronicle endorsed Council Member Ronald Green for Controller. A practicing attorney with a master’s in business administration from the University of Houston, Green chaired the Council … Continue reading →

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