Bay Area Houston

This is an easy one.

There are four candidates for At-Large 4. Only one is serious. Let’s weed out the non-contenders.
Roy Morales. He runs for anything.
Andrew “Drew” Patterson. Can’t find anything about him.
John Branch. Has raised little money or interest.

Letiticia Plummer. She is the incumbent in the race. I expected a decent challenger in the race, one with money or associated with the white wing of the Republican Party. They never showed up. This is easy. Plummer deserves another term.

There are a bunch of candidates. Let’s weed out the non-contenders without comment. The following individuals are not running serious campaigns.
Bernard “Bernardo” Amadi
Ethan Michelle Ganz
Richard Nguyen

Again I have my favorite but it’s a close one. I do not vote on a candidate because they will be the youngest candidate ever to win, or the first Mexican American, Black, Gay, Catholic, etc etc to win the office. If by chance there are two evenly qualified candidates I personally would choose the Mexican American, if one is running. One is running but it’s not close. Richard is by far the most qualified for the job.

Richard Cantu. Is my favorite. Cantu has excellent list of endorsements including Sheriff Gonzalez, Commissioners Garcia and Briones, Congresswoman Garcia, and many, many more. He has excellent experience with the City of Houston and as an elected official with the Harris County Department of Education. His website says it well: “Richard is a 30 year public servant, having held management and executive level positions at the City of Houston (Parks and Recreation Department & Mayor’s Office), and Baker-Ripley (formerly Neighborhood Centers Inc.). In May of 2000, Richard was appointed Director of the Mayor’s Citizens’ Assistance Office (MCAO), where he served for six years under Mayor Lee P. Brown and Mayor Bill White. Joining the East Aldine Management District in 2008, and in his current role of Executive Director, Richard oversees one of the largest management district’s in Harris County.”

Donnell Cooper. My second choice is Donnell. Donnell received the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award given to those with over 4000 hours of volunteer services. He serves as president for The Greater Houston Frontiers Club, a national nonprofit organization that has provided more than $2 million in local scholarships to students in Harris County. What separates Donnell from Cantu is Cantu’s experience in City government and as an elected official.

Twila Carter. Twila has served as Senior Vice President of Community Relations of the Houston Astros and Executive Director of the Astros Foundation. She has served as Vice Chair for the Texas Council on Family Violence and Family Time Crisis and Counseling Center. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the Houston Area Women’s Center and is a former Board Member of Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA).

Casey Curry. You might remember Casey as the meteorologist for a TV station in Houston. This is her first try running for office. She is up against some very talented and experienced candidates. She is just not ready for prime time, yet.

James Joseph. James has run for office a number of times. I’ve had doubts about his campaigns due to irregularities in his campaign finance reports. He has a great personal story but lacks in applicable experience for the office he is seeking especially running against other well qualified candidates. His campaign structure could also use some improvement.

Ericka McCrutcheon. Ericka is a business owner and is the President of a Kingwood civics club (HOA). Again, she lacks the experience with the City of Houston especially compared to others in the race.

Richard Cantu for Houston City Council At-Large 3.

Once again I have my favorite but Nick Hellyar has some great competition.

As with At-Large 1, there are some great candidates running for Houston City Council At-Large 2. Let’s weed out the non contenders.

Willie Davis. He tends to run for something, anything and loses. He hasn’t raised much money. He is endorsed by the Tea Party which tends to endorse far right wing candidates.

And the contenders:

Nick Hellyar. Nick is my personal favorite but he has some really talented people running against him. Nick has served as the District Director for a City Council Member and a State Representative. He has a great understanding of the budget and the issue affecting the city. He not only is a young candidate, he is a young candidate with applicable experience for the office he is seeking. It is a great combination.

Marina Angelica Coryat. As I have said, Nick has great competition. Marina served in the Solid Waste Management Department for the City of Houston. She is also very knowledgable about the budget and the issues affecting the city. She is trilingual. She has worked as Communications Director for Texas State Representative Senfronia Thompson. Like Nick she has excellent applicable experience.

Danielle Keys Bess. Bess has a great resume for the job. She doesn’t have experience working with the city like Hellyar and Coryat but could be a good Council Member nevertheless. She is well educated, a business owner and has ties (I believe in her role as a communications expert) with major political campaigns.

Holly Flynn Vilaseca. I like Holly but she is up against a couple of heavyweights with respect to experience in City Council. She is endorsed by some really great elected officials like Congresswoman Garcia, Commissioner Garcia, and Commissioner Briones to name just a few. (And they are heavyweights in the political arena) Holly’s expertise is in education and has served on the City of Houston Mayor’s Hispanic Advisory Board for Annise Parker and Sylvester Turner and has been featured in Latino Leaders Magazine. Would she be effective on Council? I have no doubts at all.

Obes Nwabara. Obes has run for the Harris County Department of Education and is now running for City Council. I think Obes is just not ready for prime time especially when he is up against some incredibly talented individuals. Obes has served as treasurer for a 2019 city council campaign, and being the campaign manager for a Harris County Judge. He might be one to watch in the future.

And that is At-Large 2.

I have a favorite but there is good competition in the race.

The City of Houston has 11 City Council Members representing specific areas of the city. There are 5 At Large Council Members and if I can find out what their specific jobs are I will update this post. Unlike the other Council Members they represent the city as a whole, but what their specific duties are I can’t tell you. I’ll look into it.

There are 6 candidates running for At-Large 1 position. Of the 6 Kendal Baker and Eriq C. Green are not running serious campaigns.

Julian Ramirez. Is a former prosecutor in the District Attorney’s office. He is supported by a number of very right wing, Trump loving, “conservatives”. I use that term lightly. Nothing is conservative about Trump or those who support him. Nevertheless he has qualifications for the office. Would he bring that divisive conservatism into City Council? This is a non partisan race but we do not need someone that will bring their partisan politics into city council.

Melanie Miles. Melanie has raised a significant amount of money, although she has donated $50,000 from her own pocket. She has a good resume for the job as a small business owner and an attorney.

Leah Wolfthal. Another great candidate for the office. Young and experienced in the non profit arena as Executive Director of the Center for Urban Transformation in Houston.

Conchita Reyes. Another young candidate with excellent experience for the job. Here is a snippet from her website: “Conchita paid her own way through college by working for the Houston City Controller and now Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia. As a result, she was given the distinct honor of 100 team members of the Advance of the White House under the Clinton – Gore administration. Prior to building her own firm, Conchita was a fiscal administrator for the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Mir Fox & Rodriguez P.C. CPA Firm.

Personally I favor Reyes, but she has good competition.

When you need someone to address a legal issue, hire an attorney. When you need someone to run a $6 Billion city budget, hire an accountant. –Book of Common Sense Vol II.

The Houston City Controller: “serves as the City’s chief financial officer, certifies the availability of funds prior to City Council approval of City commitments, processes and monitors disbursements exceeding one billion dollars annually, invests the City’s funds, conducts internal audits of the City’s departments and federal grant programs, operates and maintains its financial management system, conducts the sale of public improvement and revenue bonds and produces an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR).”

Unlike the Harris County District Attorney’s Office the Controller’s office is not in the news. The staff isn’t revolting. No one is calling for a make over. No one is calling for a change in leadership or direction. City Council Members and candidates say the budget is in good shape, but there are challenges coming in 2026 when the last of the COVID money runs out. Overall the office is in great shape.

There are 4 candidates running to replace Controller Chris Brown who is term limited. Three of them are accountants. One is an attorney.

Let’s weed out a couple.
Chris Hollins. Chris is a personal injury attorney. He has little experience for the job of Controller especially when compared to the other candidates. He initially decided to run for Mayor, another office he had little experience for, especially compared to his major challenger, Senator John Whitmire. He eventually quit once Sheila Jackson Lee entered the race. Chris is counting on his status as an up and coming, young, progressive to get elected as Controller, yet the bottom line is that there are much better candidates with applicable educational and job experience. Of the four candidates he is the least qualified for the job. Chris should be using his talents for an office with “attorney” behind the office title, such as City Attorney, District Attorney, or maybe County Attorney when Christian Menefee runs for Attorney General.

Orlando Sanchez. Orlando has served for 6 years as a City Council Member and assigned to the Budget Committee. He was elected to the office of County Treasurer and served for 3 terms. He has the experience but is lacking in fundraising and interest. Orlando seems to be interested in pushing extreme right wing agendas in an office that is non-partisan. I personally discount his run because of that. We do not need this type of leadership especially when we have two excellent candidates, Nobles and Martin running.

The Contenders:
Shannon Nobles. Shannon is my favorite. She graduated from the University of Houston with advance degrees in accounting and finance. She has worked for the Controller’s office for 20 years. She started by being assigned to work with specific Council Members concerning the budget. Under Ron Green she was appointed to Deputy Director for 8 years and under Chris Brown she was appointed to Deputy Controller for 8 years. Shannon can easily do the job because she has been doing the job. No one in the race has direct applicable experience in the job as Shannon has. This is what she does. This is what she studied for in college. This is what she has excelled at for her entire career. She is the most qualified candidate running for the office.

City Council Member Dave Martin. CM Martin is tough competition for Shannon. Martin also has an educational background in accounting and finance. He has worked for major accounting firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, and Ernst & Young, LLP prior to joining City Council. He has been elected to the Humble ISD assigned to lead their finance committee. He worked with the Harris County Houston Sports Authority (HCHSA) where he was also Chairman of the Board Finance Committee. When elected to City Council he was appointed by Mayor Turner to lead the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee. As with Shannon, Martin lives and breaths accounting and could easily lead this office.

For Houston City Controller, vote for an accountant.

Clear Lake hasn’t had a City Council Member living in Clear Lake for many years. I believe the last was Addie Wiseman. That was decades ago. This year is no different.

District E covers Clear Lake and Kingwood areas, connected by a drainage ditch. Literally. Kingwood has more voters than Clear Lake and has been able to elect Council Members from that area. Currently Council Member Dave Martin is from Kingwood and is term limited so we have a chance to elect someone new.

There are two candidates running Martina Lemond Dixon and Fred Flickinger. This office is a non partisan position and we should expect our elected officials to be non partisan and leave their politics at the door. Unfortunately one candidate is an extreme right wing republican. He is self financing his campaign and endorsed by some of the most right wing of the area including CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen, the Texas GOP, Harris County Republican Party, and State Representative “Little Baby” Briscoe Cain. Much like Bowen, he will bring his extreme politics into city council.

Martina Lemond Dixon is also running. Unlike her opponent she has a history of public service. She is also a Republican.  She is the chief executive officer of a small company, Board President of the HumbleISD School Board, Board Secretary of the Harris Central Appraisal District (HCAD), and most recently, was appointed Commissioner on the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE). She has a good resume for the office.

We have a choice in Clear Lake between an extremist from Kingwood or a Republican from Kingwood. The choice is ours. The choice is clear.

And who shouldn’t be running for Houston Mayor?

According to the Click2Houston there are 18 candidates running for Mayor of Houston and 12 shouldn’t be for a number of reasons. Running for Mayor isn’t a game. It requires money, lots of money. It requires experience in some aspect of governing such as prior elected official experience, or maybe experience working with the city, or experience in doing business with the city. With that in mind the only candidates worth considering are:

The rest below should really consider running for something that fits with their skill set. Until then focus on the candidates listed above for Houston Mayor.