After big-name Victory Fund brunch Sunday, Annise Parker to kick off re-election campaign

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a champagne brunch on Sunday in Houston.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who kicks off her re-election campaign next week, will attend the brunch along with Congressman David Cicilline of Rhode Island, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Fort Worth Councilman Joel Burns and Gabrielle Giffords intern Daniel Hernandez Jr.

Quinn, NYC’s first out council speaker, is often mentioned as a possible candidate for mayor of the Big Apple. Cicilline became the fourth openly gay member of Congress last year. Hernandez, first identified as gay by Instant Tea, is credited with saving the life of Congresswoman Giffords, who’s currently in a rehabilitation facility in Houston.

The Victory Fund brunch is sold out. It will be at The Corinthian, 202 Fannin St. in Houston.

While election season heats up in Dallas and Fort Worth for the May 14 mayoral and council races, Houston’s election cycle is just getting under way.

Houston’s term cycles are different than those in Dallas. In Dallas, the mayor may run for two four-year terms. Council members may run for four two-year terms. Municipal elections in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and most of the area suburbs are held in May.

In Houston, the mayor, controller and council may run for three two-year terms and elections are held in November.

In November 2009, Parker became the first openly LGBT person elected mayor of a top 10 U.S. city. Houston is the fourth-largest city in the nation.

On Saturday, April 23, Parker kicks off her re-election campaign at Discovery Park in Downtown Houston. The event begins at 4 p.m. She writes there will be food, refreshments and an Easter Egg hunt. She said she is looking for volunteers for the campaign. No opponents have officially announced they will enter the race against her yet, but she plans to be prepared.

8 Comments

Daniel Williams on April 14, 2011 at 6:18 pm

Two candidates other than Annise Parker have filed treasurer appointments with the city clerk: Fernando Herrera who ran as a Republican against State Representative Jessica Farrar last fall and Brian S. Carr, a 17 year old who is not registered to vote and is ineligible.

There are unconfirmed reports that Herrera has decided not to run after Parker early fundraising efforts were extremely successful.

Donny Moss on April 14, 2011 at 9:19 pm

Does the Victory Fund take a gay candidate’s record into account when deciding whether or not to promote him or her? Does the fact that Chrisitne Quinn is gay somehow excuse her record? She overturned term-limits against the will of the NYC voters; allocated millions of dollars in slush funds to fake charities and doled them out in exchange for political favors; made a back room deal with the NYPD to curb NYers freedom of assembly; used (and continues to use) millions of dollars of discretionary funds to control votes; killed several bills that have a veto-proof majority in the Council because they don’t suit her political agenda; used over 30 city employees to collect signatures to put her on the ballot in 2009; accepted millions of dollars from real estate developers after promising on the record not to accept any money from them; scored the lowest on human rights issues of all Manhattan Council members on the Center for Urban Justice’s annual report card; blocked every meaningful animal protection bill at City Hall. Can we really overlook this record just because she’s gay, especially when we have several other gay-friendly candidates running for the same office?

preppystudent on April 14, 2011 at 11:08 pm

The same can be said for Joel Burns, why is the wasting time for things that he should of done a long time ago, let me guess, he gonna try to be the 1st Gay City Council member to raise A Billion Dollars like Obama?

David Taffet on April 15, 2011 at 12:35 pm

Daniel – keep in touch with us about the race. While Annise’s office is better about getting in touch with me than the Dallas mayor’s office, I’m sure you have info sooner than I do.

Donny – Victory Fund only supports LGBT candidates. What they do take into account before giving their endorsement and money is whether they think the candidate is electable. Those local New York issues are certainly things NYC voters will take into consideration when there are other LGBT-friendly candidates to vote for. I hope you’ll keep coming back to the blog to keep us updated. I can honestly say that while the White House has called back, I’ve never gotten a call back from Gracie Mansion.

And Preppy – Joel is running unopposed and is not raising money for a campaign.

Donny Moss on April 15, 2011 at 1:05 pm

David: Thanks for taking the time to respond.. Are you suggesting that the Victory Fund will endorse and financially support Quinn simply because she is electable? Shouldn’t the VIctory Fund take her record and the quality of her character into account? As an aside, she has betrayed the gay community time and again when politically expedient. Most LGBTs don’t pay close attention to local politics; they see Quinn pumping her fists at gay rallies, and that’s enough for them. I provide examples of the betrayals in my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXoANkQh93I

David Taffet on April 15, 2011 at 2:32 pm

Donny: I’m sure there are other criteria. I am saying that they won’t endorse a straight ally, however. The mission of Victory Fund is to get LGBT candidates elected. I’m sure they take a number of issues into consideration and if the issues you list are of concern to the LGBT community, that would certainly affect whether they endorse or not.

All LGBT candidates are eligible to attend their candidate training classes. But unless they appear electable, Victory Fund will not issue an official endorsement. A good example of that was Brittany Novotny in Oklahoma challenging Sally Kern, the loon who thinks gay people are a worse threat than terrorists. Everyone was rooting for Brittany but she was not endorsed by Victory Fund. With Quinn, if enough of the LGBT community appears to be supporting someone else and became unelectable, they might not endorse. From her headline appearance in Houston this weekend, however, that seems unlikely.

And Daniel, thanks for the link.

preppystudent on April 15, 2011 at 1:38 pm

It’s pretty much like this, people vote for someone because there Gay, Hispainc, Black, Green, or watever. They don’t look into the issues and see about there past.

Daniel Williams on April 15, 2011 at 2:11 pm

David,
The credit actually goes to Noel Freeman, president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, who has been checking the treasurer filings on a weekly basis. He’s been updating his list here: https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150192360821258

Daniel Williams on April 14, 2011 at 6:18 pm

Two candidates other than Annise Parker have filed treasurer appointments with the city clerk: Fernando Herrera who ran as a Republican against State Representative Jessica Farrar last fall and Brian S. Carr, a 17 year old who is not registered to vote and is ineligible.

There are unconfirmed reports that Herrera has decided not to run after Parker early fundraising efforts were extremely successful.
Donny Moss on April 14, 2011 at 9:19 pm

Does the Victory Fund take a gay candidate’s record into account when deciding whether or not to promote him or her? Does the fact that Chrisitne Quinn is gay somehow excuse her record? She overturned term-limits against the will of the NYC voters; allocated millions of dollars in slush funds to fake charities and doled them out in exchange for political favors; made a back room deal with the NYPD to curb NYers freedom of assembly; used (and continues to use) millions of dollars of discretionary funds to control votes; killed several bills that have a veto-proof majority in the Council because they don’t suit her political agenda; used over 30 city employees to collect signatures to put her on the ballot in 2009; accepted millions of dollars from real estate developers after promising on the record not to accept any money from them; scored the lowest on human rights issues of all Manhattan Council members on the Center for Urban Justice’s annual report card; blocked every meaningful animal protection bill at City Hall. Can we really overlook this record just because she’s gay, especially when we have several other gay-friendly candidates running for the same office?
preppystudent on April 14, 2011 at 11:08 pm

The same can be said for Joel Burns, why is the wasting time for things that he should of done a long time ago, let me guess, he gonna try to be the 1st Gay City Council member to raise A Billion Dollars like Obama?
David Taffet on April 15, 2011 at 12:35 pm

Daniel – keep in touch with us about the race. While Annise’s office is better about getting in touch with me than the Dallas mayor’s office, I’m sure you have info sooner than I do.

Donny – Victory Fund only supports LGBT candidates. What they do take into account before giving their endorsement and money is whether they think the candidate is electable. Those local New York issues are certainly things NYC voters will take into consideration when there are other LGBT-friendly candidates to vote for. I hope you’ll keep coming back to the blog to keep us updated. I can honestly say that while the White House has called back, I’ve never gotten a call back from Gracie Mansion.

And Preppy – Joel is running unopposed and is not raising money for a campaign.
Donny Moss on April 15, 2011 at 1:05 pm

David: Thanks for taking the time to respond.. Are you suggesting that the Victory Fund will endorse and financially support Quinn simply because she is electable? Shouldn’t the VIctory Fund take her record and the quality of her character into account? As an aside, she has betrayed the gay community time and again when politically expedient. Most LGBTs don’t pay close attention to local politics; they see Quinn pumping her fists at gay rallies, and that’s enough for them. I provide examples of the betrayals in my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXoANkQh93I
- David Taffet on April 15, 2011 at 2:32 pm
  
  Donny: I’m sure there are other criteria. I am saying that they won’t endorse a straight ally, however. The mission of Victory Fund is to get LGBT candidates elected. I’m sure they take a number of issues into consideration and if the issues you list are of concern to the LGBT community, that would certainly affect whether they endorse or not.
  
  All LGBT candidates are eligible to attend their candidate training classes. But unless they appear electable, Victory Fund will not issue an official endorsement. A good example of that was Brittany Novotny in Oklahoma challenging Sally Kern, the loon who thinks gay people are a worse threat than terrorists. Everyone was rooting for Brittany but she was not endorsed by Victory Fund. With Quinn, if enough of the LGBT community appears to be supporting someone else and became unelectable, they might not endorse. From her headline appearance in Houston this weekend, however, that seems unlikely.
  
  And Daniel, thanks for the link.
preppystudent on April 15, 2011 at 1:38 pm

It’s pretty much like this, people vote for someone because there Gay, Hispainc, Black, Green, or watever. They don’t look into the issues and see about there past.
Daniel Williams on April 15, 2011 at 2:11 pm

David,
The credit actually goes to Noel Freeman, president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, who has been checking the treasurer filings on a weekly basis. He’s been updating his list here: https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150192360821258