Lesbian candidate pulls in 30% of vote, will face Locke in runoff; Spiller falls short in school board run
Annise Parker will face Gene Locke in a mayoral runoff on Dec. 12. Parker received 31 percent of the vote to Locke’s 25 percent, almost 10,000 votes more than the second place candidate.
Peter Brown, a self-financed candidate who spent more than $3.5 million, placed third with 23 percent of the vote.
Roy Morales, the only self-described conservative and the only Hispanic in the race, received 21 percent of the vote.
In Dallas, gay candidate Linus Spiller fell short in his campaign to win the District 1 seat on the Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees.
Parker spent about $1 million on her campaign. Although she was third in the amount of money spent in the election, she was first in number of individual donors. Those donations translated into votes and volunteers.
While the other candidates resorted to negative campaigns in the last days before the election, Parker said she remained focused on the issues.
After her Tuesday night victory, she appeared on stage with her partner, Kathy Hubbard, and their two children.
She said the race is about "who do you trust to lead our city through these tough times and give our children the future they deserve."
Parker described her operation to Dallas Voice as "a really good mix of a longtime campaign team, some seasoned professionals and some new people who have special skills like social networking."
She credits some of her media team and consultants who are working with her for the seventh time with the smooth operation.
On Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, Parker campaign spokesperson Jeri Brooks said, "This morning we’re just trying to regroup. We’ve got to get out the vote, and we’ve got to raise money. We need to get everyone who made a contribution to commit to get five, 10 more people to make a contribution."
Parker described ratcheting the campaign up to an intense level.
"In five weeks we need to bring in over $1 million," she said, the same amount raised in the previous nine months.
For purposes of campaign donations, the runoff is treated as a separate election.
Those who contributed the maximum amount in the first race may legally donate again.
One accusation leveled at the Parker campaign was that it accepted quite a bit of out-of-state money. However, reports filed show that 85 percent of her donations came from Texas.
Brooks said the campaign would continue to focus on the issues. She said that people who are not in Houston can show their support by donating and by joining the Annise Parker Facebook fan page or following her on Twitter.
In the runoff, the campaign will rely on its strong volunteer base.
Brooks said, "We’re not paying phone bankers. We have people who care on the phones."
Former Dallas City Councilman Ed Oakley, who came close to being the first openly gay mayor of a top-10 city but lost in a runoff to Tom Leppert in 2007, said this week he feels that in some ways, he "broke the glass ceiling."
Oakley said he hopes Houston voters will choose their next mayor based on qualifications and issues, rather than on sexual orientation. But he noted that many of the anti-gay attacks against him didn’t begin until after he had advanced to the runoff against Leppert.
"I think she’s earned the right to be mayor of Houston," said Oakley, adding that he’s met Parker a few times over the years. "I think she’s an excellent leader, and I’m really pulling for her."
The Parker campaign noted that she has already been elected citywide six times — three times to an at-large city council seat and three times as city controller.
As controller, Parker led the city through a tough economy. Although Houston had a 3 percent budget shortfall, she is credited with avoiding any layoffs or major cuts to city services. By comparison, Dallas laid off more than 800 employees and slashed services including AIDS funding.
Parker is credited with the city’s weathering the recession better than most other major cities. But she credits her good working relationship with the mayor, a relationship that is usually contentious there, with Houston’s mild downturn.
Polling by Lake Research Partners accurately predicted Parker’s first place finish and was only 3 percent off the actual results. That same firm found that of the other candidates’ supporters, Parker was overwhelmingly their second choice. A Belo poll, released the week before the election, predicted Parker would finish second with half the percentage she actually received.
Dennis Dison, a spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, said, "Her first place finish was a tremendous shot in the arm."
He said that he didn’t expect the Locke campaign to make an issue of her sexual orientation.
"He would probably be shooting himself in the foot," Dison said.
Victory Fund advises candidates to be honest about themselves and stick to the issues. He said, voters understand, "If she’s going to be honest about that, she’s going to honest about everything."
He called Parker the poster child for how their organization recommends a campaign be run.
Victory Fund endorsements
This election cycle, Victory Fund endorsed 79 candidates. Of those, 50 won their contests. Six others, including Parker, advanced to runoffs.
Dison characterized the Houston mayoral race as the most prominent this November.
Other notable wins in the LGBT community include Charles Pugh, the first openly gay person elected to the Detroit City Council. The top vote- getter in the city’s council races becomes the council president. Pugh received the most votes.
In Georgia, Simone Bell is in a runoff for a seat in the state House of Representatives. If she wins on Dec. 1, she will become the first African-American lesbian in a state legislature.
Dallas ISD races
In Dallas, gay candidate Linus Spiller faced an incumbent and two other challengers in the Dallas Independent School District election for the District 1 seat.
Edwin Flores, the incumbent, won with just over 50 percent of the vote.
Four-way races in Districts 3 and 9 are headed for runoffs. District 9 includes portions of Uptown. Bernadette Nutall will face Sally Cain, wife of former Sen. David Cain who represented Oak Lawn in the 1990s.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 06, 2009.
I remember the anti-gay attacks against Oakley originated from an organization outside of Texas. His opponents in the race always spoke of his qualifications and city issues, rather than his sexual orientation.
The real question is if she is going to be another worthless, do-nothing Democrat like Joel Burns in Fort Worth?
LGBT people are like lemmings, we go into the voting booth and vote Democrat and then get nothing in return.
She needs to put out a list of LGBT issues and a timeline and deadline for each issue. The LGBT community needs to then hold her accountable for meeting that.
The LGBT media, including the Dallas Voice, need to hold her accountable instead of giving her a free ride walk in the park like the Dallas Voice gives Joel Burns.
Parker has been city controller for three terms and is generally credited with getting the city through tough economic times better than other major cities. Her race is non-partisan, so anyone trying to vote a straight Democratic ticket won’t get very far in the voting booth.
I’m not sure what free ride we’re giving her by reporting on her campaign. I haven’t seen any demands by any LGBT group in Houston that she has not addressed. If there are demands from a Houston group – we’ll report on them. As the former head of the Houston Lesbian and Gay Political Coalition, I’m sure she’s aware of the Houston LGBT community’s needs.
If there are demands of Joel Burns from a Fort Worth group, please let me know. We’ll report on them.
David,
Thanks for your response.
Since you asked, here are some things that I think the Dallas Voice should have been tougher on (or even mentioned in some cases) regarding Joel Burns.
We may just have to respectfully agree to respectfully disagree on these issues:
1) No show at the Fort Worth Pride.
The Dallas Voice reported Dallas councilmembers who didn’t attend Dallas Pride including non-LGBT ones. To be fair and unbiased, shouldn’t the Dallas Voice have made the same level of report about Fort Worth Pride?
If he wasn’t able to make it, that might have been ok, but he should have prepared a statement to be read at Fort Worth Pride expressing his reason for not attending and a message to the LGBT community.
I believe he was also a grand marshall of some sort? Who ever heard of a parade where the grand marshall doesn’t attend?
2) No show at the August Police Chief’s initial report.
Burns was the only councilmember to pull a no show for this presentation, and he is the one who should have been there the most.
3) Trip to Europe at taxpayer expense.
The reason for #2 turned out to be a trip to Europe at taxpayer expense, although he did tack some personal vacation days on the front. Also, this was the same time period where the council had to cut back on childrens health and recreation programs due to budget shortfalls.
I’ll assume I don’t have to explain why this is so wrong.
I’ll also note that the Dallas Voice called out a Dallas Councilmember who travelled to central America at taxpayer expense. So, to be fair and unbaised shouldn’t they have called out this trip?
4) Soliciting money and help from out of town people pre-election, then asking out of town people to butt out post-election
I agree we should help with money and time for out of town or even out of state or out of country issues to the LGBT community.
But what I don’t agree with is when people later come back and ask out of town people to butt out.
For example, when Burns ran, he asked for and accepted money and time from out of town and even out of district Fort Worth people. After the Rainbow Lounge Raid, he said out of town people should basically butt out of Fort Worth issues (except to spend money there).
Meaning no disrespect to you, but I don’t understand your comment about a Houston group. Hasn’t Parker been in Dallas and Fort Worth actively soliciting money? Shouldn’t the people who gave her money have some say in how she acts after the election?
5) Stockyards Kiss In threats
I know that Burns didn’t agree with the Stockyards Kiss In event, but he should have called out the Rodeo Manager who made threats of physical violence against the LGBT community. Burns could have put out a statement like “I don’t agree with the Kiss IN event, but I also don’t agree with city contractors making threats of physical violence against the LGBT community.”
Thanks,
Mark
Burns was out of town for the parade. The parade committee knew that he was going to be out of town for the parade but said they wanted to honor him as was Kathleen Hicks. I reported that in my coverage of the parade:
https://dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_11922.php
Other than that, I don’t usually cover Ft. Worth City Hall but am happy to pass your comments on to Tammye who does.
As far as Parker goes, she was in Dallas recently for one very private fundraising event and earlier in Fort Worth for one event. I’m sure others sent her campaign money. But if you’re supporting an out of town race, it’s because you like the candidate. Once elected, if you’re not a constituent, the elected official has little reason to listen to you.
Could Houston use a nondiscrimination law that matches the one in Dallas or Fort Worth? Sure. Are there other things the LGBT community in needs? Probably. But Parker has been in the middle of the LGBT community for years and has lots of LGBT volunteers in her campaign who have her ear. She’s very approachable, down to earth and easy to talk to. But she doesn’t need Dallas telling her what Houston needs.
Not a complete answer, but I don’t usually cover Fort Worth. I’ll pass along the comments and would like to hear what others – and Joel – have to say.
The paper is called the Dallas voice and not the Ft Worth Voice. (flame shield up)
Mark, it is my understanding that the Dallas Voice welcomes editorials from readers? David please correct me if I am wrong. If you feel an issue is not being covered appropriately, do something about it such as submit your own article.
From your comments above you appear to have a reasonable writing skill and a good start on the article. Research an OP ED piece “Joel Burns Friend or Foe”.
Bob
Bob, yes, editorials for Viewpoints always welcome. Letters always welcome. Always two pages for opinion and comments even in smaller issues.
Only three of us writing news here. Not a big, well-funded investigative staff. We do what we can and follow as many leads as we can.
Tammye lives in Fort Worth and does her best to cover it. Last night John went to Fort Worth with Israel Luna to film.
Parker’s race we’re only covering by phone. We don’t have a Houston bureau. (Neither does the Morning News anymore though, although they have a Houston TV station that completely polled the race wrong).