ALCS 7
State Sen. John Whitmire was endorsed by the Houston Chronicle Editorial Board yesterday. Here is a part:
It will take a shrewd pragmatist — it always has — to successfully run this complex city, to balance its competing interests, priorities and profit motives. It will take a leader guided by data, strategic thinking and common sense — not unbending ideology — to address crime, shore up finances and get our trash picked up on time.
We believe that leader is John Whitmire. In the end, his age and experience are assets.
Whitmire is tough, but he seems to also have the humility to avoid protracted fights, such as Houston’s contract dispute with firefighters. He claims to have the good sense not to meddle in city contracts: as criminal justice chair, he says when somebody calls him to hawk a commode for the prison system, “I send them to the procurement office.”
And this:
We believe that, in running a city, Whitmire can take care of the basics or delegate them to the brightest minds around. He’ll need geniuses to navigate the city’s projected budget shortfall after COVID relief money runs out. He’ll need both realists and optimists to lead Houston efforts in resilience and energy transition. We expect he’ll find them.
Here is the E-Board read: John Whitmire for Houston mayor: Editorial Board recommendation (houstonchronicle.com).
The endorsement editorial took up the entire page as you can see in the featured photo. Full page Chron E-Board endorsements like yesterday’s are a rarity.
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Also, this past weekend, someone released a recording of our opponent, Cong. Sheila Jackson Lee, going off on a staff member in a profanity laced tirade. Here is from a Newsweek online article:
Yvette Carnell, CEO of the ADOS Advocacy Foundation, a group that advocates in favor of reparation payments for the descendants of enslaved Africans, wrote in a post that Lee’s reputation made her a poor choice “to be the face of reparations in Congress,” and noted that she had said as much several years ago.
“It’s not just what Sheila Jackson Lee says in this audio, but that someone recorded her knowing she was going to say it,” Carnell wrote. “She’s been accused of mistreating her staff for decades. It was always a bad idea for her to be the face of reparations in Congress. I said so in 2019.”
And this:
In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, Lee’s mayoral campaign office dismissed the release of the clip as a political move against her, but notably did not confirm whether or not it was the congresswoman’s voice in the clip.
In response, the Harris County Young Democrats put this out this morning:
Houston, TX – The Executive Board of the Harris County Young Democrats (HCYD) voted to pull the endorsement of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for City of Houston Mayor in response to the recording that came to light over the weekend.
The Executive Board of HCYD has issued the following statement condemning the congresswoman’s treatment of her staff:
“HCYD is committed to fostering a community that celebrates and supports our young members, many of which are or aspire to be political staffers. With a zero-tolerance policy for body-shaming and staff abuse, we pull our support of the congresswoman. HCYD will continue to stand with workers and support candidates and elected officials who share these same principles.”
Previously, the Harris County Young Democrats issued a dual endorsement of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Senator John Whitmire for City of Houston Mayor.
Good for the HCYDs.
I have listened to the tape a couple of times, and it is horrible. Over the years, we have heard that she is mean to her staff. Now we have her words to go with that.
Aside from the Chron and Newsweek online, the so-called regular media has not picked up the story. If they give her a pass on this, it will just feed the narrative that the so-called regular media treats Democrats differently than MAGA types.
Stay tuned.
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Here we are. Game 7 of the ALCS. We know what is happening. We must win at The Yard this evening.
#Ready2Reign
