GregsOpinion.com

Political Identity Crisis

Interesting article on Ron Green that shows the soft underbelly of nonpartisan elections ... the ability to play both sides of the fence. Ron Green has the endorsement of Ron Hendee, a KSEV talk show host who was a bit miffed at Bert Keller's vote on the property tax rollback.

So the result is that Sue Lovell (former oppoenent in the race), Jolanda Jones and Ada Edwards are asking Green to put it in writing. Green, after promising to do so, has backtracked, stating:

"There won't be any letter. I won't be signing anything," the candidate says bluntly. "It's an unreasonable request. I'm not going to trade my dignity for an endorsement from anyone. And I don't think it's fair for me have to write some letter or sign anything when, in fact, I didn't sign anything when I just sat down and engaged in conversations."

Two other Democrats, mayoral candidate Bill White and council hopeful Peter Brown, both have runoff campaigns that capitalize on endorsements from Republicans, Green notes. "They've not been asked to sign anything disavowing any sort of support."

Two ways of looking at this:

The glass half full: Green is taking a principled stand in which he isn't beholden to others for endorsements. He stakes his own territory, is independent of mind, and quite possibly, a lot of thought went into his stance on the tax rollback.

The glass half empty: hard to look principled when you say you're gonna do something one day, and backpeddle the next. That's not principle, that's wishy-washy. Maybe a lot of calculation went into his stance taken on the issue since it likely made a big difference in overtaking Sue Lovell in the first election.

Three Sides to Every Story ....
Put me down on the record as saying Carroll Robinson has been the biggest letdown among members of council. He was a DLC point man here in Houston for quite some time, smart as a whip, tried to "play" moderate, but ended up just playing coy more often than not. I recall him hosting debates on the first vote for a basketball arena. The meetings were held in minority areas that were pretty favorable for the arena. But the first one was obviously headed for a nailbiter with some serious opposition against it. Robinson couldn't decide to save his life. At least Sly Turner showed up on a few occassions to pitch the arena deal in his Acres Homes area. I didn't agree, but hell ... he at least took a side. Robinson seems to be playing too cute by half and city council is likely better off without him.

Ron Green may or may not be the second coming of this. For what its worth, he was in attendance for a meeting with Chris Bell and Nancy Pelosi recently, so if he's a Republican, he's a pretty meek one. And for what more its worth, since the opposition is Bert Keller, I'll be taking my chances on the devil I don't know.