Hangin' With the Braeswood Dems: District C Version

Here I was thinking I wouldn't have a lot to blog about since I spent most of the day blockwalking around Meyerland. Even ran into the mom of an erstwhile commenter of this fair blog. Go figure.

But after all that fun and excitement, it was off to the a meeting of the Braeswood Democrats with a lot of good folks and a lot of candidates. The primary billing of the night was some Q&A between Anne Clutterbuck and George Hittner in the District C race here in town. The "At Larges," Aiyer & Lovell were there as well. I'll omit those festivities only because it wasn't much more than what was usually said by the candidates in that race. So for all intents and purposes, I've written plenty on my sentiments there.

The District C convo was definitely more spirited, however. In large part, that's because of the Hittner mail that's getting noticed around the district. When I previously posted the image on that previous post, my instinct was that the biggest complaint of it might be Hittner trying to point out that he was the "conservative" to Clutterbuck the "not conservative." Well, today's another day, so let's turn that peice of mail over:

The good parts are magnified here:

One part of that, of course, is the endorsement by local rightwing quack, Stephen Hotze. That alone was enough to get a few of the Braeswood Bunch moving when they heard that Hittner was endorsed by Hotze. But the important part to notice in that closeup is the return address. It's the same address that Team Hittner is using for their address.

Hittner may not have helped himself in answering the charges, though. First, he tried to claim that he had nothing to do with the mailer and that he can't control who mails out stuff with his campaign logo on it. As for the address? That got chalked up to the fact that the group doing the mailing has the same consultant that Hittner uses.

Well, if the same consultant is doing this mailer as is hosting Hittner's Campaign HQ, then alarm bells ought to be going off. Those alarm bells ought to be that someone's coordinating illegally. Hittner might have tipped off a bit more than he wishes he had there, because if what he says is true and his consultant is doing mail for both Hittner and an "independent" organization, then his consultant is breaking the law. This isn't a far cry different than the "SEIU Lovell" illegality. In fact, it's closer to a slam dunk case in this instance.

Later on, Hittner tried to turn things around on Anne by claiming that this was some sort of plot by Team Clutterbuck due to a nefarious connection between Clutterbuck and Hotze. That connection would be rather newsworthy since it wasn't nearly enough for Hotze to endorse John Culberson for Congress in 2000 (Anne was Culberson's campaign manager). Hotze steered clear of Culberson in the Primary and the runoff back then (C&E has a great rundown of the full contest here). So much for connections. But beyond that ... which is it? Is this another group sending out mail through the same vendor (which also happens to be your legally sworn campaign mailing address)? ... or is it an evil plot by this woman that strikes absolutely nobody as evil (full disclosure: I've been known to use the phrase "absolute sweetheart" in my own descriptions of her).

So something just doesn't square with what Hittner puts out there. Fortunately, it's not just me. In the midst of the heated debate over mailers, endorsments and whatnot, a precinct chair (who's an absolute sweetheart herself) leans over to whisper "She's pretty good" as Anne was speaking. To me at least, that spoke volumes since there was a rather substantive disagreement between Anne and the chair in question on a local issue that had been discussed earlier. Despite that, those votes went to Anne. Hittner's not without his supporters, admittedly. And that includes a whole lot of other people that I no doubt consider to be absolute sweethearts. But the tide seemed to be rather visible during the convo.

There's been a fair amount of talk about what George is telling folks on different sides of town. In other words, depending on who you talk to, George is either a rock-solid conservative, a moderate Republican, or a Democrat at heart. I've not been privy to an eyewitness account to what George says where. But in Braeswood, he described himself as a Moderate Republican. If that matches with what others have heard, then great. If it doesn't, then speak up and be heard.

It's worth mentioning that candidates who send contradicting messages to different types of voters don't exactly get a full benefit of a doubt, however. The suspicion is there and it's there for a very valid reason. If it's something to be corrected, then you'd think the evidence is there to correct it. If I've got reliable reports from Republican friends and acquaintances that George is consistent on this point with his fellow Republicans, then I'd like to hear it.

One of the best questions I felt was asked of Anne and George was "Why are you proud to be a Republican?" I found the answers a bit illuminating: George's answer was along the lines of "fiscal responsibility" and a few other similar items, but every point seemed to be fudgable enough to conclude with "But I guess you can say that of both parties." Anne's was admirably consistent with everything I'd heard about her previously and she didn't pull punches just because she was in front of a lot of Democrats. Sorry for the lack of thorough notes, but the answer was along the lines of her history growing up in the family business (film processing) and dealing with loads of government regulations, believing in the primacy of the individual, and keeping government small and efficient. In a GOP room, I imagine that description would get the obligatory partisan applause. And while there wasn't such applause at that line in Braeswood, there did seem to be a sense of respect that Anne was true to her earlier word that she would be the same candidate and the same councilmember to Braeswood Democrats as she would be to any other partisan group, any other community, and any other organization. Through the course of this evening, Anne gave her promise of this early in the night and delivered on that promise right there for all to see.

I'm fairly certain that, if elected, Anne Clutterbuck will cast a few votes that I disagree with. I'm sure that, despite her proclamation of being encouraged to run in part due to Mayor Bill White's leadership and bipartisan tone, she may give the mayor an occassional headache form the right. And if I had my druthers, I'd much rather see Mark Lee or Herman Litt as representing this district. But it didn't happen that way. I've had the good fortune to see both of these candidates up close in a few different situations. I've gone back and forth on my views of both between Day One and today. But what truly seals the deal for me is that, having the benefit of meeting and talking to Anne one-on-one, and seeing her in a few different settings, I get the sense that what you see is what you get. There's a consistency and authenticity there that's rare in politics and that goes above and beyond the comparison to her opponent in this race.

I don't have a vote in District C. Back when there seemed to be too many good choices (and good friends) to choose from, I considered that a blessing. Now that there's a week to go before the Election is over, I regret it. But in what little capacity I might have to sway anyone who does have a vote in District C, I encourage them to join me and a host of other good Democrats (and Republicans) in endorsing Anne Clutterbuck for District C.

SIDENOTE: Between the three B's of blockwalking, Braeswood and blogging, the promised SEIU Lovell post will happen tomorrow along with the beginning of our weeklong Pro-Jay Celebration.

SIDENOTE 2.0: One more archive link courtesy of Rob Booth (one of my faves from the other side). The "nefarious link" between Anne and Stephen Hotze has more holes in it than swiss cheese. The article notes how then-candidate John Culberson paid a visit to Hotze at the behest, not of Anne Clutterbuck (who isn't even mentioned in the story), but of GOP activist, Betsy Lake. And despite even that, the endorsement wasn't forthcoming. You'd think that if Anne (and Betsy) were so down with Hotze, they'd have coached their candidate a little better for that meeting.