Next on CNN ... A Very Special Congressional Election
OK, so the CD22 "Special Election" is now a joke. Nick Lampson can go ahead and sign a lease for real estate in the greater DC area. The Sheltie? She'll now likely win the temporary seat in November. Steve Stockman's in (as long as his check clears, at least). The Liberterian Smithers is in. A few more scrubs who'll get maybe a percentage point between them are riding along for the fun. But I think the Sheltie's got an easy enough run. The fun part of it all is that we Dems now get the added thrill of cheering on a win for the Sheltie in this race (I join Kuff in making this endorsement). Thank God for Nick Lampson for helping us rid her from Houston City Council. She'll have to resign her seat from City Council in order to get a pretty swearing in photograph taken and having her Clear Lake friends call her "Congresswoman" for the rest of her life.
Fine. But when January comes along, it's Nick Lampson that will be the one getting down to work, and possibly with a new Democratic majority leading the way.
Oh, and it's very likely that we'll have a Special Election in May to fill the remainder of the Sheltie's seat. Marc Campos drops a name that I've got to recuse myself from discussing openly, except to add that I think it's logical that that name would be dropped first and foremost by a lot of other people as well. But who else gets into a Special City Hall Election? The last time I think we've had this was back in 1997 when John Peavy was sent packing by law enforcement and young Chris Bell began a nice little reform era on City Council, dueling and jousting with Lee Brown from the saner side of the street.
A few other not-entirely obvious guesses for who might get in on this fun? Gerald Womack is probably the second name that comes up a lot. He's got the dough and connections for it. But he's also been busy staking out his territory for replacing the term-limited Ada Edwards in District B. It could well be that Womack realizes a District B race in 2007 will be in a field of about 15-20 candidates, though. The herd for Sheltie's seat is likely to be a lot thinner. And if he succeeds here, that may open District B into even more of a free-for-all.
George Hittner has apparently fled town to be a lobbyist in DC. That could be Houston's gain and the Republican Culture of Corruption's loss. Granted, his residence was kinda "iffy" in District C last time around. So what's to say he's not keeping a "residence" in H-town still? I'll be shocked if he re-emerges. But if he does, look for him to raise a ton of money, put up a lot of yard signs in empty lots, have his daddy make a lot of phone calls, and accomplish a whole lotta nothing on E-day.
The Sheltie, herself? She'll be free by May. So why not? I guess we can properly ascertain the profitability of selling Neutrogena to teenagers if we see her back in this race.
MJ Khan? He's clearly got an itch to ditch District F for something seemingly more gratifying. Last time around, he got a sense of what the white Republican crowd thought of his chances (not much) and went back to running in District F. A citywide regular election doesn't help him much since he's among the more apostate Republicans on council (to the point where I'm perfectly fine voting for the guy barring any better option). But if the 10%-ers (aka "the Bill White Haters Club") succeeds in getting their "sanctuary" referendum on the ballot, that just kills anyone who represents Gulfton. A few reprints of some of MJ's district newsletters ought to finish him off in Republican strongholds. Also, as a District F resident, I'd hope that MJ would have the testicular fortitude to at least resign his District F seat allowing for a joint Special Election to fill that seat in the same May election. With only two uniform Election Days throughout the state now, the only other time to fill the vacancy would be in November 2007, which is kinda pointless. Then again, testicular fortitude is not something MJ is really known for, is it?
Any others out there? Maybe. But I'm not sure it'd be anyone capable of making a huge dent. I like both Mark Lee and Herman Litt but I think they both had a better idea of waiting for a shot at District C (or, in Lee's case, Controller). Time'll tell if they agree with that sentiment or not.
Greg,
You know I always love your site. I just wanted to make one point, briefly.
George Hittner is in fact in DC, but he is working for the Department of Labor, not as a lobbyist.
I am also, as you know, hardly a Bush administration apologist, but I really don't think its appropriate or correct to associate the name of any person, especially someone who spends time in public service, with accusations of corruption in the absence of any real information implicating them personally.
Likewise, I was pretty inolved in the last campaign on behalf of another candidate, and I never heard a single piece of information to even suggest that Dave Hittner did a thing on behalf of the campaign. It is one thing to posit that people support a candidate because that candidate's father is judge, but it is a whole other kettle of fish to suggest that Judge Hittner did anything improper to get involved in the last election.
If you don't have any credible information to the contrary, I wish you would consider a follow up post on this matter.
Once again, I still love the blog. Just wanted to write in on that.
---Adam
Actually, the "Culture of Corruption" reference was to Hittner heading to DC in the aftermath of Abramoff exiting as well as adding still another Republican lobbyist to the population count in DC. It isn't to necessarily suggest that he's already done anything corrupt, but merely to denote his presence within something already properly recognized as a "Culture of Corruption."
As for his father making calls, that's not an untoward suggestion. The family, as you know, is very well connected in Houston. The simple fact of making a phone call by his dad isn't, in and of itself, representative of a corrupt or illegal act. Instead it's a sign of a guy running on his dad's name instead of anything he's accomplished in life - an accusation that I'm not really too concerned with leaving as-is.
fortunately the voters saw thru things and voted overwhelmingly for anne clutterbuck in the end. anne called hittner on the disgusting anti-gay mailings sent out etc.. i sure wont be voting for hittner in any city-wide election. many folks here in sw houston are too turned off.
Greg,
You still have it wrong by calling him a lobbyist. He works in the Standards Administration of the Department of Labor.