Racers Take Their Marks; One Mayor Bets On Another

By Bob Dunn

The names are in, and the race is on for local elections on May 7. This isn’t official – some city officials weren’t available at Monday’s filing deadline and, in the case of Fort Bend Independent School District, phone lines were overloaded and calls weren’t going through. But here’s how some of the races are shaping up:

Fort Bend ISD:
Incumbent board trustees Lisa Rickert (Position 3) and Ken Bryant (Position 7) both have filed to run again.

Rickert has one opponent – Sugar Land business consultant Bob Broxson. Broxson challeneged Position 1 Trustee Stan Magee two years ago, in a race that saw Magee take 49% of the vote to Broxson’s 34%.

Byrant has a host of opposition, including Noel Pinnock of Houston ISD&'s Student Information Systems division; Ann Hopkins, 8th-grade assistant principal at Hodges Bend Middle School; and David Reitz, a Sienna Plantation-area resident with three children in the district. Pinnock ran for Position 5 two years ago against incumbent Laurie Caldwell, and came in fifth in a five-person race.

Sugar Land City Council:
Only District 3 incumbent Russell Jones has drawn an opponent this time around – accountant Charles E. Willett. District 1 Councilman Dennis Parmer was said to be sweating it out, but no one, to my knowledge filed to run against him.

There will be a new face on the council, as District 2 Councilwoman Cyril Hosley faced term limits and can't run again. The only person to file for her position is consultant Donald Olson. Like Parmer, District 4 Councilman Michael Schiff is running unopposed.

Missouri City Council:
The election in Mo City is shaping up to be a bit more ribald. For starters, incumbent District C Councilman Bob Burton had actually filed to run again, but "as of this weekend my family and I decided not to do it."

That decision would have left Fort Bend County Libertarian Party Chairman Kevin Tunstall running unopposed for Burton's position. But instead, a flurry of activity took place. The result is, Brightwater Homeowners Association President Barbara Gibson is in the race, too.

Gibson said she'd been out on Monday morning, and came home to find her answering machine loaded with messages urging her to run for the office. She began considering it at 11:30 a.m., and by Monday's deadline, she'd decided to file.

Tunstall began considering the race as a result of the controversy that erupted over wording of city code that appears to make residents financially responsible for the repair off sidewalks, curbs and other infrastructure adjacent to their properties.

That controversy also helped galvanize an opponent for District A Councilwoman Eunice Reiter. Businessman Rodney Griffin has filed to run against her, and has cited, among other things, his intend to repeal the ordinance that includes the sidewalk repair provisions.

District B Councilman Don Smith also has drawn opponents, including Lou Hunter, who describes himself as an "activist, homeowner and reformer," and Cynthia Lenton-Gary, a former FBISD board candidate who came in third against Caldwell in the same race as Pinnock in 2005.

As for District D Councilman Brett Kolaja, I'm not aware of anyone filing against him.

Campaign Continuum
Some races apparently never end.

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who represented Congressional District 22 for about three weeks while Congress was mostly on its December holiday break, barely took a breather after losing to current U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, in November.

"Lampson Flip-Flops on Illegal Immigrants and Votes for Union Bosses," declares the headline on a weekend email Sekula-Gibbs sent out to local Republicans. The next CD-22 election isn't until November 2008, but already it appears to be time to "Donate now to help Dr. Shelley Sekula Gibbs Win back CD 22 and Keep America Strong."

Betting On A New Coalition
Another race that never seems to end is the expensive one for U.S. president.

Former New York Mayor and GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is coming to Houston today to raise money for his campaign, in a fund-raiser at the home of Tilman Fertitta, chief executive of Landry's Restaurants and a player in the Las Vegas casino industry

On the host committee for the event are the likes of T. Boone Pickens and Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace.

For Wallace, who was considered the GOP front-runner in last year's CD-22 race for a time, the Giuliani bet is an interesting one. Should the popular former NYC mayor become president, would a White House endorsement not prove useful in a congressional campaign?

Paul Presidential Bid II
Meanwhile, Ron Paul, the long-time Republican CD-14 congressman with Libertarian underpinnings, has made official a presidential bid he's talked about for some time.

Paul, who calls himself "the leading advocate for freedom in our nation's capital," officially threw his hat in the presidential ring on Monday. Fort Bend Now