Posted on 05/10/2003 10:55:23 PM PDT by LdSentinal
A lot has changed since Orlando Sanchez ran for mayor in 2001, narrowly losing a runoff to incumbent Lee Brown.
The former City Council member has been courted by the White House to run for Congress. State officials have talked with him about an appointment to the Texas Railroad Commission.
Sanchez has taken two new jobs, one with an investment group and another with an accounting firm. He's joined boards of local companies and institutions.
In short, Sanchez, a Republican, has become a hot property since he fell 10,702 votes shy of becoming the first Hispanic mayor of Houston at a time when the GOP is courting that growing section of the population.
Despite the many opportunities that have come his way, one thing has remained constant since Sanchez delivered his concession speech before a packed crowd of supporters at the Hotel Derek in December 2001.
Sanchez's steel blue eyes -- which were highlighted in some of his 2001 campaign advertising -- have been focused on the 2003 mayor's race.
"I knew, standing in that podium, looking at the crowd, that I would run again in 2003," Sanchez said. "It's what I want to do and be. When I start something, I stick to it."
Monday, after months of speculation, Sanchez will officially kick off his campaign to replace Brown, who has served six years and is term-limited.
That Sanchez got so close in 2001 makes him the front-runner in a four-man race with City Councilman Michael Berry, state Rep. Sylvester Turner and former Texas Democratic Party Chairman Bill White, said University of Houston political science professor Richard Murray.
Not only did the 2001 mayoral race generate wide name recognition for Sanchez, Murray said, but he was able to build a rare coalition of Hispanics and conservative white Republicans.
Maintaining that coalition in 2003 will be a challenge, Murray said, because the field is more crowded than in 2001, when Brown and Sanchez eliminated moderate Chris Bell before meeting in a runoff. Sanchez could get squeezed by Berry and White, two white candidates also vying for a share of the Republican vote, Murray said.
City races are officially nonpartisan, but party affiliation increasingly has been a factor in City Hall politics.
"The other major thing is that this race will be more focused on the issues than in 2001," Murray said. "In that race, Orlando was able to say, `I'm not Lee Brown.'
"He has to be more substantive than in 2001."
To get to the city's top elected position, which wields considerable power under Houston's strong-mayor form of government, Sanchez likely must dispel the notion among some voters that he is not ready for the job.
In the 2001 race, Sanchez's opponents portrayed him as having a thin résumé.
Aside from being a three-term council member, Sanchez was a Harris County probation officer who received spotty performance evaluations before resigning in 1994.
Subsequent companies he started after getting elected to City Council in 1995 never got off the ground.
But since his defeat in 2001, Sanchez has matured professionally, politically and personally, say those close to him.
Despite urging from Republican backers as high as the White House, he declined to seek an open congressional seat won last year by Bell, a Democrat and Sanchez's former mayoral opponent.
Much of Sanchez's time since the 2001 race has been spent as managing partner and rainmaker for Odyssey Asset Management, which helps companies and individuals invest their money.
Among his efforts was assisting the startup of Sports Express, a Houston-based company that transports sports equipment such as golf clubs and skis for travelers to use at their destinations.
He also helped Food Development Corp. of Houston make connections with the Ethiopian government to develop a desert farming operation in that country.
"He's been a problem-solver and a troubleshooter for us," said David Fisher, president of Odyssey Asset Management.
In addition, Sanchez has taken a job as adviser to an accounting firm, Jain & Jain, and board positions with several different groups, including Capital Bank.
"Orlando has grown exponentially since September 2001," said supporter Jack Rains, who served as Sanchez's campaign finance chairman two years ago.
"He is a very quick study who has the ability all good leaders do, to seek and absorb varying viewpoints, analyze them and come back with a decision they can live with."
In the run-up to this year's effort, Sanchez has changed political staffers, releasing many of his consultants who now have positions with other mayoral candidates.
Sanchez has sidled up to those who helped Brown win the 2001 runoff, including city contractors eager to back a winner.
Though Rains will remain an adviser, this year's finance chairman is former Port of Houston Authority Chairman Ned Holmes, who previously served as finance chairman for Brown. Also assisting Sanchez are political operatives Dave and Sue Walden, who had key fund-raising and advisory positions for Brown and former Mayor Bob Lanier.
Sanchez, 45, has said that including the Brown supporters is part of his effort to broaden the base that nearly put him in the mayor's chair in 2001. He also notes that they have been political winners.
This year, Sanchez again will focus part of his campaign on his personal story, as a Cuban-born immigrant who came to Houston at age 6 when his father got a job as the Spanish-speaking announcer for the Houston Colt .45s, which later became the Astros.
Sanchez graduated with honors from the University of Houston and served in the U.S. Air Force.
He now lives with his 11-year-old daughter in the modest southwest Houston neighborhood where he grew up. Sanchez and the girl's mother are divorced.
Because of his financial success in the past year, Sanchez said he will begin paying his daughter's full tuition at Awty International School starting next fall.
During the last campaign, he was questioned about a secret donor who contributed a portion of his daughter's Awty tuition while Sanchez served on council. Sanchez said he did not know the name of the secret donor, and that in any case he now can pay the full tuition himself. "I am doing well financially and can afford to pay it," he said.
Sanchez said he wants to focus his campaign on the governmental experience he gained during his six years on council. The city faces serious challenges in coming years to balance the budget while providing adequate services -- problems Sanchez says worsened because of past failures of the Brown administration.
He said he will put together a panel of financial and management experts to help him control city spending and make sure services such as street repairs are done more efficiently.
"My family instilled in me the need to give back," Sanchez told a Republican crowd recently. "That's what I intend to do. I love this city."
I worry that there could be some payback requested from the Downtown political establishment later.
I voted for OS last time and have heard him on KSEV 700AM. He's got my support at this time but with some hesitancy.
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