Posted on 12/01/2003 8:22:07 PM PST by GOPcapitalist
HOUSTON – One indication of businessman Bill White's confidence he'll be Houston's next mayor -- White said his employer, the WEDGE Investment Group, has already picked his replacement as the company's CEO.
But White's opponent is issuing a tough attack by mentioning White's name in the same breath as a Mideast group linked to terrorism.
The last days of Houston's campaign for mayor the front-running campaign is under attack.
"These are interesting relationships," says mayoral candidate Orlando Sanchez. "We just want to know the answers."
Ever since he announced he was running for mayor, Bill White's opponents have quietly raised questions about his connection to his boss, Lebanese investor Issam Fares, the founder of Houston-based Wedge Group. A secretly backed Web site even tried to draw a link between White, Fares and international terrorism.
"It's clear that he's involved in a personal and financial relationship, making money for a gentleman who believes that Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization," says Sanchez. "And clearly, there's evidence that they are."
"Mr. Sanchez today made a desperate, last-minute, negative attack," says White. "Because he's falling behind in the polls."
White responded by releasing a videotape of former president Bush praising White's boss. "But with Issam Fares here," he says. "I feel blessed by being with a very good close friend."
And with a little research through campaign finance reports, 11 News discovered Fares also gave $100,000 to George W. Bush's 2000 election campaign.
Even if Sanchez had the money to buy a lot of TV commercials and get this message out, it isn't clear just how much it would help him. Even in Meyerland, with its concentration of Jewish voters all too familiar with the history of Hezbollah, opinions are mixed.
"I would think it was not true," says one person. "I wouldn't believe it."
"I'd be extremely upset, extremely," adds another. "I would find that quite disheartening."
"Well, if it's his boss' opinion," continues a third. "I guess he wouldn't have to have the same opinion."
Sanchez's opponent has a lot more money for TV commercials. So he's hoping the media will pick up stories like this and give him more exposure between now and Election Day.
Both mayoral candidates will appear in a live televised debate this Wednesday at 7:00 on Channel 11. The debate is sponsored by KHOU and the Houston Chronicle.
In McConn v. MJ Khan go with McConn. Khan is connected to CAIR - the islamofascist version of the NAACP.
I'm backing Keller over Green and Sekula-Gibbs over Brown in the at large seats.
And Tatro of course for city controller.
Actually, Bush won the under 35 vote.
I know nothing about Houston politics, but in NYC the Republican Mayoral candidate won the Jewish vote in 3 of the last 4 races, twice against Jewish democrats.
The problem is, IMHO, a product of incompetant consultants and wasteful spending more than anything else. Let me first say as a caveat that I have not been active in this campaign like the last as I am currently attending school in out of state. I have visited Sanchez events when I was in town. I have also followed the race very closely, read the finance reports to see who is working for him, and spoken with several others who are actively volunteering. Here are the problems as I percieve them and as best as I know them or have been told of them:
Sanchez hired several top dollar but severely overpriced campaign consultants back in the summer and has kept them all on salary ever since. Three of these consultants, Dave and Sue Walden and Kim Jessup, are little more than dead weight on the campaign yet they rake in thousands by the month in retainers and other fees for essentially sitting around on their rears and pretending like they are running the show. In addition to that he has a bloated campaign staff of high priced ammatuers doing the normal GOTV work.
His bulk mail guy, Spencer Newmann, is even worse than all the dead weight consultants. Newmann is a notoriously incompetant creature who tends to hover around GOP primaries in Houston. This guy has never won a campaign in his own right (he was dragged across the victory line in a couple by candidates who were well funded) and is best known for making horrible typos and misspellings on all of his mail pieces. Why Sanchez hired him is beyond me (I have to believe that Newmann relentlessly pestered Sanchez with requests for work over the course of several months until Sanchez was finally worn down and gave him the job) but the campaign has been stuck with him and his third-rate quality mailouts. Also part and parcel with the Newman package is a guy named Dion Jones, now on the Sanchez campaign. Some of the Houstonites may remember Dion from about a year ago when he used to answer phones at the local Republican Party HQ (he was the guy who always picked up the phone and said his own ebonics version of "hello" before "axing" you who you were and then disconnecting you in a perpetually ill-fated attempt to transfer the call to somebody else who actually knew what he or she was doing). Needless to say, he is a poster child for everything that is wrong with affirmative action. I find it inexplicable, but he keeps landing jobs, normally along side Newmann, at hapless Republican campaigns in Houston who think that they need to "diversify" their image and for some unknown reason think that he's the answer to their prayers. Instead what they get is another salary to pay, this time going to a guy who is intellectually suited to do little more than employ his left foot in place of one of those little rubber doorjam wedges. So once again, more dead weight. Sanchez simply has too many chiefs and not enough indians.
The product of it all has been to severely drain the campaign coffers, leaving our side unable to afford enough commercials running opposite of White's ubiquitous "Look at me - I'm a self made businessman" spots.
In spite of all this, I will say that Sanchez is a good man and a decent candidate in his own right. He also has some very decent, hardworking and capable people on his staff despite the problems I just mentioned. In my own humble opinion, these other staffers have worked hard and put forth an honest postive effort. The problem this time around is that he's being dragged down by a small but heavy dumpster full of lazy incompetants, overpriced rent seekers, and even a couple outright scoundrels. They suck money away from the campaign and the result is evident: coasting into the runoff on fumes.
He could have used that to counter how White claims to be a successful businessman, and that he'd bring the same disastrous financial leadership to City Hall.
But as far as I know, it was never mentioned once. He's really run an inept campaign
Just goes to show the mentality of White and his followers.
I will be voting for Sanchez on Saturday and am encouraging others to do the same.
Really? Cause I just did a quick web search and found pictures of Fares shaking hands with several other interesting characters:
Funny. I see lots of arab sheiks, dictators, thugs toting AKs, and at least one presidential sex offender but strangely no president Bush.
Our most recent poll for the runoff had White up 58-40. Turner's voters (the African-American bloc) are going overwhelmingly for White, as we predicted in our final poll for the 11/4 election.
Sanchez has Hispanics, Republicans, and Conservatives, but that's not quite enough in Houston against a candidate with White who has broad appeal. Sanchez's consultants must be advising him to go negative, which is the usual strategy in situations like this, but only a good one if the negative ads have real substance. White's flaws are apparently not easily reduced to soundbites, or else Sanchez lacks money or lacks PR expertise. (Since this Hezbollah innuendo, the explanation that Sanchez is above "going negative" has been rendered inoperative....)
And it's a shame. He's a handsome, articulate, conservative hispanic. He's someone who could bring more hispanics into the Republican fold.
You don't see anyone on this thread who has defended the mayoral campaign. It would take an enormously brilliant campaign to defeat a Democrat for mayor in this town, considering the way they have the rules stacked, and the liberal powers and media who control Houston.
I'm still hopeful, but a 57-43 outcome in favor of White wouldn't surprise me.
If Sanchez loses this race badly, he'll be ill-advised to run for Congress in any district next year. His campaign is out of money, he's run a lousy campaign, and he needs to beef up his credentials as someone who has done more than be a city councilman and conservative hispanic voice.
The bad part about him going negative now is that (1) its too late and (2) he has nobody else doing it for him. Had he pulled out the Hezbollah stuff a month or two ago, and had it been publicized by a third party (i.e. the county GOP and a couple PACs), it may have even been enough to knock White out of the runoff. But Sanchez opted to play little league until about yesterday while his money all got soaked up in overpriced yet wholly ineffective consultants.
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