Free Republic

Local labor leaders are fuming over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's last-minute appearance at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast in San Francisco -- and a lot of their anger is directed at former Mayor Willie Brown. "We've spent a year and a half, and millions of dollars fighting this SOB,'' San Francisco Labor Council head Tim Paulson said of the governor. "For him to come to this breakfast was an absolute insult." Paulson also had a few words for Brown, the lawyer/lobbyist and talk-show pundit (he regularly appears on TV with this column's Phil Matier) who helped engineer Arnold's well-covered...

Events of the past week reminded me of the wisdom of the late Bill Crane, one of my political science professors. Crane wrote a popular textbook on Texas politics. Needless to say, he understood political corruption, and divided it into two types. It wasn't Democrat and Republican. This was before Texas Republicans had enough power to be corrupt. Crane's distinction was between Catholic corruption and Protestant corruption. He wasn't talking theology, but sociology. His use of the term "Catholic" was shorthand for immigrant groups that arrived relatively recently: Irish, Italians, Mexicans, and so on. The "Protestants" were the moneyed and...

Reports that Oliver Spellman has been charged by the U.S. attorney in Cleveland, Ohio, with conspiring to obtain bribes will surely trouble the people whose image of him was so different when he worked for the city of Houston. Spellman, who had been recruited as Houston's parks director in 1998, came from a similar position in Cleveland. Once here, he charmed parks supporters and won plaudits for streamlining the bloated departmental bureaucracy and cleaning up and renovating city-owned green space. So highly regarded was Spellman that he was touted as a leading candidate for the parks directorship of New York...

Mayor Bill White spoke Wednesday about city integrity following the bribery indictment of a one-time aide to former Mayor Lee Brown. Oliver Spellman, who until last Friday also worked as a top aide to County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, has been charged with criminal conspiracy to obtain bribes as a public official. It stems from allegations he helped a consultant in Cleveland, Ohio win City of Houston contracts. Mayor White says all contracts handled by Spellman are under review, and corruption will not be tolerated. "I've said in public microphones for two years, public contracting should be clean and transparent, no...

Bridge-building experts advised state transportation officials in April that the cost of the single-tower suspension span would soar past Caltrans estimates and urged them to cut costs by considering a different design. But the state ignored that advice until last week, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to reject the sole $1.4 billion bid on the suspension span and look at redesigning the bridge to save as much as $500 million, or seek new bids.

After witnessing a weekend of self-congratulatory festivities marking the January 1st debut of Houston’s MetroRail transit system, the hometown newspaper’s editorial board could hardly contain its exuberance. “Viewed from any angle,” opined the Houston Chronicle, the kickoff celebrations were a sure “sign of good things to come.” To the board, itself a merciless campaigner for rail, the roughly 15,000 people in attendance suggested that a “large helping of crow” was in order for transit critics. Reports from Houston spread quickly causing the Arizona Republic’s editorial page to gloat “critics rail at light rail to no avail.” After all, what...

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown is one of the most successful politicians in California history, a trailblazer for blacks in public office and a legendary master of the deal. Yet in an interview this week, Brown, 69, was unusually somber in assessing the sacrifices entailed by his very public career, which he is ending next week after 40 years in politics. "You can't be as successful as I've been and have a private life separate and distinct from your public life. They're all one and the same," he said in an interview at City Hall. Brown, known for his outgoing,...

SAN FRANCISCO – It's fun to see a political battle raging by the left against their own. We love to see them tear themselves apart. For the few San Francisco conservatives, it's like having a brewsky and being able to watch female mud wrestlers. A real joy in life. And as you know, in this town, it's only a handful of men who could enjoy those female mud wrestlers. Now we have a case that pits the ayatollah of the city, Mayor Willie Brown Jr., against his neutered, "affirmative action" police chief, Earl Sanders, who is battling it out with...

It's fun to see a political battle raging by the left against their own. We love to see them tear themselves apart. For the few San Francisco conservatives, it's like having a brewsky and being able to watch female mud wrestlers. A real joy in life. And as you know, in this town, it's only a handful of men who could enjoy those female mud wrestlers. Now we have a case that pits the ayatollah of the city, Mayor Willie Brown Jr., against his neutered, "affirmative action" police chief, Earl Sanders, who is battling it out with the known cop...

Holmes rules out mayor bid, pins hopes on Sanchez Ex-Port chairman to spearhead former councilman's campaign Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Political Writer Former Port of Houston Authority Chairman Ned Holmes ended speculation about a mayoral run of his own Thursday when he announced that he'll be campaign chairman for Orlando Sanchez. Sanchez, a former City Council member and 2001 mayoral candidate who now works for an investment firm and an accounting firm, is expected to kick off his second mayoral run later this spring. Holmes is a local investor who has played an important role in raising money for the...

The Houston Area TexansHouston Chapter of FreeRepublic.comand theFreeRepublic Network  Not In My Name!SAY NO!To a Houston City Council ResolutionAgainst the War On IraqTuesday, January 28, 2003 The Radical Left in Houston is attempting to get the City Council to adopt a resolution opposing a U.S. war against Iraq.As our Nation is on the brink of war it is wrong for local Governments to publicly oppose our foreign policy and divide our Country. I do not oppose a war with Iraq. Most of my fellow Houstonians do not oppose a war with Iraq. I do not want this resolution passed...

An Alief teacher is suing Mayor Lee Brown for injuries she says she suffered in a fender bender last month, when the city-owned car Brown was driving collided with hers. Patricia C. Fox filed suit Thursday, claiming unspecified injuries and damages from the Aug. 10 accident. Fox was driving westbound on Westheimer Road near the intersection of Potomac about 4:25 p.m. when Brown's Lincoln Town Car struck her car on the driver's side. Brown said he was trying to turn left across three lanes of traffic when the collision occurred. A Houston police investigation found Brown at fault in the...