Free Republic

The last major electoral contest of 2003 was one of the most disappointing for conservatives. Two years ago, in a race that inspired articles in such national publications as the New York Times and the Washington Post, conservative Republican Orlando Sanchez came within 11,000 votes out of more than 319,000 cast of becoming mayor of Houston, Texas. Had Sanchez overtaken incumbent Democrat Lee Brown that year, Houston would have become the largest city in the nation with a Latino mayor—and Sanchez would have been a national Republican star. On December 6, former City Councilman Sanchez was again running for mayor....

Conservatives Suffer Major Setback in Houston Election - What The Heck Happened? December 6, 2003 is a date that will be remembered as a disastrous day for conservatives in Houston. How did we go from the prospects six months ago of electing a conservative mayor and controller and as many as ten conservatives to City Council to a major setback? The "inside" story of what went wrong is both long and tragic with many factors that put us where we are today. Let's start with the major race - Orlando Sanchez, a good man who really understands the city's problems...

HOUSTON (AP) - A businessman who used his millions to help bankroll a first-time run for political office easily beat out a former city councilman Saturday in a runoff election to become Houston's next mayor. With 74 percent of the precincts reporting, Bill White had 113,583 votes to 68,720 for Orlando Sanchez, or 62 percent to 38 percent. White, 49, a former chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, spent some $2.2 million of his own fortune as part of a record $8.6 million effort in the race against Cuban-born Sanchez, a Republican making a second bid to become Houston's first...

Send in the Election Clowns Don't worry, they're here BY TIM FLECK tim.fleck@houstonpress.com What a difference a couple of years make. In the Houston Press Best of Houston issue in 2001, Houston's District H councilman Gabe Vasquez received Best Politician honors. Last week, he missed the runoff in the race for city controller after earlier deciding not to seek re-election to his City Council seat. Come January, Vasquez will be busted back to private citizenship. In an informal Insider poll of the biggest blunders of the 2003 local election, media members and politicos named Vasquez's ballot switcheroo as No. 1....

Oct. 4, 2003, 1:34AM Scheme to confuse voters in mayor's race is thwarted By JOHN WILLIAMS Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Political Writer An aborted scheme to dilute support for a major candidate by putting another man with the same name on the Nov. 4 ballot has touched two campaigns and is roiling the rhetoric in Houston's mayoral race. It is a bizarre tale that includes a Democratic U.S. congressman, a secret tape recording, a $5,000 campaign check and a floppy straw hat sold for $1,200. And it is a tale that raises as many questions as it answers. At the...

In Search of Bogus Bill How a would-be dirty trick became campaign comedy BY TIM FLECK Even by Houston's offbeat political standards, it was a very strange meeting indeed. In Internet whistle-blower Brenda Flores's humble Spring Branch-area bungalow sat an unlikely confab of political power: Congressman Chris Bell, mayoral candidate and millionaire executive William H. "Bill" White and Metro board member Janie Reyes. They had come calling on a Sunday afternoon, the day before the municipal election filing deadline, to implore Flores not to follow through on her confessed scheme to recruit another Bill White to run for mayor. In...

Scrapping the speech about irresponsible spending he gives to Anglo conservatives on Houston's West side, mayoral candidate Orlando Sanchez instead shimmied and flapped his elbows to woo a group of feisty seniors boogieing down to the "chicken dance." This, apparently, is what it takes to win the support of los viejos decked out in their brightest Mexican party dresses and guayaberas. Sanchez is splitting his campaign time between the barrio, where his native Spanish and Hispanic surname are expected to help him win votes, and Republican neighborhoods, where he rails against mismanagement at City Hall. The Cuban immigrant hopes to...

Bill White leads Orlando Sanchez and Sylvester Turner in what is shaping up to be a three-man race for mayor of Houston, according to a Houston Chronicle/KHOU-TV poll. White, the Houston businessman who has spent more than $600,000 of his own money to help dominate early advertising, has support from 25 percent of likely voters. Sanchez, with 20 percent, and Turner, with 19 percent, are within striking distance as both candidates prepare to ratchet up their own campaigns in a race most believe will be decided in a runoff. A distant fourth is Michael Berry with 7 percent. "This election...

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...

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...

Some of Houston's best political precognitives are hard at work this summer trying to prevent what they foresee as an electoral disaster. Operating out of the Department of Pre-Elections, these agents have detected a frightening scenario in the making: Houstonians wake up after the first round of the city elections in 2003 and find their only remaining choices for mayor are named Orlando and Sylvester. More and more, the future is looking like a reflection of the past, with a likely confrontation between previous runoff losers. In 1991, state Representative Sylvester Turner squeezed ten-year incumbent Kathy Whitmire out of contention....