| Early voting for the Austin mayoral election starts Monday. It runs from April 27th through May 5th. The actual election is on May 9th (also my birthday!). If you haven't decided who to vote for let me give you my two cents.
First, if you aren't planning on voting, that's just foolish. This past November Al Franken won a Minnesota Senate seat by 312 votes. That was out of nearly 3 million votes cast. 312 out of 3 million. That's all that made the difference in a statewide Senate race. That's such a small percentage I can't even figure it out. Like one-tenth of one percent or something. (And hopefully Al will get to take his Senate seat before 2014 when he runs for reelection.)
By contrast, the Austin mayoral election is going to be decided by a lot fewer votes. The projected turnout is around 60,000. If Austin were to pull a Minnesota then this election would be decided by 6 people. (Or maybe six-tenths of one person, not actually sure on the math on that one.) So, it is incredibly important for you to get out to the polls and vote.
If you haven't looked into the Austin mayoral race there are five people running. But only one of them is right for Austin. His name is Brewster McCracken and he is the current Mayor Pro-Tem. And yes, his name sounds like it should be, "Coming this summer Will Ferrell in Mayoral Race: The Legend of Brewster McCracken," but he's an incredible candidate.
There's a bunch of reasons why I support Brewster, but I'll only list a few of them here. As an aspiring screenwriter who wants to get back into the film business, I want to see Austin as a thriving metropolis of film. In 2002 Austin was second only to Hollywood for film productions. But with the recent tax incentives in Albuquerque and Shreveport, Austin is losing business to our neighbors to the east and west. Brewster is a strong proponent of getting Austin's tax credits back to where they should be: the best in the country. He believes that the creative economy (both digital and music) is a top priority for the continued success in Austin. Most people probably don't realize the vast amount of money that a film brings into a town. But it is massive. They spend millions of dollars on housing, clothing, props, food, and rental cars, just to name a few. Not to mention the hundreds of local people hired for each film.
Brewster also believes that Austin can become the clean energy capital of the world. He wants to bring in solar, wind and biotech to make this city green in both the literal and figurative sense. And he's got the credentials to back it up. Brewster has been the driving force in the city for the Pecan Street Project, a revolutionary initiative designed to keep Austin at the forefront of clean energy.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of driving Brewster around town to a few campaign events. While in the car, we got to chatting about my past political experiences amongst other things. I told him about how I was in Missouri during the gay marriage ban in 2004. He shook his head and said that those bans were just horrendous. It's that sort of candor and honesty that we need from our politicians. By contrast, John Kerry supported Missouri's ban in 2004. We need more than just pleasantries about equal rights from our politicians. We need their open support towards fighting injustice.
This election is incredibly important. Austin, much like many other places in America, is at a crossroads. One path is to continue the way things were, and hope that jobs and prosperity returns. The other path is with Brewster McCracken. He wants to build an infrastructure of clean energy and creative digital media for Austin. Those are jobs that can't be shipped overseas. And that's the kind of leadership that Austin needs right now. Please get out and vote. |
