Burnt Orange Report

Certainly not a landslide for Sue Lovell but the reality is quite a few were turned off by the ethics complaint Jay Aiyer filed against her.

It reminded some of the ethics complaint he filed against Al Green while he served as campaign treasurer for Chris Bell. Which raised the question of why his having served as campaign treasurer for Chris Bell was never disclosed. Particularly by the Houston Chronicle. Although quite a few knew anyway. And that in turn reminded some of the ethics complaint Chris Bell filed against Tom De Lay which resulted in Chris Bell being admonished by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. For his use of innuendo and inflammatory language. And of course that explains why Jay Aiyer made sure nothing appeared in print associating him with Chris Bell. Although, again, quite a few knew anyway. Which perhaps Jay Aiyer didn't realize. This propensity for filing ethics complaints peppered with innuendo and inflammatory language as a political tool in order to garner publicity should give some indication, but doesn't for some reason, of the problems down the road that Chris Bell will have as a gubernatorial candidate. The past always comes back to haunt you.

Greg Wythe only furthers the problem quite a few have with Chris Bell and with Jay Aiyer.

"SEIU Lovell is a crook. Simple as that. Just like Tom DeLay. Just like Joe Nixon. I've got friends who supported Sue SEIU Lovell out of friendship and I completely get that. But in supporting her, they've now silenced whatever outrage they have at the Republican Culture of Corruption. Instead of combatting corruption, SEIU Lovell has joined the ranks of the corrupt and I refuse to turn a blind eye towards that."

Character assassination through innuendo and inflammatory language. Greg Wythe obviously supports Chris Bell. You can tell by the way he engages in reasonable discourse.

Even if she violated an ethics rule or violated Texas campaign finance law, which I and others do not believe she did or that SEIU did, that does not make her a crook. But it sounds good.

No doubt Jay Aiyer will next accuse SEIU of paying people to vote for Sue Lovell. And Greg Wythe will call for her indictment and imprisonment. Or worse. Off with her head!

All these saviors. Someone needs to save us from them.

"Character assassination through innuendo and inflammatory language."

I just cannot help but consider the source of this quote when I go on to read how that source goes on to engage in the very same activity later in the very same comment.

It seems to me that the second time is the charm when it comes to Houston at-large city council seats, seeing that Peter Brown and Sue Lovell won this time after losing previously. With two open at-large seats next time around I'm sure that Aiyer would be a fine candidate for either of those seats. Personally, I'm pleased to see another well-qualified GLBT Democrat elected to office, especially in the midst of the prop 2 setback last month.

I'm more than pleased. I'm ecstatic. Sue Lovell has been a very vital part of the Houston community and her contributions go far beyond the GLBT community. She may be just a GLBT activist to some but to those who take the time to look closely, she is a devoted mother and a community activist who serves more than just her own community. Because she, unlike some, knows the true sense of community.

I think Jay Aiyer will be a fine candidate for the political graveyard. Hopefully the Ethics Commission will send him there when it rules on his complaint.

Jay Aiyer handled this campaign with grace and class. He stuck to the issues and he raised his own resources fair and square - unlike his opponent.

In the end, I am hopeful this SEIU affair will be but a small blemish on Sue Lovell. She has been a good community activist and this probably had more to do with her consultants and the union than herself. Not excusing her, just putting it in perspective. It was wrong what she did, but it will pass. And I have a feeling she will do good things on council.

Jay obviously has a bright political future ahead of him. This race was extremely close and he has too much talent in a party desperate for new leadership.

My prediction is that Lovell will be forgiven her transgression and Jay will run successfully in 2 years! And all will be well in Houston.

Why did you simply repeat Greg's error that Lovell succeeds Mark Ellis? Peter Brown succeeds Ellis while Lovell is succeeding Gordon Quan.

Houston City Council now goes from eight Republicans and seven Democrats to eight Democrats and seven Republicans because Brown a Democrat is replacing Ellis a Republican.

While the city council elected two years ago was the first majority Republican City Council ever, this new council will be the first majority female council with Republican women Toni Lawrence, Anne Clutterbuck, Addie Wisman, Pam Holm and Shelley Sekula Sekula Gibbs and Democrat women Sue Lovell, Ada Edwards, Carol Alvarado.

The Republican Councilmen are MJ Khan and Michael Berry and the Democrat Councilmen are Peter Brown, Ron Green, Jarvis Johnson, Adrian Garcia.

I have known Sue Lovell for 20 years or so
and know her to be effective, pragmatic and a stand up gal under pressure, an exceedingly rare combination for a politician of any time or place, but particularly here and now.

Sue will be an excellent Houston council member, and I congratulate her on her victory.

Greg has alot of energy that needs to be focused on positive results for the progressive community. Clearly he has a hard-on for Sue but, get over it--she won, Jay lost. There was nothing illegal about the SEIU participation--and as for her being "owned" by them, you don't know Sue if you think anyone can own her.

Jay has been a good progressive--although I think there will be some clearing up to do regarding the appearance that he was trying to "gay bait" Sue in the conservative community. Why do we (ie progressives, Dems) always eat our young first then turn to the real opponents? I guess we taste better!

Let's move forward: Shelly Sekula Rodriquez Gibbs Yada Yada is termed out next time, as is Michael Berry (have you seen the sign at his office "World Headquarters for Michael Berry Properties"?). We can take back council in total! Additionally, with the Katrina evacuees it is possible that we will have to redistrict and add council seats; anyone know where that actually stands?

Alls I know is that there are lots of people out there who just do not like Jay Aiyer. That and Sue Lovell is truly a community person and we like community people on City Hall. Jay's smart, well-educated, accomplished, has a beautiful family, had big-time endorsements from Rodney Ellis, Bob Lanier, police & fire unions... but he didn't run a ground campaign. They thought that because it was a city wide election, blockwalking was a waste of time. Someone on Team Jay actually said, "we don't blockwalk, we advertise."
How are you going to get people to vote for you if you don't ask them personally?! How arrogant can someone be?

Let me get this straight... Greg is complaining that the candidate endorsed by Houston's leading right-wing radio wingnut had the election unfairly stolen by the nefarious and illegal politics of the evil labor unions???

Is Greg a democrat, or is he just reading off of Fox News' talking points?

Last time I checked real democrats like and support labor unions because they are for progressive employment practices and they put their money and field work where their mouths are.

Never mind the fact that this was only Jay's first run, and he made a great showing. He will clearly be the guy to beat next time around. Jay had a strong showing he should be pleased with. I'm sure there were some hard elbows thrown in the game, but once the election is over we all have to kiss and make up. Besides, there's no crying in baseball.

Baby Snooks, is there ANY topic that you cannot twist into an opportunity to bash Chris Bell? For goodness sakes, did he jilt you at the middle school prom or something? Get over it.

I think she loves him. I bet there are CB pictures, yard signs and locks of his hair in her room.

I'm scared.

I'm glad that Jay Aiyer didn't win, because if he did, Houstonians would be facing 2 years of corrupt politics in council. Yes, he had a close run, but clearly Sue Lovell was the right choice. Jay's signature on the Fair Campaign Practice Document was his way of trying to keep the public out of his private business. What does he have to hide? Clearly, Sue's TV ad shows that he had more secrets than a tv commercial could fit. The whole Chris Bell connection, PowerSol, Mayor Brown's office and Jay Aiyer's sudden termination as chief of staff, and this campiagn's fundrasing and spending concerns show that this man is not on the up and up. He tried to come across as a bi-partisan candidate, but he was all over the place, basically, saying "yes" to anyone with their checkbook open. If you had money or anything he needed, then he promised to be on your side. But how could he have made good on his promises to contributors and lobbyists when each side presented opposing stances? All it would mean is that council would be in a fine mess had he been elected. And where would Jay Aiyer be when it all came crumbling down? Missing, absent, or "running off to another event" as he and his reputation has been known to do.

"I think she loves him. I bet there are CB pictures, yard signs and locks of his hair in her room."

None of the above. But I do have a dart board with his photo on it.

You are weird.

Ok the election is over. Can we get on with things?