| These are our 2006 endorsements. Click here for our current 2009 endorsements. 
Halfway through Early Voting for municipal elections here in Travis County, I've finally gotten around to getting things together for some BOR endorsements. So we'll start with the big races and then hit the Propositions and ACC/AISD candidates after that in separate posts. Keep in mind that these are all fairly low turnout (and low interest) elections and I only received input from 2 other writers for endorsements. Let's get started. Mayor: Will Wynn This is easy. While Austin's Mayor may have been elected in a whirlwind of moderation and mediocrity three years ago, there is a certain charm about him that has shown through in past couple of years. A hard worker, believer in downtown density (of which I'm a big fan since I'll probably live there soon enough), and tireless promoter for the City of Austin, its industries, and its people, Wynn should not only be re-elected, but fully deserves a second term. And considering his competition this year, there is no question in our eyes that Wynn has earned our endorsement and votes. We want Wynn, again. If you feel that you want to keep Austin weird, you could always vote for perennial candidate Jennifer Gale. We understand. But please don't vote for outgoing councilman and candidate Danny Thomas, as we're not even sure if he knows why he's running. Austin doesn't need to be that weird. City Council Place 2: Mike Martinez While more contentious earlier in the race, this one has become clearer to us as time has gone on. Martinez, after winning most every local endorsement, recently picked up the Statesman and Chronicle nods. A native of East Austin and president of the Austin Firefighters Association, Martinez led the successful public campaign to win collective bargaining rights for Austin firefighters which we also supported. This is not to say that his opponent Eliza May is unqualified- far from it. She has received support from the West Austin groups as well as the local Spanish papers and would certainly be an active voice on the council. But we feel that Martinez has proven leadership skills and will not back down for his community on the council while being the most able to work to bind people east and west of I-35. Libertarian Wes Benedict is also running. City Council Place 5: Brewster McCracken The endorsement for incumbent McCracken is not as enthusiastic as for incumbent Wynn but the two are similar in style, ideology, and we won't be surprised when McCracken announces for Mayor in 3 years. His opposition is mostly token, but certain interests have spurred them into the race, partly on the issue of Tolls. While we're no fan of them, what we find even more annoying is it used as a single issue interest group. In fact, I find it as the single most annoying one in Austin. (I have to laugh that their only acceptable single issue option in the Mayor's race is Jennifer Gale, ha!) That said, his opponents include Mark Hopkins, Kedron Touvell, and Colin Kalmbacher. City Council Place 6: Sheryl Cole Cole, like Martinez, is the frontrunner for their respective places for City Council. If elected, she would be the first African American female ever to serve on the Austin Council. Endorsed by the Chronicle (the Statesman endorsed Darrell Pierce), Cole has racked up most all the local endorsements, save the few that DeWayne Lofton has picked up. Each of the three candidates is worthy of a seat on the council in their own right, but Austin's "gentleman's agreement" to reserve one black and one Hispanic seat in order to keep free of federal Voting Rights Act interference has also more or less made these 'reservations' caps as well. As the seat considered to be the most likely to go to a runoff if one should, the real battle will be between Lofton and Pierce to claim the 2nd spot. Personally, I voted for Pierce, but an argument has been made for Lofton in the journals. |
