Granted, this ad has been running for a while which is in part why Cid Galindo is (barely) leading the only public poll taken in the city council place 4 race. But since we're putting everyone's ads on the front page as we see them come out, here's Cid's.
After much deliberation and careful consideration, Clean Water Action and Texas Vote Environment have endorsed the following candidates for Austin City Council, 2008:
Place 1: Lee Leffingwell
Place 3: Jennifer Kim
Place 4: Dual endorsement: Robin Cravey and Laura Morrison
I'm not sure if the place 4 endorsement was driven more out of endorsing the credible non-Cid Galindo candidates, or a hedge on endorsing the (no longer) frontrunner Laura Morrison and environ Robin Cravey.
(Candidate Post: Robin Cravey is running for Austin City Council Place 4. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Dear friends,
How am I different from my opponents? As I've been campaigning around town, I'm often asked to distinguish myself from the two well-funded candidates for Place 4. Usually, I'm asked to do this in a minute or two. That's really not enough. This little essay may seem long, but there's a lot to tell, and I'm just scratching the surface.
I am the only environmentalist in the Place 4 race. Before I was 25, I had explored most of the ground the other candidates are now learning. In the 1970s I wrote about environmental issues in depth in ecology in texas, my environmental news magazine, and in the Texas Observer and other local periodicals. I helped start recycling in Austin as an early member of ecology action, and my wife and I have recycled consistently since the time when we had to load our recyclables into the trunk of a car and drive them to the recycling center.
I have worked to preserve our creeks since before SOS was conceived. I volunteered in the petition campaign for the Save Our Springs Coalition and worked as a law clerk at the SOS Legal Defense Fund. In law school, I served as a section editor for the Texas Environmental Law Journal. In my other community service work I have consistently advocated environmental protection. Two and a half years ago, when Barton Springs Pool was in deplorable condition, I served as founding president of Friends of Barton Springs Pool, which organized swimmers to volunteer to clean the pool, and persuaded the city council to budget over $6 million for short-term pool improvements and for writing a master plan for long term improvements.
(A whole slew of local groups are meeting tonight starting at 6 at the Gardner-Betts Juvenile Center (2515 South Congress Ave) for a city council endorsement forum. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
With several Democratic clubs endorsing this evening I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a couple of the reasons why I deserve the endorsements of local Democratic clubs above my opponents.
Each candidate in this race has something unique to offer however, what they cannot offer is my consistency, passion, and knowledge.
First of all, I invite you to look at my voting record and compare it to the other candidates in this race. Although city council elections are non-partisan, we all know that this is the year of the Democrat! As a life long Democrat, I have taken the responsibility of voting in democratic primaries very seriously and have done so consistently for over 20 years. My opponents have voted in only one or two. I'm not sure that either of them voted in the SOS election.
I am a member of the South Austin Democrats, Texas Environmental Democrats, and a sustaining member of the Travis County Democratic Party. In 1988 and 2006, I was a state delegate to the Democratic party convention.
As Walt Whitman said about Manhattan,"This is the city, and I am one of its citizens." My love for the city of Austin is not a newfound love. When I came here in 1969 to attend UT, Austin was a green oasis flourishing in an era of profound change. It was a state capital and university town set at the geologic and climatic edge called the Balcones Fault. In 1970 I started publishing an environmental magazine which began my dedication to the city as a voice for the citizens of Austin and the environment. I took a degree in American Studies, drove a taxicab, and I wrote about the city as a journalist and a poet.
(Robin is running for Austin City Council Place 4. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
I reported yesterday that I raised almost $14,000 in campaign contributions by December 31. Since then the total has climbed over $18,000, but this campaign finance report will show only the first $13,895. I expect to raise and spend at least $75,000 by the May 10 election.
Weird campaign finance
Filing my first campaign finance report is a little weird, since I have what seems to me to be a lot of money to report. It's even more weird, since I favor public financing of election campaigns. And it's yet more weird because it's so hard to figure out the campaign finance laws.
I'm running a grassroots campaign, and I've been really overwhelmed by the many friends and even strangers who have been willing to contribute $10, $100, or even $300 to my campaign. It's an expression of trust that I take very seriously. I'm determined to use that money to deliver a clear message of positive change to the city.
I've always believed that public financing of election campaigns is the way to improve the integrity of politics. It's not that money corrupts all politicians: it just corrupts those subject to temptation, or those without well-developed ethical judgment. Also, it creates the appearance of corruption, which reduces citizens' faith in democracy. Ronnie Earle talked about that just the other night. I was at the Travis County Democratic Party dinner, and Ronnie was giving a valedictory address on his years as district attorney. During that time, he has prosecuted a lot of politicians for public corruption. The best antidote for public corruption, Ronnie declared, is public financing of campaigns.
An Austin politician is subject to a bewildering thicket of campaign regulations. I'm not even going to talk about state law, which is true to our wild west traditions. Just in Austin we have an ordinance and two charter amendments. I probably don't need to point out that these provisions contradict each other. What may surprise the average citizen is that the city administration refuses to give candidates any guidance about how to follow them. Their guidance is: hire a lawyer.
Now a second of the three candidates running to replace Betty Dunkerly has released their finance report. From the press release...
Robin Cravey, candidate for Austin City Council in Place 4, released his first campaign finance report today, showing that he raised almost $14,000 by December 31. In the two weeks since the reporting period ended, Cravey has raised an additional $4,400, for a total of $18,300 since the campaign began. With more than 100 donors contributing to his campaign, and more than half those contributing $100 or less, Cravey has support from a diverse array of citizens who want a renewed vision for Austin.
"I'm inspired that my message resonates with so many Austinites from all walks of life," Cravey said. "The confidence placed in me by such a wide variety of folks, from friends and neighbors, business owners, environmentalists and ordinary working folks is overwhelming."
"Robin's years of leadership in the environmental community, from the 1970s up through his recent work to clean up Barton Springs Pool, made it easy for me to decide who to support in this race," said Mary Ann Neely, board member of the Save Barton Creek Association. "I donated to his campaign because as a councilmember he would be a strong advocate for the environment."
I'm not sure that we've really discussed the fact that there is another candidate in the Austin City Council Place 4 race (Dunkerly's open seat) for which Laura Morrison and Robin Cravey are running. From his press release...
Cid Galindo today announced that he raised more than $11,000 in the first 30 days of his Austin City Council campaign, saying that his success in bringing together a diverse group of supporters over the holidays underscores how strongly voters want to unite behind a candidate who will move the city beyond the battles of the past to address the challenges of the future.
"We may not have the most money in this race, but our report shows that our campaign will have enough resources to show that we have the best message," Galindo said. "I am grateful for such strong support as we make the case for the kind of positive change that can turn Austin into one of America's greatest cities."
The former City of Austin Planning Commissioner, running for the Place 4 seat being vacated by Betty Dunkerley, filed his campaign finance report for the period ending December 31.
With $7,350 raised from 22 contributions in the period from December 10 through December 31, Galindo's report shows a broad spectrum of Austinites backing his campaign, from advocates for parks, neighborhoods, and the arts to champions of education, high-tech, health care reform, and sustainable development.
Galindo said he has brought in an additional $3,800 in the first two weeks of the new year, for a total of $11,150 as of Sunday.
If your running for Place 4 on the Austin City Council and want to be taken seriously, there is apparently a requirement that you launch your campaign at Threadgill's World Headquarters on Riverside Drive.
Following longtime Austinite Robin Cravey's kickoff Wednesday night for retiring Councilwoman Betty Dunkerley's Place 4 seat, fellow candidate Laura Morrison will be returning there tonight at 5:30-7:30 to start her own campaign for the same seat.
While I'm not taking sides in this race (nor others for that matter since I'm working for a candidate of my own), having been at Austin area events and club meetings for the good part of a week, it's quite clear that at least two of the three city council seats are already geared up. I encourage you all to visit Robin Cravey or Laura Morrison's websites in the meantime. After all, City Council elections are only 6 months away!
