(Bill Spelman is endorsed by BOR. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
We're in a recession, and unemployment is still rising. Should Austin offer tax incentives to bring in new businesses? If sales tax revenue doesn't turn around, should we cut public safety, parks and libraries, or something else? Shouldn't you be involved in making these decisions?
I believe the weak economy and the tight budget are the most pressing issues facing Austin today. Please join us next Tuesday evening for a town hall meeting to discuss them.
COMMUNITY TOWN HALL "Budget & Economy"
Tuesday, April 14
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
First Unitarian Universalist Church
4700 Grover Ave
Austin, TX 78756
RSVP on Facebook
You're invited to share your ideas and be a part of the solution. Austin faces some tough challenges ahead, but by working together, we can leverage our city resources to get the most bang for our taxpayer buck. If you can't make the event, then please share your ideas online.
Thanks for your support. I look forward to meeting with you personally to hear how you think we can best improve Austin.
Bill Spelman may make it to filing day without an opponent (and I hope he does) which actually allows for him to potentially run an interesting election campaign this spring centered around a less politically driven discussion about the budget and future of Austin. It's almost like we get an extra few months head start as him as a councilman, which of course, being a professor who's done a lot of survey and field research, he could very well use to incorporate into solutions and ideas for the city. That's a huge benefit for Austin as most candidate don't get to catch a breath from the politics of the campaign trail and then getting sucked into Council Land never to be heard from for 3 years.
As such, In Fact Daily (subscription only) has published a really key interview a couple days ago now that has made the rounds and I think expresses this. Some clips below.
In Fact Daily, Michael May: Former Place 5 City Council member Bill Spelman wants his old job back, and it looks at this point like no one is going to stop him. Spelman doesn't have an opponent so far, and there is freedom that comes with that. In a wide-ranging conversation with In Fact Daily, Spelman was not shy about wading into the tougher issues facing the city, like where to cut the city budget if the economy doesn't improve. "We're doing better than most cities," he says. "But we have to prepare ourselves for hard times. I think the next budget year is going to be worse than this one."
With city leaders already cutting back on everything from hiring new employees to library hours, Spelman says the Council is going to have to make tough choices in the years ahead. "Some budget cuts are easy," he says. "But some are hard. We only have contracts with our public safety employees. It's always easier to cut into libraries or parks, where the employees don't have contracts. But at some point we're going to run out of options. I don't think the public safety contracts should be on the table now, but if the economy gets worse, we're going to have to investigate that."
It's not that Spelman doesn't think public safety is important. This is a man who left the City Council in 2000 to run a national community-policing program. He just thinks that Texas' collective bargaining rules - which only allow the police, fire and EMS unions to negotiate contracts - skew city priorities.
Spelman is what you might call a progressive pragmatist; it is an attitude he also brings to the recent Wildflower PUD controversy. He believes the Council did the right thing by postponing a vote on the project, rather than killing it outright. "The developers can already build retail with single-family housing in back," he said. "I'd like to see something better than that. The developers say they are willing to set a higher standard, and they say they have a plan that will protect the aquifer, but they didn't prove their case. So, right now, I'm not sure which vote would have better protected the environment."
Spelman is in a rare position. He's been on the Council, but he's spent most of the decade teaching public policy at the LBJ School at UT. It's given him a different perspective on what city government should be doing.
"It's hard to see the big picture when you are making decisions everyday," he says. "On Council, you're always stuck in the weeds, having to make a decision about this zoning case or that one. And you can make good decisions about which weeds to cut, but the important stuff happens at a higher level."
For one thing, I think it's a fool's errand for anyone to file against Spelman now who launched over 750 supporters this weekend and has been going all over town with town halls, policy meetings, and neighborhood events not to mention garnering all the endorsements that one could possibly get so far. And the second point is that it's really exciting to be able to have some honest discussion and debate outside of the Mayor's race and to a lesser extend the Place 1 contest which in the big picture helps to drive the discussion this spring.
Enough stuff to catch up on that I'm going to dump it all into this post.
Mayor's Race
Carole Strayhorn is apparently too busy to attend 3 forums this week with her opponents. Maybe she'll be too busy to attend City Council meetings as well if she's elected Mayor.
As McCracken has founded his own campaign on forward-looking technologies such as solar power, his adamant defense of the project was no surprise. And as Martinez is surmised to be Leffingwell's proxy on issues the candidate would rather not wade into at the moment, his fulsome call for caution shouldn't surprise either. Maybe most surprising was Lef fing well's virtual absence from the debate - as politicians take pains to appear cautious, they may not want to remain overly so.
Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt writes an unprompted explaining of her endorsement of Leffingwell on her website. Go read it, but also did anyone notice the URL of the post? "a-word-about-jennifer-gale"? I KNEW IT. Jennifer Gale is reaching out to us to endorse Lee Leffingwell from the world beyond.
Speaking of endorsements, Leffingwell is apparently rolling out 2 more groups and 6 more elected officials Friday at Noon at his campaign office. Could that be the turning point? Maybe if those officials start working their communities. I don't think we've seen anything like that in a municipal race in many years.
Mike Martinez unopposed. Iterated his support for Leffingwell during the University Democrats meeting yesterday which I sense is leaning more towards Lee now. That's important because Leffingwell is pretty much guaranteed to win the Central Austin Democrats endorsement meaning he'd get the Austin Progressive Coalition endorsement and 5000+ doorhangers in central Austin as a result.
Austin City Council, Place 5
Bill Spelman unopposed, though there is still a week and a half to file. Not that we want anyone to file since Bill would be excellent on the council.
Upcoming events include...
South Austin House Party (Oak Hill)
Saturday, March 7
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Home of Valerie & Brian Reis
6516 Rotan Drive, 78749
North Austin House Party
Thursday, March 12
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Home of Dawn & Fred Lewis
4509 Edgemont, 78731
Austin City Council, Place 6
Sheryl Cole still only faces Sam Osemene. Really. That's it. This race is even more boring than Place 2 & 5 and Cole actually has an opponent. Then again, the only question is if she wins by 20 points or 40.
Bill Spelman's campaign had a great meeting in Oak Hill on Saturday morning. South Austin community leaders joined us alongside neighbors and friends to talk about how together we can improve how the city government engages city residents. Constructive dialogue punctuated the informative and critical assessment of the city's performance so far. While many opportunities for improvement were identified, the tone stayed positive throughout, and some truly excellent ideas surfaced during our 2-hour conversation.
For those of you who could not attend, we're working to get our notes up on the website www.billspelman.org. And I encourage you all to continue to conversation on our policy page (http://www.billspelman.org/?page_id=124) or here on BOR.
We're looking forward to our next community town hall on April 4th during which we'll discuss ideas for stablizing our economy and budget. Place and time are still TBD but we'll get the word out soon.
Thanks for participating and continuing to help improve the way we work together.
Best,
Barksdale
Policy Advisor for Bill Spelman for Place 5
Bill Spelman, candidate for Austin City Council Place 5, is hosting a "Community Town Hall" on "Neighborhoods, Public Participation, and Open Government".
Join us and share your ideas. Be a part of this unprecedented Public Participation process in local city government. President Obama has inspired millions to believe in their ability to bring change. Lets bring that can-do spirit to the local level!
We'll meet Sat., Feb. 21st, at 10:00am at the Will Hampton Library, 5125 Convict Hill Rd., Austin, 78749
There is no cost to attend. All are welcome.
I'm excited to see the energy that we started Nationally and county-wide flowing into Austin city politics.
It's sad that Austin only had an 8% voter turn-out in last May's election. Lets change that. Get involved. Be part of the process as we build an Austin that works for everyone.
(We're trying to pull back on the quantity of event posts here on BOR so don't expect as many of these to be front pages in the future. Still, these forums could be fun. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Fellow Austinites,
We're off to a great start!
Our campaign kickoff in January had over 200 people at Scholz Garten. Last week, we conducted our first volunteer block-walk and also hosted our first house party in the Circle C neighborhood. And to top things off, we just won the Central Labor Council endorsement.
Thanks to all our supporters who have helped make this campaign a success!
Now let's keep the momentum going. You're invited to participate in the first of our series of community town halls to discuss some of the central issues facing our great city. Come share your ideas and be a part of the solution. Over the next few months, we'll discuss the following issues:
* February 21: Neighborhoods, Public Participation & Open Government
* March 7: Economy & Budget
* April 4: Affordability & Social Services
Our first town hall is next Saturday. I look forward to meeting with you personally to get your feedback regarding how to best improve Austin.
COMMUNITY TOWN HALL "Neighborhoods, Public Participation and Open Government"
Saturday, February 21
10:00 a.m. - Noon
Will Hampton Library
5125 Convict Hill Rd Austin, TX 78749
In this era of new responsibility, meaningful citizen participation in local government is crucial to making a city that works for everyone. President Obama has inspired millions across the country to believe in their ability to bring change, and now we need to apply that same can-do spirit to the local level.
Please sign up online and learn how you can make a difference. If you have any questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact me at info@billspelman.org.
Another early endorser, the Central Labor Council in Austin has met and issued endorsements in the following races.
Mayor: Lee Leffingwell
Place 1: Perla Cavazos
Place 2: Mike Martinez
Place 5: Bill Spelman
Place 6: Sheryl Cole
Someone pointed out these two crazy similar pictures from today's office openings. (The McCracken one being from Michael Bartnett of the Austin Chronicle.) I unfortunately wasn't able to make any of them because my bike got a flat and I was dealing with that today.
And here is some video from today's McCracken office opening.
Hey Southwest Austin! I'm exited that Bill Spelman has chosen our area to kick off his neighborhood house parties. This is a great chance to get to know Bill and let him know what's important to us. So let's welcome him to the neighborhood! Event is free, and yes there will be appetizers and cold beer. If you know anyone in Southwest Austin, let 'em know about our event. Thanks!
When: Thursday, February 5 @ 7 PM
Where: Tom & Melanie's Place in Circle C - 7601 Seneca Falls Loop, 78739 (Near Clayton School)
RSVP: thomastwo13@hotmail.com
So I've run through all the campaign finance reports for the reported candidates for office. Mike Levy, while much rumored, hasn't filed to run, and Oak Hill resident Sandy Baldrige is saying she wants to run against Bill Spelman, but no action to actually follow up those claims on the finance front. In any case, below are a couple of different measures of how you can compare the candidates. Incumbents running for re-election to their own offices are in bold.
Cash on Hand
The only thing order-wise that changes if you sort by total funds raised during the period is that incumbent Sheryl Cole moves from 4th to 2nd and incumbent Mike Martinez moves from 2nd to 4th.
Overall: I was mostly right in what I've said to friends that I doubted anyone would end up having more than $25,000. I was wrong about Carole Strayhorn but I didn't think she would end up deciding to run. And while Chris Riley didn't end up with more than $25,000 cash on hand, he did raise more than $25,000 so congrats to him.
Mayor: Overall, I'm a little surprised to see Brewster's fundraising more on par with that of the Place 1 candidates and lagging behind that of Carole. Of course, that could just be because his main fundraiser isn't until later this month, but still, it makes the argument against Leffingwell rather irrelevant (that his delay in getting in will put him far behind in the money race). The Draft Lee PAC certainly is not acting as a real shadow campaign in terms of fundraising, but remember, it cannot transfer funds to Lee's Mayoral account once he files so there is no use in building up tens of thousands of dollars on it that would have to be spent independently of the official campaign. Of course, I also think that Strayhorn and Levy could spent lots of money and get far fewer votes than McCracken and Leffingwell so it could just all be a wash. This report tells us very little in the Mayor's race.
Place 1: My ballpark guess in this race was that the fundraising order would be Riley, Cavazos, then Cofer with totals around $20k, $15k, and then $10k. Both Chris Riley and Rick Cofer exceeded those expectations by a reasonable amount and in the end, they indeed are separated by no more than $10,000. Cofer was the last candidate in this race to announce, and with only 2 weeks to fundraise with Christmas killing about a week of that, nearly tieing Cavazos is worthy of note. I should clarify this point as all 3 candidates filed in the 2nd week of December. What I was trying to get at was that Chris was actively exploring this race and making calls months before he filed (I got an early call when I was in the Strama office before the November election) and Perla was actively talking about it in November, whereas I know Cofer didn't make the decision to run until the first week of December, shortly before he filed because he texted me about it.
Does this report create a frontrunner? I don't know. Last year, in the open Place 4 race, the first report went Morrison, Galindo, Cravey with $21k, $14k, and $12k. Randi Shade led incumbent Jennifer Kim $69k to $44k. Of course all of those were running earlier and in this period, the fundraising period was truncated by a presidential election, late filing, and a bad economy (even though the max contribution limit has increased from $300 to $350).
But if convention wisdom must be set, than I figure it's Cofer and Cavazos competing more with each other to secure a spot in a runoff with Chris Riley.
Place 5: This is all about Bill Spelman. Which is pretty easy to say since there is no sign of his "declared" regional opponent as of yet from Oak Hill. A lot of the same caveats apply as in the Place 5 race (Bill filed with about 3 weeks to fundraise) and it's a hard sell to get people to give you money when (at the time) there was no opponent. So this could end up like the Leffingwell-Meeker race in 2008. Lots of bluster from the 2nd tier candidate, but probably not a whole lot of electoral action with a healthy win.
Other Places: Mike Martinez doesn't have a declared opponent. Sam Osemene is running against Sheryl (he ran for Place 4 against Morrison/Galindo/Cravey last year) but he hasn't filed any report as he appointed his treasurer in January; but if he runs like last time, he won't be a factor other than a repository of votes for people who don't want to vote for Sheryl.
Here are some other interesting breakdowns.
Disclosure: I am listed as having donated $300 of in-kind website development services to the Spelman campaign.
