Burnt Orange Report: - Carole Strayhorn

The 2009 Austin Mayor's Race by Precinct

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:15:00 GMT

This map is courtesy of the Austin American-Statesman which did a great job putting it together after the election. I expect we'll see some more from the Austin Chronicle tomorrow.

I think it's pretty clear that Lee if Mayor of Austin, all of it. Though Brewster was able to win one west campus precinct and the downtown precinct covering 6th Street. Other than that, it was slim pickings for Carole and Brewster on the peripheral precincts.

Lee Leffingwell (47.24%), Brewster McCracken (26.80%) Go to Runoff in Austin's Mayoral Race

Phillip Martin — Sun, 10 May 2009 05:09:17 GMT

Runoff is Saturday, June 13; Riley Defeats Cavazos Nearly 2:1 in Place 1

Mayoral candidates Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken will be forced to go to a runoff to decide who will be the next Mayor of Austin. The runoff will be Saturday, June 13.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Lee Leffingwell finished with a commanding lead on the field of five candidates with 47.26% of the vote. He won almost the same percentage of votes through the early vote period as he did on election day. Full results can be found here:

May 2009 Austin City Council Election Results (Official from Travis County)

Election results from the Travis County Elections Division were reported throughout the night here at Burnt Orange Report through our site's new @texaselections widget. The results tally 58,630 votes cast, representing 13.01% of registered voters.

For about twenty minutes in the evening it looked like Leffingwell may tick up fast enough to reach the 50% threshold. But as more boxes came in, the returns evened out, and it became clear that a highly anticipated runoff would soon become a reality. Behind Leffingwell, Brewster McCracken won 26.8% of the vote, which will be enough to send him into a runoff. Slightly behind McCracken, once-Austin mayor and former Texas State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn finished has 21.43% of the vote, leaving her in a disappointing third place.

Burnt Orange Report writer David Mauro reported earlier in the night that in 1997, Ronney Reynolds conceded rather than face a runoff against Kirk Watson, who received 48.47% in his initial election. However, McCracken's campaign has clearly stated that McCracken will go forward for the runoff.

Rounding out the election returns for mayor, David Buttross won 3.84% of the vote, but may still be in for some exciting news. Earlier in the evening he went to the hospital for the possible birth of his second child. KXAN news is reporting Buttross and his wife were expecting a child before the night was over. Fourth place and a new child -- I'll bet he'll still be happy.

Josiah Ingalls, however, will have less to smile about. He finished in last place, with only 0.69% of the vote. Josiah has announced that he will be looking for a job on Monday -- he recently lost his position at the Hilton Hotel.

Riley Defeats Cavazos 65.52% - 34.48% in Place 1; Spellman, Martinez, & Cole Win Big

In the Austin City Council Place 1, which was expected to be the only other real contest on the ballot, Chris Riley defeated Perla Cavazos with over 65.52% of the vote. Cavazos thanked Riley for a hard-fought campaign, as Riley celebrated his victory with many supporters tonight, including Burnt Orange Report writer and Riley campaign manager, Katherine Haenschen.

In Place 2, Mike Martinez won a commanding 84.97% over Jose Quintero. Martinez' 43,630 votes were the most any candidate received in Saturday's election.

In Place 6, Sheryl Cole also won a decisive victory over Osemene Sam. Over 83.17% of voters chose Cole for the seat.

And finally, Bill Spellman won his unanimous election to Austin's Place 6 seat. Though he only needed his own, he did get 43,104 of the 58,630 voters to choose him, anyways.

To re-read Burnt Orange Report's all-night election coverage, scroll through our Twitter widget below for the recaps and updates we posted throughout the night.

Sunday Morning Electoral Odds & Ends

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Let's pull out this old time classic from January.

Oh, and for you Chris Riley voters out there, don't forget to bike the vote in this afternoon.

What: Vote for Chris Riley, with Chris Riley!
When: Sunday May 3, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Where: Wooldridge Square Park / Travis County Court House, 1000 Guadalupe
Why: For a cleaner, greener, more bikeable Austin
More: http://www.chrisforaustin.com/VOTE

ChangeAustin.org Launches Radio Ad

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:27:10 GMT

Click here or listen to it below.

It continues the Strayhorn message which is to attack Lee and Brewster. Though the tacking on of Cavazos in the ad seems a bit disjointed to the overall message.

Austin Mayoral & Place 1 TV Ads

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

We've reached that time, just days before the start of early voting in municipal elections, when campaigns finally take to the airwaves with their television buys. What fantastically awesome and awful ads await us this year? Continue on below to find out!

Mayoral Race: Brewster McCracken

Folksy-ish music? Yes.
On campaign message? Yes.
Walking into City Hall shot? Yes.
Actually see candidate talking? Yes.
Total number of pears left uneaten in family room? 7.

Mayoral Race: Lee Leffingwell

Folksier music? Yes.
On campaign message? It almost runs over you.
Walking into City Hall shot? No, like last year.
Actually see candidate talking? No, like last year.
Haven't we seen this footage before? Yes, like, you get the picture.
Likelihood for Phillip Martin to "hate" this: High.

Mayoral Race: Carole Strayhorn

(also see original more awesome Strayhorn ad)

Creepy, ominous music? Yes.
Creepy, fake cheery voice? Yes.
On campaign message? Yes, if crazy is a message.
City Hall shot? No, apparently City Hall moved since she was mayor.

Place 1: Chris Riley

Folksy music? Yes.
Number of bicycles in ad. 1.
Number of posed children. 5.
Walking into City Hall shot? Yes.
Born and raised inside city hall? Possibly.

Place 1: Perla Cavazos

Folksy music? Oh hell no.
Urban pseudo-latin spicy music? Oh hell yes!
Most memorable but most undefined message? Possibly.
Gives pro-downtown impression when played with sound off? Ironically, yes.
Laura Morrison-esque downtown building hate? NOOOOOOO! (meaning yes).
Number of Cesar Chavez Cavazos Cervezas I need now? Seis.

Strayhorn Expands Endorsement Lead Over McCracken

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:04:25 GMT

Seeing that neither Carole Strayhorn or Brewster McCracken has any hope of overcoming the staggering pile of endorsements that the Leffingwell campaign has racked up (30), I'm more interested in the battle for second place that occurs to be going on between the two of them.

Before today, it stood at.

Carole Stayhorn: 2
BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association)
Small Business Group (so small no one can find it)
Brester McCracken: 0.5
ALGPC (co-endorsement with Leffingwell)

Well, BIG NEWS. Carole is pulling away after having SHOCKINGLY won the endorsement of ChangeAustin.org (even though she never showed up to their candidate forum which Leffingwell attended).

Here were their endorsements as emailed.

ChangeAustin.org, formerly Stop Domain Subsidies (Prop 2) in last November's election, proudly endorses:
Carole Keeton Strayhorn for Mayor
Perla Cavazos, Place 1
Mike Martinez, Place 2
Bill Spelman, Place 5
Sam Osemene, Place 6
Watch the Videos on our front page!
ChangeAustin.org is working to reach 30,000 voters before the election in May, just a portion of the 123,209 voters who supported Prop 2, to get them to the polls.

The big question now is who will get the Austin Women's Political Caucus endorsement tomorrow? And who exactly would it be an upset for if they got it? Carole because Leffingwell has 90% of all group endorsements? Or Leffingwell over Carole even though he lacks certain feminine parts? Or Brewster over anyone? Or Buttross or Ingalls over Brewster because it would vault them ahead of him by half in the endorsement count?

STAY TUNED!

Anyone Seen Carole Strayhorn?

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:34:14 GMT

So this week I've finally started seeing some yardsigns for Carole Stayhorn scattered around town for her Mayoral campaign. Of course, of the dozen or so I've seen, half of those were in one yard.

So where is Carole? Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams has found her!

Twitter: Just saw a "Carol Keeton Rylander for Comptroller" billboard on I-30 in Fort Worth. Wasn't that 2002?

Carole Strayhorn- out of touch with Austin and stuck in the past? Sounds about right.

Leffingwell Loses First Endorsement

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:06:57 GMT

I have two more local organizational endorsements to report on which include the first one that Lee Leffingwell has lost outright. Of course, the campaign tells me they had expected to lose it, but to a different candidate. That endorsement is from BOMA (Building Owners & Managers Association of Austin) and they figured that Mike Levy or Brewster McCracken would win it.

WRONG. Carole Strayhorn woke up her campaign and snagged herself an endorsement!

Here's what I've confirmed (and will update if you have info).

BOMA: Building Owners & Managers Association

MAYOR: Carole Strayhorn
Place 1: No Endorsement
Place 2: Mike Martinez
Place 5: ?
Place 6: ?

Austin Tejano Democrats

MAYOR: Lee Leffingwell
Place 1: Perla Cavazos
Place 2: Mike Martinez
Place 5: Bill Spelman
Place 6: No Endorsement

Again, no upsets, other than the second no endorsement for Councilwoman Sheryl Cole that I'm aware of. Of course, and not to be judgmental, her no endorsements haven't really come from the most active clubs edit: (traditionally- ATJ has since merged with Latinos for Texas which is a positive development for both groups and the community). Still, it does signal some dissatisfaction from locals that maybe she could be more proactive on council (or are upset about her opposition to moving towards single-member districts).

Of course, ChangeAustin.org met last Saturday and Leffingwell was the only candidate to show up I'm told, thwarting the group's original intent to endorse Strayhorn. Reports also indicated that Strayhorn couldn't attend because she was looking for Kevin. Kevin, yoo hoo, where is Kevin?

Update: Upcoming endorsements include the League of Bicycling Voters...

Austin City Council Candidate Forum
Monday, March 23, 6-9 p.m.
St. David's Episcopal Church
301 E. 8th Street (at San Jacinto)

And the University Democrats / Central Austin Democrats joint endorsement forum next Saturday the 28th.

Carole Strayhorn Skips Debates, Has a Sidewalk Press Conference

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Wow, this is absolutely crazy. MAJOR kudos to Wells Dunbar of the Austin Chronicle City Hall Hustle. You must watch this insanity which only gets more intense through the end (even after the credits).

Is Carole Strayhorn running any sort of real campaign other than poorly scripted press conferences, no field campaign, and the hopes to win an election entirely on TV ads? Hell, her campaign signup form to volunteer still doesn't work AFTER TWO MONTHS!

All the more reason to repost the ad I made back in January...

"Friday Night Lights" & the Austin Mayor's Race

Phillip Martin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:15:00 GMT

I absolutely love Friday Night Lights. I have watched every episode twice, and I just finished watching the first season again on DVD (the one and only Christmas gift I bought myself). Every time I watch it, I think of home, and how great it is to see Austin spotlighted on national television.

The news this morning, then, was a bit troubling to me. From the Statesman: "Strayhorn slams city for not paying 'Friday Night Lights.'"

Candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn is blasting the City of Austin for not paying any of the money it offered the NBC show in a 2007 incentive deal.
The city had agreed to give NBC $40,000 a year for past and future seasons if it kept filming "Friday Night Lights" in Austin and met contract terms.
The show, now in its third season, has yet to see a dime.
City officials say NBC hasn't shown that it complied with key terms of the contract. But Strayhorn said the show, which chronicles folks in a football-centric Texas town, deserves to be paid because it achieved the purpose of the deal: pumping millions of dollars into the local economy and promoting Austin as a film-friendly city.

I should point out that the article states that both Brewster McCracken and Lee Leffingwell have every intention on handling the situation.

The question, then, is simple: Is this a real thing, or is Strayhorn just rambling?

I think: Strayhorn is just rambling.

First of all, achieving the "purpose of the deal" is not sufficient reason to pay anyone. If I'm hired to do contract work and I don't do it, then I haven't fulfilled my contract. That's pretty simple, and it says a lot about Strayhorn's non-existent business sense that she wants to hand out funds just because.

Secondly, the article goes into pretty solid detail (good reporting by Statesman reporter Sarah Coppola) about the circumstances. There are provisions in the contract that NBC has, apparently, not fulfilled. That includes provisions such as what percentage of the cast and crew are hired from Austin, and whether or not the show names Austin in its credits. But beyond that, the City of Austin has money set aside for the show already -- once there is confirmation that it's been paid. So clearly the City Council hasn't been ignoring the problem or they wouldn't have any money set aside.

Finally, there appears to be a little history of contract disputes with NBC and the state. A quick Google search brought me this article from August 2007 in TV Guide: "Friday Nights Location Crisis Averted"

It came thisclose to a move out of the Lone Star State for Year 2 of NBC's critical darling Friday Night Lights. "Texas didn't follow through on the rebates promised when we based the production in Austin," says Aimee Teegarden, who plays the coach's daughter Julie. "NBC said, 'We're going to move.' It was talks about money. Arizona and New Mexico were both anxious to have us and offered incentives, so I was expecting our show to leave Austin."

"Aimee's right," says executive producer Jason Katims. "We were scouting new location bases and were courted by the other states' film commissions, but the network and the appropriate people in Texas settled things. I can't provide specifics, but it worked out so we could remain in Austin."

So to recap:

You don't hand out contract money for "good intentions" if the provisions of the contract haven't been fulfilled
The city has money set aside for the show; clearly they're not ignoring the problem
There's some history to this; more than likely, a reality of dealing with a mega-company like NBC

Strayhorn would do better to set aside the fake outrage and focus on how she plans on doing anything of actual substance. Like writing her concession speech.