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Laura Morrison 
Mon Jun 02, 2008 at 08:00 AM CDT
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Over two dozen community groups in Austin have endorsed Laura Morrison for Austin City Council Place 4. Today we add our name to that list.
Early Vote starts today and we are encouraging our Austin readers to join the Austin Chronicle, Austin American Statesman, Democratic Clubs, Austin environmental groups, Better Austin Today, and the Austin Neighborhoods Council in supporting Laura Morrison.
Morrison has shown she can lead; with her years as the President of the Austin neighborhoods Council she earned the respect from friends and foes alike. She leads by earning people's respect and getting them involved in the discussion. She has the professional background in mathematics and more recently Public Health Disaster management to bring to a new voice to the city.
She has quietly built a network of support with her advocacy for open government and government accountability, while working to protect the voice of Austin Neighborhoods and Democrats.
She has put together a broad coalition, winning 27 endorsements across the community, virtually every democratic club, almost every African American and Hispanic group endorsing, and environmental and neighborhood groups.
She has proven she can organize by building the team to put progressive ideals successfully before the voters. While her opponent is focused primarily on development outside of town, Laura's top concern is protecting the quality of life of the people living here today.
She has quietly played a leading role in dozens of important community efforts including Save Town Lake, Helping to East Austin neighborhoods to organize to protect their neighborhoods, and many more.
Morrison is a proven leader and strong advocate for Austin. As the Early Vote begins, we encourage you to vote for Laura Morrison for Austin City Council Place 4.
On the Web: www.lauraforaustin.com
Early Vote Sites (consolidated): Complete Listing
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Sat May 03, 2008 at 11:26 AM CDT
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The April fundraising reports are out in the Austin City Council races. The Statesman has the story.
In Place 1, Jason Meeker raised only $2,960 in April. The incumbent Lee Leffingwell raised $23,690 in April bringing his total since November to an impressive $192,065. In Place 3, Jennifer Kim outraised Randi Shade by $10,250 last month but still trails to Shade in overall fundraising $184,425 to $179,475. The only council candidate to have raised more than Kim and Shade is Leffingwell. Ken Weiss, another contender for Place 3, raised $215 in April. In Place 4, Cid Galindo led with $50,030 raised last month. Laura Morrison raised $21,491 and Robin Cravey raised $12,974. Galindo has had a pretty singificant financial advantage in Place 4. Galindo has also spent the most money since fundraising began in November — $158,961 — compared with Morrison's $114,214 and Cravey's $48,501. Galindo has loaned himself $60,000; Morrison has loaned herself $40,000. Whose numbers are you most surprised by?
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Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:53 AM CDT
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(BOR has endorsed Robin Cravey, but this is an interesting discussion. - promoted by Burnt Orange Report)
As Cid Galindo tries to sell himself to Austin voters as an environmentalist with a plan, it's important to take a closer look at what he offers before heading to the ballot box. If you study what Cid calls "the Galindo Plan," and look at what he has actually said and done, it's pretty clear that he is yet another developer-backed candidate masquerading as an environmentalist. We already have enough of those on city council.
Let's not be fooled. Everyone who cares about Austin's future, and in particular protecting our environment, should vote for Laura Morrison. Let me explain.
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Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 01:30 PM CDT
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(Austin readers -- don't forget to vote today! - promoted by Phillip Martin)
EARLY VOTING IS THIS WEEK! The following is intended to be a one-stop post for all of the information you could want for the Austin City Council races. Please let us know if we are missing any information, and feel free to share this post with any and all friends and neighbors who want to get more informed on Austin City Council races. Thanks for reading Burnt Orange Report.
ABOUT CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS - Explanation, Endorsements, Polls, Election History "There are seven members on the Austin City Council: one Mayor and six Council Members. The entire Council is elected at large by the voters of the City. Each member serves a staggered three-year term. Thus, three of the members are voted on one year, with the remaining members, including the Mayor, elected the following year. Term limits are now in place, which means the Mayor and Council Members may serve in their respective seat for a maximum of six years, or two consecutive terms."
Source: Austin City Council Other information you may want to know before learning about the candidates:
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Fri Apr 25, 2008 at 08:30 PM CDT
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Via press release...
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.
Your thoughts in the comments.
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Fri Apr 25, 2008 at 05:14 PM CDT
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(A really interesting discussion as we head into council elections. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
The city council voted 6-0 (McCracken off the dais) on Thursday to approve on first reading the initial zoning of a tract described as follows by Austin Contrarian:
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wants to sell off a tract abutting the UT Intramural Fields (the Game Warden Academy site). The tract borders Hyde Park, with 51st Street running along the northern border and Rowena Street along the eastern border. 50th Street dead-ends in the center of the tract's eastern boundary[...]
Hyde Park's planning team negotiated a deal with the developer which basically boiled down to "no access at all from our neighborhood to your project, and we'll not fight you at city council".
Here's the problem: they even opposed bicycle/pedestrian access via 50th St. There's going to be a locked gate which allows fire/EMS access, but bikes/pedestrians? Nope.
Their defense is that people might park on a neighborhood street and walk into the complex - and that said neighborhood street is "too narrow". Left unsaid is the implication that it's not too narrow for the people who currently live there since nobody has suggested simply banning on-street parking on that street for everybody.
In other words, it's too narrow for THEM, not for US.
Note that the developer did not seek any variances from city code for parking. They are going to provide as many spaces as the city says they need. It's the opinion of the neighborhood association that it's not enough spaces, despite this being an area with extraordinarily high usage of transportation modes other than the single-occupant-motor-vehicle. Of course, the leadership of the neighborhood association doesn't qualify - they're disproportionately old-school drive-everywhere types.
Note that the developer DOES have to seek a variance in order to enforce this term of their agreement with HPNA because city code prescribes "subdivision connectivity" in cases like this. Bike/ped connectivity is a fallback position; the standard is supposed to be a fully-connected street grid, even for cars.
Note also that the street is public; the entire city pays for it. Far too many people think that the street in front of their house belongs to them - or at least, to them and their immediate neighbors. Got news for you, sport: it doesn't.
Again from AC:
The Planning Commission, to its credit, not only approved the zoning, but recommended that the Council require pedestrian and bicyle access.
That's the Planning Commission that once housed both Cid Galindo and Robin Cravey. I doubt very much whether they would have voted any differently on this issue were they still serving on the board.
This is precisely the kind of stuff neighborhood associations try to pull all the time in this city - and they almost always get away with it. And if you can define how, exactly, making it more difficult for somebody living in new, cheaper than median, housing in Hyde Park to get by with fewer cars than average is progressive, I'd darn well like to hear it.
As I said at the beginning, the current council, lambasted by some for being insufficiently prostrate before the ANC crowd, approved this disaster over the objections of the Planning Commission (on first reading, anyways). But if this somehow isn't quite enough reactionary thinking dressed up as progressivism for your tastes, you're going to want to vote for the so-called progressives Laura Morrison, Jennifer Kim, and Jason Meeker. Their vision of progressivism is all about keeping things even SAFER for Old Austin's Old Money.
Similar coverage at The Austinist.
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Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 11:15 PM CDT
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(Bumped. This came out last Friday afternoon so many of our weekday readers may have missed it. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Earlier I promoted a post regarding some poll results in the Austin City Council races conducted by the Capital Area Asian American Democrats (consider making a donation to them to cover the cost of the poll like I did). I received word that the results were slightly off as they were the raw numbers prior to being weighted to the electorate.
I have posted the official poll results below. The changes are marginal but do reflect a lower level of undecided voters across the board and Robin Cravey swaps positions with Jennifer Gale in Place 4.
Here are the actual poll results.
 IVR Polls surveyed 517 likely City Council voters on April 16. The survey's margin of error is +/- 4.3%.
Place 1
Lee Leffingwell 37.5%
Jason Meeker 13.7%
Allen Demling 3.9%
Undecided 44.9%
Place 3
Randi Shade 26.4%
Jennifer Kim 24.9%
Ken Weiss 11.3%
Undecided 37.4%
Place 4
Cid Galindo 11.9%
Laura Morrison 10.3%
Robin Cravey 10.2%
Jennifer Gale 8.0%
Ken Vasseau 4.8%
Sam Osemene 4.8%
Undecided 50.0%
We don't usually have an opportunity to see a poll like this so what does it tell us? First off, according to the pollster, these respondents are those who self-identified themselves as planning to vote in the city elections, so the undecideds, while high, are not inflated by unlikely voters.
That said- it's clear that these races are very fluid and voter contact via TV, Radio, and Mail will play a large role in the next 3 weeks.
In Place 1, Leffingwell clearly has an established lead with Meeker having to work to get beyond his base if he's to have any chance. This concurs with the wideheld assumption that Leffingwell is headed to victory without a runoff.
In Place 3, a statistical tie exists and while always predicted to be a hard fought race, I wouldn't have guessed that Shade would have had this level of support prior to entering the paid media phase of the campaign (which against an incumbent is a place she's probably happy to be in). Still, it's anyone game, but unless Kim or Shade is able to boost their margins, they'll be going head to head until the June runoff and a long campaign and smaller electorate could shift the electoral dynamics.
In Place 4, it is clear that the lack of an incumbent has the race wide open for whom is going to face off in a June runoff. Morrison, having won the lion's share of endorsements and some of the city's better consultants, does not have the poll numbers to back up what many had perceived to be frontrunner status. There is a clear separation of the field in this place with Gale providing the dividing line of those who are contenders and those who are not; Gale, of course, being in a class of her own.
Also, people may have underestimated the power that a Hispanic surname has, even in city elections (note- he has done some tv already). Combine that with a candidate likely to pick up the moderate to center-right city voters, and we may be dealing with a battle between Morrison and Cravey for which progressive will get to take on Cid Galindo in a runoff. Still, the race has the most undecided voters and is wide open so there is a reasonable chance that we get a Morrison-Cravey runoff that makes Austin lefties a little less anxious.
Share your own thoughts in the comments. The poll script is in the extended entry.
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Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 11:07 AM CDT
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Yesterday a group of 13 Democrats e-mailed me concerned about a candidate running for Austin city council. The facts check out and in a city that is progressive during a low turnout election, this is the kind of letter that could dramatically affect the outcome of the May 10th election.
An Open Letter From Concerned Travis County Democrats
April 16, 2008
It's a wonderful time to be a Democrat! The interest in the March 4th primary was amazing. Whether you were a Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton supporter, it was clear that America wants a change in direction and is looking to the Democratic Party for new leadership!
Though we've been focused on the national scene, we are fast approaching another crucial election right here in Austin. This May we will be voting on three places on the Austin City Council. The winners will have a major impact on the future of our city.
Our city elections are non-partisan, but the personal integrity and political values of the candidates are no less important here at home than they are at the national level.
That's why we are writing to you as concerned Democrats. Even though the winds of change are blowing, old style political spin is still alive and well in Austin.
Developer Cid Galindo, a candidate for Place 4, appears to be hiding his Republican connections. Recently he sent out a campaign e-mail with the following statement:
"Friends and Fellow Austinities,
This week I cast my ballot in the Democratic presidential primary that has captured the imagination of our nation and imbued us with a determination to turn the page and set a new course for our country"
A strong sentiment indeed and one we all might agree with. Let's look at the evidence.
When asked if he is a Democrat, Mr. Galindo has indicated he is an "independent". He may be an "independent" but a check of his voting record shows that he voted in the 2004 REPUBLICAN primary. When asked about this in Democratic forums, he claims he wanted to vote against Bush. However, there was no one running on the ballot against Bush in 2004 Primary.
When looking deeper into Mr. Galindo's political past, we found a 1995 donation of $1000, the maximum amount allowed at the time, to then GOP Senator Phil Graham.
Finally, The Galindo Group, the land development company he co-owns and serves as the president of, has prominent support for the Texas Public Policy Foundation on its web site. Financed by leading Texas Republican donor Jim Leininger, this conservative policy organization has been pushing school vouchers and attacking publicly funded education for years. Strange bedfellow indeed!
Has Cid really had a change of heart? Or is this just a clever ploy to hide his past and help him get elected in an overwhelmingly Democratic city?
All of our local Democratic Clubs have seen beyond this ploy and endorsed other candidates in this race. While this is heartening, the general public needs to see beyond the progressive veneer Mr. Galindo has been presenting.
We urge you to keep in mind the fundamental issues of honesty and integrity, as well as Austin's need for candidates with genuine records of supporting social equity, neighborhoods, our environment, and local businesses. We deserve leaders we can trust. We need to support candidates who will put the public's interest above special interests and who have a demonstrated commitment to open government and progressive values.
Carl Betancourt
Former Democratic Precinct Chair
David Butts
Democratic Precinct Chair
Kitty Clark
Former Democratic Precinct Chair
Cecelia Crossley
Former State Democratic Executive Committee Member
Richard Franklin
Former President
Black Austin Democrats
Jeff Jack
Former President
South Austin Democrats
Ramey Ko
President
Capital Area Asian American Democrats
Donna Beth McCormick
Precinct Chair and former Texas Democratic Party staff member
Elliott McFadden
Former Executive Director
Travis Co. Democratic Party
Jan Soifer
President
North by Northwest Democrats
Walter Timberlake
Former President
South Austin Democrats
Chad Williams
Former President
West Austin Democrats
Mark Yznaga
Coordinator of the 2000 Democratic Coordinated Campaign
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Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 10:24 PM CDT
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Tonight four clubs got together and had a joint forum to endorse in the Austin City Council, AISD and ACC races. Those clubs were South Austin Democrats, Texas Environmental Democrats, Capitol Area Asian American Democrats, and Capital Area Progressive Democrats, and the result are below.
- Tim Mahoney was endorsed by CAPD, CAAAD, SAD, and TED for ACC
- Jerry Garcia was endorsed by CAPD and CAAAD for Austin Independent School District Board
- Lee Leffingwell was endorsed by CAPD, CAAAD, SAD, TED for re-election in City Council Place 1
- Jennifer Kim was endorsed by CAPD and CAAAD for Austin City Council Place 3
- Randi Shade was endorsed by SAD for Austin City Council Place 3
- Laura Morrison was endorsed by CAPD, CAAAD, and SAD for Austin City Council Place 4
This list represents all endorsements made tonight at the Democratic Club meetings and links to the website are provided if available.
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Mon Mar 24, 2008 at 08:10 PM CDT
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Only one candidate can make the claim that they have picked up every endorsement since the March 10th filing deadline-- Laura Morrison.
The Morrison campaign has picked up the endorsement of the Sierra Club, Central Labor Council, Better Austin Today PAC, Austin Lesbian Gay Political Caucus, Stonewall Democrats and North by Northwest Democrats.
Pretty striking argument for momentum in a low turnout election. Unlike the March 4th election, turnout should be closer to 50 to 60 thousand voters. In addition to strong Democratic support, no other candidate running for City Council can make a clear momentum claim.
The race for place 1 and 3 have split organizational endorsements pretty evenly and Wednesday club meetings could be a big day to solidify momentum or create some depending on the position.
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