In an address before about 900 people at the Marriott Rivercenter Mayor Phil Hardberger delivered his final State of the City address titled "Closing the Circle." In it he highlighted some of the achievements accomplished over his four year term of office but more importantly addressed several initiatives and ventures to help sustain and grow the city of San Antonio. Of significance was the announcement of "Mission Verde", a plan for providing a sustainable energy infrastructure focused on distributed, renewable energy. Harberger also announced the creation of a multi-tech venture capital fund designed to help foster new technologies, new companies, and new jobs.
Live, unedited video from today's press conference. Lee Leffingwell, current city council member from Place 1, kicked off his campaign to become the next Mayor of Austin.
The Leffingwell announcement was in front of his childhood home in South Austin.
Today Leffingwell loaned his campaign $41,163 - a symbolic $1 larger than the amount Carole Keeton Strayhorn has raised in the past few months of her mayoral campaign.
Leffingwell didn't announce a mayoral bid sooner than this month to avoid triggering a costly special election to fill his Place 1 seat.
While he has not been running for Mayor, a group of community leaders have been securing support for Leffingwell's likely run. To date the "Draft Lee for Mayor" campaign has put together a list of over 300 supporters (my name is included, KT's is not) and raised approximately $1,500.
This officially opens up a race for Perla Cavazos, Rick Cofer, and Chris Riley in place 1.
For more information on fundraising including cash on hand numbers, money raised, and money spent for all filed candidates check out KT's analysis here.
(This is a really good briefing on what is going down in the Alamo City. Also be sure to read the San Antonio Mayor blog which is ALL over this race. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
San Antonio's mayoral race continues evolve into the beginning of 2009. The election will be held on May 9th and the last day to file for the race is March 9th. So far the current slate of candidates includes former District 7 council member Julian Castro, current District 8 council member Diane Cibrian, and public relations executive Trish DeBerry. This will be Castro's second bid for mayor after losing in a tight runoff in 2005 to Mayor Phil Hardberger. Cibrian, who would have faced term limits had she remained in her council seat, decided to jump in the race for mayor this year. DeBerry is the newcomer as a candidate but is no rookie to San Antonio politics, having helped on several campaigns including the recent term limits extension campaign. However, as the race evolves in January that slate is less than certain with much speculation on DeBerry's intentions for the seat.
While both Castro and Cibrian appear to have a solid campaign operation in place moving into January, DeBerry's campaign has experienced many fits and starts as she has tried to launch her website announcing her candidacy. Castro and Cibrian have both had campaign announcement events with Castro's being staged in San Pedro Park early in December. DeBerry has planned her announcement this Saturday at the historic VFW 76 Hall on the banks of the San Antonio River. However, even the scheduling of that event has not ended speculation on her intentions for the May race. In a blog entry at San Antonio Mayor there is speculation that DeBerry's failed launches of her website could signal questions in the campaign about the viability of her candidacy.
Recently speculation has been raised that DeBerry may be reconsidering and instead run for District 9 against Elise Chan, a newcomer to San Antonio politics but no stranger to San Antonio's business community having been been ranked among the "Top 25 Largest Engineering" and "Women-Owned" firms in San Antonio by the San Antonio Business Journal. With the recent departure of incumbent Louis Rowe from the District 9 race Chan will face no strong opposition for the seat.
Switching to District 9 could end some speculation that DeBerry may have shot too high in her first bid for the San Antonio city council and also allow her to line up for a replacement to whoever is elected in May for the mayor's seat. It could also provide a more competitive race for DeBerry who is struggling to find a strong support base among San Antonio's various interest groups, more specifically the business community of San Antonio.
Recently Castro held a fundraiser hosted by developer James Lifshutz and real estate executive Ed Cross with attendance of a large cross-section of San Antonio's business leaders who had supported Mayor Hardberger in 2005. During that race many of the business community had shunned Castro, citing lack of experience and youth as primary factors for support for Hardberger. Castro has sought to counter those fears and has lined up many key business leaders such as Michael Beldon as his campaign treasurer and the Zachry family as key supporters.
Cibrian is probably the most controversial of the candidates. After questions about gifts to her from developers arose in August she amended her disclosure reports to include free stay in a Cancún, Mexico, condo owned by influential landowner Hugo Gutierrez. Residents within her district have been mixed in support for her, with many citing her support for toll roads as reasons for opposition. She is no stranger to the microphone and continual uses her district seat as pulpit for many issues including sex-related business within her district.
However this race shapes out it should provide for great local politics in San Antonio. You can track more about the San Antonio mayoral race and other local items at the San Antonio Mayor blog.
The Austin American Statesman is reporting former Democratic Austin Mayor, Republican Comptroller, and Independent Gubernatorial candidate Carol Keeton Rylander McClellan Strayhorn will run for Mayor.
Strayhorn is the only person who has almost as many names as party affiliations.
The former Austin mayor and state comptroller will make a formal announcement at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at 5300 Riata Park Court, the Northwest Austin location of a company called BancVue, a spokesman said.
After hearing the news that Strayhorn would end the exploration phase of her campaign, Councilmember Brewster McCracken's campaign stated:
"This campaign will be about leading in the 21st Century economy, creating and securing jobs during challenging economic times and leading with our values to create a brighter future for all Austinites. I look forward to a positive debate with Carole about Austin's future."
The Statesman sums up this race and the potential field saying:
Austin City Council Member Brewster McCracken, a high-energy and ambitious figure, began his mayoral campaign in December. Former Texas Monthly publisher Mike Levy (who, like Strayhorn, has a sharp tongue) and Council Member Lee Leffingwell (the most reserved of the four) are seriously considering running.
Recent rulings indicate that Strayhorn will not be allowed to use money from other campaigns.
Today the Draft Lee Leffingwell campaign took on a personal face. The 9 co-chairs, press, supporters, and curious city hall guru's came to see the event.
We were there and I was able to film the entire press conference.
The campaign has also thrown together a website DraftLeeForMayor.com. It is definitely not the prettiest site in the world, but at least you can sign up for information.
Austin resident Ted Siff, formerly of the Austin Parks Foundation, Citizens for Open Space, and a former publisher of the Quorum Report, has formed a Draft Lee Leffingwell for Mayor Committee.
Here are excerpts from commitee's press release, via the Austin Chronicle. The full release is after the jump
Siff said Leffingwell, who won re-election to a second term on the City Council in May, is the best choice to serve as Austin’s next mayor. “I and many others in Austin believe that Lee Leffingwell offers the maturity, reliability, proven record and progressive vision that we want and need from our next mayor,” said Siff. “The committee’s goal will be to encourage Lee to run for mayor, and to rally public support for his prospective candidacy.”
Siff said that Leffingwell has indicated that he is seriously considering a mayoral run in 2009, but under Texas state law cannot announce a mayoral candidacy until January without automatically vacating his City Council seat and triggering a special election at taxpayer expense. After a January deadline, Siff said, any election to fill Leffingwell’s vacated Council seat would be held in conjunction with the regular May municipal election, at no additional cost.
Siff said he formed the “Draft Lee for Mayor” committee after talking with a group of Austin environmental, neighborhood and Democratic leaders who support a Leffingwell mayoral candidacy. Siff said the committee will begin raising money immediately to encourage Leffingwell to run, and that a website launch and a public rally supporting Leffingwell is being planned for early next week. “We intend to be loud and clear about our support for Lee’s candidacy,” said Siff. “Lee Leffingwell is the candidate that progressive Austinites can trust to take the helm at City Hall.”
Brewster McCracken announced he was running for Mayor yesterday. I did not know that Leffingwell had to wait until January to announce or a special election would be triggered. We may have to wait another three or four weeks before the field of the Austin Mayor's race is set.
