Voters in Travis County Commissioner Precinct 4 have been barraged by campaign ads in recent days and weeks, and it should be no surprise that one local incumbent, Margaret Gomez has decided to go negative in the waning days of the election.
One attack ad run by the Margaret Gomez campaign against her opponent, former City Councilman Raul Alvarez, goes so far as to depict the Republican party's elephant-logo bearing the name of the well known Democratic challenger Raul Alvarez. It bears noting that challenger Raul Alvarez's record reflects a considerably more progressive pattern of votes than Gomez's.
Another ad run by the Margaret Gomez campaign involves the unauthorized use and implied endorsement of popular Congressman Lloyd Doggett.
Upon being contacted, Congressman Doggett's office has stated that they in fact did not endorse Margaret Gomez and further stated that the Gomez campaign has no permission to use either Congressman Doggett's name or his likeness.
The unauthorized use of Congressman Doggett's name and likeness is the latest in a series of controversies regarding the Margaret Gomez campaign's use of the names of high-profile residents and public figures without their consent, including her former chief of Staff Joe Vela. Joe Vela noted this in a letter to the Austin Chronicle, adding "the name Joe Vela appears on the supporters list of both candidates for Precinct 4 Travis County Commissioner. To clarify any confusion, I support Raul Alvarez for this office. We need an advocate who will show up for work and speak to the needs of precinct 4."
This shows the fevered pitch that the race for Precinct 4's Commissioner seat has reached, as well as the desperation of the incumbent Gomez to hang on to her seat.
It is rare that we cannot choose between two candidates. It is even rarer for us to determine that neither of them will earn our endorsement. That's the situation for us in the Pct 4 County Commissioner race in Travis County.
We'd prefer to agonize over races where our inability to decide was due to a pair of outstanding candidates- a situation we have faced elsewhere on our ballot. In this County Commissioner's race, we've debated over a pair of disappointing campaigns.
Incumbent Commissioner Margaret Gomez has failed us when it comes to the future of transportation in Travis County. As Chair of the Capitol Metro board (after having served on it for 11 years), not only did she preside over fare hikes that disproportionally hurt her district's constituants, but she was party to the incomparable incompetence of the agency in getting a single commuter rail line up and running. We can only hope that her lack of leadership in transit does not do irreparable harm in voters' minds to the concept of mass transit via rail and the more useful (not Cap Metro run) Austin Urban Rail plan.
One would think this, among other issues such as the BFI landfill vote of 2007 or divergent housing costs across the district would provide amble opportunities for her opponent former Austin City Councilman Raul Alvarez to drawn clear, proactive contrasts on. Slow to start, his campaign has not stepped up to draw specific critiques of the incumbent or offered confident explanations of what he would do differently.
We cannot endorse change for change's sake. We also cannot reward Gomez for her failures.
As such, we cannot offer our support to either campaign and issue No Endorsement in this race.
We do want to work with the eventual winner of this race and hope that the timidness shown on the campaign trail can be turned into bolder action that moves Travis County forward.
While our campaign had previously garnered the endorsements of:
The Austin Firefighter's Association
The Austin Hispanic Firefighter's Association
The Austin African American Firefighter's Association
as well as Former Mayor Will Wynn
Mayor Pro-Tem Mike Martinez
among many many others - the last 48 hours have been extremely exciting for us.
last night we received the endorsements of:
Former Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerly
Council Member Randi Shade
as well as both the
The Sierra Club
and
(Cap-Metro) Amalgamated Transit Union 1091
And most exciting of all we swept tonight's Travis County Democratic Party Mega-Forum by receiving the endorsements of the
Tejano Democrats
Capital City Young Democrats
Texas Environmental Democrats
Northeast County Democrats
Capital Area Asian American Democrats
"I am extremely honored and extremely grateful to receive the endorsement of these institutions, and I feel this shows the community's desire for new leadership and new direction." - Raul Alvarez
Raul Alvarez, former two-term City Council member and candidate for County Commissioner Precinct 4 has raised an impressive $30,000 by December 31st of last year, out-raising his opponent, incumbent Gomez by nearly $10,000.
At this early stage of the race, Alvarez has already raised more than any previous Challenger that Gomez has faced.
Raul Alvarez has run a largely grass-roots campaign, with over 200 donors and more than 80% of his donors having contributed $100 or less.
The number of small donors demonstrates his strong support in the community and a desire for new leadership and new direction on the Commissioner's Court.
(AUSTIN) - Raul Alvarez has received the endorsement of the Austin Firefighters Association.
He is also proud to receive the support of the African American Firefighters Association and the Hispanic Firefighters Association.
"Its an honor to be endorsed by the Austin Firefighters Association. I have been a strong advocate for the firefighters in the past when I was on the city council," Alvarez said. "I will remain a strong voice for the firefighters as long as I 'm in public office."
(Raul Alvarez is running for Travis County Commissioner in Precinct 4. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Fellow Democrats,
I'm Raul Alvarez, I am proud to have called Austin home for almost 20 years and I am excited to be running for Travis County Commissioner for Pct. 4
I'm running because our community is at a crossroad. We face serious challenges when it comes to:
Strengthening our local economy
Supporting educational achievement
Protecting our natural resources &
Promoting affordability, among others.
As your commissioner, I will provide strong leadership so that we can tackle these issues. I will be a strong advocate for Precinct 4. I will work to find new solutions to the economic, educational, environmental challenges we face. I will be a leader on issues that affect working families. Our community and Precinct 4 need relief now. We cannot afford to wait 4 more years for change to come. We can move forward now as a community by electing a new Precinct 4 Commissioner, and I am the right person for the job.
At her re-election campaign kickoff Monday night, Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gómez received the endorsement of five public safety unions. The endorsements for the four-term Democratic incumbent came from the Austin-Travis County EMS Employees Association PAC, Austin Police Association PAC, Travis County Sheriffs' Law Enforcement Association PAC, Travis County Sheriffs' Officers Association PAC, and Travis County Firefighters Association.
This early institutional support for Gomez over her Democratic primary challenger Raul Alvarez is an important marker that her campaign is active and playing for keeps without letting endorsements slip away to give any early credentials to her opponent.
While there are certainly issues with Gomez from her work on the Commission and board she serves on including CAMPO, Alvarez does not seem to be competing as aggressively as required at this stage to take on the 16 year incumbent.
The endorsing organizations' statements are posted below the fold.
Alicia Perez, the former the former exeuctive manager of Travis County administrative operations, has recently begun building support for a Democratic primary challenge to incumbent Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe.
If Perez does decide to enter the race, she may find it difficult to prove to voters that her candidacy is about something more than personal revenge against Sam Biscoe and the rest of the Commissioners Court. I am not an expert on the events surrounding her firing, but its aftermath has been a huge waste of county time and resources. Some have said that Perez has also recruited candidates to run against the incumbent Democratic commissioners who had voted to fire her.
With the filing deadline looming in January, Perez will have to make her decision soon. If she does enter the race, she will face a clear uphill battle against Biscoe, a three-term incumbent who is widely respected and has strong Democratic credentials. But the entry of Perez, and everything that would likely come with it, would certainly make the race interesting.
Update: The Statesman spoke with Perez in response to this post and she stated she would not be running.
“I’m not saying that I would never do it,” Perez said of running for the county judge seat. But, “I’m trying to put (the firing) behind me.”
Whether Perez will ultimately decide to run herself, or instead focus on supporting the candidates she has recruited to run against incumbent county commissioners, she could have an input on next year's primaries in Travis County.
Former Austin City Councilman and current ACC Trustee Raul Alvarez has filed papers to run against Democratic incumbent Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gomez in next year's primary.
Gomez has represented Precinct 4 on the Commissioners' Court, which includes southeast Austin, Del Valle and Mustang Ridge, since 1995. Prior to that she was the precinct's constable.
Although he has not lived in the district long, Alvarez represents what could be the strongest challenge to Gomez since she was elected. In 2006, she defeated Yolanda Montemayor by 505 votes with 57.33 percent of the total vote.
When Eugene Sepulveda reported on Alvarez's entry into the race, he wrote that there was "no word yet" whether Gomez would run for reelection. While there has been no formal announcement, people close to Gomez says she plans to run for reelection and has been lining up support.
This race could turn out to be Travis County's only competitive non-judicial primary next year. With an incumbent who has a long history and relationship with her constituents facing off against a popular former City Council member, this one promises to be a race to watch.
