VOTING FOR OR AGAINST A CANDIDATE FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS

On December 12, Houston will hold a hotly contested runoff election for mayor pitting Gene Locke, a black candidate, against Annise Parker, an openly gay white candidate. Just as in other parts of this country, you can bet that people from specific voting blocks will vote for or against these candidates for all the wrong reasons.

Locke served as Houston’s city attorney and claims to have been instrumental in getting some extravagant sports venues built. The Houston Astro’s Minute Maid Park, the Houston Rockets’ Toyota Center and the Houston Texans’ Reliant Stadium may end up costing the taxpayers a bundle of money, even though they were constructed with the promise that no tax funds would ever be used. Locke also supports building a new stadium for the Dynamo, Houston’s MLS soccer team.

Parker has served continuously in Houston’s government since 1997 when she was first elected to an at-large city council position. She is currently the city’s controller. She has been fiscally conservative and opposes the proposed Dynamo stadium.

Yesterday, the Houston Chronicle came out with a strong endorsement of Annise Parker. The endorsement editorial noted that, as city council member and as controller, she had served the city with distinction, and because she was far more experienced than Locke, she represented a clear choice to the voters in the election for mayor. The question is: How much will the Chronicle endorsement help Parker? To answer that question one needs to look at some of Houston’s voter blocks.

The Black Vote: Houston’s blacks will vote overwhelmingly for Locke simply because he is black. Most of these voters won’t have the foggiest notion of Parker’s experience and many accomplishments. He’s black, she’s white – that’s all that matters. Some blacks will vote against Parker because she is gay.

The Latino Vote: Latinos are not too fond of blacks because both groups compete against each other for the crumbs left over from America’s economic pie. Latino voters have not turned out in significant numbers. Those that do turn out would normally be expected to cast their vote for the white candidate. But not this time! Why? Because Parker is against the proposed Dynamo stadium which Locke supports.

The Social Conservative Vote: As soon as Parker made the mayoral runoff, the election campaign turned ugly. Parker is being smeared by the social conservatives because she is gay. They are trying to scare the voters by sending out slick mailers implying that if Parker is elected, homosexuals will take over the City of Houston. As proof, the mailers point out that Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank is holding fund raisers for Parker. The mailers are entitled IS THIS THE IMAGE HOUSTON WANTS TO PORTRAY? and show a picture of Parker being sworn in as Controller with her gay partner standing by her side.

The Police and Firefighter Vote. The police and firefighter unions are bitterly opposed to Parker. The Houston Police Officers Union president has gone on TV to declare that Locke answered every question they posed to him correctly while Parker’s answer to every question was wrong. The unions are trying to scare the public by claiming that Parker intends to make cuts in the Police and Fire Department budgets.

A good part of the police opposition to Parker is based on the fact that they identify her with former mayor Kathy Whitmire. Whitmire was city controller before serving as mayor from 1982 to 1991. Although she was not gay, Whitmire was elected mayor because the homosexual community turned out in large numbers to vote for her. Whitmire campaigned for mayor by charging that Houston police officers were racist and used excessive force against blacks. The police have never forgiven her for that. To add insult to injury, Whitmire did not rush home from a meeting in New York when a Houston police officer was killed in the line of duty shortly after she took office and she did not bother to attend his funeral.

So what are the chances of Parker getting elected, the Chronicle endorsement notwithstanding? The turnout for the election that has led to the runoff was pitifully small. This go-around blacks are likely to turn out in larger numbers not only because the mayor’s race pits white against black, but also because there are a couple of other blacks contending in runoffs. Latinos, who are as passionate about soccer as most Texans are about football, may turn out in larger numbers because of the stadium issue. The social conservatives can be expected to turn out in large numbers because of the phony homosexual issue. And the police and firefighters and their families and friends, a significant voting block, will turn out to stop Parker from becoming mayor.

Gay voters can be expected to turn out in large numbers, but they alone cannot elect Parker. The only way Parker can win is if she can turn out a significant number of white liberals and independents. She is clearly the most qualified of the two candidates but that doesn’t matter as long as voters keep voting for or against a candidate for all the wrong reasons. What’s so sad is that this sort of voter stupidity is prevalent throughout our great country.