Posted on 12/14/2009 9:19:13 AM PST by flowerplough
A lesbian candidate won Houston's mayoral election Saturday night, a vote that made the city the largest in the U.S. to ever have an openly gay mayor.
"This election has changed the world for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. Just as it is about transforming the lives of all Houstonians for the better, and that's what my administration will be about," City Controller Annise Parker told supporters after former city attorney Gene Locke conceded defeat.
Parker got 53 percent of the vote. More than 152,000 residents turned out to cast ballots in the fourth largest U.S. city.
The campaign leading up to Saturday's balloting was marked by anti-gay rhetoric.
Locke congratulated Parker and urged the city to move on. "Here's what our city needs now: It needs unity. It needs us to come together and heal like we've never healed before, and to move forward under a new administration," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
“Seeing that Parker won from just over 3 1/2% of the voting population...”
Your math is way, way off.
I meant that she, the mayor, was the feminine one.
Who said I wanted to vote in the Houston election? It was an explanation, not a complaint.
SnakeDoc
>”I meant that she, the mayor, was the feminine one.”
Hmmmm, man, I dont know. I’ll tell ya, I’d still hit it. She just aint had none of the Scoob, ya know what I mean? I got me a cure for that disease, girlfriend. ;>}
Uh, these people have no government right now. They get no services. Except for the city water we pay for, the city police and fire protection they get because they are in the police jurisdiction, the city park we’re building for them right now.
Not to mention they all WORK IN THE CITY. What is so wrong with expecting that people who are allowed to earn their living in a city actually live in said city? Especially when they are 50-60,000 people who trend Republican at levels of 80% or more that would create two extra white council seats and which, because of the limited black population in the city, would force the black council districts to become more white and more moderate.
We’re lucky. Our first black mayor is a good guy. I would have voted for him this last time if he had been opposed. However, it can’t last forever and based on who the other blacks that could be mayor are I really want our next mayor to be white
And it’s not really taking it by force, exactly. The police jurisdiction is defined in state law. We have to provide those services to them. Same with fire protection. We did manage to annex their business district so they wouldn’t have the tax revenue to incorporate but they still resist residential annexation.
I want their votes in the city. I want the city council districts they’d add. And I’d like to point out that they get almost every service we get in the city except for free garbage pickup. We city people currently pay for their water service. We pay for the roads that get them to work. And we’re stuck with all the ghettoes that go along with being located next to areas where people can work so they can work.
They are city people. They should be annexed. And we will annex them one way or another. Our last major annexation a half century ago was also by judicial “burden of service” action because we couldn’t get a yes vote and that’s what kept us from becoming a hellhole like Birmingham because when we had white flight, it was white flight to other areas of the city. I’d like that to continue.
And annexation here is not worsening any kind of situation. We have the best city services in America.
Her only squeeze. She and Kathy Hubbard have been together since 1990; they have adopted two children.
FYI, Parker strikes me as a fiscal conservative and social libertarian, and since that’s what I’d call myself, so far I’m okay with her.
(Plus, I’ve been in Houston my entire 40 years. So you got the hometown perspective, fwiw.)
Yes, I've named it " San Francisco on the Bayou " years ago.
“Your math is way, way off.”
Okay, explain your reasoning. It is reported that the turnout was 7 percent of registered voters. She won by a small majority, meaning at least half of that 7 percent. What is half of 7 percent? 3 1/2 percent!
Yes, it does seem that having a (D) in front of your name is a prerequisite for getting elected as mayor in Houston.
And the city council folks look like refugees from a traveling carnival.
Where was that reported?
She also has bad teeth and walks like a man.
You are advocating steamrolling the self-government rights of suburbanites because it’ll make your life better — because you “want their votes”; you “want their city council seats”.
They don’t want to be incorporated into the city. Leave them be. If they’re happy without your supposedly great city government, then so be it. A vote was taken. You lost.
They can live where they want. They can work where they want. They can call themselves members of whatever city they want. They can be governed by who they want. Let freedom ring. If you think their situation is better, move there.
>> And it’s not really taking it by force, exactly.
Tell that to the majority whose votes you’re proposing be ignored, and who you believe should be forced into incorporation by judicial edict. And I quote ...
“They should be annexed. And we will annex them one way or another. Our last major annexation a half century ago was also by judicial “burden of service” action because we couldn’t get a yes vote”
I say mind your own damn business and quit forcing your will on people who didn’t ask for your intervention. If this type of nonsense were forced on me, I’d just move farther out (or to a different metro area).
SnakeDoc
You are the joke candidate of the year. BTW, exactly what did you do in the energy business for 20 years? We never seem to hear what your duties were. Is it a secret?
Actually the population can't be used as total voters as not all are registered or elgible. The number of registered voters in Houston is just under 1 million of which about 16.5% of voted. Any candidate with an unified effort and 10% of the registered voters could have won going away.
Mayor In: 100% Gene Locke 73,331 47.2% Annise Parker 81,971 52.8% Total 155,302
I am having nightmares remembering Janet Reno being able to strip search and interrogate naked women prisoners.
On a drizzly Saturday in the middle of the Christmas season. and the other guy sucked, too. I'd have probably stayed home as well.
Have you been to Montgomery or Birmingham lately? I would say they are very Democrat.
And who wants to have to travel 50 miles to city hall if they have city business to conduct, like some of the poor citizens do?
I'm sure you have a fine city, but I can guarantee that you wouldn't want to live in Houston.
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