One of the engaging things about doing public policy advocacy is that I get to work with elected officials. In almost five years as an advocate, I have seen up close that individuals make a difference. Electing smart, thoughtful, hard-working people to Houston City Council — like Melissa Noriega, Sue Lovell, and Peter Brown — is shifting the public debate and changing the way our City operates. Our Mayor, Bill White, is a Harvard-educated CEO and our city runs better for it.
Have you heard the expression, “think globally, act locally”? For me it plays out this way: I believe the national races matter and I vote, both in primaries and general elections. But with local races, I know that my active participation — not only voting, but also contributing and campaigning — can make a significant difference in the outcome. Here are three of the local 2008 races I care about:
Every U.S. representative seat is up for election in 2008. Here in Houston, I am delighted to help our wretched Congressional representative face his most-compelling challenger ever. Michael Skelly is a bright, successful, Harvard-trained wind energy executive. He’s a first-time candidate who gets that domestic energy policy affects national security, the environment, and costs of living. I worked with his campaign to shape their messaging on transportation. The incumbent, John Culberson, is a Kool Aid-drinking socially-meddlesome, tax-and-spend republican. He has fought public transit, health insurance for children, and sensible immigration reform, and he cites Tom Delay as his mentor. Replacing Culberson will serve both our city and the nation. You can visit Skelly’s campaign website at skellyforcongress.com to learn more, and I hope you will consider contributing.
In Texas, every seat in the state house is up for election in 2008, too. Two years ago, I campaigned to help send first-time candidate Ellen Cohen to represent us in Austin. For 15 years prior, Ellen led the Houston Area Women’s Center. In Austin, she has fought effectively to expand health insurance for children, to allocate state funds to cancer research, and to ensure equitable funding for public schools. Ellen replaced one of the dimmest and most self-aggrandizing elected representatives I’ve ever met, and she has repeatedly demonstrated that electing her is well worth the effort.
In addition, our friend Jason Norbury is running to serve in the Missouri state house. Check out this cute web ad in which he explains his commitment to expanding health coverage for children. We obviously don’t live in Jason’s district, but we believe his race matters. Electing good people to serve matters in every district and in every office, and Jason is good people. I encourage you to call J or visit his website at jasonnorbury.com, to learn more about why he’s running for office, and consider contributing online. Good luck, J!
With election day only a week away, these talented individuals (and others!) are in the final crunch of working to get elected. For better or worse, they need dollars to help get their message in front of voters and to help turn out the vote. I hope you will consider supporting these candidates. If there are other local candidates you are passionate about, please tell us about them below in the comments. And finally, I fully expect you to exercise your constitutional right. Election day is November 4 and in many places, the polls are already open. Vote early, vote often!
What’s that you say?
Saturday, October 11th, 2008Since we launched our blog in March 2008, we have really enjoyed having a place to share our news and keep our friends and family current. We have also really enjoyed reading your comments, answering your questions, and hearing your encouragement. We have even discussed interesting items from time to time.
We have a bunch of new readers since Hurricane Ike, and we invite you to participate in the comments, too. Because we also want to avoid spammers, we have set it up so that you will need a user ID and a password.
Enter your name, email address, and click [Register]. The blog software will automatically email you a temporary password and instructions for completing the registration process. Once you receive the email and instructions, return to our blog page.
In the right side bar, now click [Log in]. Enter your user ID and your password and click [Log in]. Now you’re enabled to post comments for the rest of your browser session.
Below each of our blog posts is a blue link that says “XX comments >>”. Just click that link to read the comments others have posted and/or add your own. The very first time you comment, Bill or I will have to “approve” your comment before it appears. But after we do that, you will be able to log in and comment at will. And we look forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions, just ask.
Tags:blog, comment
Posted in Bob | 2 Comments »