Local races - Update and Links

Sample ballot for upcoming elections.

Is Austin City Council a lost cause for taxpayers and those of us who live outside downtown (i.e. are not liberal Tarrytown eco-extremists)? It sure looks like slim pickings.

Chris Riley had his folks call me for a vote, but a check on his website has endorsements from all the Democrat groups like Texas Environmental Democrats and North-by-northwest Democrats. Yuck - and just when he had me with the "Small Business Group" endorsement. Then I go look at the webstie of his opponent - Perla Cavazos, and find that she is claiming several of the same Democrat group endorsements that he claims:

"# North by North West Democrats
# South Austin Democrats
# South West Austin Democrats
# Stonewall Democrats
# Tejano Democrats
# Texas Environmental Democrats"

Huh? So either one of them is lying about endorsements, or Democrats endorsed both of them and we basically have a Liberal Democrat vs Liberal Democrat race. The latter seems to be the case even if one of them is fluffing the endorsement resume.

And for Mayor, we have the highly annoying Lee Leffingwell, the posturing Brewster McCracken, and one-tough-ex-Republican Carole (Keeten Rylander) Strayhorn. Carole Strayhorn is the best of that litter, but if I go by signs, it looks like the liberal Leffingwell has the money in the race.

We have Mike Martinez facing off a challenger. We have another liberal Bill Spelman running unopposed.

Place 6 is the only place a liberty-oriented candidate is running. Opposing yet another downtown liberal is north Austinite and advocate of freedom Sam Osemene - for Austin City Council place 6:
www.osemenesam.com

Some other local races with worthwhile candidates:

Erica Grignon - for Pflugerville City Council
www.erica4pflugerville.com
"Erica pledges to never vote for an out-of-pocket tax increase."

Gunnar Ristroph - for Round Rock ISD Trustee
www.ristroph.com

Nick Brumder - for Georgetown ISD Trustee
www.nickbrumder.com

Lisa Mallory - for Leander ISD Trustee Place 1
www.lisa4lisd.com