Our City is at a breaking point: thousands of potholes line our streets, police are not solving serious crimes, and the city’s debt surpasses Detroit. Bill King recognized these problems long ago and is running for mayor in order to rehabilitate Houston’s core services – taking local government Back to Basics. The local media and other candidates have followed King’s lead in framing the issues although no other candidate has developed thoughtful, workable solutions – the others just restate the problems and make impossible promises.
As a Houston Chronicle columnist, King provided readers with intelligent arguments and solutions concerning the city’s infrastructure, mobility, police department, crime lab, fire department, and pension problems. King does not shy away from difficult issues and never hesitates to take an unpopular position. This distinguishes King from every other mayoral candidate: he is unafraid of the unions and will tackle the sacred cows, even if they make him unpopular with some folks.
Bill’s candidacy is changing the debate. The local media has picked up on King’s themes. The Chronicle continues to report and print editorials on the city’s pension and financial crisis. The police department woes are well documented and continue to percolate. The city’s infrastructure narrative shifted after King’s campaign focused on our poor streets and let Houstonians know that they deserved something better. The fact that local media is following King’s campaign issues demonstrates leadership. The next mayor of Houston must be a consensus builder with actual, workable solutions and the only candidate who fits this description is Bill King.
King’s commercials are successful too. Recent HRBC Poll and KHOU polls have King tied for second or firmly in second place. Bill has secured the endorsements of the C Club, Kingwood Tea Party, and over 100 Harris County Republican precinct chairs.
Watch one of his TV ads. Bill has articulated these ideas for years and he demonstrates his strong communication skills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kQuqTey7EU
The biggest “endorsement” for King came from Annise Parker herself. Mayor Parker’s non-endorsement-endorsement of King speaks volumes.
Parker recently tweeted a statement indicating that she supports five candidates as her successor –Chris Bell, Stephen Costello, Adrian Garcia, Marty McVey, and Sylvester Turner. As you likely know, Costello is doing his best to pose as the “conservative candidate” while also advocating for the GLBT endorsement, HERO, and receiving the endorsement of Planned Parenthood.
My complaints about Stephen Costello are well-documented. In 2009, he also posed as the “conservative candidate” by hiring “conservative” campaign staff members, showing up at Republican Executive Committee meetings, and arguing that city council needed an engineer to fix our infrastructure. Little did we know that his “fix” was the drainage fee. On September 15, Annise did us a favor and let us know that her “finance directors work for Costello.” While I could rest my case against Costello right here, I want to provide you with more information.
Costello promises to hire 1,500 new police officers – with an asterisk. When asked about this campaign promise over the weekend, Costello explained that his plan to pay for these officers begins with the Texas Legislature shifting control over police and fire pensions to the local government. First, I always find it interesting that Costello says he is for local control of our pensions; yet, he supported and voted for the 2011 police pension agreement that specifically prohibited the city from lobbying the Texas Legislature for local control until 2023. Costello did get the police endorsement that year. Second, the Texas Legislature does not meet again until 2017. So, under Costello, plan with an asterisk, pension relief could not occur until after the 2017 legislative session. What happens until then? What if the Legislature does not pass the local control bill? Simply said, Costello is the antithesis of Bill King.
Bill King has been around the Houston area for a long time and I have known him for years. He has built several successful businesses and met a payroll. I know him to be an excellent lawyer and his legal acumen will be very important as mayor. It has been many years since Houston has seen a mayor that wasn’t owned by the police and fire unions and, quite frankly, Houstonians deserve Bill King – someone who will identify problems, offer solutions, and get things accomplished.
Yesterday, I attended an event where Annise was applauded for ridding the city of the homeless veterans, which made me wonder if everyone else in attendance was blind. Bill’s campaign is representative of how he will lead our city – with dignity, honesty, and true fiscal conservatism. King is truly in position to vie for a spot in the December runoff election.
Go vote for Bill and take ten or twenty of your friends with you. Early voting starts Monday. This is not a choice of lesser evils – I firmly believe that Bill is the only choice for our mayor.
Houston is a first-world city, but since 1997 has had a third-world city government. Bill King is the only candidate who will reverse the decline, and launch Houston into a new era of fiscal responsibility and growth in jobs and taxpayers.
“third world”? really?
I love my buddy don. But King is no conservative. He likes sanctuary city until he didn’t. He didn’t mind the bathroom ordinance till he had to. He was silent on the post oak boondoggle till he had to. If fiscal conservatives and my fellow republicans don’t think strategically we will end up with a tax raising compromised mayor. Of course I am biased. Ben hall is my friend and the only real fiscal and social conservative in this race. Costello is the other republican who gave us that bs rain tax. And supports the bathroom nonsense.
Wayne, you are a friend, I always respect your opinion and I am writing about you next;-) In case anyone missed the greatest hour of radio with Wayne on Thursday’s, Michael Berry show, it was the best story of the political season.
Bill King’s website’ s “ask Bill feature” did not bother to respond to my inquires on what his position as Houston Mayor is on::
Houston I-10 based Child Sex Slave Trafficking- Houston is the largest hub in the world and not one arrest and conviction has ever been made on any level of law enforcement from HPD to DHS in Texas, or in the world! Texas DPS says over 25,000 children in Texas disappear into child sex slavery every year. Girls and boys are abducted in the Woodlands and Shepherd Texas for example.
Mayor Parker and Adrian Garcia made public display of outrage in two “Shine the Light” reelection campaign farses but did nothing..Classic uncover up cover up election propaganda.
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast I-45’s supplying logistics for I-10 child sex slave trafficking from Abortion to condums through Cardinal Dinardo’s 80 million dollar fleecing of US taxpayers via the GW Bush 2008 Wilberforce Law for Victims of Child Sex Slavery Interfaith Iniative, and self proclaimed christian child sex slavery abolitionist Kat French Planned Parenthood supplied condoms to the Hideaway and the Southwest Inn- I -10 child sex slave trafficking warehouses in Houston just to name two.
Criminal investigation of Planned Parenthood I 45’s illegal baby part marketing business, the largest baby bio product processor in the Western Hemisphere is here in Houston. In a criminal conflict of interest, Mayor Parkers wife/husband is treasurer at the Planned Parenthood I-45.. Mayor Parker presided at the satanic liturgy of dedication at the Grand Opening, 2010. Mayor Parker suppressed as Mayor the 2013 not to be HPD murder investigation of Dr. Douglas Karpen who sold late term aborted alive infant bodies to PP I-45…
And of course Hero.
Bill King writes for the Chronicle which supports both Planned Parenthood and Dr. Douglas Karpen who rings the knecks of new born infants and sells their bodies to Planned Parenthood I-45, uncritically and absolutely. So Bill King has a professional conflict of interest in being Mayor of Houston, just as Annise Parker does in being a militant LGBT political activist. Parker at first lied campaigning saying her militant lesbianism will not be an issue in running for Mayor, but her compentency as city comptroller and manager. Bill King rightly points out Parker’s complete ineptness in managing the city in all ways. He does not in anyway criticize her for any of the above. It is necessary to have a mayor competent to do what Parker was incompetent to do, certainly! But not a mayor who by his silence and willing blindness will continue to facilitate child sex slave trafficking and the sale of aborted baby parts by Planned Parenthood I-45.. This is a botth…and, not an either/or.
The worst things done are not done. Bill King as Mayor will say or do nothing like Parker about the most important things facing Houston and humanity.
Voting for Bill King for Mayor as opposed to Annise Parker is like voting for Kim Ogg over Devon Anderson. In the end, nothing changes, everything remains the same..
I can’t support someone that says he opposes the HERO ordinance as written but refuses to tell us how he would rewrite it. Only way he would get my vote is if he facing one of the five that Parker supports.
Before running as a social conservative, Hall answered a Harris County Democratic Party questionnaire saying he supported HERO, Hall has a purely Democratic voting history, and Hall has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to pro-choice, pro-gay marriage liberal Democrats. (Source: Harris County Republican Party). Hall is a personal injury trial lawyer with a lifetime of experience of cleverly saying whatever it takes to win.
In a 2013 vote, Costello stood alone with Ellen Cohen as the only two council members to vote against an increase in the homestead property tax exemption for seniors. Everything Costello has done has pointed towards getting hold of more taxpayer dollars that he can spend to benefit his industry. How is is that we can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on new construction projects but we can’t fill a pothole? Follow the money and see who benefits,
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Senior-tax-break-among-new-city-spending-4611196.php
What’s up with Republican activists supporting and endorsing a well known Democrat? My two cents, if you support Ben Hall, it’s time to pack your bags and go join the dems. And if you’re a precinct chair doing this, you should be primaried and thrown out of office.
Have you ever asked how many elected Democratic officials Bill King supported when he was in charge of the collections here in Houston? If you haven’t do so and then come back and say what a great Republican he is.
Ben Hall is against the HERO has been against it from the beginning, Bill King flip flop.
Ben Hall while he is a Democrat he is also deeply religious and is not for abortion. Go ask Bill King where he stands on that issue.
So Hall is more of a social conservative then Bill King, that leave the fiscal part, I would say they are about equal.
So there are two reasons left to support King over Hall. One, Bill King sometimes votes in Republican primaries and Bill King is white. If there are other reasons, I am willing to consider. King ran for the state legislature as a Democrat, http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Bill-King-making-plans-for-Houston-1882300.php
Your analysis is completely backwards – you should start with evaluating the mayoral candidates based on their fiscal stances first. HERO is like issue 3 or 4 at best to voters. And come November 3, the HERO issue is over – one way or another. Either the people vote it down, or the people vote to keep it. HERO won’t even be an issue when the next mayor takes office – but our streets and fiscal situation will be.
Has Ben Hall ever been elected to anything? What makes a personal injury attorney qualified for the job? Unlike Bill King, Ben Hall has no record to look at as a guide to how he will behave in office, but he does have a record of supporting some of the most liberal democrats this country has ever seen. He *likes* Barack Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee and wants to see their agendas enacted into law. These are his role models for how he will run things should he get elected.
Bill King may be moderate, but he’s far more conservative than Ben Hall, who, by the way, was perfectly okay with supporting a nondiscrimination ordinance until he realized he needed the support of church going blacks. Ben Hall’s stance on HERO is just political expediency and pandering to get votes.
When Ben Hall loses badly in the election, I look forward to seeing your support and endorsement for Bill King in the runoff.
Where one stands on things like life and marriage are more important as they go the moral fiber of our society. Therefore, I believe you have things backwards.
As to Hall pandering for votes by being against HERO, where does that leave King who was for it before he was against it?
You are wrong the homosexuals have an agenda and it will not go away with one defeat. I wish it was so easy.
GUYS,
Enjoying the back and forth, but since my company helps Ben Hall on the campaign let me set a couple of things straight.
Ben says he supported an equal rights ordinance in 2013 before HERO or the City ordinance was ever written. This has always been about THIS ordinance being dangerous and poorly written. Ben has opposed THIS ordinance from the start and was the only candidate who spoke against it, before the Supreme Court made Houston do it over again. Part of the reason some conservative folks have backed Ben is because whoever gets in a runoff must have a coalition, the ability to get African-American and Hispanic votes to beat back a liberal tax raising guy like Sylvester Turner. i never vote a straight ticket because there are yahoos in both parties and we all know that. As far as people who haven’t been a politician, what does that matter. I will take a successful businessman any time, even if they are a lawyer. Career politicians who play the pay to play game will never be the answer, whether they are D or R. Whoever you vote for in the primary,just vote, and think about how that person will go on to win in a runoff. The makeup of the City of Houston is alot different than Harris County.
This is yet another false spin by the Hall supporters. Ben Hall both supported and opposed the concept of an equal rights ordinance in his 2013 campaign. He first supported it in answers to questionnaires by the glbt Caucus and in seeking the endorsement of Log Cabin Republicans. Then BEFORE the ordinance was ever written in 2014, BEFORE the election in 2013 he turned against it in an effort to pander for votes from the Hotze/Woodfill/Welch crowd. It did not work then.
Now Hotze has abandoned Hall. He cancelled a reception for Hall at his home a few weeks ago, and in the current issue of the Texas Conservative Review, completely omits any endorsement of Hall, as does Bellaire resident Gary Polland, who “edits” that publication, and has declined to endorse any candidate for mayor in the first round.
On his website, King says he will issue bonds to pay off the 3.7 billion the pensions are owed. He also says he will issue bonds to fix city roads, city engineers telling us it will cost over 600 million a year to catch up for the foreseeable future. Even ten years of repairs plus the pension payoffs would cost ten billion for King, bonds to be paid out of the general fund.
Costello says that is more than the city is allowed to borrow and given Moody’s declaration of city finances, he may have a point. Does Houston need that much more debt and can it afford the payments? But Costello votes in lockstep with Parker, designed the rain tax, and wants to hire another 1500 cops, a fine goal if there is a way to pay for them but he has no alternative but to change the pensions. If elected, he couldn’t make those changes by himself so that kills any plans he has based on it.
Hall is a lifelong democrat, supports them in his primary voting history and with his wallet, and flip flops as much as King. Despite Wayne’s best paid efforts, Hall is sinking in all polls as voters realize they don’t know who he will be if elected. Given Don’s observations about residency, one might question that too, his history of tax evasion part of the record too.
I understand about picking the lesser of three evils considering the alternatives but is this really the best this area has to offer?