Seriously, folks, this will be a great opportunity for both candidates and voters. First of all, it doesn’t cost a candidate anything to set up a table except time. Second of all, they are anticipated 2,000 voters but if my friends in the various Tea Party groups, 912 groups, Liberty groups, and Facebook peeps spread the word, we could get 10,000 there. After all, it is on a Saturday afternoon. C’mon, 10k is nothing for a “non-partisan” event.
Click here for all the details. Candidates, be certain and RSVP with this form BEFORE August 15th!
The Meet and Greet portion runs from 3 pm until 5:30 pm. After that, there will be two debates: the first between Tax Assessor/Collector candidates Don Sumners and Diane Trautman. The second debate will feature Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and challenger Gordon Quan. The details about those debates are still being firmed up but don’t worry, I’ll let you know in plenty of time how to RSVP to see them. It is possible that room for the debates will be limited but if there is enough interest, I’m guessing that the LVW will move it to a larger hall.
One thing about the day that we need to keep an eye on is that it is co-sponsored by the Houston chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. That is all well and good but at the meeting I was at last week, the lefty bloggers in attendance seemed excited that ReNew Houston might participate. To her credit, LWV-Houston Director Christina Gorczynski told them that the LWV didn’t like to have events where only one side in a debate was present. Again, that is all well and good but check this out from the LWV newsletter announcing the event:
The League of Women Voters-Houston Area will be especially busy this fall. The League is partnering with the Houston Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to present a forum with information sessions on all aspects of infrastructure, Saturday, September 18, 2010, at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
And then read this from the ASCE Government Relations Blog:
Supporters of the Renew Houston campaign to increase fees for stormwater infrastructure, ASCE 2009 President D. Wayne Klotz, P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE and council member Stephen Costello, P.E., M.ASCE are working to educate the citizens of Houston about the need to improve storm sewers and road runoff to prevent funding. Supporters of the effort hope to have the fee on the general ballot this November.
Now, I’ve told you before that I’m cynical and here we go again. When I see a group that has a “government relations blog” and then think about the ReNew Houston “infrastructure solution” and their attempts to “educate the citizens”, I worry. Especially when you look at the amount of money these guys are trying to get from the taxpayers with no plan whatsoever on how and where to spend it, as best as I can tell. We need a group to educate the voters on what these guys are trying to do, which is to write a blank check for 20 years, and most likely 40. Can you imagine the waste involved in something like this? Fortunately, I heard yesterday that a SPAC is forming to combat this specific ballot measure – this meeting on September 18th would be a great place for them to be. Here’s hoping!
But remember candidates – you’d better be there if you are on the Harris County ballot. If you aren’t, and you are a Republican, and you aren’t laid up in the hospital (even then you could have a table), I’ll out you, over and over and over and over. Are you getting the picture that I think this is important? And if you are one of those groups with huge mailing lists, or you have a Facebook account, you need to spread the word today, next week, and every week until the event. You can’t take back our government if you don’t work at it.