Carole Keeton Strayhorn for Mayor
√Perla Cavazos, Place 1
√Mike Martinez, Place 2
√Bill Spelman, Place 5
√Sam Osemene, Place 6

Watch the Videos and pass them on…

Brian Rodgers on Why Carole!
Carole on Why ChangeAustin.org!
Brian on Place 1, 2, 5 & 6 Endorsements!

 

Early Voting Starts Monday, April 27th and end Tues. May 5th
Election Day, Saturday,  May 9th

For Travis Co. Early and Election Day Polls
or call 238-8683

For Williamson Co. Early and Election Day Polls click here
or call 943-1630

Watch the Mayoral & Council Candidate Videos upon which we held our endorsement vote – candidates had to get 60% support

********

Mayoral Candidate, David Buttross
David Opener & Q & A
David Q & A

Josiah Ingalls – Written Questionnaire Only (see bottom of this post)

Mayoral Candidate, Lee Leffingwell
Lee Opening & Q & A
Lee Q & A
Final Q & A – Open Government

Mayoral Candidate, Brewster McCracken
Brewster Opener
Brewster on Transparency
Brewster on SB 690 (Anti-Petition Bill)
Brewster on Buying Local
Brewster on Single Member Districts
Brewster on Forced Blood Withdrawals
Brewster Final Statement

Mayoral Candidate, Carole Keeton Strayhorn

Carole Opener
Carole on SB 690 (anti-petition bill)
Carole on Biomess (no bid contracts)
Carole on Impact Fees
Carole on Buying Local
Carole on Single Member District
Carole on  Forced Blood Withdrawals
Carole on Conflict of Interest & Final Statement

Place 1 – Perla Cavazos v. Chris Riley
Perla & Chris Openings & Q & A
Perla and Chris Q & A

Place 2 Mike Matinez v. Jose Quintero
Mike Opener & Q & A
Mike Q & A
Jose Opener Q &A

Place 5 Bill Spelman (unopposed)
Bill Opener & Q & A
Bill Q & A

Place 6 Sheryl Cole v. Sam Osemene
Sheryl & Sam Opener & Q & A
Sheryl & Sam Q & A
Sheryl & Sam Q & A

Josiah Ingalls Questionnaire

1.  RECA, the Real Estate Council of Austin – who fought against Proposition 2 last fall with $56,000 in contributions to Keep Austin’s Word – is now at the State Capitol pushing a bill with Senator Wentworth to double the signature requirement from 5% to 10% of the registered voters to put a proposition on the ballot to amend the city charter. If SB 690 passes, the new figure of raw signatures needed for Austin would be over 56,000.  Because petitioning is not allowed at grocery stores, malls, shopping centers, post offices, or anywhere else people gather – except dog parks – this RECA effort will effectively kill citizen sponsored initiatives in Austin and in ALL 346 Texas Home Rule cities – a right that has been in place for decades. Only big money and corporations will then be able to afford the greater hurdle.

a. Will you go on record opposing Senate Bill 690?  Yes

 

b. Will you also commit to lowering the Ordinance petition requirements for initiatives from 10% to 5% by placing a council sponsored charter amendment on the next permissible municipal election?   Yes

 

2.  Citizens feel that major financial decisions are finalized in the back rooms of city hall and trotted out to the public only as a formality with little transparency and no meaningful public input.  Particularly disturbing was Council’s hurried unanimous decision last August to pass a no bid, 20 year, $2.3 billion contract to purchase electricity from a bio mass generating plant in Nacogdoches.  City staff said we must hurry and sign because the equipment prices were good only through August. BUY NOW BEFORE PRICES GO UP!  (…of course, a week later prices plummeted as the economy began to collapse…)

a. Will you commit to STOP doing NO-Bid deals?  Yes

 

 

b. Will you commit to giving the public all of the information at least 60 days before making a decision, and give us two public hearings prior to a vote?  Yes

3.  Developers build their developments and new subdivisions, take their profits, and leave Austin taxpayers the bill to pay for new roads, schools, utilities, and municipal facilities. New growth and development in Austin should pay its own way instead of shifting that burden to Austin’s taxpayers. Texas law allows cities to collect road impact fees from developers.  Ft. Worth collects a $2,000 road impact fee per new home while Austin collects nothing, leaving those costs to the rest of us.

Will you support the adoption of a road impact fees that represent the “full and fair” cost?

Yes I would but I would also insist that the same fee apply to new business structures as well.

 

4. Dollar for dollar, locally owned business provide far more jobs, far more tax revenue, far more income and wealth effects, far more entrepreneurship and charitable contributions, a better boost for tourism and smart growth – and a whole mess of benefits that outside companies cannot begin to give.

Will you support an ordinance to require all bidders for city goods and services to quantify the locally owned or locally sourced material and labor components of their bids so that city staff can compare each bid’s true economic value to the community?

Yes I do support an ordinance to require all bidders for city goods and services to quantify the locally owned or locally sourced material and labor components of their bids so that city staff can compare each bid’s true economic value to the community.  In fact I have been trying to push for this my entire campaign for Mayor.

 

5.  Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo signed on to the Major Cities Legislative Agenda which allows forced blood withdrawal for DWI suspects who refuse a breathalyzer,  and for DNA collection from ALL suspects arrested for Class B misdemeanor or higher – including possession of one joint.

Do you agree with Chief Acevedo’s plans for Austin or will you put a stop to this invasion of our bodies by government?

I would fight to put a stop to this invasion of personal privacy because I believe that it is a further effort by the government to build a database on each and every citizen as a further attempt to track, monitor and control our citizens.

 

Additional Question

What is your point of view towards single member districts?

Single member districts do help squash out lobbyists within our government, but it denies citizens of our city the right to vote on all of our city council seats, so therefore I am against single member districts because it takes away from a person’s constitutional right to be able to vote on his or her government officials.