A Nevada field director for Obama's re-election campaign, a Planned Parenthood volunteer still in college, and an environmentalist who opposes Austin's growth walk into your ballot booth.
We wish it were a joke. It's a serious possibility that these candidates could win any or all of three influential local elections Tuesday.
The Travis GOP has not endorsed a candidate in the Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, runoff election, and some local conservative voters may feel at a disadvantage when determining for whom to cast a ballot (or whether to show up at all). The Tracker urges its readers to vote anyway, but not without some intel -- and we provide some here in the form of some reverse psychology.
Fortunately, there's a method to determine who conservatives should support that almost never fails. Assuming there's no blue moon forecast tonight, our friends at the Austin Chronicle have released their opinions on who the most liberal and union-backed candidates are. We'll review the highlights for you.
Austin City Council District 10: Sheri Gallo (i) vs. Alison Alter.
"Alter offers the more progressive background and a number of endorsements from Democratic clubs," the Chronicle says, "... would be the more progressive voice on environmental issues ... [and would] hold developers accountable ..." Who wouldn't want that? More traffic and high occupancy equals fewer people moving to Austin and clogging up our freeways, right? The Chronicle seems to agree with that sentiment and has endorsed Alter.
Austin Community College Board of Trustees Place 4: Sean Hassan vs. Michael J. Lewis.
The Chronicle endorsed Hassan, claiming his opponent was "a little too lockstep" with the Texas Education Agency. That doesn't add up because since when has the Chronicle opposed education bureaucrats? So here's the more likely reason: Hassan proudly advertises himself as a former Regional Get Out the Vote Director for Obama for America in Reno, Nevada (a far piece from Austin), and a 2012 Democratic National Convention Delegate. That he has the support of local unions is also a plus for local liberal kingmakers more concerned with ideology than representation.
Austin Community College Board of Trustees Place 9: Julie Ann Nitsch vs. Guadalupe "Lupe" Sosa.
Naturally, the Chronicle endorsed Nitsch, an ACC student, "passionate advocate of social justice ... volunteer for Planned Parenthood ... [and] strong Democrat." It's sad because Lupe has been an endorsee for many years prior, but seems to have been shown the underside of the bus this year because she's now old-hat. After all, don't we need a student on the board who will serve as the official voice of students in academic, institutional, and campus affairs? (Oh wait.)
You know what to do, cowboy.
Election Day is Tuesday, Dec. 13. See if you're eligible and check to see which races (if any) appear on your ballot.
Map of ACC District: http://www.austincc.edu/locations/district
Map of City of Austin District 10: http://www.austintexas.gov/department/district-10
The Chronicle's endorsements are here: http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2016-11-25/chronicle-endorsements
Updated: 9:10 p.m. 12/12/16
City of Austin official seal. Not used with permission.
In other words, if the Austin Crapical is endorsing someone/something... DO THE OPPOSITE.
ReplyDeleteNicely done!
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