Gene Locke

Redrawing Fiefdoms in Ye Olde HISD

Margaret DowningGene Locke walked HISD trustees through redistricting, Chapter 1​The Hispanic population continues to boom, the Anglo drip-drip-drip away to suburbia continues, there's a small decline among African Americans in Houston ISD and the district's biggest gain percentage wise is in ... More >>

Attica Locke: Black Water Rising

Based on a true story, the mystery won the first-time novelist an Edgar Award nomination

The Other Winners And Losers Of The 2009 Election

​Every election cycle, there are winners and there are losers. 2009 is no different. Here is a list of winners and losers and brief reason why.WinnersGarnet Coleman -- He was one of the few African-Americans that supported Annise Parker when she began her career. He stuck out his neck once again, ... More >>

Why Annise Parker Won And Gene Locke Lost

Photo by Daniel Kramer​The path to victory for Annise Parker looked easy and if you run a well-oiled machine, that is exactly how it should be. Bottom line, Gene Locke did not win because he lacked the campaign experience that Parker had learned over the last ten years.Locke had the support ... More >>

Annise Parker's Victory, Gene Locke's Loss -- The Slideshow

Photo by Daniel Kramer​ Saturday night brought headlines from across the world for Houston, as we matter-of-factly elected Annise Parker as mayor, making us the largest U.S. city to be ruled by someone who can't get married to someone she's been living with for almost two decades.Click here for a ... More >>

Born to Runoff: Playlists for Saturday's Mayoral Election-Night Parties

​ Thursday evening Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker, clearly anticipating a weekend of celebration, posted the following message to Twitter asking for playlist suggestions for her election night party. So far the official suggestions are pretty lame, so Rocks Off is coming to the rescue ... More >>

Why That Locke Supporter Is Absolutely Correct About The Horrors Of Gayness

​Lucky Houstonians got a real treat yesterday in the form of a postcard from one Dave Wilson, which offered helpful advice about the coming mayoral run-off. This isn't the anti-gay Wilson's first rodeo, as he sent out another mailer last month, treating us to the alarming image of mayoral ... More >>

Gene Locke The Lobbyist

If you missed last night's debate then you missed a good one. In fact, it was the best one to date. Check the live-blog coverage to catch up on the juicy details.Gene Locke's background and possible conflicts of interests were brought up midway through the debate via a question submitted by a viewer ... More >>

Parker And Locke Tussle Over Cops And Trust

Who do you trust on Public Safety?The Annise Parker and Gene Locke campaigns released their initial runoff ads this week. In Parker's "Leader" ad she proudly acknowledges that the Houston Chronicle has endorsed her and decides to concentrate on public safety as the theme for her message.The ad ... More >>

Vote Early Starts Today; Avoid The Christmas Rush

​You know what you can do today that you couldn't do last week? Vote in the runoff.Early voting in the blistering mayoral race between Annise Parker and Gene Locke began this morning and continues until December 8.If you don't vote early, you're going to have to head to the polls on Saturday, Dece ... More >>

A Bad Weekend For Gene Locke

Who would have thought that after it was revealed that the "anti-gay" activist Dave Wilson donated $2,000 to the Gene Locke campaign that it would be the catalyst for a bad, bad weekend for the candidate?It didn't help that Locke forgot to attend the first highly anticipated debate since the Novembe ... More >>

After OT Playoff Loss, The Dynamo Face A Lot Of Questions

Photo courtesy Houston Dynamo​The LA Galaxy put the dagger in the Houston Dynamo's heart last Friday, ending their 2009 season. The 2-0 defeat in overtime left the Orange marooned one step away from the MLS Cup.It was a wild affair in Los Angeles, a game that was interrupted twice for power outag ... More >>

That Christian Group Has A Most Christian Runoff Endorsement

​Talk about a ballsy endorsement: local group Christians For Better Government announced today that it definitely thinks you should vote Annise Paker for mayor. Or maybe Gene Locke. Come to think of it, wouldn't it be swell if we could have two mayors?? This is after the non-profit, Pentecostal-C ... More >>

The Mayorial Madness Continues... Plus: Memories of Mary's

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

Five Reasons Why Peter Brown Barely Beat Roy Morales

​Ah, Peter Brown. You spent more than $3 million of your wife's cash, you put up dazzling ads that showed you jazzercising your way to Houston's future, you led the polls most of the way, as long as "Undecided" wasn't included.Yet you lost. Badly. Instead of making the runoff, you had to struggle ... More >>

Mid-Week Match-Up: And Then There Were Two

Houston is barely coming off the adrenaline rush of the mayoral election, and already it has been set careening into the non-stop thrill ride of the runoff.You thought Annise Parker and Gene Locke brought the high-octane heat in the first round? You ain't seen nothing yet. (Probably because you were ... More >>

Election Day In Houston Is As Thrilling As Expected

Photos by Blake WhitakerELECTION FEVER!!!!!! You probably won't catch it.​Outside the East End's Settegast Park Community Center this morning, the situation was getting out of hand. Annise Parker and Gene Locke campaign workers were engaged in a shouting matching over one of the myriad issues that ... More >>

Election Night Parties So Far Are As Scintillating As The Campaign

Photo by Mike Giglio​Things are very quiet at the vote-watch "parties" tonight, as the candidates and their supporters settle in for what's likely to be a long night of seeing who ends up being the odd person out.This description, of the Annise Parker bash, is pretty much true of the others. Excep ... More >>

We Have A Winner In The Mayor's Race!!!! (For Best Party, That Is)

Peter Brown, who showed he knows how to spend his wife's money running a mayoral campaign, is showing tonight he can spend it on parties, too.While the Annise Parker and Gene Locke events are listless and miserly with the freebies, Brown's party at the Heights Theater is crowded, has an open bar and ... More >>

Midweek Match-Up: My Black Pastors Are Better Than Yours, Punk

​Houston's boring excuse for a mayoral election is now officially ON FIRE!!! It's EN FUEGO!!!!Why? Because there's some dull sparring between Peter Brown and Gene Locke over who has the best-est bunch of black pastors endorsing them. Locke is claiming that Brown, a multi-millionaire who is largely ... More >>

Houston's Choice for Mayor

Black Guy, Rich White Guy, Lesbian or Hispanic Republican

Mid-Week Match-Up: The Mayor's Race, Such As It Is

​Most of Houston seems blissfully unaware that there's a mayor's race going on. This year is supposed to be one of the the years with a hot election -- the incumbent is term-limited, so it's an open seat likely to lead to six years in office -- but, for reasons we lay out in this week's cover stor ... More >>

Local Mayoral Campaigns Use Social Media, and Apparently That's News

​If you don't have eyes, ears, or a television set with that nonsensical converter box, you may not be aware that today kicks off early voting for stuff that's pretty crucial to the Houston political agenda. Not only can you stick your ballot in the box for City Council, City Controller, comm ... More >>

The Last Of The Mayoral-Ad Premieres: A Review

Finally, Gene Locke has got a TV ad. The last of the three major candidates to hit the air in these tough-to-raise-cash times, he will be up soon with this 30-second piece of art. (Although, as with the other candidates, there's no telling just how often he'll buy time to run it.)As we have done ... More >>

Adios Bookstop and "Poll" Dancing

What Was And Wasn't In The Candidate Biographies Of that Latest Mayor's-Race Poll

​As we noted yesterday, most Houstonians have no idea who they want for their next mayor. A poll shows more than two-thirds don't favor any of the candidates, partly as a result of financially crimped campaigns that haven't been able to advertise much yet.Houstonians who were called for the poll a ... More >>

Houston: You Have No Idea Who You Want As Your Next Mayor

Photo courtesy GHCVB​A little more than two months remain before Election Day, and fully two-thirds of voters have no idea who they'll end up supporting, according to the first major poll on the race.KHOU and KUHF's poll, done by Rice's Bob Stein, fully backs up the feeling that the 2009 race has ... More >>

HEAA Slings Some Loaded Questions at Four Mayoral Candidates

photo by frankh​ The Houston Electric Auto Association recently cornered the four biggest mayoral candidates and grilled them on environmental issues, most (unsurprisingly) having to do with the unmitigated wonderfulness of the electric car. They were also quizzed on their support of proposed ... More >>

A Day Late, Gene Locke Weighs In On The Ashby High-Rise

​Yesterday we told you how "disappointed" two of the three main mayoral candidates were with the city's decision to approve a high-rise development near Rice even though rich people live near it.We hadn't heard from Gene Locke, considered by many to be the front-runner in this year's race, but now ... More >>

Houston Wellness Association's Mayoral Candidate Forum

Web exclusive!

New Novel Explodes The Lid Off All Those Striking Dockworkers In Houston

A dockworker's strike in Houston? When was the last time we had a dockworker's strike in Houston?We're not sure, but such an event plays a key role in a new novel that got a big-time review in The New York Times yesterday.Black Water Rising, by an author named Attica Locke, concerns a black man ... More >>

Mayoral-Race Forum: The Beef Stroganoff Was More Filling

Much like the beef stroganoff on the buffet table, yesterday's mayoral forum was safe and unassuming.   It was a packed banquet room of business attire for the luncheon, which the Rotary Club of Houston hosted at the Junior League. Candidates sat side-to-side at a table on stage.   Roy Mor ... More >>

A Pleasure Cruiser and The Worst Song in the World

On the Trailer

Benjamin Hall Drops Out Of The Mayor's Race

Benjamin Hall, one of the two black-ex-city attorneys rumored to be running for mayor, is not running for mayor.Hall announced he's supporting his doppelganger, Gene Locke, the Houston Chronicle reports.The deal was apparently brokered by Congressman Al Green, who obviously enough wasn't looking fon ... More >>

Brown's Diss-functional City Hall Family

Drug testing and staff backstabbing have 'em dropping like flies

Kingwood Legal Follies

Brown rushed in where Lanier feared to tread

Taken to the Woodshed

A federal judge rips three city attorneys and their bosses for how they handled the Barbra Piotrowski lawsuit

The Insider

How to Beat City Hall

Just get the help of some City of Houston attorneys who can show you how to anger a judge, enrage a jury and (maybe) stick the taxpayers with a bill for $148 million

The Insider

The Insider

The Great Decolorizer

As a student radical in the late sixties, Ed Blum fought for affirmative action. Now, as a middle- aged neocon, he wants to destroy it.

Trawling in Deep Water

Peary Perry's lawsuit against the city may indeed have implications for the November mayoral election -- but perhaps not the ones Perry and his lawyer have in mind

Crimes of Hygiene

City inspectors battle the scourge of Houston -- ill-kempt cabbies

The Insider

The Insider

The Insider

Perk of Office

Gunning for Greanias

The mayor and his city attorney try to make the controller the issue -- again

Sixties Survivor

Gene Locke rises from the streets to City Hall without disavowing his past