Houston Chronicle Endorses Melissa Noriega

In a great write-up, that perfectly captures Melissa's competence, intelligence and compassionate spirit, the Houston Chronicle endorsed Melissa Noriega today for Houston City Council At-Large, Position 3.

This was the seat that Shelley Sekula-Gibbs held before her unfortunate win in the TX-22 special election forced her to give up her Council seat and go to D.C. and embarrass the living hell out of her constituents for two long weeks. But, I digress.

Good stuff from the chron endorsement:

• The Chronicle endorses Melissa Noriega, a candidate with a diverse range of useful experience and a demonstrated commitment to learning, and solving, Houstonians' needs.
• Two years ago, Noriega shot into the Texas spotlight. Her husband, state Rep. Rick Noriega, is a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army National Guard and in June 2004 was deployed to Afghanistan. Melissa Noriega stepped down from her job to take his place in the Legislature. She served with aplomb, sitting on the Defense Affairs and State and Federal Relations Committee, as well as the Corrections Committee. Her colleagues awarded her the Joe E. Moreno Public Service Award.
• Noriega has developed a detailed agenda for Houston, including swift replacement of retiring police officers, flood abatement and better equipment for Houston's first-responders. She would fight to preserve dwindling green space as a way to improve the city's competitiveness. And she supports drug courts, affordable housing and better schools as cost-efficient ways to prevent crime.
• Noriega is especially attuned to the needs of Houston's poor and fragile. While Rep. Noriega was out of the city, she monitored developments in his district, at one point visiting a complex where a house fire had killed three children.

Early voting starts tomorrow, April 30th, and goes through
Saturday, May 8th. Election day is Saturday, May 12th.

Vote early! Polling locations will combine on election day and it may get confusing.

An interactive early voting map with locations and schedules can be found at Melissa's website.

I have Melissa's promise that, if elected, she will not wear pink leggings and a pink coat - with a gigantic pink hat - to public events. That's really all you need to know.