Peter Brown's Supporter List Problem

Brad Olson's reporting of Gene Locke accusing Peter Brown of putting thirty of Locke's supporters on his endorsement list took me back in time to 2007. Matt Stiles reported that Brown's name was on both Jolanda Jones' and Joe Trevino's supporter lists for the 2007 At-Large 5 runoff. Brown's response to Stiles:

I (Stiles) just called Brown to ask, and he said he's endorsing BOTH candidates. No kidding: "We've got two good candidates there," he said. "I realize that's a little unconventional."

Yeah, no kidding. Most elected officials just stay out of the endorsement game when they are supportive of more than one candidate. And, I'm pretty sure that's not what the Locke campaign assumes happened with the thirty folks they think are theirs. From Olson's report:

Are you a Peter Brown supporter? Wait, don't answer too fast. You may be and just not really know it, especially if you appear on this list on his Web site.

Take Greg Compean, for instance, owner of the Compean Funeral Home, who has never supported Brown in any race, or given him money, and happens to be an active Gene Lockesupporter. Or Tyra Burks, who works for Locke. Or Tony Chase, Locke's co-finance chair. Or Wea Lee, who is hosting a fundraiser for Locke. Or Edgardo Colon, an attorney and immediate past chairman of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who hasn't officially endorsed anyone in the race.

Let's take another trip down memory lane . . . It's a little hard for me to forget when Brown agreed to be on Sherrie Matula's public supporter list, and then very publicly showed up at her opponent's fundraiser which featured special guest Karl Rove.

So, maybe Brown thinks it's the norm to be publicly supportive of opposing candidates - when - no big revelation here - it is not the norm.

I do know for a fact that some early supporters of one mayoral candidate have switched their allegiance to another - across all three Democratic candidates. I doubt that is the reason Locke has found so many of his supposed supporters on Brown's list. But, it may be one reason why Locke does not have a supporter list on his website, other than endorsing organizations.

I'm not finding Lucinda Guinn's (Brown's campaign manager) response to Olson very convincing:

Peter Brown has a diverse group of supporters including three of the most prominent African American ministers who are currently running a radio ad on behalf of our campaign. This has obviously caused some panic within Mr. Locke's campaign. It is very telling as far as which candidate is better qualified to be mayor, that on a day Peter Brown released his detailed plan for bringing more good-paying jobs to Houston, Mr. Locke has chosen to engage in a petty argument over online supporter lists. So let's be clear: Peter Brown is focusing on boosting our economy while Gene Locke is focusing on whether or not online supporter lists have been updated. We're not going to engage in this petty, negative and unproductive back and forth with Mr. Locke. We're going to continue to talk about our plans to strengthen Houston's economy.

Come on. Why not tell Olson you are going to look into this, and if you find you've made mistakes, you'll take the names down.

My question for you: are you on Peter Brown's endorsement list and don't know it? Check the list here and let me know. For what's it worth, I found my name on Brown's list early on - and had not given them permission to do so. No one from the Brown campaign had ever asked me about it one way or the other. I have no idea what caused them to put my name on their list. It took two calls, but they did take it off.