Brown-Black Coalition or Broad Coalition for Gene Locke?

I wondered if my robo call catch had died a quick death or if it had legs. Ch. 11's Alex Saenz reported tonight on all of the controversies surrounding Republican Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman's robo dial for the Gene Locke for Mayor campaign. Here's what Kaufman said on the robo call:

"This is Beverly Kaufman, your Republican County Clerk calling for Gene Locke for Mayor of Houston. Gene Locke is the businessman candidate, endorsed by every conservative business group in the city,"Kaufman said in the taped message. "When early voting starts on October the 19th, I intend to vote for Gene Locke for Mayor of Houston. Lock in your vote for Gene Locke."

Annise Parker's response:

“I believe it is unethical for the administrator of an election to endorse a candidate in that election,” said Democrat Annise Parker, Locke’s opponent.

Peter Brown's campaign response alluded to Kaufman's opposition to the pre-clearance section of The Voting Rights Act:

“There has been a lot of controversy over this call among voting rights advocates,” said Lucinda Guinn, Democrat Peter Brown’s campaign manager. “But, rather than get into the business of criticizing our opponents automated phone calls, the Peter Brown campaign is going to stay focused on the great things we’re doing to get our message of a safer Houston, with more jobs and better quality of life to citizens. Peter Brown has run a positive, issue-based campaign and we’d like to keep it that way."

Uh, oh. Poor Roy Morales who is the only Republican in the race had this to say:

"It is of great concern when the individual in charge of conducting the election has picked a favorite and is actively endorsing him, including making automated phone calls,” Mary Sergesketter said in a statement. “This unfortunately calls into question the impartiality of the election process and the trust voters place in the County Clerk's Office."

Here's the punch line. Locke has gone from a brown-black coalition to a broad coalition. Who didn't see this coming?

“I am very proud of the broad coalition of support that I enjoy from Democrats, Independents and Republicans, from all sides of town,” he said. "I am running to be mayor for all of Houston. There is no doubt in my mind that Ms. Kaufman has the integrity to fulfill the duties of her elected office in a fair and unbiased way.“

It has the ring of "fair and balanced"!

Ch. 11's political expert, Bob Stein didn't address the ethics of the call, which was the point of the story, when he said this:

“By the context and content of the endorsement, I think this is something she feels strongly about,” he said. “I don't think for a moment that Beverly Kaufman would in any way, shape or form, do anything that would help or hurt any candidate in the race."

So. She feels strongly (the very reason anyone does a robo call on behalf of a candidate) and she wouldn't hurt any candidate in the race (the point of the robo call being to cause the other candidates to lose.) OK.

The progressive blogosphere was a little more pointed. Neil Aquino of Texas Liberal had this to say:

He thinks he can trumpet the support of people who don't at all share the beliefs of his most important voters, and that people won't catch on that he is a fraud.

People will indeed catch on to the fact that Mr. Locke is seeking to trick and bamboozle them on Election Day. If you're a Republican, please recall that Gene Locke is a Democrat. He is looking to trick and bamboozle you as well.

How can anybody trust this man to stick true to any belief? He is loyal only to his own ambitions.

Perry Dorrell of Brains and Eggs said this:

Gene Locke, the African-American faux Democrat in the Houston mayoral tilt - to be distinguished from the Anglo faux Dem Peter Brown - has the full and unqualified support of the Republican elections administrator in Harris County, Beverly Kaufman.

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Locke and Brown remind me of a couple of aluminum siding salesmen working both sides of the street; one goes into the rube's living room thirty minutes after the other promising them a set of eight steak knives instead of six.

How many people are going to fall for their act? Probably enough to get one of these scam artists into the runoff.

I'm sure there are a lot of differing opinions on Locke using Kaufman on the call. My Democratic partisan friends have reacted with outrage and disgust, declaring her a political hack. That may be because some of us have not forgotten the poor early voting locations she gave us in the Chris Bell SD17 runoff.

Will the Kaufman call backfire on Locke or coalesce conservatives around him? We'll find out on November 3rd.

UPDATE: Someone pointed me to this Houston Press article which reveals that Bob Stein (mentioned above - he made the overly enthusiastic comment about Beverly Kaufman, and is Che. 11's political expert) is the father-in-law of Jesse Dickerman, Gene Locke's Political Director. Draw your own conclusions.