The reason I'm not surprised - and I shared this with several of the mayoral campaigns early on - is that Brown has done the work over his two terms as a council member, to show up and be supportive of both Democrats and Republicans in the community. I truly believe he takes his work as a non-partisan council member seriously. The "showing up" over the past four years has been noticed, and not just among Republicans, but among the African American community, which is why he has strong support there, as well (listen to the African American radio ads, where the ministers say exactly that.)
I worked a Texas House race in Clear Lake last year, and am familiar with that part of the City of Houston (and also because of my work to help get Nick Lampson elected). I know that Peter Brown is the type of candidate that appeals to soft Republicans and Independents out there. I would imagine that would be the same on the Westside and in Kingwood.
I got an idea from a friend to look up Brown's contributions to federal candidates on opensecrets.org. Here's the result of that search. I was a little surprised to find out that Peter supported Republicans on the federal level, but the evidence is clear - he gave to McCain, Giualani, Cornyn, McCaul, and Romney. The vast majority of his contributions were to Democrats (including moveon.org - you can't get more liberal than that). If this information is important to you in making your decision of who to vote for in the mayoral race, here you go (I bolded the Republican donations):
BROWN, PETERHOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY OF HOUSTON/COUNCIL MEMBER 3/16/07 $4,600 Obama, Barack (D)
Brown, Peter Houston,TX 77005 City of Houston 7/31/08 $1,899 Obama, Barack (D)
BROWN, PETER HOUSTON,TX 77005 7/22/08 $500 Green, Al (D)
BROWN, PETER HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY OF HOUSTON/COUNCILMAN 1/25/08 $250 Squier, Jim (R)
BROWN, PETER HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY OF HOUSTON/COUNCIL MEMBER 3/16/07 $-2,300 Obama, Barack (D)
BROWN, PETER H HOUSTON,TX 77005 CIVIC DESIGN ASSOC/ARCHITECT 5/15/07 $2,500 Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 CIVIC DESIGN ASSOCIATES/ARCHITECT/C 6/30/08 $2,300 Noriega, Rick (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 SELF-EMPLOYED/ARCHITECT 2/26/07 $1,500 Emanuel, Rahm (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL/CITY COUNCIL M 2/29/08 $1,000 Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY OF HOUSTON/HOUSTON CITY COUNCI 5/19/08 $1,000 Moveon.org
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY OF HOUSTON/HOUSTON CITY COUNCI 2/3/08 $1,000 Moveon.org
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77098 CITY OF HOUSTON/COUNCILMAN 6/29/07 $500 Lampson, Nick (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY OF HOUSTON/CITY COUNCEL MEMBER 4/25/07 $500 Cornyn, John (R)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY OF HOUSTON/ARCHITECT CITY COUN 1/15/07 $500 Move
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77098 CITY OF HOUSTON/COUNCILMAN 6/29/07 $500 Lampson, Nick (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77002 HOUSTON CITY/COUNCILMAN 12/7/07 $500 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77002 3/28/07 $500 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY OF HOUSTON/CITY COUNCEL MEMBER 5/11/07 $300 Cornyn, John (R)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY COUNCIL OF HOUSTON/CITY COUNCI 10/29/07 $250 Franken, Al (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY COUNCIL OF HOUSTON/CITY COUNCI 8/21/07 $250 Franken, Al (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 SELF/ARCHITECT 6/6/07 $250 McCaul, Michael (R)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY OF HOUSTON/CITY COUNCILMAN 6/18/08 $250 Rodriguez, Ciro D (D)
BROWN, PETER H
HOUSTON,TX 77005 3/7/08 $-200 Giuliani, Rudolph W (R)
Brown, Peter H Mr
Houston,TX 77005 City of Houston/Council Member 8/14/08 $5,400 DNC Services Corp (D)
Brown, Peter H Mr
Houston,TX 77005 City of Houston/Council Member 7/31/08 $2,700 DNC Services Corp (D)
BROWN, PETER H MR
HOUSTON,TX 77005 CITY OF HOUSTON/HOUSTON CITY COUNCI 4/16/08 $2,000 DNC Services Corp (D)
BROWN, PETER H MR
HOUSTON,TX 77098 PETER H BROWN & ASSOC./ARCHITECT 3/23/07 $1,000 EMILY's List
BROWN, PETER H MR
HOUSTON,TX 77005 HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL/COUNCIL MEMBER 3/28/07 $1,000 Giuliani, Rudolph W (R)
BROWN, PETER H MR
HOUSTON,TX 77005 HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL/COUNCIL MEMBER 5/22/07 $1,000 Giuliani, Rudolph W (R)
BROWN, PETER H MR
HOUSTON,TX 77005 HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL/COUNCIL MEMBER 9/12/07 $500 Giuliani, Rudolph W (R)
BROWN, PETER H MR
HOUSTON,TX 77005 SELF-EMPLOYED/ARCHITECT 3/31/07 $500 McCain, John (R)
BROWN, PETER H MR
HOUSTON,TX 77005 SELF-EMPLOYED/ARCHITECT 3/29/07 $500 Romney, Mitt (R)
BROWN, PETER H MR
HOUSTON,TX 77005 HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL/COUNCIL MEMBER 9/12/07 $200 Giuliani, Rudolph W (R)
BROWN, PETER H MR
HOUSTON,TX 77005 HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL/COUNCIL MEMBER 9/12/07 $-200 Giuliani, Rudolph W (R)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77098 SELF/ARCHITECT 10/28/08 $5,000 Democratic Party of Harris County (D)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77098 SELF/ARCHITECT 10/17/07 $2,500 Democratic Party of Harris County (D)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77098 SELF/ARCHITECT 5/20/08 $2,500 Democratic Party of Harris County (D)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77098 CITY OF HOUSTON/COUNCILMAN 7/8/08 $2,000 Lampson, Nick (D)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77098 CITY OF HOUSTON/COUNCILMAN 3/27/08 $1,500 Skelly, Michael Peter (D)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77005 SELF-EMPLOYED/ARCHITECHT 10/24/08 $1,500 HILLPAC (D)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77098 SELF/ARCHITECT 3/30/07 $1,000 Democratic Party of Harris County (D)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77098 CITY OF HOUSTON/COUNCILMAN 5/30/08 $507 Skelly, Michael Peter (D)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77098 CITY OF HOUSTON/COUNCILMAN 4/15/08 $250 Skelly, Michael Peter (D)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77098 SELF/ARCHITECT 11/6/07 $225 Democratic Party of Harris County (D)
BROWN, PETER HOYT
HOUSTON,TX 77098 SELF/ARCHITECT 7/7/08 $200 Democratic Party of Harris County (D)
8 comments:
And Al Franken and Benrie Sanders.
And Macaca. That was the killer for me.
(It's on Newsmeat. Click on the secodn set of 50 records.)
Or here's a link that should work:
http://tinyurl.com/yj9dyzr
And back in 2007, he gave $500 to Macaca before he was Macaca. Still, we did know he was an anti-MLK Holiday Governor.
BROWN, PETER
HOUSTON, TX 77005
CIVIC DESIGN/ARCHITECT
ALLEN, GEORGE
VIA FRIENDS OF GEORGE ALLEN
09/30/2005 500.00 26020051585
Wow, good to know Peter is non-partisan and this proves it. Interesting to see he supports good Republican leaders and Democratic leaders. We need a non-partisan leader in Houston.
Are there people out there who are surprised that Brown leads among Republicans? He has taken this non-partisan stuff seriously; I think there are some council members who have done that, and I think the mayor has done that. Plus he's an older white guy -- sounds like he's been around the block, hence more appealing to conservatives.
And I just watched a youtube video the other day back from an MLK Day parade where he was videotaped along with Chamillionaire and one of the other rapper co-grand marshals of the parade.
He has, indeed, seemed to be in so many different places well before he started running for mayor. I have known of Brown longer than the other two candidates, in part, because I recall seeing him around in my high school days when I was helping out Jim Henley's US Congress campaign.
AND!? These are NON partisan elections. He personally has given to candidates he deems worthy, as do I. I have given money to rep. dems. ind. and mean no harm by it. Jesus, people are far too partisan in this city!
Such interesting comments!
Michael, you have your pulse on this, that's for sure. You are right on with your comments.
I am a fan of our non-partisan city elections. There's stuff about Brown to make a partisan D unhappy/unhappy and the same with partisan R's.
How did I miss his donation to Macaca?!
What I find interesting is that he's said that he was "the FIRST Houston elected official" to support Obama- but he fails to mention how he gave financial support to Giuliani prior to supporting Obama... Hmmmm- pandering with lies....
Peter gets credit for "showing up"? Well, that's certainly not how he garnered the nickname "Out of Town Brown" on City Council, and certainly not a barometer worthy of deciding our city's future.
And Martha, I'm surprised that you neglected to mention Peter "showing up" to a Republican fundraiser, hosted by Karl Rove, in 2007 with the specific purpose of defeating Democratic women candidates in state lege races-- including your candidate, Sherrie Matula. That isn't "non-partisan," that's downright sleazy.
I know we've already covered the topic of whether or not Gene Locke respects women, but should we be asking the same question of Peter Brown? If he was really only giving to "the most qualified candidates," why did only $2,000 out of almost $52,0000 go to women candidates and organizations? Are women candidates the most qualified only 8% of the time? If he's going to spend all of his wife's money, he ought to be a bit more conscientious of women candidates...
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