I attended Gordon Quan's announcement event for County Judge today at Post Oak Grille. The place was packed. I got there just as it started, and ended up right behind David Mincberg, the Democratic candidate for County Judge in 2008. He was all smiles, and supportive of Quan, so that was kind of fun. Plus, it was just good to see him. He fought a hard battle, and lost, but we are all thankful he fought it.
A few of the faces in the crowd: State Rep. Kristi Thibaut, State Senator Rodney Ellis, two Democratic candidates for County Treasurer - Billy Briscoe (whom I finally met) and Chad Khan, Justin Gillenwater of the Asian American Action Fund (look for his comprehensive blog post on the event soon), Gerry Birnberg (who actually signed him up to run right there), plus a cast of seemingly thousands, including bloggers John Cobarruvias and Charles Kuffner. OK, a couple of hundred.
I couldn't be more excited about Quan's run. What a great public servant, with the experience, smarts and talent for a county-wide office. He's a former City Council member, an immigration attorney, and an expert on the homeless situation in Harris County. It won't be easy taking on Ed Emmett, but Quan is the ideal person to sign up for the challenge.
Quan said a lot of great things in his remarks (including some good things about Harris County's criminal justice system, which I hope Kuff is going to blog on.) But, he had me at this: "Hunker down is not a solution, it's a slogan." I loved that! How true. Ed Emmet's "hunker down" thing means what? Quan is exactly right, it's a slogan. And Emmett can ignore that and keep using it or explain what that has to do with effective county governance. For example, does it mean hunker down and stay the course and re-elect ethically challenged Jerry Eversole to Commissioner's Court? Emmet's given his blessing on that. I guess that's a hunker down situation, encouraging voters to re-elect a guy who got a $75,000 fine from the Texas Ethics Commission, and could still be indicted. Hunker down with Eversole and Emmett!
Quan's got a terrific campaign team which includes Mike Malaise and Mike Lykes. Mike and Mike made a smart move to hire the very talented Mili Gosar, a veteran of the Nick Lampson, Chris Bell and Lane Lewis campaigns, so she is on board Team Quan, as well.
I'm looking forward to seeing this race play out all year. Quan won't be able to just ride the Democratic wave - he's going to have to build himself up, and tear down Emmett. Let's do it!
Update: Here's Kuff's post, and John's, and Justin's and Stace's.
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