But I told you so (on election night)
Parker: HER Ordinance could come back this year. Mike Morris, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$)
After the failure of her nondiscrimination ordinance, Mayor Annise Parker said it is possible she will put an item before council to pass similar or related protections before leaving office at the end of the year.
I have some things to say about this:
First, the City of Houston can now not afford to keep Parker around for any longer than it absolutely has to. She is now proving to be willing to tear the city apart at the seams, and keep it in the negative forefront of the National Media, in order to forward both a personal agenda and her post-office economic prospects (Prediction: she's either in line for a high-paying advocacy job, or is preparing to move to California with her family post-Mayorship and run for office there).
Two, I stated earlier that Parker deserved a seat at the table. Her churlish actions since the election prove this to be no longer true. In order for Houston to move forward from this mess it is going to be imperative that Parker be excluded from any discussions going forward. She is a divisive voice seeking only to benefit her friends and fellow travelers, at the expense of the rest of Houston. Certainly she is allowed to have an opinion, just as we are allowed to tune her out.
Three, It appears that Parker is not as smart as we have given her credit for. From the story:
Parker stressed that any item she brings forward will include all 15 protected classes – including transgender residents, the target of opponents' attacks – and said she is not interested in advancing a measure that exempts bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities from coverage, as some other cities have done.
For all of the "the opponents are lying" garbage that has spewed from her mouth since the election, she pretty much vindicates everything they have said about her plans. She also has now laid bare the lie that "Houston's Ordinance is JUST LIKE THAT OF OTHER CITIES". Cities with administrations who, unlike Parker, understand the thorny nature of one clause in an ordinance designed to protect many, seem to understand that taking the controversial provisions (which provide special accommodation and have nothing to do with equal rights) out of their ordinance is an OK thing.
Lastly, if any of the other Councilmembers, outside of Ellen Cohen, are clamoring for Parker to bring this back up, they're either admitting that they either don't care what their constituents think or aren't sharp enough to understand that, out of all the Districts, only District C (which contains the majority of Houston's GLBT population, voted to support Parker's Folly.
Granted, some of the Council Members could be bumping up against term-limits and won't face voters again, and others might assume that, in four years, they won't have to worry about it anyway, but for those running on a Pro-HER Ordinance stance this could turn the run-off in a direction that is painful for Parker's progressive friends.
At some point you have to think that Houston's Democrats, anxious to not entirely lose the Black and Hispanic votes over this, will step in and tell her "OK, that's enough". Then again, it might not matter because it appears that Parker is writing off her political future in this area regardless. In that case it's going to be up to Council to realize what is going on here and vote this down.
Let the next Mayor deal with it, whomever it may be.
