After taking a peek forward into 2016 we now pause to take a minute and look back on the winners and losers for 2015.
Winners:
Sylvester Turner: This one seems pretty clear. After years of trying, and failing, to ascend to Houston's top elected office Turner finally won the throne. He's now the Mayor-Elect of Houston and will be bestowed with all of the blessings that are given to a politician who has won election in a city with a strong-Mayor form of government. Of course, this leads us to....
Sylvester Turner's political friends and patrons: All of whom are about to cash in.
Chris P. Brown: Mr. Brown was pretty much given a pass by voters for his role in driving the automobile of Houston to the edge of the fiscal cliff, and was given the financial keys to try and pull the city away. This is pretty amazing for a now-elected official who served as a deputy for one of the least effectual City Controllers in History.
Peter Brown: For no other reason than his son won.
Annise Parker: Yes, she lost a LOT near the tail end of 2015 but overall, her year can be called a success. She escaped her term as Mayor without the city falling off of the fiscal cliff and she was able, in the last days, to appoint her partner and various other friends to the boards of TIRZ and other quasi-governmental agencies which assures that she'll continue to have a say in local politics past her term.
Kathy Hubbard: She got married to Ms. Parker, and benefitted from that relationship through Mayoral appointment. Not bad.
Sheila Jackson Lee: Finally saw her support of Sylvester Turner lead to election as Mayor. This, and her success with the Edwards campaign, has led her to cast her eyes toward the district of Democrat Gene Green. Her fingers are purportedly all over the Adrian Garcia challenge for that race and there can be no doubt that her influence in the region is growing.
John Whitmire: He maintains his financial relationship with the Houston Firefighter's Pension and now has a Mayor in office who will see things his way.
Adrian Garcia: He was poised to be a loser in 2015, having given up his position as the highest elected Democrat in Harris County to make an ill-fated campaign for Houston Mayor (which infuriated some local Democrats) but then he fell under the political wing of Ms. Jackson Lee and his political career was thrown a life-line. Time will tell whether or not he can beat Congressman Green but, even if he fails, he's guaranteed support for another race further down the road.
Stephen Costello: Repositioned himself from a fiscal conservative to a Statist and attached his future political career to Sylvester Turner in the process.
Cindy Clifford*: A behind-the-scenes member of Houston's Courtesan class who backed the right horses in the 2015 municipal races. This ensures that her PR firm will continue to score several lucrative contracts resulting in a personal windfall.
Houston Tomorrow: Like Ms. George, the 2015 Municipal elections worked out well for this group, who fancies itself a mixture of advocacy and scold. With the election of Turner they ensure that their incessant harping about new urbanist issues continue to distract from important, fiscal, matters.
Andy Taylor: Let's face it, the guy kicked the Parker Administration around in court frequently in 2015. He sets himself up as the most hated figure on the political left, which works out well for his profile and pocketbook.
Harris County Democrats: Let's see: swept the 2015 Municipal Elections, developed a power structure through Sheila Jackson Lee that appears formidable. Not a bad year.
Social Conservatism: Regardless of your opinion re: HER Ordinance, the resulting thrashing that it received in the general election was telling.
Jared Woodfill: After suffering electoral defeat in 2014, Mr. Woodfill bounced back, and made himself very relevant in Republican circles for 2015.
Losers:
Bill King: Lost out, barely, in the Mayoral election to a man who was unsuccessful in attaining the office in two previous tries.
Bill Frazer: Had the hole-shot to winning the office of Houston Controller. Could not finish.
Chris Bell: Not only did Mr. Bell not play a serious role in the 2015 Houston Mayoral Election he then compounded his irrelevance by choosing to back Bill King. This angered his progressive base to the point that it appears his status as perennial candidate might finally be at an end.
Social Progressivism: The defeat of HER Ordinance was a step back for those who are seeking not only special accommodation for selected groups but for those who are trying to undo the male/female dichotomy of gender identification. If anything, current trends suggest this may just be a temporary defeat however since their is little evidence the other side is actually gaining ground vs. took advantage of a poorly written ordinance.
Ordinance writing: No matter how you look at it, 2015 was a horrible year for ballot language in Houston. From HER Ordinance to ReBuild Houston to Term Limits almost everything that hit the ballot was fraught with language issues. Hopefully the next administration, which does have some legislative experience, can learn from the mistakes.
Houston Media: From operating as a political watchdog to serving as a political lap-dog 2015 was a down year for the media in Houston. It was so bad that the Houston Chronicle is currently attempting to regain some momentum by focusing it's reporting primarily on Mr. Turner's campaign priorities in a blatant effort to regain an audience.
Harris County Republicans: Still can't do urban, still can't convince voters that they have solutions. In 2015 the HCRP became even MORE fractured and out of sorts.
Greater Houston Partnership: Let slip their veil of impartiality in lieu of trying to scare Houston into accepting an ordinance that was poorly crafted.
Ben Hall: Poorer, with very little to show for it.
Marty McVey: Managed to fool the Houston Media into believing he was a front-line candidate, was immediately exposed at the ballot box. Also, was financially smacked by the courts.
Bob Stein: In polling, only got one thing right, that the run-off election between King and Turner would be close.
Fiscal Conservatism: While social conservatism won at the ballot box, fiscal conservatism was unable to generate the turnout needed to thrust either King or Frazer to run-off wins.
Paul Simpson: Appeared to be caught unawares by the conservative interest in HER Ordinance and allowed Jared Woodfill to take the lead on the issue. As a result, he's facing two challengers for the Chairmanship of the HCRP in 2016.
"Mattress" Mac McIngvale: Backed King publically, is losing the battle for the Post Oak BRT and proved that he's got a tin-ear in his horse racing hobby. It's amazing that his name was once discussed, by a few, as a serious potential candidate for public office.
Houston Taxpayers: Will be on the hook for increasingly large budget shortfalls which will eventually result in an ordinance to remove the voter-imposed, pillow-soft, Houston revenue cap. Watch out for 2016 when it could be seen just how big a loser they were.
Houston Businesses: Had a pretty big win on HER Ordinance, which would have created an administrative nightmare, but is looking at some big fiscal losses as the true cost of "Two Houston's" will be felt, primarily by them, in 2015.
Local political alternative media: This has been on a downward path for years now. Regardless of the politics of the blog the actual content that is being put out by alternative forms of media is degrading at an alarming rate. The former alt-weekly is a listical machine, Free Press Houston is now a concert promoter (and little else) and there are no good, active, political blogs worth mentioning. Houston political discussion is currently being held by anonymous commenters over at Chron.com and on the television. Even talk radio, with a few exceptions, is not conducting meaningful local discussion.
*Thank you to Houston Chronicle Reporter Mike Snyder who pointed out that I confused Chron Reporter Cindy George, with Houston PR flack Cindy Clifford. I regret the error.
