DosCentavos Blogger Stace Medellin reports on Tejano Democrats Endorsement:

http://www.dos-centavos.blogspot.com/

Thursday, July 12, 2007

A standing-room-only crowd packed into the Harris County Democratic Party HQ for the Harris County Tejano Democrats endorsement meeting on Thursday evening. Although I was not a member at the time of the vote, I attended the meeting after being invited by HCTD Chair Armando Walle. (Thanks, Mando!)

Although there were several contested races for the coveted endorsement, the most competitive turned out to be, as expected, the Houston City Council District I race between James Rodriguez and John Marron. Each candidate brought out their core supporters, but in the end, it was James Rodriguez that received the majority of the votes and the Tejano Democrats endorsement. (Full disclosure: DosCentavos was an early endorser of James Rodriguez). Both candidates spoke to the membership and guests, but candidate Rodriguez split his time allowing term-limited District I Council Member Carol Alvarado to give him a rousing endorsement.

In the At-Large #5 race, the competition for the endorsement was between Zaf Tahir and Jolanda Jones. Tahir gave a great presentation on his ideas for the future of Houston, stating that Houston's diversity must be addressed at the Council level through representation. Ms. Jones, on the other hand, spoke about her own Latino experiences and her commitment to serving all constituents--a strong presentation. Jones got the nod. (Full disclosure: Since I met John C. Gibbs when he came out to Kingwood for the 4th of July parade, I became a fan of his. As a CD-02 Democrat who works his a** off to put Ted Poe in his place, I have a huge problem with Ted Poe being on Jolanda Jones' steering committee, and I'll be stubborn as a donkey about that. Tahir, on the other hand, is quite impressive with his ideas.).

The District D race is another one of those that has some good people running. Michael P. Williams, who serves on the HCC board and community activist and City of Houston employee Wanda Adams both gave great presentations. The HCTD gave the nod to Ms. Adams.

Others endorsed: Mayor-Bill White; Controller-Annise Parker; At-Large 1-Peter Brown; At-Large 2-Sue Lovell; At-Large 3-Melissa Noriega; At-Large 4-Ronald Green; District H-Adrian Garcia

As far as the whole HCTD experience went for this blogger, once again, I felt like a rock star! It was great meeting James Rodriguez's family, including his parents. Of course, James' wife, Wendy Montoya-Rodriguez was also there with her family. I think I met my #1 fan in Wendy's dad, Joe! He's awesome! (He tells me I'm that first blog he reads in the morning, so take that Kuff, Muse, Greg, and the rest of ya!). As always, great seeing James' campaign coordinator, Nick Hellyar.

I also got to see some of my favorite judicial candidates, such as Mike Engelhart for District 151 (and his campaign chief Jaye Sutter--finally met her!!); Chuck Silverman; and Fred Cook. And how can we forget our top producer from 2006, Jim Sharp. Prospective candidate for District Clerk Loren Jackson was also there, as well as other prospective judicials. Lots of VIPs, too.

And a tip of the DC-sombrero to Armando Walle and Claudia Rodas for running a great meeting. I've been to so many endorsement meetings or conventions where just getting through the rules takes half the effort. They kept things moving, ensuring that motions were given their due consideration. Se aventaron!

And because Mando asked nicely, I left HCDP HQ as a new member of the club.

Update: Oh yeah, my fave campaign manager, Martha Griffin, was also there--It's always great seeing her!