Houstonian Corner (V9-I48)

Zaf Got Good Amount: More Than 10,000 Votes
Around 9% Poor Turn-Out In Houston Elections

Favorable Internet Blogs Important For Any Campaign

In a hotly contested Houston City Council At Large Position 5 Elections, the former athlete and lawyer Jolanda Jones 27,993 28% will meet a former HISD Administrator Joe Trevino 19,044 19% in the run-off. An interesting thing is that Joe Trevino spent just $6,119 in his campaign, with over $1,500 from his own pocket, while the rest coming from donors.

Another favorite candidate Zaf Tahir got 10,692 votes (11%). Zaf, his family, his sisters and brother-in-law: All thanked their well wishers, who had gathered in appreciable numbers at Holiday-Inn Select along US 59 near Kirby. Yasmeen Tahir, Zaf’s wife said we are here in this arena of public service to stay.

In his speech, Zaf was most appreciative of his wife, whole family and all the friends. He said he is blessed to have come to this country USA some twenty-five years ago, got excellent education and nice opportunities to establish his business and raise up his family. Now is the time to give back to the society and that is the aspiration which made him run for this At-Large position. Through this campaign he has learnt a many and has able to organize a solid team, which can do useful projects for the society at grassroots levels. He said he is proud to have raised the maximum amount of money ($242,984), had more donors pouring their hearts out to assist him than the number of donors of the entire seven candidate combined. His campaign produced excellent mail-outs specifically explaining the issues facing the city and their solutions, which no other campaign did: His campaign was clean all the way and mainly issues resolution oriented. He said he is really happy not to have slackened at any time, have done all the basic things required during a campaign and as such has no feelings of any loss what so ever.

People gathered on the occasion while discussing felt that low turn-out (less than 10%), Zaf’s name being sixth on the ballot and strong internet media blogs writing negatives about him placed him in difficult and challenging position.

The City of Houston Election 2007 Results At-A-Glance

Two-Third of the Houstonian Voters came to the Polls on the Election Day, while One-Third came during Early Voting. As the 100% Precinct Reports were in after a dismal less than 10% turn-out, this was the result in the local Houston Elections:

City of Houston Mayor – Bill White (Incumbent) Won 101,277 86% – Amanda C. Ulman 8,798 8% – Josey Wales IV 7,023 6%

Houston City Council District A: Toni Lawrence (Incumbent) Won 9,867 100%

Houston City Council District B: Jarvis Johnson (Incumbent) Won 8,243 77% – Kenneth Perkins 2,467 23%

Houston City Council District C: Anne Clutterbuck Won (Incumbent) 11,973 77% – Robert Glaser 2,694 17% – Alfred Molison 893 6%

Houston City Council District D: Run-Off Between Wanda Adams 6,501 33% and Lawrence Allen 5,026 26% – Michael P. Williams 3,790 19% – Lana Edwards 2,305 12% – Keith Caldwell 830 4% – Larry McKinzie 515 3% – Florida Cooper 503 3%

Houston City Council District E: Run-Off Between Mike Sullivan 5,439 40% – Annette Dwyer 4,633 34% – Manisha Mehta 1,993 15% – William R. Williams 1,501 11%

Houston City Council District F: M. J. Khan (Incumbent) Won 4,681 100%

Houston City Council District G: Pam Holm (Incumbent) Won 14,711 100%

Houston City Council District H: Adrian Garcia (Incumbent) Won 7,839 100%

Houston City Council District I: James Rodriguez Won 4,523 58% – John Marron 2,687 35% – J. Brad Batteau 577 7%

Houston City Council At Large Position 1: Peter Brown (Incumbent) Won 85,957 100% – Leatrice Watson 223 0%

Houston City Council At Large Position 2: Sue Lovell (Incumbent) Won 49,911 53% – Michael Griffin 44,464 47%

Houston City Council At Large Position 3: Melissa Noriega (Incumbent) Won 67,564 66% – Roy Morales 34,654 34%

Houston City Council At Large Position 4: Ronald C. Green (Incumbent) Won 84,240 100%

Houston City Council At Large Position 5: Run-Off Between Jolanda Jones 27,993 28% and Joe Trevino 19,044 19% – Tom Nixon 13,897 14% – Jack Christie 13,607 14% – Zaf Tahir 10,692 11% – John Curtis Gibbs 7,080 7% – Ray Ramirez 4,381 4% – Marlon Barabin 4,048 4%

City of Houston Controller: Annise D. Parker (Incumbent) Won 86,248 100%

Houston ISD Bond Proposition: For 43,584 51% – Against 41,558 49%

HISD Bond Issue Passes Close Vote

Houston–It was close 43,584 to 41,558, a difference of 1,972 votes, by which the $805 Million Houston Independent School District (HISD) Bond Proposal got passed. At the time of this report, 1,000-mail in ballots were to be counted, but this narrow margin seemed to be good enough to declare victory for the bond supporters.

Several of the renowned politicians like State Representative AL Edwards, State Representative Sylvester Turner and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee were against the HISD Bond saying it would be unevenly used and not benefit all communities – Now with this vote; they have sent a very string message to proponents of the bond issue, so that in future, all the players are equitably included.

Mayor White is a supporter of the bond referendum, but was not happy with HISD and its supporters for doing little grassroots outreach to various communities, when bond plans were made.

All the 16 Texas Legislation and Five Harris County Bond Issue Propositions were also approved.

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