Schleifer at the Chron provides us an update on who is running for Houston Mayor and who is still playing with people’s hearts because the law won’t let them announce without resigning. It’s basically the same story as the one we provided on the DC Podcast, but this time, the plot seemed to thicken (or maybe thin) after a federal judge decided that the fundraising rules the City imposed on candidates needed to be taken out of the picture.
Regarding money, it would seem that State Rep. Sylvester Turner would be a leading candidate with $1 million in his state rep account, according to the article. CM Stephen Costello raised $250K since the demise of the fundraising rules (according to the article) and would add that to the $273K he reported recently. CM Oliver Pennington reported $116K, but also spent $126K in the last period. The rest of folks in the running, we’ll have to wait for the summer.
For the non-committals, Sheriff Adrian Garcia has $57K in his Sheriff campaign account after raising $175K in the last period and spending $350K. There isn’t a 01/2015 report for Orlando Sanchez, but his 8-day out report in 2014 showed him with $200K in outstanding loans .
Like we stated in the podcast, I’m not sure how the court decision on fundraising rules would affect anything. One thing is for sure; if one is a viable candidate with a fundraising operation at the ready, then there shouldn’t be a problem raising cash at any point during the year. Of course, getting an effective message out that raises awareness and increases participation and turnout, well, that’s a whole other blog post.
doscentavos.net 
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