Vote Early – Early Voting Ends Tuesday

Please vote for Brewster McCracken for mayor. If you ask why, I suggest you take 90 seconds to watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3fUkvuvFHg

Brewster is committed to delivering essential city services AND he recognizes we MUST simultaneously rebuild Austin’s economic base. In a meeting on Friday he said we have to do so frugally – we can’t raise property taxes, especially while more are unemployed and already struggling to meet commitments.

You’ll hear otherwise from Lee Leffingwell’s campaign but the truth is Brewster has by far the largest base of support among Austin’s creative class – musicians, other artists, high-tech workers, high-tech leaders, certainly university officials engaged in luring jobs to Austin as well as hundreds of small business men/women, clean energy advocates, downtown business folks, progressives, liberals, moderates & even some conservatives.

Viability – while you might have heard of KXAN’s poll suggesting the mayor’s race is a three way virtual tie, I don’t think so. Talking with the experts, their poll was automated and random among registered voters. I’m told older voters are much more likely to participate in the automated calls; younger voters often declining to participate and dial in their answers. Brewster’s poll which was conducted by live interviewers and which slightly oversampled inner-city voters shows him ahead of both challengers – Brewster beating Lee by 2 points, which is within the margin of error, & Carole showing the highest unfavorables I’ve ever seen, topping out at 20%.

We have two progressive candidates for mayor – Brewster & Lee.

Brewster McCracken’s progressive credentials? 1) he has led creation of the clean energy collaboration known as the Pecan Street Project, 2) launched the bio-tech incubator which Lee opposed up until the already-decided council vote, 3) Brewster endorsed Barack Obama during the Texas primary, 4) He led overturning the city charter ban against domestic partner benefits and stood against the Texas constitutional amendment discriminating against gays & lesbians in marriage, 4) Brewster has a strong track record of finding planning solutions that provide for inner-city densification while respecting the integrity of neighborhoods and promoting mass transit, and 6) he brings together the best minds to find the right solutions and set agendas. Plus, he’s always been on the right side of votes for health & human services as well as affordable housing.

Lee Leffingwell is also my friend. I supported him for Austin City Council and would again. Yet, we need a mayor- especially at this time – who doesn’t have to be drafted by his friends (Lee was very ambivalent about running). It’s a full-time plus job.

We need a mayor who isn’t beholden to the police, fire & EMS unions. They have to be part of the solution to covering an extraordinary budget gap in 2010, not exempted because they’ve made endorsements.

And, while I’m pleased Lee has altered his position, his calls for renegotiating economic development agreements with major employers offering tens of thousands of jobs in Austin and his statements that we shouldn’t recruit additional major employers to Austin are not signals that Lee understands what it’ll take to keep Austin prosperous, to provide jobs and economic security for Austin families. Admittedly, after the public uproar after both statements, Lee has altered his position and now agrees with Brewster’s platform for strengthening Austin’s economy.

Brewster realizes that in addition to maintaining essential city services now is the time to build our clean energy cluster, to attract new major employers to replace the tens of thousands of lost jobs, and to create new jobs that will allow us to maintain our quality of life without raising taxes. Brewster didn’t just join the Pecan Street Project, follow or simply claim credit – he called the meetings, set the agenda & established success metrics for this audacious project for Austin to lead this country as THE alternative energy industry cluster – just one more example of Brewster’s initiative and follow through.

We don’t have to worry about Brewster’s progressive instincts or his proactiveness keeping Austin great he gets it. These are instinctive to him. Please vote for Brewster for Mayor.

In addition to supporting Brewster, Steven and I are supporting Chris Riley (vs Pearla Cavazos). In the language of today’s economic times, Chris is “shovel ready.” A born Austinite, a Harvard grad, UT Law School grad, and a very longtime Austin activist in business, neighborhoods, city boards, commissions and important nonprofits, Chris is mature, experienced and ready to make tough priority choices – he’ll have to. We are facing an extraordinarily tough 2010.

We’ve also endorsed Sheryl Cole, Mike Martinez and Bill Spellman – all three important, known leaders in Austin.

Please vote, vote early, vote by Tuesday. Based on early voting turnout so far, less than 50,000 Austinities are expected to vote in this election – I fear it’ll be as few as 40,000. This really is a case of every single vote will count.