Good Thing We Could Do To Build On Whitmire Win, Is Use Our Power To Hold Salinas Accountable

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Alejandra Salinas has won the Houston At-Large #4 seat being vacated by Letitia Plummer who is running in the Democratic Harris County Judge Primary. She will take office early next month. (Above is picture of Ms. Salinas I took at wildly over-policed Labor Day No Kings march.) 

Ms. Salinas won 59% of the 43,379 votes cast.

​All the endorsements of the two candidates by elected officials, advocacy groups, unions, industry groups as well as months of personal campaigning along with many pieces of mail and digital campaigning, could only muster up 43,379 votes in a city of 2.3 million people.

It's important we take part in electoral politics without getting taken down by systems that can't muster strong participation, and can't protect us from the authoritarian, white supremacist threat we all face. 

Voting will not be enough. The next action is when you organize it. The First Amendment is your permit. The only credential needed is your presence. 

Included in Ms. Salinas' winning coalition were Whitmire political and labor loyalists and insiders, along with many voters who responded to Ms. Salinas saying she would stand up to ICE (Picture below from a campaign mailing), address the subject of HPD working with ICE even if it means disagreeing with Mayor Whitmire, and fight for democracy at the local level against Trump and his crew. (See last item of policy positions.) 

Ms. Salinas' Whitmire-aligned support isn't going anywhere and she will always take their calls. That's fine. One reason she'll take their calls is that they helped her win & she has loyalty to people. I've seen her display the same loyalty to rank and file campaign volunteers. It's a good quality. 

With the decisive rebuke of Mayor Whitmire yesterday, 12/14, at the Harris County Democratic Party Central Executive Committee meeting, we see that we as rank & file Democrats and democracy advocates have the ability to hold our elected employees to account. That win took place without a single dollar contributed to anybody. All grassroots.  

The win was accomplished by calling precinct chairs and asking for support and by laying out the facts of Mayor Whitmire's collaboration with the right. 

I'm not optimistic or pessimistic over what type councilperson Ms. Salinas will be. I'm certain she understands the gravity of the current political situation and that she is a decent person. I know that she works for each of us and we must do the work to hold her accountable. I know that we merit loyalty as much as insiders do.

A really good thing we could do to build on our rank and file John Whitmire win, is to hold Alejandra Salinas and all of Houston City Council accountable. Let's get to that task right away as we fight at every level of government for our freedom. Let's keep building our rank and file, grassroots power.  

Public comment time at Houston City Council is each Tuesday at 2 PM with the exception once each month when it is at 5:30 PM. Here is how you can speak at Council and here is how to contact your councilmember.  The earlier before the session you sign up, the higher up on the speaker's list you'll be. You must register to speak by 3 PM the day before. 

The agenda session to conduct Council business is each Wednesday at 9 AM. The agenda is posted in advance. Council can be watched live on HTV Houston Television and the most recent session is available at any time on the HTV feed on Facebook. Here is the link to past sessions of Council. Here are maps of Council districts so you can see who represents you. 

Here is contact information for Mayor Whitmire & Council. 

Mayor Whitmire—713-837-0311 [email protected] 

Democrats: 
At-Large-Letitia Plummer 832-393-3012  [email protected] (Will be Salinas next month.)  
At-Large-Sallie Alcorn 832-393-3017  [email protected]
District B-Tarsha Jackson 832-393-3009  [email protected]
District C-Abbie Kamin 832-393-3004  [email protected]
District D-Carolyn Evans-Shabazz 832-393-3001 [email protected]
District F-Tiffany Thomas 832-393-3002  [email protected]
District H-Mario Castillo 832-393-3002  [email protected]
District I-Joaquin Martinez 832-393-3011 [email protected]
District J-Edward Pollard 832-393-3015  [email protected]
District K-Martha Castex-Tatum 832-393-3016  [email protected]

Republicans: 
At-Large-Julian Ramirez 832-393-3014 [email protected]
At-Large-Willie Davis 832-393-3013 [email protected] 
At-Large-Twila Carter 832-393-3005 [email protected]
District A-Amy Peck 832-393-3010 [email protected]
District E-Fred Flickinger 832-393-3008 [email protected] 
District G-Mary Nan Huffman 832-393-3007 [email protected] ​​

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project Hour. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​​​​​​​

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