I was hoping to take December completely off to celebrate the holiday season, but I ultimately decided that, as the publisher of a local news source, I have a responsibility to remind readers that there is a runoff election for City Council on Saturday December 14. That is for District 7, the seat currently held by Leslie Pool (see map above, a map of the whole District system can be found here). Two time Congressional candidate/former Assistant City Attorney Mike Siegel faces long time Civil Rights leader Gary Bledsoe. Siegel pulled 40% in the original election. Bledsoe got 19%. There is also a school board race, but we are not going to be able to cover that here.
So how is it that City elections are scheduled in December, eleven days before Christmas? It’s part of the Austin City Council’s way of increasing participation in elections. I’m not kidding. As we have noted before, a string of City Councils — with approval from voters — decided that City elections should be held in November. The core idea there is that more people vote in November elections, than in May, when local elections are traditionally held in Texas. It’s true that more people vote in November (whether they are aware that City elections are on the ballot before they enter the polling booth is another issue). November local elections, however, lead to December runoffs, in which turnout is consistently anemic, at best
December runoffs arguably contradict the claim that having Council elections in November means more people participate in choosing the City Council. For instance, regardless of who wins the District 7 runoff, a majority of the next Council will have originally won their seats in low turnout December elections. We’ll provide more detail on that at the end of the article.
Now, before proceeding into the actual election coverage, I want to note that at the Austin Independent we don’t do election endorsements. Part of the reasoning is that, as a one person writing and reporting crew, I don’t have the time to properly interview all candidates — which I think should be done if a publication is to make endorsements. Additionally, I prefer just to provide as much information as possible and let voters make up their own minds.
OK, another reason I’m taking time off from my Christmas break to write this story is that I don’t think it would be right for me to ignore that candidate Gary Bledsoe is taking something akin to the left-centrist approach that I have been advocating in these pages for almost five years. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that Bledsoe is taking this approach in any way because of me or anything that I have written. I’m instead saying that he is being — get this — genuine.
Let’s take a look, beginning with policy on police and public safety.
Bledsoe and Siegel on Policing
As a civil rights attorney and the longtime president of the Texas NAACP, Bledsoe has considerable credibility and accomplishments on police reform. But, he doesn’t want to defund the police. He doesn’t want to abolish police. He instead wants to continue police reform while increasing the use of “community policing.”
In a recent podcast interview Bledsoe talked about going to a gathering following the “tragic shooting of a sixteen year old girl at Harris Ridge.” He recounted how he talked to people who want more police and explained that the people holding those views are “trying to protect our (their) children.”
Bledsoe added that he recently met with “a (police) commander in District 7” who said “37 percent” of positions under him were unfilled. “You can’t manage public safety that way,” said Bledsoe. He added that there is a somewhat widespread belief that “African Americans are anti-police. That’s not true,” said Bledsoe. “We are anti-police brutality.”
Bledsoe also noted that his opponent, Mike Siegel, “filed a lawsuit to actually stop the police contract from going forward and our city needed the contract.” He also said that Siegel is affiliated with groups who want to “defund the police.”
Gary Bledsoe (r) and Mike Siegel
Siegel denies wanting to defund the police and maintains that he never supported defunding. His website features a fairly centrist policy on policing. He even tries to show that he has been listening by listing the top things that he has heard from citizens on public safety during his campaign. The first two are:
- 1) “We want officers to come when we call.
- 2) We want officers to respect civil rights.”
That is a much more balanced approach than some who have come before him. Siegel, however, is closely aligned with the harshest local police critics, including the leaders in the 2020 defunding of Austin police and the elimination of cadet classes for a year — moves that led directly to Austin’s ongoing police shortage. The real test for Siegel would be whether he can stand up to the activists who still want to defund and even abolish the police; and who still exert enormous influence on several Council Members. Siegel already works for some of these activists as an attorney for Equity Action. The question is whether he would be able separate himself from that role and stand up to anti-police activists as a Council Member.
Before going further, I want to note that the podcast I quote from above was hosted by Matt Mackowiak, longtime chair of the Travis County Republican Party and head of Save Austin Now. It is just one of many interviews and forums Bledsoe has done during his campaign, but it is a recent one and one I could easily access. Mackowiak also had on the show — as a sort of co-host — Steven Brown, a Democrat. Brown is best known in these pages for opposing the HOME ordinance, primarily because of what he fears will be the impact on East Austin.
It was Brown who asked Bledsoe a question about policing that prompted the answers from Bledsoe that are quoted above. Brown prefaced his question by saying, “I’m kind of sick of the far left and the far right.” He then asked Bledsoe, “What is your take on community policing, where do you think we can all meet in the middle?” Brown specifically noted wanting to “have police” and have “crimes being solved.”
Bledsoe on Talking To Everybody
I know that some Democrats nowadays believe that their fellow Democrats should not talk to Republicans or other non-progressives, or seek their support — even in nonpartisan elections like City Council. The most currently famous of such episodes involved Kamala Harris declining to go on Joe Rogan’s podcast. According to a top aide to Harris’s husband that decision happened because some of the campaign staff opposed Harris sitting down with Rogan. That approach didn’t work out very well. By the way, Harris’s campaign manager denied this account, but did not offer a plausible counter explanation. (Donald Trump’s appearance on Rogan’s podcast garnered almost 40 million views in three days.)
Bledsoe evidently does not share such views on limiting discourse. In fact he talked elsewhere in the podcast about how, in working to protect funding for public education at the legislature, he worked successfully in a coalition with Mexican American groups and rural Republicans.
Bledsoe also talked about working with everyone possible at a recent gathering of supporters. According to the Austin Bulldog, he told the crowd, ‘“You just don’t know where the ideas are going to come from unless you reach out to people and talk to people because they could really make a difference here. You just really never know who you’re going to need to be with, and to join with, and we need to not have that acid-type attitude that if somebody’s this or somebody’s that, I can’t talk to ’em. That’s absurd and ridiculous.”’ (By the way the Austin Bulldog has done several other stories on the race which can be found here.)
“We need to not have that acid-type attitude that if somebody’s this or somebody’s that, I can’t talk to ’em. That’s absurd and ridiculous.”’
GARY BLEDSOE
Earlier in the same interview Bledsoe talked more broadly about Austin and his experiences here. He said he came to Austin “in the 1970s” to attend the University of Texas and “stayed around” to get his law degree. Bledsoe added that he is proud that Austin is a place where “clean water and clean air” are important.
Bledsoe also talked about racial relations in Austin. He said he believes that he helped “shape” Austin as a “welcoming community.” He added that Austin is a place where people seem to get along well despite different backgrounds and ethnicities. He qualified that by adding, “not that Austin doesn’t have problems because it does, but I think we’ve helped to create a little bit of a signature, or a vibe, here that is very good.”
Whoa. Gary Bledsoe actually talked about progress on race relations and said something positive about race relations in Austin. That’s not something you hear everyday, or ever, from leading Austin politicos. (Bledsoe’s campaign website can be found here.)
Old Guard Versus New Guard
The Austin Chronicle characterizes the race as “a Battle Between Austin’s New and Old Political Generations.” This is not wrong although incomplete. Siegel definitely comes from the younger generation of Austin politicos. As Austin Sanders of the Chronicle notes, Siegel is affiliated with “youthful, leftist organizing groups like Equity Action, Ground Game TX, and Democratic Socialists of America.”
Of Bledsoe, Sanders writes, “He is a member of Austin’s old political generation and has been embraced by some of the Democratic clubs that represent those voters.” Sanders doesn’t elaborate on which Democratic clubs he means, but Democratic clubs have not been shy about endorsing members of the younger generation either. Bledsoe’s website lists endorsements from Central Austin Democrats and Black Austin Democrats. While Sanders mentions that Bledsoe is a “civil rights lawyer,” he nowhere mentions Bledsoe’s decades long tenure as head of the Texas NAACP. That’s more, however, than the Chronicle editorial board said in their endorsement of Siegel during the general election. They didn’t even mention Bledsoe.
On his campaign website Siegel touts his elite education background: “Mike’s educational background includes a B.A. from Brandeis University, a teaching credential from California State University, and a J.D. from Cornell Law School.”
The website continues, “As a teacher, Mike taught third grade, fifth grade, and eighth grade in the public schools, and was active in his teachers’ union. He has co-founded multiple nonprofit organizations, including Ground Game Texas, which fights for democracy and social justice through local issue campaigns in cities across the state.
As an attorney, Mike has 13 years of experience, including several years in private practice as a civil rights and employment lawyer, and more recently several years of service as an Austin city attorney.”
Siegel’s campaign website also features a fairly extensive “Issues” section. Many entries are boilerplate, buzz phrase progressive positions that numerous candidates have run on before, like “affordability” and “community engagement.” Siegel, however, seems to understand better than many other current local “progressives” the importance of the City owning its public utilities. For instance he has a section on “Austin Energy” built around maintaining public ownership of the utility.
Siegel ran twice for the Congressional seat held by Republican Michael McCaul, a gerrymandered district that captures a small part of Austin and meanders to suburban Houston. Siegel ran a strong underdog campaign both times. He polled 46.8% in 2018 and 45.3% in 2020. It is widely believed that Siegel sees the City Council seat as a stepping stone to another Congressional run.
County Commissioner Brigid Shea, a member of the older generation and a Bledsoe supporter alluded to Siegel’s ambitions in an ad for Bledsoe: “We have an opportunity to elect a living legend to Austin City Council. . . I trust his (Bledsoe’s) common sense, pragmatic leadership style and forward thinking skills to move us forward.” Shea concluded, “Austin isn’t just another stepping stone for him. It’s home.””
Keeping with the New Generation versus Old Generation theme, Siegel also has the enthusiastic support of Congressman Greg Casar, the undisputed leader of the New Generation of local politicos. Casar got his start in elective office on the Austin City Council. He was the undisputed leader in slashing the police budget and cutting positions in 2020. In recent days Casar was chosen as Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Realizing that turnout is a challenge, Casar posted a video urging District 7 voters to head to the polls and vote for Siegel. With the US Capital in the background Casar exhorted, “I have known Mike for a long time and he has always stood up against special interests and for every day people. I met him when he was an Austin City Attorney, suing big corporations and landlords that are jacking up the costs and treating their tenants wrong. He also helped me author our paid sick days ordinance to protect every day people’s right to take a sick day when they are not feeling well on the job. . .”
Siegel also has the enthusiastic support of Congressman Greg Casar, the undisputed leader of the New Generation of local politicos.
Let’s unpack that just a little bit. Casar portrays Siegel as a crusading City Hall attorney fearlessly suing “big corporations” and evil landlords. In reality, however, Siegel wasn’t suing anyone unless told to by the City Council, City Manager and City Attorney. He specifically had to answer to the City Attorney and City Manager before taking any action at all.
Then there’s Casar’s “sick days ordinance,” which he credits Siegel with helping him write. That’s the ordinance which was widely known to be unconstitutional under the Texas Constitution when Casar first proposed it; something that Siegel as an attorney almost doubtlessly knew, or should have known. Casar pushed forward anyway and the Council passed his sick leave proposal. It was almost immediately struck down. No one ever got a sick day as a result of Casar’s “sick days ordinance.”
If Siegel wins he will become the second person in history to benefit from Casar’s “sick days ordinance.” The first was Casar himself who made it a major issue in his Congressional campaign. Now, after two years in Washington, and even as head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, he is still touting this failure as one of his proudest accomplishments.
If Siegel wins he will become the second person in history to benefit from Greg Casar’s “sick days ordinance.” The first was Casar himself.
The Chronicle article warns that although Siegel leads 40% to 19% going into the runoff he could face difficulty because younger voters are less likely to turn out for a December runoff; something they perhaps should have considered before endorsing November local elections. Several New Generation candidates have won December runoffs, however. That includes Casar in 2014.
The New Generation has been winning most of the local elections in Austin lately, regardless of which month they are held. Bledsoe, however, is making a spirited effort and drawing significant support. It is also ironic that so much of the New Generation’s ideology is built around race. Now they find themselves with a white candidate facing a legendary Civil Rights leader.
The excitement never stops around here. If you live in District 7 please get out there and vote, then Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Addendum: Lots of December elections. Regardless of who wins on December 14, a majority of the next City Council (six members) will have first won their seats in December runoff elections. Natasha Harper Madison and Paige Ellis both first won their seats in December 2018. José Velasquez, Ryan Alter and Zo Qadri won in December 2022. With the addition of Bledsoe or Siegel that will make six, a Council majority.
That doesn’t count Mayor Kirk Watson who was first elected in 1997, but returned after a two decade absence to win his current seat in December 2022. Also, departing Council Members Leslie Pool, Alison Alter, and Mackenzie Kelly all initially won their seats in December elections; Pool in 2014, Alter in 2016 and Kelly in 2020. Alter also won reelection in a December 2020 election.
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