Jenifer Rene Pool's Council Campaign Gets Houston GLBT Political Caucus Endorsement

Jenifer Rene Pool is trying to make trans history on a number of fronts in her history making Houston City Council run.

If she wins she not only would become the first open trans person elected to political office in the state of Texas and the city of Houston, she would also become the first transperson elected to a city council in a municipality with a population larger than 250,000 people.

Jenifer is running for the At-Large Position 2 seat on our newly expanded council being vacated by the term limited Sue Lovell, and her candidacy got a major boost with the August 3 endorsement of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus.  If you're a Democratic or liberal progressive politician in this city, it's a sought after endorsement and of course she's ecstatic about it.

Jenifer has also received the endorsements of the Houston Stonewall Democrats, the Houston Stonewall Young Democrats, and Democracy For Houston in addition to this GLBT Political Caucus one.   And yep, here's the link to her campaign website so y'all can help a transsister out with some cash and find out where she stands on the issues important to Houston voters.

Congrats Jenifer!  You deserve it.   I'll be proud to cast a ballot for you in the first city election I get to participate in since moving back home and here's hoping you get to make history on November 8.

Say Hello To Congresswoman Hochul!

The special election in NY-26 became a major electoral test of the Rep. Paul Ryan Kill Medicare budget.    

Democratic candidate Kathy Hochul opposed it while Republican candidate Jane Corwin supported it.   Both sides poured in $6 million in cash and tons of robocalls.   Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor flew in to try to save the day along with Karl Rove and the GOP special interests.

But it was all for naught.   Kathy Hochul, who two months ago was looking like just another Democrat who was going to lose this district, seized on her opponents blunder to win the special election to fill the seat that just a few short months ago elected Republican Chris Lee by a 73-27 margin before he was forced to resign in a scandal.  

She will become the first Democrat ever to represent this district, and it reduces the number of seats the Democrats need to take back the House to 24.

Congrats Congresswoman elect and give 'em hell in Washington.

The Drive For 155

Since I have close friends living north of the border, I've always liked Canada and want to visit the country someday, I've made it a point to keep up with what's happening there politically.  

Renee of Womanist Musings finally got her wish Thursday as the Conservative run Canadian government of PM Stephen Harper fell on a 156-145 no confidence vote.   That means that Parliament gets dissolved and new federal elections, the fourth in seven years will be held on May 2.    Canada has been run by a series of minority governments since 2004.   The latest minority government since 2006 has been run by the Sweater Vest and his Conservatives.   In the October 2008 election they fell just 12 seats short of getting the majority

As to what this means for the Trans Rights Bill, since C-389 hadn't cleared the Canadian Senate and received Royal Assent to become law, the whole process will have to start over again from scratch in the next Parliament.    It also means that if it does, there will be someone else besides MP Bill Siksay leading the charge on it since he has announced he's retiring

The Canadian House of Commons has 308 seats that the political parties in that country will be battling to get.    Currently the Conservatives hold 143 seats, the Liberals 77, the Bloc Quebecois 47, and the New Democratic Party 36. There are two independent lawmakers, and three seats are vacant.

To form a majority government the magic number is 155 seats.   If  you fall short of that, you have to form a coalition with another party or combination of parties to give you the numerical governing majority, and that's known as a minority government.   Of course, if you want to fully implement your platform without having any interference from opposition parties your main goal for this election is to get 155 or more seats.

The leader of the party with the most seats, or a coalition that gives them a majority of House seats becomes the Canadian prime minister.   The current major party leaders are Stephen Harper for the Conservatives, Michael Ignatieff for the Liberals, Gilles Duceppe for the Bloc Quebecois, and Jack Layton for the New Democratic Party. 

So as you can tell by the party websites I linked to they have already swung into campaign mode.   Until May 2 the political commercials will be hot and heavy on Canadian TV sets and for those of you on our side of the border with cable systems that have Canadian stations on them.

I'll be keeping a long distance eye on what's transpiring in these elections north of the border because they will have an impact on our Canadian trans cousins, and by default, that means it will also indirectly impact us as well south of it.

Tough Night....

I spent most of the night hanging out with my homegirl Ursula Hall, who was running for a state judicial bench in a tough environment for Democrats, especially here in the Lone Star State.

Tough night describes it,   They lost the US House,  although my congressmember Sheila Jackson Lee will be returning to the disgust of the conservafools here locally.   The Dems will thankfully hold on to the Senate with three races outstanding as I type this at 2:45 AM CDT. 

Back in Da Ville Democrat Greg Fischer held off Fairness Ordinance foe Hal Heiner to take the mayor's chair and Rep. John Yarmuth is going back for his third term.

So gloat while you can, conservafools.   Now you'll have to do something besides hate on President Obama. and something you've proven you can't do:   govern the country.

As for our trans candidates in this 2010 cycle, Brittany Novotny lost her race against Republican homobigot Sally Kern for the Oklahoma legislature, Theresa Sparks finished third in her bid to join the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in a crowded field,. and I'm still trying to find out if Kim Coco Iwamoto was reelected to the Hawaii State board of Education.

However, in some potential good news for trans political kind,  Vicky Kolakowski with 75% of the vote counted was leading in her race for Alameda County Superior Court judge.   If it holds up, she becomes the first elected trans judge in US history. 

So there were a few silver linings in tonight's election results and after I've had a few hours of sleep, I'll  ponder them on the blog.

Let's just set our sights on taking our country back from the Tea Klux Klan in 2012