Kristen Mack did a recent profile:
First-term City Councilman Peter Brown came into office with big ideas for transforming the city.
As an architect and urban planner, Brown had a vision for Houston that centered on creating mixed-income neighborhoods. He understood planning before coming on council, but not politics and how to get things done.
Now, as he runs for a second term, Brown is thinking about changing his position. To mayor.
Brown suffers from rich guy syndrome — he's the only council member who has original artwork from Monet and Picasso hanging in the hallways of his home — which causes him to be idealistic and creates blind spots in his thinking.
When he walked onto City Council last year, Brown expected to find a compatriot in Mayor Bill White, another wealthy do-gooder who was concerned about quality-of-life issues.
Brown was the only freshman to be appointed as vice chair of a committee, the Regulation, Development and Neighborhood Protection Committee.
White allowed Brown to lead the charge on one of his ideas, a plan requiring developers to donate park land or pay a fee. That ordinance has been mired in bureaucracy, but is likely to pass this fall.
And the reaction:
Pro: Gregsopinion:
It's stiff competition, but that may be among the silliest things Kristen Mack has ever written - Is that a Monet? Ah, well, you must have blind spots!!! Picasso? Clearly, you're an idealist!. Suffice it to say, but the causality - if not the point - is more than a little lacking. Peter is all of those things, but it's coincidental to his taste in art. Then again, I listen to Krokus & Stryper with about as much frequency as I do Bach & Vivaldi ... what's that make me?
That aside, there's clearly little to be anxious over when it comes to thinking about who the next mayor will be.
Con: BlogHouston.
Ah yes, the old reliable "Draft X" movement formed by "friends." For the good of the city (Peter Brown), county (Charles Bacarisse), state (Rick Noriega), or country (Fred Thompson/Al Gore). Completely spontaneously, of course! *wink*
Quite a few people likely share Councilmember Brown's concern for quality-of-life issues. However, one suspects that most Houstonians don't share Councilmember Brown's views on using the heavy hand of government to force folks to abide by the whims/wisdom of elitist planners like the Architect-Councilmember, who sometimes seems as out of touch with everyday middle-class life as Stanley Fish! For that reason, it seems unlikely we'll be calling him Architect-Mayor Brown in a few years, however much money he decides to spend on the race.
To me Peter Brown is one of those guys who lucks into office due to one circumstance or another, and then when he gets there starts making too much noise, and then will flame out because he jumped the gun in his political ambitions. (see: Michael Berry) but he does have a few plusses that at least make him worth noting in future Mayoral elections. (after Mayor White cleans up against no competition this time around that is).
1. He's a Democrat - A fact that gives him the unconditional support of the Netroots. No matter how insipid his ideas are. It also ensures him 40% support out of the gate, minus the candidacy of a stronger Democrat.
2. He's got a LOT of money to spend.
3. There are a LOT of voters who like to hear the message that Government is going to force people to live in a manner that they think is best. Hearing that is a POWERFUL vote getter.
Would I vote for Brown?
No. But that's just me. Part of the reason for that is because of my strong political aversion to angry affluent people holding signs and protesting. Many of whom would support a Brown run for Mayor.
Would I freak out if he became Mayor?
No. Once he passed his first "planning ordinance" (read: zoning law) then coalitions would form and he'd go down as a rarity in Houston: a one-term Mayor.
Will he become Mayor?
No. Annise Parker will kick the crap out of him in any election.
A point that Mack couldn't resist pointing out:
City Controller Annise Parker, who also has mayoral ambitions, says Brown already has tried to get her to sit it out. She demurred, saying she would continue to weigh her options. Although their politics are similar, Brown is a relative late-comer to the local political scene.
"He's got a lot of issues he wants to (work) on," Parker says. "You have to focus on what's achievable and I think that's difficult for him."
Brown says he is not "desperate to be anything but a city councilman. I've got plenty of choices."
too bad we have to wait for 2009 to watch all this humor play out...
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