Interim Precinct 1 seat filled as candidates emerge
With former city attorney Gene Locke in place to finish the late Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee’s term, Democratic players are quickly emerging as candidates in the November general election.
State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said late Thursday that he intends to run, sacrificing 25 years of legislative seniority in a bid for a powerful local office. City Councilmen Jerry Davis, Dwight Boykins and Larry Green said Friday they have begun campaigning, such as it is, under these unusual circumstances. Councilman C.O. Bradford said constituents had encouraged him to run, and he’s considering it.
Meanwhile, at the county administration building downtown, County Judge Ed Emmett filled the gap left by Lee’s sudden death on Jan. 3. After an introduc- tion and hearty applause from a couple dozen county staffers, Emmett swore Locke into office.
Emmett said he wanted a placeholder who could jump into the complexity of managing county business.
He said he wanted someone who is trusted by Lee’s widow, Ethel Kaye, and who understood Lee’s work in progress. Lee was Precinct 1 commissioner for more than 30 years.
Locke had represented Harris County on legal matters related to redistricting. Lee had served as a groomsman in Locke’s wedding.
And the two friends had worked jointly on a project transforming the Houston Oilers’ old practice facility
into a state-of-the- art swimming center in Precinct 1.
“I plan to be a hands-on, on-the-ground, let’s-get-with-the-program commissioner, which means that I will follow in El Franco’s footsteps,” Locke said.
He added: “This precinct belongs to El Franco Lee, and anything that I do over the next several months is dedicated to him.”
Asked if he intended to run for the post in November, Locke said, “My intent is to go back to the practice of law and enjoy my family.”
Locke, who is 68 and has five adult children, said he stepped down from his role as a senior partner at the Andrews Kurth law firm but would remain “of counsel” on several cases unrelated to Harris County.
He said he would spend the weekend studying several years’ worth of county budgets to be prepared for his first budget meeting Tuesday.
New beginnings
Locke served as city attorney under the late Mayor Bob Lanier in the 1990s and ran for mayor in 2009, losing in a runoff to Annise Parker.
With grief over Lee still fresh, Locke shifted gears smoothly, eliciting laughs when he said he planned to hold his first staff meeting in 15 minutes. A facility staffer gingerly approached and asked how he’d like to have his name read on his parking space. “Gene L. Locke,” he said.
While Locke settles into to his new surroundings, four residents of the precinct have begun making calls in hopes of stepping in when Lee’s elected term finishes at the end of 2016.
Ellis was the first to go public with his campaign efforts. He began researching what it would take to run for the county position, since his name is on the November ballot for state senator.
A legal memo prepared for county Democratic chair Lane Lewis outlined a path by which Ellis said he could seek the ballot spot. In mid-June the Democratic party chairs for Precinct 1 will vote for a candidate to replace Lee on the ballot.
If the party chose him for commissioner, Ellis could withdraw his name from the ballot for state
senator, which would trigger a second process by the Democratic leaders to pick a Democrat for state Senate.
‘Best job next to mayor’
Ellis said a move to local office would bring him back to his political roots.
“I started out in local politics in 1983” to run for the City Council, Ellis said. “I left a great job I loved as chief of staff of a U.S. congressman, Mickey Leland.”
Despite having passed 600 bills in the Legislature, Ellis said, he sees himself as “very much an activist” on local issues like urban homesteading and criminal justice.
When he ran for the state Senate, he always planned to find a path back to local office, “probably to run for mayor,” Ellis said. “I have done a lot of thinking, a lot of praying on this.”
Cal Jillson, a professor of political science at SMU who authored two books on Texas politics, said Ellis’s decision was unusual and appeared to indicate he prefers to be in Houston rather than Austin.
“In the normal political pecking order, the Texas Senate would rank well above the Harris County Commissioners Court,” Jillson said. “You don’t go back unless you’re trying to go home and simplify your life, which is what I assume he is doing.”
Parker suggested other motivations in a tweet: “It’s not just about the Senate being no fun for a Democrat” in the Republicancontrolled Legislature, she wrote. “Being county commissioner is the best job next to mayor.”