Buzbee says he’s running for mayor ‘to liven things up a bit’
Outspoken Houston attorney and prolific political fundraiser Tony Buzbee has announced his candidacy for mayor of Houston, vowing to fund his own campaign even if it takes $5 million and saying the city lacks the international standing it deserves because of lack of leadership.
Buzbee promised to “liven things up a bit,” lamenting in a Wednesday interview with the Houston Chronicle that the 2015 mayor’s race that placed Mayor Sylvester Turner in office was “the most boring thing you’ve ever seen” among a group of “mediocre” candidates.
Among Buzbee’s pledges: The wealthy trial attorney would donate the mayor’s roughly $236,000 annual salary to a “random person that I select” each year.
“My No. 1 thing is the pay-toplay is going to end. I’m not taking any money from anybody,” Buzbee said. “Am I accusing the current mayor of that? No, that’s just the way it works. But we’re going to change that dramatically.”
Crime, infrastructure and homelessness should be the focus of the city’s leaders, he said, not “who’s going to get me my next $5,000 so I can run for the
election cycle.”
Buzbee said the city must increase the police force — a goal Turner also campaigned on and often speaks about — but otherwise deferred discussion of policy issues to a later date.
Turner, asked for his reaction to Buzbee’s announcement after Wednesday’s regularly scheduled City Council meeting, said, “I don’t even know who he is. Next question,” then laughed.
Buzbee, a former Marine who was appointed to the Texas A&M University System board of regents in 2013 by former Gov. Rick Perry, has amassed a fortune through lawsuits against corporate giants and also helped defend Perry against a 2014 abuseof-power charge.
He has become a fundraising powerhouse for candidates and causes he backs, hosting a 2016 fundraiser at his River Oaks mansion for President Donald Trump, as well as a 2014 gathernext ing in support of Adrian Garcia’s 2015 mayoral bid.
Garcia, a Democrat, now is running to unseat Harris County Commissioner Jack Morman.
After Garcia was eliminated in the mayor’s race, Buzbee hosted a fundraiser for Turner ahead of his December runoff election that year against Bill King.
He said Turner’s tenure has disappointed him, however.
“I’m not suggesting he’s done a horrific job,” Buzbee said, “I’m just saying, my goodness, we can do a lot better than what we’re doing.”
Buzbee said he held a formal role in the Galveston County Democratic Party years ago but has long viewed partisan labels as “baloney.”
Buzbee recently has been in the news for parking a tank in front of his home, for having $300,000 in artwork destroyed by a house guest, and, in 2016, for having a drunken driving charge dismissed personally by thenDistrict Attorney Devon Anderson.
“The worst thing that could happen in my life is to be the mayor because I’ll have to roll up my sleeves and do that work because it’s a grind, but I know I’ll do it better because I don’t fail at anything,” Buzbee said. “I love the city of Houston. We don’t get the credit we deserve nationally and internationally, and if I’m the mayor we’ll get it.”
Houston municipal elections will be held in November 2019, with runoff elections, if necessary, the following month.