Felony conviction stifles Huffman’s mayoral effort
Pro wrestler Booker T. Huffman is in a real fight to actualize his run for mayor of Houston.
His announcement in 2016 might have been met with skepticism — oh, another entertainer without a background in politics says he has the answers? — but Huffman, 53, thought he could relate to underrepresented voters and approach policymaking from their perspective because he knows what it means to face the same challenges.
Part of his inspiring life story involves a turnaround after his 1987 felony conviction for armed robbery.
He had pleaded guilty, earned his release after serving 19 months of a five-year sentence, and then began a decades-long career in pro wrestling that culminated with an induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Celebrity in his own right
Huffman trains more than 40 pro wrestlers at Booker T World Gym Arena in Texas City, commands nearly 2.5 million followers on social media and is slated to be a pre-show TV host at WWE’s pay-per-view event Elimination Chamber on Sunday evening at Toyota Center.
Nothing about Huffman’s success suggests he feels held back by the crime and punishment he had experienced, but more than 30 years later, it is why he cannot get on the ballot.
The Texas Election Code and a Houston ordinance use language that has been interpreted to mean felons are allowed to re-register to vote, but they cannot run for political office.
Huffman described his criminal record as a dirt pile no broom can clear.
“I have to be totally clean,” Huffman said.
A pardon from Gov. Greg Abbott would do the trick, but it seems unlikely the Republican would do a favor for a no-experience candidate with loose concepts for championing the causes of Houston’s dispossessed.
Huffman could challenge the vague language of the laws instead.
The Texas Election Code outlines how a felon would be eligible for the ballot if he or she has been “released from the resulting disabilities,” and the Houston ordinance states he or she must have the “full rights of citizenship restored by other official action.”
Those standards would be applied in the absence of a pardon, but until 2018 in Austin, no convicted felon had tried to run for state or local office in Texas.
Lewis Conway Jr., a community organizer looking to run as a democratic socialist, changed that with his campaign for Austin City Council. He was not pardoned for his 1993 felony conviction for voluntary manslaughter.
Conway challenged the election code, arguing that fulfilling his probation and having his voting rights restored counted as judicial release from his disabilities. City attorneys wound up agreeing with Conway and allowed him on the ballot.
Probation completed
Huffman completed his probation in 1992. When asked how it would treat a candidate like Huffman, the City of Houston Legal Department said it “declines to address a hypothetical situation.”
The Harris County Attorney’s Office took a different position on the same hypothetical.
“It would be reasonable that if he’s completed his sentence and parole, or any further judicial supervision, that he might qualify under that analysis,” said Douglas Ray, a special assistant county attorney.
In Conway, Huffman has a good precedent to present Houston city attorneys.
Crusade for Booker’s ilk
“I did it for folks like Booker, people that have been considered the worst day of their lives for the rest of their lives,” Conway said. “For someone that has made the efforts to not only to change his life, but impact the other lives of people who are just like him, then there’s really no reason for (the government) to deny that type of a person to run for office regardless of their background.”
Huffman declined to discuss any efforts he has made to obtain a pardon and would not take a public stance on the election laws.
“I’ve got my lawyers looking into it,” he said.
Huffman knows he will have a hard enough time being taken seriously. He does not think being the face of felon voting rights is a winning platform. He also insists he will not grease palms for backdoor deals because it goes against his purpose for running.
He wants to be an example of how people can rise in a political system that usually is skewed against them.
“Young people need to understand it only takes one time,” Huffman said.