ReBuild fires up fight in mayor’s contest

Conservatives’ votes at stake for King, Costello

When the most conservative candidate in the Houston mayor’s race dropped out two months ago, the battle to win over right-leaning voters became a two-man show: former Kemah Mayor Bill King versus City Councilman Stephen Costello.

Both candidates bill themselves as moderate fiscal conservatives chiefly concerned about the city’s finances — pensions in particular — and, by all accounts, neither is an ideal choice for the far right.

Nonetheless, support among local Republicans has begun to coalesce around King, who has taken a hard line against ReBuild Houston, the city’s controversial streets and drainage program.

Now, with Houston recovering from severe flooding and the state Supreme Court ruling against the city in a lawsuit over ReBuild, program mastermind Costello only looks to be in trouble.

“The timing of this couldn’t be worse for Costello,” said Rice University political scientist Bob Stein, adding that King now has a window to break through.

ReBuild Houston is designed to allow the city to pay down existing debt while financing drainage and road improvements

primarily through monthly drainage fees collected from property owners.

Earlier this month, hours after the Texas Supreme Court ruled the language of the 2010 charter amendment did not adequately describe the drainage fee to fund ReBuild, King released a statement attacking the program and Costello.

Last week, he called for ReBuild to be put back on the ballot this November.

Meanwhile, candidates to King’s left barely have touched on ReBuild.

Although Houston’s political races are nonpartisan, Democrats have held the office for more than 30 years, and this year’s slate of mayoral hopefuls is seen as particularly strong.

Among the contenders vying to replace term-limited Mayor Annise Parker are state Rep. Sylvester Turner and former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia — often cited as the frontrunners — Chris Bell, a former city councilman and congressman; 2013 mayoral runner-up Ben Hall, and investor Marty McVey.

Only Hall, on the heels of a shaky mayoral bid two years ago despite spending some $3 million on the race, has joined King in vocally opposing ReBuild.

“It’s wrongful policy for the city of Houston to continue to tax its residents and not give them an effective drainage system,” Hall said last week. Making the runoff?

As for Costello and King, political observers say either could make it into a runoff, but that it would require one of them falling out of the running. Otherwise, they likely split the conservative vote, leaving neither with enough support to make it past November.

Broadly speaking, Costello and King’s campaigns are similar, their top issues the same: pension reform, public safety and road repairs.

Their policy positions do diverge in two key areas: pension reform and infrastructure funding.

While they both have identified Houston’s rising pension costs as a primary concern, Costello, who chairs the city’s budget and fiscal affairs committee, is a proponent of a modified defined benefit plan in which city employees would continue to receive a set pension. King wants to switch to a defined contribution model for new hires.

However, it is more difficult to engage potential voters on pensions than take photos of potholes, and a recent string of storms has only intensified the candidates’ obsession with the condition of Houston’s roads.

“We can’t be a world cultural center with Third World-country streets,” King likes to say.

The way he sees it, ReBuild is to blame.

“It’s been a complete and total failure,” King said.

Should ReBuild be put up for a re-vote in November, King said he would continue to oppose it, proposing instead to finance city infrastructure projects with bonds.

Costello criticized that approach.

“Bill King is advocating for raising property taxes and for raising the debt of the city of Houston. I’m not for that,” he said. “I’m for a dedicated funding source for streets and drainage and a pay-as-you-go program.”

Still, King’s attacks put Costello on the defensive at a recent candidate forum.

“Yes, I’m in favor of ReBuild Houston, and I advocated for ReBuild Houston,” Costello said last week, citing a series of accomplishments, including increased annual infrastructure investment, lowered city debt relative to streets and drainage, and more than 375 completed projects.

There is room for improvement, he said, particularly in how the city communicates with the public about ReBuild.

Even so, the councilman’s support of the drainage fee has put him in a tough spot with some on the right.

“For him to say he’s conservative, I don’t see it. I don’t see it at all,” said Joe Slovacek, co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the ReBuild lawsuit and a member of the conservative Houston Realty Business Coalition and C Club.

For conservatives, Slovacek said, “There’s no other choice but Bill King.”

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican wholed the effort to sue the city over ReBuild, said King has staked out the strongest position of those in the field.

Bettencourt’s brother cochairs King’s campaign.

Local Republican activist and precinct chair Joseph McReynolds is of a similar mind.

“We need to get back to basics, and focusing again on the basic city services: infrastructure, maintenance and so forth,” he said, referencing King’s “Back to Basics” campaign slogan. Not all bad

The politics of ReBuild are not all bad for Costello.

At a forum last week, Meyerland residents sang the initiative’s praises.

“It’s going to be years before the project’s done, but I think it’s a good pro- gram,” said Nancy Hixon, 72, whose neighborhood streets and drainage were revamped through a ReBuild project completed last month.

“They did a really good job,” she said. “I think it’s worth the price.”

Costello, an engineer, also is expected to have the support of many of his fellow engineers.

Houston’s chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies offered Costello an early endorsement in March, referencing his “first-hand” knowledge of how to fix Houston’s streets.

Even so, local engineer Truman Edminster said doubts remain.

“There’s a certain amount of reservation about ‘Can he really make it over the top? Can he really make it into the runoff?’ ” Edminster said.

Consequently, he said, some may hedge their bets, contributing money to Costello while also financing another candidate.