How People More Important Than You Are Voting

The celebrity endorsement game, which my boss Michael King touched on in his last column, went into overtime this week, with both Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken presenting lists of our betters as their backers.

At a City Hall press conference this morning, McCracken unveiled a list of “progressive community supporters,” looking, it looks, to polish his prog cred and gay-friendly bonafides. While it’s a stretch to call several of these establishment figures patchouli-dripping, Kucinich-voting progressives, McCracken’s press release also cites liberal achievements in his tenure, like leading the repeal of a ban on domestic partner benefits for gay city employees, and a “pharmacy refusal prohibition” which keeps Walgreens wingnuts from withholding your birth control on the grounds it makes the baby Jesus cry.

To counter, Leffingwell today released a list of small business owners united in support of his campaign, and followed up with a video unveiling a plan to assist small biz. How about assisting the employee of a small local business (the Chron, natch) with some food? The list of restaurants included in the endorsements is making the Hustle hungry. Both press releases and the video after the jump.

Brewster McCracken Introduces Progressive Community Supporters

Eugene Sepulveda, Robbie Ausley, Stacey Abel, Bettie Naylor, Joyce Dugar, Narissa Adams, Anne Wynne, John Hildreth and More Sign on to McCracken for Mayor Campaign

(April 8, 2009 – Austin) More than 40 members of Austin’s progressive community voiced their support for Mayor Pro Tem Brewster McCracken’s bid to become the next mayor of Austin.

“We’re fortunate to have two progressive candidates running for mayor,” said Eugene Sepulveda. “So the choice before us is less about political philosophy and more about vision and direction. Where do we want Austin to go in the future, and who can best lead us? I and many other progressive Austinites believe Brewster has the clearest vision for Austin’s future.”

“I am very proud of my broad support across Austin’s progressive community and the stances I've taken on issues so many of us hold dear,” McCracken said. “Issues like reproductive health, equal rights and economic opportunity for everybody, living wages, affordable housing and many others have helped define Austin as a progressive city. The support of leaders who are so dedicated to their community means a lot to me.”

Mayor Pro Tem McCracken’s City Council track-record on progressive issues includes:

· Writing and passing the country’s first “pharmacy refusal prohibition” policy, which protects Austinites’ access to any medication that their doctors prescribe.

· Being an outspoken supporter of marriage equality for gays and lesbians. He sponsored the charter election amendment that repealed the ban on domestic partner benefits….the first successful election in Texas history on a matter of civil rights for the GLBT community. In addition, he publicly opposed the state marriage ban in 2005.

· Initiating the Pecan Street Project – the city’s clean energy partnership with Environmental Defense Fund. He is a staunch advocate of alternative energy and developing thousands of high-paying green collar jobs.

· Blocking proposed across the board budget cuts to Austin's human services budget, and protecting AIDS Services of Austin from budget cuts.

· Working directly with affordable housing advocates and developers to create Austin's first citywide affordable housing program, which was unanimously recommended by advocates and developers alike.

Following are several of the progressive community leaders that have endorsed McCracken’s candidacy.

Stacey Abel

Austin Adams

Narissa Adams

Lew Aldridge

Robbie Ausley

Tom Ausley

Amy Averett

Doug Bell

Heather Bellino

Martha Cotera

Yvonne Davis

Joyce Dugar

Susan Eason

Robyn Emerson

Sloan Foster

Roland Galang

Jake Gonzales

Antony Haley

John Hildreth

Damon Howze

Celia Israel

Ray Martinez

Nikelle Meade

Anita Mennucci

Bettie Naylor

Evvie Nazro

Peggy Pickle

Keshav Rajagopalan

Catherine Robb

Moses Ruiz

Greg Sapire

Chris Searles

Eugene Sepulveda

Edward Tasch

Grant Thomas

Brenda Thompson

Danielle Tierney

Steven Tomlinson

Paul Trowe

Ben Warmate

Bart Whatley

Steve Whichard

Chad Williams

Melvin Wrenn

Anne Wynne

Don Zapone

SMALL LOCAL BUSINESS OWNERS UNITE TO BACK LEFFINGWELL FOR MAYOR

Leffingwell Proposes New Steps To Help Austin Businesses Succeed

Austin, Texas – Retired airline pilot and Austin mayoral candidate Lee Leffingwell is proposing new steps to help small local businesses succeed just as two dozen Austin business owners band together to win support for Leffingwell’s campaign.

In a new campaign video released today, Leffingwell proposes to expand the technical assistance and support services that the City provides to Austin small business owners; to amend the City’s purchasing policies to help award more contracts to locally owned businesses; and to create a new, standing citizen Commission on Local Business.

The video is at: http://austinleadership.com/leetv.

Leffingwell also announced the names of two dozen leaders of the “Small Local Business Owners for Lee” group. The group will work to recruit other local entrepreneurs and Austin voters to support Leffingwell’s candidacy. The business owners are:

Clayton Christopher, Sweet Leaf Tea

Eddie Wilson, Threadgill’s

Alex Tan, Chinatown Center

Maria Corbalan, Maria’s Taco Xpress

Paul Carrozza, Run-Tex

Emily Fleming Nash, Emerald City Press

Joe Sullivan, House Park BBQ

Freddy Fernandez, Fast Freddy's Hair Salon

James White, The Broken Spoke

Gloria Henry-Manor, Black Butterfly

Fidel Estrada, Estrada’s Cleaners

Ray Canfield, Shoal Creek Saloon

Melanie McAfee, The Barr Mansion

Matt Shook, Daily Juice

Bryan King, 106.3 KITY-FM

O.C. Houston, Hospital Pharmacy

Paula Hui, Paula Hui Real Estate

Terry McCarthy, Crown & Anchor Pub

Andrew Perkel, Belvedere's Spa

Paige Davis, BlueAvocado

Rabbit Duran, Rabbit's Lounge

Gerry Acuna, Tri-Recycling

Gary Truesdell, Trudy's and SoCo Café

John Goode, Mr. Bones BBQ

Rebecca Melançon, vice-president of the Austin Independent Business Alliance, said she strongly supported Leffingwell’s call for City Hall to renew its focus on helping local businesses.

"As a founding member, vice president and development director of the Austin Independent Business Alliance, I look forward to working with our next mayor on supporting and promoting Austin's locally owned businesses,” said Melançon. “Lee Leffingwell's proposal to create a Commission on Local Business is an example of the kind of focus we need – for today, for the future, for locally owned business.”

Leffingwell said he was honored to have the support of the two dozen Austinites leading the “Small Local Business Owners for Lee” group.

“I want Austin’s small local business owners to know that if I’m elected mayor they will be my top economic development priority, plain and simple,” said Leffingwell. “I’m very grateful to have the backing of this group of Austin entrepreneurs. With their help over the next month, we’ll win this race and get to work to make local businesses the central focus of our economic recovery plan.”