City Council candidate endorsements are coming in at a steady trickle, with this week’s collection including the Austin Sierra Club’s nod to incumbents Jackie Goodman and Beverly Griffith, and its pick of Kirk Mitchell over sitting Council Member Daryl Slusher. Likewise, Goodman, Griffith, and Mitchell won endorsements from the Political Action Committee of Austin Neighborhoods Together. The Travis County Green Party went with Griffith early on, and followed up recently with a Mitchell endorsement. The Greens did not endorse in Place Three, which Goodman, the mayor pro tem, is trying to retain. In previous endorsements, the West Austin Democrats decided to stick with the three incumbents, as did the Austin Lesbian/Gay Political Caucus.
Though he may not be faring as well with the greens as he has in years past, Slusher did get the expected blessing of the blues in the Austin Police Association PAC, which also issued a rare double-endorsement in Place 3. Goodman, long a sole favorite of the police PAC, will have to share the title with former APD officer Billy Sifuentes. Similarly, the PAC found itself torn between ex-assistant city manager Betty Dunkerley and attorney Brewster McCracken for Place Four.
Of the charter amendments, Prop. 1 — the Austin Fair Elections Act — is the top endorsement-getter. There’s more groups supporting the measure than we can name in this tiny space, but here’s a few outside of the usual cast: Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, League of Women Voters, NAACP Austin, PODER, and Travis County Democratic Women.
This article appears in April 19 • 2002.
