"McCracken's 'public change of heart' is disingenuous."
McCracken faces criticism from challengers
Toll roads, charter amendments dominate as three newcomers vie to unseat incumbent.
April 16, 2006
By Kate Alexander
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2006
As the man to beat in the Place 5 City Council race, incumbent Brewster McCracken has been taking his licks from three newcomers to Austin politics.
Challengers Mark Hopkins, Colin Kalmbacher and Kedron Jerome Touvell have been flogging McCracken for the controversial decisions he has made since joining the council in 2003. Toll roads loom large in their criticism, as do two citizen- initiated charter amendments. The first amendment requires that all future public records be made available online, and the second limits development in the Barton Springs zone.
McCracken makes no apologies for his votes, saying they are the product of having to make tough decisions that affect people's lives and working toward consensus on divisive issues.
"We always get more accomplished by working together than by tearing each other apart," McCracken said.
The universal complaint from the challengers is that McCracken failed to represent his constituents by voting for the addition of toll roads to the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's long-term plan in July 2004.
Two months later, McCracken said, he changed his mind upon learning that CAMPO could change the plan, though state transportation officials had said otherwise during the earlier debate. Some of the roads — those with improvements being paid for with tax dollars — should not be toll roads, he determined.
A recall effort against McCracken and others had been launched in late July, but he says now that he did not take the challenge seriously and that it was not the motivation for his reversal.
McCracken voted for a revamped plan in June that removed some roads from the toll plan while retaining others as toll roads, and he has pushed to get an independent review of the toll roads.
To some, the reversal smacked of political expediency.
"He can't cover it by trying to posture himself as being suddenly against toll roads," said Hopkins a civil lawyer in private practice. "Look at his votes."
"There's a wrong that I plan to get righted. . . . I want to stop the toll roads," Hopkins said.
Kalmbacher maintains that McCracken's "public change of heart" is disingenuous.
"What does it matter? You can say you're sorry all you want, but the votes have been taken," Kalmbacher said.
McCracken said there was nothing expedient about changing his opinion.
"I was out there waging a very lonely crusade from about September to May to try to have an honest and complete examination of the numbers and our options," he said. Many people warned him not to challenge the toll plan, but he said he thought it was the right thing to do.
Touvell said McCracken has been a "symbol of ineffective leadership" during the toll road debate and should have pushed the state and his fellow political leaders to find an alternative to tolls.
A former software engineer at IBM Corp., Touvell is clearly a man of broad interests. He is pursuing a second undergraduate degree and has undertaken six majors at the University of Texas: government, economics, history, Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies and linguistics. He plans to graduate in December.
On the council, Touvell would like to focus on protecting the environment, improving government transparency and making housing more affordable to lower-income residents.
He criticizes McCracken for his lead role in crafting the ballot language for two citizen-initiated charter amendments. That ballot language was successfully challenged in court, and the council was forced to rewrite parts of the wording. Touvell supports both of those charter amendments and the other amendments on the ballot, with the exception of the campaign finance measure.
Although McCracken has been winning the bulk of the endorsements and almost all of the campaign contributions so far, Touvell recently got the nod from the local chapter of the Sierra Club and the Central Austin Democrats.
Another UT student, Kalmbacher has twice run for student government, in high school and college, and lost twice. He wears his inexperience as a badge of honor, an indication that he is "not running a campaign fueled by money but a message, by passion not politics."
"With experience comes what I call the hand-shaking politics of pragmatism," said the sophomore journalism major from Fort Worth. While young and idealistic, he is fiery and not beholden to anyone, he said.
If elected, Kalmbacher said, he will call for a complete review of all city contracts and press the council to be more "hands-on."
He, too, opposes the campaign finance charter amendment but supports the other measures, including the two citizen-initiated amendments.
With his intense focus on toll roads, Hopkins runs the risk of being tagged a one-issue candidate. But he said that if voters can trust him to tackle such a critical issue as toll roads, they can trust him to take on the other issues important to them.
Hopkins said he agrees with the open government charter amendment and the council-initiated amendments. But he said he is torn on the Barton Springs measure. He agrees with the objectives of the latter and would push for implementing a tax on property owners in the recharge zone based on runoff to pay for mitigation efforts. There is, however, is a good likelihood the amendment would be overturned in court, he said.
McCracken, 40, deflects much of the criticism from his opponents as misguided or the voice of inexperience.
In a second term, McCracken said, he would continue his focus on bringing together different perspectives to find solutions to intransigent problems, as he did with the commercial design standards issue.
He sees potential for compromise between the central city neighborhoods and those who want a denser urban environment, and he wants to find ways to integrate housing that is affordable to lower-income residents with the downtown development.
As the city works to encourage more density in the urban core, McCracken said, it is also important to protect homeowners. So he plans to push the Legislature to give local governments the authority to reduce the appraisal cap below its current 10 percent level.
He supports all the council-initiated charter amendments but has adamantly opposed the two citizen-initiated measures.
kalexander@statesman.com; 445-3618
Place 5 candidates
Mark Hopkins
Age: 52
Occupation: Lawyer
Education: Bachelor's degree, University of Texas; master's of business administration and law degrees, University of Montana
Experience: Two sessions as a legislative aide in the Texas Legislature; 11 years as a litigator in the Texas attorney general's transportation division; private practice civil litigator
Web site: www.votehopkins.com
Colin Kalmbacher
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Education: Studying for a bachelor's degree in journalism, University of Texas
Experience: None
Brewster McCracken
Age: 40
Occupation: Attorney and Austin City Council member
Education: Bachelor's degree in history, Princeton University; law degree from the University of Texas; master's degree from LBJ School of Public Affairs
Experience: Army Reserve officer, 1988-96; prosecutor, Harris County district attorney's office, 1995-97; attorney in private practice, 1997-present
Campaign Web site: www.brewstermccracken.com
Kedron Jerome Touvell
Age: 29
Occupation: Software engineer and student
Education: Bachelor's degree in computer science, Georgia Tech; currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in government, economics, history, linguistics, Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas
Experience: Software engineer at IBM, 1999-present; president, UT Foreign Policy Council and UT National Policy Council, 2005-present; center director and board member, Texas Roosevelt Institution
Campaign Web site: www.kedrontouvell.com
© 2006 Austin American-Statesman: www.statesman.com
Toll roads, charter amendments dominate as three newcomers vie to unseat incumbent.
April 16, 2006
By Kate Alexander
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2006
As the man to beat in the Place 5 City Council race, incumbent Brewster McCracken has been taking his licks from three newcomers to Austin politics.
Challengers Mark Hopkins, Colin Kalmbacher and Kedron Jerome Touvell have been flogging McCracken for the controversial decisions he has made since joining the council in 2003. Toll roads loom large in their criticism, as do two citizen- initiated charter amendments. The first amendment requires that all future public records be made available online, and the second limits development in the Barton Springs zone.
McCracken makes no apologies for his votes, saying they are the product of having to make tough decisions that affect people's lives and working toward consensus on divisive issues.
"We always get more accomplished by working together than by tearing each other apart," McCracken said.
The universal complaint from the challengers is that McCracken failed to represent his constituents by voting for the addition of toll roads to the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's long-term plan in July 2004.
Two months later, McCracken said, he changed his mind upon learning that CAMPO could change the plan, though state transportation officials had said otherwise during the earlier debate. Some of the roads — those with improvements being paid for with tax dollars — should not be toll roads, he determined.
A recall effort against McCracken and others had been launched in late July, but he says now that he did not take the challenge seriously and that it was not the motivation for his reversal.
McCracken voted for a revamped plan in June that removed some roads from the toll plan while retaining others as toll roads, and he has pushed to get an independent review of the toll roads.
To some, the reversal smacked of political expediency.
"He can't cover it by trying to posture himself as being suddenly against toll roads," said Hopkins a civil lawyer in private practice. "Look at his votes."
"There's a wrong that I plan to get righted. . . . I want to stop the toll roads," Hopkins said.
Kalmbacher maintains that McCracken's "public change of heart" is disingenuous.
"What does it matter? You can say you're sorry all you want, but the votes have been taken," Kalmbacher said.
McCracken said there was nothing expedient about changing his opinion.
"I was out there waging a very lonely crusade from about September to May to try to have an honest and complete examination of the numbers and our options," he said. Many people warned him not to challenge the toll plan, but he said he thought it was the right thing to do.
Touvell said McCracken has been a "symbol of ineffective leadership" during the toll road debate and should have pushed the state and his fellow political leaders to find an alternative to tolls.
A former software engineer at IBM Corp., Touvell is clearly a man of broad interests. He is pursuing a second undergraduate degree and has undertaken six majors at the University of Texas: government, economics, history, Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies and linguistics. He plans to graduate in December.
On the council, Touvell would like to focus on protecting the environment, improving government transparency and making housing more affordable to lower-income residents.
He criticizes McCracken for his lead role in crafting the ballot language for two citizen-initiated charter amendments. That ballot language was successfully challenged in court, and the council was forced to rewrite parts of the wording. Touvell supports both of those charter amendments and the other amendments on the ballot, with the exception of the campaign finance measure.
Although McCracken has been winning the bulk of the endorsements and almost all of the campaign contributions so far, Touvell recently got the nod from the local chapter of the Sierra Club and the Central Austin Democrats.
Another UT student, Kalmbacher has twice run for student government, in high school and college, and lost twice. He wears his inexperience as a badge of honor, an indication that he is "not running a campaign fueled by money but a message, by passion not politics."
"With experience comes what I call the hand-shaking politics of pragmatism," said the sophomore journalism major from Fort Worth. While young and idealistic, he is fiery and not beholden to anyone, he said.
If elected, Kalmbacher said, he will call for a complete review of all city contracts and press the council to be more "hands-on."
He, too, opposes the campaign finance charter amendment but supports the other measures, including the two citizen-initiated amendments.
With his intense focus on toll roads, Hopkins runs the risk of being tagged a one-issue candidate. But he said that if voters can trust him to tackle such a critical issue as toll roads, they can trust him to take on the other issues important to them.
Hopkins said he agrees with the open government charter amendment and the council-initiated amendments. But he said he is torn on the Barton Springs measure. He agrees with the objectives of the latter and would push for implementing a tax on property owners in the recharge zone based on runoff to pay for mitigation efforts. There is, however, is a good likelihood the amendment would be overturned in court, he said.
McCracken, 40, deflects much of the criticism from his opponents as misguided or the voice of inexperience.
In a second term, McCracken said, he would continue his focus on bringing together different perspectives to find solutions to intransigent problems, as he did with the commercial design standards issue.
He sees potential for compromise between the central city neighborhoods and those who want a denser urban environment, and he wants to find ways to integrate housing that is affordable to lower-income residents with the downtown development.
As the city works to encourage more density in the urban core, McCracken said, it is also important to protect homeowners. So he plans to push the Legislature to give local governments the authority to reduce the appraisal cap below its current 10 percent level.
He supports all the council-initiated charter amendments but has adamantly opposed the two citizen-initiated measures.
kalexander@statesman.com; 445-3618
Place 5 candidates
Mark Hopkins
Age: 52
Occupation: Lawyer
Education: Bachelor's degree, University of Texas; master's of business administration and law degrees, University of Montana
Experience: Two sessions as a legislative aide in the Texas Legislature; 11 years as a litigator in the Texas attorney general's transportation division; private practice civil litigator
Web site: www.votehopkins.com
Colin Kalmbacher
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Education: Studying for a bachelor's degree in journalism, University of Texas
Experience: None
Brewster McCracken
Age: 40
Occupation: Attorney and Austin City Council member
Education: Bachelor's degree in history, Princeton University; law degree from the University of Texas; master's degree from LBJ School of Public Affairs
Experience: Army Reserve officer, 1988-96; prosecutor, Harris County district attorney's office, 1995-97; attorney in private practice, 1997-present
Campaign Web site: www.brewstermccracken.com
Kedron Jerome Touvell
Age: 29
Occupation: Software engineer and student
Education: Bachelor's degree in computer science, Georgia Tech; currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in government, economics, history, linguistics, Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas
Experience: Software engineer at IBM, 1999-present; president, UT Foreign Policy Council and UT National Policy Council, 2005-present; center director and board member, Texas Roosevelt Institution
Campaign Web site: www.kedrontouvell.com
© 2006 Austin American-Statesman:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Sunday, April 16, 2006
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