Examining the Ads

I have not had a chance to comment on the recent advertisements by Annise Parker or Peter Brown. I have decided to examine each ad and the assertions made by each candidate.

Parker has a nice ad that touts her resume while delivering subtle jabs towards Peter Brown. The first ad if one already forgot … had subtle jabs at Gene Locke and for a day or two bloggers on the Locke end were able to spin the ad into this manifesto that would get rid of stadiums and the arts in Houston. Luckily, the Parker campaign was on the ball and they were able to quickly suppress those allegations … proving Parker’s long track record of supporting the arts.

This time though … the Brown campaign did not unleash the dogs on Parker and the issue has remained … at just that. It is a bit ironic I will note though that Annise Parker begins the video by stating, “Leadership means more than plans” … yet she has three out four screens in the background that have the word “plan” on the screen. Talk about a major #fail there.

All jokes aside though, the ad portrays Parker as the only candidate that “delivers” on her plans … in a way implying that Brown may not be able to “deliver” and then she goes on to back up her claims.

Parker states, “I’m the only candidate for Mayor who fought to audit city departments. We cut waste and fraud and freed up millions for priorities like public safety.”

While these assertions are true one must take them in with a grain of salt. This does not mean that Gene Locke or Peter Brown would not have done the same if they were the City Controller … who in fact has the only authority to perform those actions … but it does aid in justifying how Parker has been able to deliver.

Her “Hire Houston First” would give Houston workers priority on city projects but that does necessarily mean that they would win the bids … they just have a better chance of winning a bid but at the end of the day if Acme from Dallas, Texas can undercut a Houston firm … guess who will get the job?

Parker then claims, “I’m the only one who spent 20 years in the Oil and Gas business.” I surmise that this statement is made to build rapport with the energy community and further justify how she can deliver on making Houston the world headquarters of the energy economy.

Overall, the ad does a great job of presenting Parker in positive light and although there are subtle attacks to a candidate … it does not overshadow the overall message. In a race where it seems that the three candidates agree on more things than they disagree … she needs to stand out and explain why even though Gene Locke and Peter Brown are good choices … she is the best choice. The ad succeeds and in doing this and much more.

The third Peter Brown advert seems to be an homage to “public safety.” I don’t understand why this is even an issue … in fact I think the REAL issue is transportation and getting a damn public transportation infrastructure ergo Metro LightRail setup as soon as possible.

KHOU polls indicate that Houstonians number one concern is “public safety” and thus it sheds light why even Parker joined in on the theme.

As for Brown’s goals and claims in the third ad, he states, “We’ve got to have more police officers in the neighborhood and on the streets … patrolling and walking on the beat.”

Politically … I agree … Policy wise I disagree. It sounds nice to potential voters when they hear “more police officers … patrolling and walking on the beat,” but let’s get one fact straight … community policing does not work … not because it is not possible but because there is no such thing as community policing … every agency in the United States uses the word loosely and thus an effective strategy is not implemented correctly.

It seems that Brown may have a trick up his sleeve though. He wants to have a “real time crime center using state of the art technologies” such as Google Maps and the Internet …. Woohoo!

Seriously, though … this is where I really agree with Brown. We need to coordinate policing strategies … we need a crime center that tracks patterns and can anticipate crime areas so that police can properly staff police in regions where it seems more logical.

I whole heartily support decentralizing our police station so that Houston Police can be broken into smaller components and thus be held more accountable while allowing more flexibility in implementing their own custom crime fighting strategies without the micromanagement from the head honchos.

But … here is the kicker … Annise Parker’s public safety plan calls for “neighborhood policing” and a “real time crime center” and at the end of the day it seems to mirror Brown’s plan.

So, what have we learned … in order to win … the candidate’s need to differentiate themselves in order to win … and the one that can convey this message to potential voters … will end up taking home the prize.