David Ortez

Peter Brown has rolled out Television Ad number 2 and like any good sequel this one gets the job done.

Once again, Brown delivers a positive, dynamic, polished ad that introduces potential voters to his "Blueprint" for a better Houston.

In this advert, Brown emphasizes on neighborhood policing, smart development and bottom line budgeting. This translates to: safer communities with low crime rates, practical living initiatives that will somehow target our traffic problem and cutting spending.

Gene Locke filed first … earlier this month. Annise Parker created a lot of buzz as she and her supporters celebrated last Thursday and then there was Peter Brown.

Peter Brown did not need the media’s help since his ad is doing well on the television circuit. Although last, Peter Brown made it official after annoucing his intention to run for Mayor back in February.

Peter Brown states that he has a "vision for Houston’s future with safer streets, an expanding economy and smart growth that improves our quality of life.”

Saturday, I attended the Gene Locke Social Media Summit, which was well attended; simultaneously there was a volunteer training session that featured Temo Figueroa, President Barack Obama’s National Field Director.

Over the past few weeks I have had multiple conversations with various campaigns in the Houston Mayoral Race in regards to their Social Media Strategy. Somehow, the campaigns do not think that text messaging is part of an effective Social Media Strategy.

We knew it was coming … we just were not sure when and by who. Well, after all the speculation … it was Peter Brown that struck first.

Brown released a dynamic, informative 30-second advert that will appear on broadcast and cable television. The commercial is titled “Next Step” and touts Peter Brown’s achievements in City Council and plans for a better Houston.

The ad is polished and well thought out. There are only a few quirks that I have with it.

During the last 3 months as I have followed each of the candidates from forum to forum and private gathering to fundraisers … there is one thing I have noticed … they have the right ideas to make Houston great.

Yet, at the same time the situation that I encountered when it came to releasing how the candidates intended to achieve a promise was rather weak in substance.

Only Peter Brown stepped up to the plate and would release a detailed (as detail as you can get of course) plan on how he intended to achieve some of his goals. From updating infrastructure to explaining how to address our flooding issue … there always seemed to be a saturation of policy initiatives from the campaign.

On May 6, 2009 I wrote, “Grading the Houston Mayoral Websites,” a blog post in which I evaluated the websites for the candidates seeking to be the next Mayor of the City of Houston.

One of the subcategories was “Social Media Campaign” in which I concluded that Annise Parker had the best strategy. At the time, Peter Brown did not even have a Twitter account … luckily 3 months later that has changed and I have decided to review each candidates strategy.

If you were hiding under a rock the last 24 hours or perhaps you were catching up on every movie ever touched by John Hughes then you may have missed history.

The United States Senate unanimously voted with a 68-31 total to confirm the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor and paved the way for her to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice of the United States.

Well, I have scoured the Internet as best that I could and have found the following statements from the Mayoral Candidates and Texas State Representative Carol Alvarado.

Texas State Representative Carol Alvarado of District 145 in Houston, Texas and formerly Houston City Councilmember of District I states:

Peter Brown is cranking the policy initiatives and going full steam ahead in this Mayoral race. Brown has released his “Keep Us Moving- A Transportation Blueprint for an Even Better Houston” which you read here or download here at your convience.

Peter Brown claims:

“To deal with traffic, we’ve got to get the basics right: cut congestion, give residents real transportation choices, and focus on getting people where they want to go. As Mayor, I’ll use my experience and practical, pragmatic solutions to get results and keep us moving.”

Have any plans for this Saturday morning … well if you feel like community organizing, then you may be interested in joining the Peter Brown campaign as he kicks off August with a Block Walk.

Peter Brown’s Campaign states:

Do you know what the maximum amount that an individual or entity may donate to a City of Houston Mayoral Campaign?

$5,000.00

That is why this blog post concentrates on all the contributions in the amount of $5,000.00 donated to Peter Brown, Gene Locke and Annise Parker.

Who donated the most to Peter Brown? Who donated the most to Gene Locke? Who donated the most to Annise Parker?