HOUSTON MAYOR’S RACE: THE HOTTEST EVER

By Burt Levine, Political Writer

The board has appointed Regent Mary Evans Sias to manage a transition oversight committee in the meantime. Crumpton-Young came to TSU soon after it was revealed that unqualified students were admitted to the university and given more than $2 million scholarships between 2017 and 2019; meanwhile, other applications weren’t reviewed. The scandal led to the ousting of former president Austin Lane. Ultimately, the board and Lane came to a confidential departure agreement that did not accuse him of wrongdoing. He is now the chancellor of Southern Illinois University.

An external review of admissions irregularities at the time said an anonymous complaint was sent to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in November 2018, alleging that the university, one of the country’s largest historically Black colleges, “tried to increase enrollment by encouraging staff to admit all candidates, regardless of whether the candidate met the university’s academic admissions criteria.” Around that same time, the TSU law school also faced allegations of bribery and improprieties in its admissions process.

With Memorial Day over, summer is soon here. Hot temperatures are continuing to climb in Houston, and the upcoming Mayor, City Controller, and City Council races are becoming hotter than anything seen before in the money likely raised, spent, and votes sought to lead a city that covers 640 square miles and includes 2.4 million people.

Monday, July 24, is the first business day to file for a place on the November 7 ballot, in which early voting will begin Monday, October 24, and run through Friday, November 3. August 21 in the Mayor’s Office at 5 p.m. is the deadline to file for space on the fall ballot.

Then Speaker Pro-Tem of the Texas Legislature, Rep. Sylvester Turner, finally, after three runs over three decades, won in 2015 his lifetime goal of getting to be the CEO of what is considered the most powerful big city mayor administration in this country. In January, he will be completing his second of the two terms allowed by law in Houston.

Currently, 16 mayor candidates have designated a campaign treasurer at the Houston City Secretary’s Office, which is the first step required by law before a candidate can run. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is the first member of Congress to run for mayor. Since 1994, Jackson Lee has served in Congress. Before that, she was an at large City Council Member and, before that, a municipal judge, having graduated from Yale and Virginia Law School.

(Caldwell is not pictured)

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