Gordon Quan launched his campaign for Harris County Judge today. Watch:
In his speech, Quan highlighted the kind of sensible government solutions that made him so well-liked as a City Councilman. Kuff is delighted that Quan wants to bring that fiscal sensibility to Harris County government. His five major campaign planks are as follows:
- Reforming our criminal justice system
- Addressing homelessness and mental health issues
- Economic development
- Re-integration for those released from jail
- Making Seniors and healthcare a priority
Martha is thrilled with Quan’s campaign team.
Quan’s got a terrific campaign team which includes Mike Malaise and Mike Lykes. Mike and Mike made a smart move to hire the very talented Mili Gosar, a veteran of the Nick Lampson, Chris Bell and Lane Lewis campaigns, so she is on board Team Quan, as well.
I look forward to getting to know each member of Team Quan.
Stace raises a good point about Quan’s opponent for November, Ed Emmett. Emmett hasn’t used xenophobic racism.
I do wonder one thing: Emmett has been a non-Latino-attacking Republican; meaning, he hasn’t used immigration or Latinos as a crutch to lean on during a tough race. Will this be the year we see a change in strategy?
One does wonder if Emmett will refrain from doing so against an immigration attorney.
While Quan was launching his campaign, Mayor Bill White was presiding over his final city council meeting. Hopefully White and Quan will have an impressive Harris County campaign synergy as White pursues his race for governor.
A Quan campaign web site should be launched soon. For now, you can learn more through the press release and, if you’re looking for a transcript of the speech, you can read the draft. The policy portion is my favorite part:
Our jail is under court supervision and is overcrowded. While voters had previously defeated a bond election for a new jail, I believe they spoke out against the manner criminal justice was administered in Harris County.
I want to work to hand-in-hand with the commissioners, Sherriff Garcia, District Attorney Lykos, the local municipalities and the courts and elected officials like Senator Ellis to set criteria for fines versus confinement for minor offenses, a centralized jail system for more rapid bonding, the development of a public defender system and a regional D.N.A. lab to avoid wrongful confinement.
On top of these issues, I want to look at methods to remove from the criminal justice system people who are homeless and suffering from mental health issues. A proactive approach of investing in affordable housing with supportive services would remove “frequent flyers” from our jails and emergency rooms where they run up hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost for tax payers.
We need to provide education, training and opportunities to our citizens instead of condemning young men and women to lives of poverty with minor criminal records. Every day 200+ people are released on the streets with little hope of meaningful, legal employment.
We need to be attaching jobs to Harris County. And while supporting the efforts of the Greater Houston Partnership in recruiting large companies, I also want to make helping small and medium size businesses a priority. These provide more rapid job growth and provide the majority of new jobs in America.
For the past 30 years, I have been assisting businesses and entrepreneurs in making the Houston area home. We have an international population. There is nothing like friends and relatives encouraging other to locate in Harris County. They provide a cultural infra-structure to attract more businesses and talent. We do not need Ft. Bend advertising for business here!
I am working on Regional Investment Centers to attract foreign investment to this County – New York and Chicago have already done this. I will designate areas for “targeted employment” for brokers to use in marketing investment opportunities.
One population I will continue to champion is our Senior Citizens. As life expectancy has been extended, I want Harris County to view this population as an asset, not a liability. I would like to see us as a national leader on geriatric care.
Go Gordon Go!
- Justin Gillenwater
