Voter's Guide 2006

This Voter's Guide has been compiled to bring a business focus to a number of items from this year's ballot. Find the candidate on the list below and click on their name to learn their views on key issues.

City Controller

Incumbent

º Annise Parker

City Council

District A

º Toni Lawrence

District B

º Felicia Galloway-Hall

District C

º Anne Clutterbuck
º George Hittner
º Herman Litt
º Judy Siverson
º Mark Lee
º Ray Jones

District D

º Ada Edwards

District F

º Khalid A. Khan

District H

º Adrian Garcia

District I

º Carol Alvarado
º John Parras

Position 1

º Peter Brown
º Roy Morales

Position 2

º Jay Aiyer
º John Elford
º Poli Acosta
º Sue Lovell

Position 3

º Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, M.D.

Position 5

º Michael Berry

Houston Community College System

District 5

º Ramiro G. Vazquez
º Richard Schechter

Houston Independent School District

District 1

º Anne Flores Santiago
º Natasha Kamrani
º Richard Cantu

District 9

º Daisy Maura
º Lawrence "Larry" Marshall

Proposition 1

The Greater Houston Partnership has been working diligently with our regional partners to develop solutions to problems associated with the movement of freight rail through our region. A study conducted by Harris County, in conjunction with the City of Houston and the Port of Houston Authority, has identified $4.5 billion in short- and long-range projects that could improve safety, mobility, air quality and bring about more efficient freight movement. However, funds for these improvements have not been identified.

Proposition 1, which the Partnership supports, creates a Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund that could help pay for some of these improvement projects, which might include overpasses or underpasses to eliminate rail crossings, or the consolidation of rail traffic on high speed lines that are constructed outside of our city centers.

Proposition 5: The Greater Houston Partnership supports Proposition 5 which clarifies large commercial lending practices to reduce risk for lenders. It will give Texas lenders and borrowers the ability to structure certain loan agreements that currently can not be made in Texas.

Texas is home to seven of the country's 60 largest companies, but none of the 60 largest U.S. banks is headquartered in Texas. Following the unanimous passage of this law by the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate, the Board supports the effort to put Texas in line with the 46 other states who currently have this ability.

The Partnership hopes this constitutional update will level the playing field for Texas businesses and be a win for both the businesses that want the loans and the lenders seeking to be fairly compensated for making commercial loans.


The Greater Houston Partnership’s Voter’s Guide is designed to enlighten voters on the candidates and propositions that will appear on November 8, 2005 election ballot. The material that appears on www.houston.org/votersguide/ is for informational purposes only.

Although the Greater Houston Partnership does not endorse any political candidate who runs for office, each candidate was contacted and asked for responses to the posted questions. Candidates voluntarily submitted the information to appear on the Voters Guide site, however some candidates do not have information as of this time. Candidates are invited to submit their responses anytime. Despite our efforts to provide useful and accurate information, errors may appear from time to time.

The Greater Houston Partnership assumes no responsibility for the answers submitted by the candidates through our site. Responses that appear in this guide are published with permission of the candidate and may not be duplicated without permission from the candidate. If you have comments or questions about replies submitted to our site, please direct them to the candidate’s office.