Locke-ing up the finances... King him too!

Sorry, it's Friday, and I'm allowed bad puns.

In case you were one of the folks believing the rumors that Gene Locke may not be serious about running for Mayor, Thursday night's little meet and greet at 55 Waugh should have put that thought to rest.  Didn't get the invite? Maybe you don't have a few grand to spare.  Mayoral hopeful Gene Locke held an event for the potential members of his finance committee, and it was a who's who of Houston power brokers.

We know that former Mayor Bob Lanier is a big supporter, so the presence of the Laniers were no surprise.  My spies tell me that Tilman Fertita was present, and so was Bill King.  King apparently even spoke about how great Locke would be.  The money muscles behind Locke were also thinking of ways to convince Ben Hall not to run.  I don't think there were any light bulb moments, because some of my spies were still torn over the Locke-or-Hall-can't-we-just-get-along debate even long after the event was over.

Meanwhile, City Controller Annise Parker's campaign has sent out a press release touting her early lead in a very early Mayoral poll.  We also know that the Houston Hispanic Chamber is desperately trying to find a qualified Latino candidate for Mayor.  No doubt there are qualified folks there, but the obvious choices, including Rick Noriega, are having problems getting convinced.  My thought?  Hey, we already have two former City Attorneys in the race, why not another one?  Arturo Michel is Latino, and he's the current City Attorney.  Did I mention he has a great head of hair, which would look great in those political ads?  Michel is unlikely to take that route, but it's interesting to think about.  After all, what would be more fun than having THREE City Attorneys in the race?