Jason for Austin

Statesman:Place 1 City Council candidates spar over mayoral race. (Click here for more.)

Place 1 City Council candidates spar over mayoral race

Leffingwell vows not to trigger stand-alone special election

Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/03/23/0323mayor.html
By Katie Humphrey
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, March 23, 2008

As candidate Jason Meeker has billed it so far, one of his biggest issues in the Place 1 City Council race is the 2009 mayoral election.

Meeker has attacked incumbent Lee Leffingwell’s mayoral aspirations, which are unofficial but hardly secret. He demanded that Leffingwell step out of the race to avoid the cost to taxpayers of a special election, which would be called if Leffingwell were re-elected to the council seat and then resigned to run for mayor.

Leffingwell, who was elected to the council in 2005, is being challenged by Meeker and Allen Demling, who joined Meeker in asking Leffingwell to leave the race.

“You’re wasting taxpayers’ money right now if you’re running for an office that carries a three-year term and you don’t have the intention of serving it,” Meeker said.

But Leffingwell, 68, said it’s a nonissue because the City Council seat is his priority. A lot could change between now and when he would have to decide about running for mayor, he said.

“I have said yes, I might consider it under the right circumstances,” Leffingwell said. “I certainly would not consider it if a special called election would have to be held at taxpayer expense.”

Meeker, 38, owns Jason Meeker Communications, a freelance advertising and public relations firm. He bills himself as a candidate who stands up to city hall insiders, touting his experience as spokesman for Responsible Growth for Northcross. That neighborhood group sued the city over a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at Northcross Mall.

Meeker’s argument stems from a 1958 amendment to the Texas Constitution that requires officeholders with more than a year remaining in their term to resign when they announce their intention to seek another office. Assistant City Attorney Jenny Gilchrist said that a special election must be held within 120 days of the announcement and that the person who resigned would continue to serve until the seat is filled.

If there is a regularly scheduled election within that 120-day window, the special election can be set for that date, she said.

The last such scenario in Austin arose in 2001, when then-Mayor Kirk Watson resigned to run for Texas attorney general. A special election to replace him coincided with the November election.

In 1975, when Council Members Berl Handcox and Dan Love resigned, a special election to replace them was held in March. It is unclear whether it was a stand-alone special election or coincided with other votes.

The four other special elections held to replace a council member or mayor who left office predate the constitutional amendment. Three of them were in the 1940s, and one was in the 1880s.

A special election could cost $500,000 to $1 million if it is held separately from another election.

“If we’re holding an election anyway, adding an item to the election has absolutely no effect on what it costs the city,” Gilchrist said.

Former political consultant Peck Young, director of the Center for Public Policy & Political Studies at Austin Community College, said it’s not unusual for officials to hold one office while aspiring to another.

The staggered mayoral and council elections in Austin — three places are elected one year and four, including the mayor, are elected the following year — make it difficult for a candidate from the other cycle to run for mayor under the state law.

Leffingwell could dodge a separate special election if his announcement came within 120 days of another election, such as the May 2009 council and mayoral election.

But waiting that long could be financial suicide for a campaign, Young said. Candidates can begin raising money 180 days before an election, so Leffingwell would give his opponents a 60-day lead if he waited to enter the race.

Meeker said he has read attorney general opinions and disagrees with the city’s interpretation of the law. He said the seat should be filled, not just up for election, within 120 days.

“I don’t think they’re reading it right, and as a tax-paying citizen, that’s good enough (reason) for it to be called into question,” Meeker said.

Leffingwell vows that he would not do anything that would cost taxpayers.

“In my opinion, somebody is looking for an issue to raise when there is none,” Leffingwell said.

khumphrey@statesman.com;

445-3658