Houston, TX –  On November 3, Houston held elections for mayor and all city council positions.   Houston Voters For Companion Animals prepared a Voters’ Guide which rated the candidates who responded to our Candidate Survey and/or participated in our Candidate Forum on September 29th.  The Voters’ Guide focused solely on sheltering issues.  

The candidates that we believe truly care about the high kill rates in Houston shelters and who are willing to work on this issue, using the programs and services that are already working across the country, were rated highest in the Voters’ Guide.

I am extremely happy to report that one of our highest rated candidates, Greg Travis, won his race for City Council District G. 

.

• Rated 5 out of 5
• Responded to Candidate Survey? YES
• Attended Candidate Forum? YES

.

.

.

.

From the Voters Guide “Mr. Travis agrees that BARC should be a No Kill shelter and said that he will roll up his sleeves and tackle this issue.  He will be the liaison with city hall to get the lifesaving programs in place. 

We are really impressed with Mr. Travis’ responses to our Survey and at the Candidate Forum.  He had some very thoughtful and innovative ideas regarding implementing various programs of the No Kill model of sheltering that would increase life saving. 

We believe that Greg Travis truly cares about animals and animal sheltering issues and that he will work hard to help end the needless killing of shelter pets in Houston.  Mr. Travis is the type of advocate for pets that Houston really needs on city council if we hope to end sheltering killing in Houston. 

He would be an extraordinary asset to city council.”

In addition, a couple candidates that Houston Voters For Companion Animals rated nearly as highly have made it to the run-off elections which will be held on December 12, 2015.  Notably, Roy Morales is rated 4 ½ out of 5 and is in the run-off election for Houston City Council At Large Position 4 (more info below). 

Unfortunately, several other candidates that we rated 5 out of 5 did not win their seats.   I am very disappointed about that as I really believe that they would have been great assets on city council and wonderful advocates in our fight to end the killing of shelter pets in Houston.  And Houston could certainly use as many animal advocates on city council as possible considering the mind numbingly slow progress that has been made in the last 6 years in increasing Save Rates.  

I hope that these candidates run again in the future and I hope more animal loving voters pay attention when they do.

Below I have listed the candidates who are in the run-off elections.   If they responded to our Candidate Survey and/or participated in the Candidate Forum before the general election, their ratings are shown by their names.  

If the candidates did not respond to our Candidate Survey, they were previously rated 0 as we had no information available to rate them. However, we recently sent another opportunity to these candidates to respond to the Candidate Survey.   Their responses will be posted on Houston Voters For Companion Animals’ website as they are received.  

A new Voters’ Guide will be created for the run-off election.  

Make sure that you take our Voters’ Guide with you to the polls.

Before voting for candidates who are not yet rated, I urge you to contact them and ask them to respond to our Candidate Survey.  It is crucial that we know their stance before giving them our votes.  

The candidates are listening to what voters want right now because they know that every vote counts.  Our votes are POWERFUL.  (One race was won by only FIVE votes, so every single vote counts).  

The contact information for all of the candidates is listed on Houston Voters’ For Companion Animals website here.

Remember that 65% of Americans have pets, yet only about 13% of Houstonians voted in the last election.   I predict that even fewer Houstonians will vote in the run-off elections, making each of our votes more powerful.

If we animal lovers joined together and voted for the right people, we could swing an election in favor of shelter pets this year.

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT FOR SHELTER PETS!

MAYORAL CANDIDATES

.

• Rating 3 Out Of 5
• Responded to Candidate Survey? YES
• Attended Candidate Forum? No

.

.

.

.

From the Voter’s Guide: “We disagree with Mr. Turner’s statement that improvements at BARC have been impressive considering BARC’s high kill rate. 

Mr. Turner made some interesting comments regarding solving some issues such as breed bans in rental housing, however we would have liked to have seen more research into this topic. 

There is a solution that been proven to work to end shelter killing.  If elected, we hope that Mr. Turner will be willing to learn how other communities have ended shelter killing and not just repeat what the kill shelter directors have told him. “

*

.

• Not Yet Rated
• Responded to Candidate Survey? No
• Attended Candidate Forum? No

CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

District F

.    

• Not Yet Rated
• Responded to Candidate Survey? No
• Attended Candidate Forum? No

.

.

.

.

.

*

.

•   Not Yet Rated
• Responded to Candidate Survey? No
• Attended Candidate Forum? No

District H

      .

• Not Yet Rated
• Responded to Candidate Survey? No
• Attended Candidate Forum? No

. 

.

.

.

*

.

• Not Yet Rated
• Responded to Candidate Survey? No
• Attended Candidate Forum? No

.

.

.

.

District J

.

• Not Yet Rated
• Responded to Candidate Survey? No
• Attended  Candidate Forum? No

.

.

.

.

*

.

• Not Yet Rated
• Responded to Candidate Survey? No
• Attended Candidate Forum? No

.

.

.

.

.

At Large Position #1

.

• Rated 1 out of 5
• Responded to Candidate Survey: YES
• Attended Candidate Forum: No

.

.

.

.

Continue reading →