Conroe: Not the city of brotherly love

Remember the good ol' days when brothers used to fight over girls, basketball stats and their father's affection? In this day and age, two brothers are perhaps the first Texas siblings to take their rivalry to the polls in the Conroe race for city council.

Jay Ross Martin, 57, and Guy Martin, 54, will face each other on the city ballot after Guy decided to run against his brother, the incumbent, for what he deems irresponsible fiscal spending on the part of his older sibling.

Guy, an attorney, told the Conroe Courier the fact that his brother owns a downtown building is an obvious conflict of interest. He accused Jay Ross of voting to improve his purchase and the area surrounding it.

"I am a fiscal conservative who believes that Conroe's infrastructure, police and fire department needs, are the priorities for Conroe's budget expenditures," Guy Martin said. "And while we want downtown Conroe to be all it can be, theoretically, the expenditures councilman Martin are so obsessed with are secondary to the aforementioned necessities."

Jay Ross said his brother's decision to run is surprising and embarrassing.

"I'd rather be in the record books for something other than to be the first person to have your brother run against you," he said. "There's nothing I can do about it; it's a free country. He has to run on his own merit. If he can show the commitment to the community I've shown, if he can show the volunteer spirit and the man-hours I've put into this community, he may be the man for the job if he can do it."

Houstonist wishes these two would just duke it out like old times.

Photo: Flickr user salguodbocaj