White drops fight against special Council election

Well, it looks like Mayor Bill White has given up on his quest to avoid holding a special election to fill former City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs' seat: Yesterday, the mayor asked for a special election to be held May 12, setting off a process he has estimated could cost as much as $4 million. White had planned to ask the state Legislature for an exception to Texas election law so that the city wouldn't have to hold a May election, then hold another election for the seat in November, but then he found out Sen. John Whitmire was going to block that plan.

"I disagree [with Whitmire's stance], and I'm disappointed," White said. "I think it's ridiculous that these dates should be set so firmly in state law. I think there ought to be more decisions made at the local level. At the same time, the law is the law."

Whitmire said elections are important, and he would not play a role in postponing one.

"The city should not arbitrarily call off an election," he said. "Sometimes democracy costs. I'm sorry about all the circumstances, but I didn't create them."

The filing deadline for Shelley's vacant seat will probably be in early March, but the City Council has to formally call the election before candidates can begin raising money for their campaigns. And there's a growing list of would-be candidates, including city employees, people who have run for (and lost) City Council seats before, businessmen and politicians' wives. Looks like the official steps will be taken next week: "It won't take us very long to pull it together," Susan Taylor, Houston's senior assistant city attorney, told the Chronicle. "We are driving towards getting it on the agenda next week."