Another racist election, another heartbreakingly close loss: Jay Aiyer lost to Sue Lovell for Houston city council by the whopping margin of… 1.6%.
Lesson? Allegedly calling your desi opponent a terrorist probably works. With these kinds of margins (18 votes against Tom Abraham, 1.6% here), it can’t hurt.
In the closest and most heavily voted contest, Sue Lovell beat opponent Jay Aiyer by one percentSue Lovell beat opponent Jay Aiyer by one percent…
Calling your desi opponent a terrorist works for the At-Large Position 2 on City Council. [Link]
In the race for Houston City Council at-large Position 2, Jay Aiyer has raised more money than Sue Lovell. Since the Nov. 8 general election, when the two emerged from a field of five to make the runoff, Aiyer has raised $89,000 and Lovell $56,000…
But Lovell has had outside help. The Service Employees International Union contributed $10,000 to Lovell’s campaign and sent three mailings on her behalf during the campaign leading to the Nov. 8 election. It sent two more during the runoff campaign. Aiyer said the mailings by SEIU violate a city ordinance prohibiting “coordinated campaign expenditures” — direct work on behalf of a candidate by an organization whose expenditures aren’t listed on the candidate’s campaign finance reports. [Link]
One long-time Aiyer supporter wrote:
It is difficult for me to believe that a Council seat can be bought by one of the largest labor unions in the country. Shame on you voters of Houston. Shame on you Democratic Party of Houston. I expected more of you. It is so transparent that Sue did not spend any money on direct mail and she herself admitted that SEIU was going to do an Independent Expenditure. [Link]
Calling your opponent a terrorist is inexcusable on almost all fronts…. but, fwiw, it sounds like this was NOT the deciding factor in the election.
SEIU & other state unions of its ilk are notoriously huge factors in state & local elections across the country.
How do you know? You can say it’s not more significant than get-out-the-vote mailers, and I’ll agree. But we don’t have enough data to know the impact of the racism factor.
Regardless, the closer the margin of victory, the more likely that future campaigns will pull this crap against desi opponents on the ‘can’t hurt’ theory.
A friend pointed one of your earlier posts out to me. I followed the many links and got quite frustrated; I can’t find any reporting on the original comments. I searched various news sources (including the Houston Chronicle) and still couldn’t find anything. This leads to 2 comments:
Has there been any actual reporting on this? If so you should link to it.
I tried to find out about these comments and couldn’t; I doubt it was a big election factor, because nobody I’ve talked to here in Houston is even aware of them.
I voted for Jay, however I need to set the record straight. His campaign was run by neophytes interested only in desi issues. In my area and many neighborhoods he had NO PRESENCE. Lovell was the less experienced candidate. She was hardly endorsed by anyone, however, she had signs EVERYWHERE. And she had lots of ads on TV. I am so disheartened that Jay had raised over 4 times the amount of money as Lovell but his campaign was unable to get his name out there. The desi community that made up most of Jay’s supporters DID NOT VOTE!!! The campaign knew this after the primary election when they looked over voter rolls. The campaign coordinators needed to do more in the majority population, but they did not. It is a shame and a lesson learned. I hope.
Nothing in the MSM yet, though someone at the Houston Chronicle was digging last I checked.
I heard there would be Chronicle story last Friday; there was one on the campaign, but it made no mention of this. I’m troubled by the lack of sources for all this; the accusation is, in my opinion, serious and deserves serious coverage. Otherwise it reads a lot like crying wolf, which is unfortunate if the comments were made, and horrible if they weren’t.
If this is true, his loss is well deserved.
M. Nam
“A Houstonian”: Now allow me to “set the record straight:” While I respect your right to express your opinion, and I thank you for your vote, you are seriously mistaken and incorrect. I am a consultant to Jay Aiyer. If you believe that Sue Schecter, former State Representative, former Harris County Democratic Party Chair, and one of the state’s leading campaign consultants, is a political neophyte, you just don’t know what you are talking about. Kyle Johnston, who ran the races of Sylvester Turner for Mayor, Al Green for Congress, and Richard Morrison against Tom Delay, is HARDLY a neophyte. I could go on and on. Why don’t you “google” Keir Murray, Heidi Kirkpatrick Hedrick, our media consultant and our finance director.
I was the only desi consultant working on the race. Check out Jay’s website and you will see we focused on City of Houston issues, NOT “desi issues”. If your accusations of inexperience are aimed at me go ahead and check out my website: http://www.theshaktigroup.com, but keep in mind, my entire job on the campaign was Asian community outreach and fundraising. I stand by my record and my accomplishments.
We were on TV for the general and had not only 2 major billboards up (Sue had none) but over 400 giant signs at every Indian owned motel and convenience store in the city. Sue didn’t have signs up until election day.
I don’t know where you live, but in District B and District C, where the majority of the December 10th election voters lived, our signs were everywhere.
We are proud of the race we ran. We came within 600 votes. Thank you for your vote, but take a second to learn the facts before you bad mouth the hard work and reputations of my colleagues and myself.
As for the allegations that the Lovell campaign called Jay a “terrorist”: we stand by them and plan a series of community meetings on the subject. The Texas Democratic Party Chair is meeting with the president of the Indo-American PAC of Greater Houston about this. I will keep Sepia Mutiny readers posted on this. If anyone doubts the veracity of our claims, I suggest that they contact Jay Aiyer himself at jay@jayforhouston.com.
There was no ONE deciding factor in this race. We came within 1.6% of winning. We are proud of the race we ran, and thank all of you for your interest and support.
I apologize if I sound defensive, but I felt I had to respond to this post. Jay Aiyer is a close friend, a great candidate, and will run again and I plan to be by his side when he does. I appreciate that supporters such as yourself are disappointed. We know we did not run a “perfect” campaign. When we get the final numbers, we will have a better idea of what “went wrong.” But you know, a lot more went right. And I for one, am very encouraged by that.
I agree with “A Houstonian” on one major point: the desi, and the Asian American community in general, DID NOT VOTE. A plan of action is already underway with regard to this heartbreaking fact. I invite you, “A Houstonian,” to not just complain, but to join IAPAC- GH and Houston 80-20 and help us implement our 2006 APIA voter registration and GOTV plan. We need all the volunteers we can get!
Is calling your opponent a dyke, or making overt references to her private life any different than drawing references to terrorism? I’m not saying two wrongs don’t make a right, but let’s be perfectly clear that Aiyer’s hands were just as dirty in this race.
got any proof, TODD?
I’d like to see the proof as well. No one on our campaign EVER used that term with regard to Sue Lovell. In fact, Jay was endorsed by several prominent gay and lesbian leaders.
But to answer your question Todd: No it’s not the same. Sue Lovell is a proud and “out” gay woman whose political career is based largely on her activism in the gay community.
Jay is not a terrorist.
In response to Mini’s long comments above I would like to make the following observations:
1) Why didn’t Sue Schecter, Kyle Johnston, Keir Murray, or Heidi Kirkpatrick Hedrick speak out on behalf of Jay regarding the alleged terrorist comments? Why are they still so silent?
2)
Did any of these candidates actually win?
3) Where was Kyle? Why are there more google links to Mini and Jay then google links to Kyle and Jay if indeed Kyle is the campaign manager? Did Kyle handle campaign communications?
4) Jay as a candidate ran on great issues. The problem was his campaign’s focus on Asians who historically never vote.
5) The comments were not meant to personally attack Mini who obviously worked hard, given her many comments on SM. The problem was lack of focus on the right groups, an error made by the candidate and his consultants. Jay should have trounced his candidate. He was endorsed by every major player in Houston City politics and has more money than the other candidates and lots of experience in the City to boot. Something went seriously wrong. It is unimaginable that this candidate could have lost at all given all the aforementioned attributes.
OK- listen, I really don’t want to get into a major argument with you, but you REALLY don’t know what you are talking about. You have NO idea about our campaign strategy if you think we were focusing on Asian voters to the detriment of focusing on the majority of actual voters. For example, our direct mail only hit ACTUAL, HABITUAL voters, very few of whom were desi. All of our close supporters and donors know this.
Kyle was the campaign manager. His former client Al Green won. Sylvester Turner ran a competitive race. Richard Morrison ran a historic race.
Sue, Heidi and Keir were busy WORKING THE MAJORITY COMMUNITY not posting on South Asian blogs!
Clearly, you are not a campaign insider and you have never even looked at our campaign expenditure reports, because if you did, you would have seen HOW WE SPENT OUR MONEY. How on eath can you argue with me about our campaign strategy? We made mistakes, but what is irritating me is you are identifying the cause of our loss as the one mistake I know we did not make!
Thanks for your back-handed compliment, but I don’t really care if you think I worked hard or not, because, again, I do not know who you are. If you are a Jay Aiyer supporter, contact me directly, and I can inform you in great detail what we did on this campaign. I have been on the phone for the last 24 hours with every major donor having this conversation because I believe we owe it to our supporters to explain to them what happened.
No offense, but frankly, it sounds like you are the political neophyte if you think it is unimaginable for any candidate to lose an election by 1.6% with citywide turnout at less than 4%. Low turn out elections tend to favor candidates with the best grassroots base- which was clearly Sue Lovell and the LGBT community- to their great credit.
OK- sorry to everyone on SM about the all caps “yelling.” I’m really punchy today. The consultants I worked with on the Aiyer campaign are some of the brightest and most talented people I have ever worked with, and I have been a political professional for over 5 years now. “A Houstonian” is entitled to his/ her opinion and we are grateful for his/her support, but as someone who actually worked on the campaign, I feel obligated to let SM’s readers know, his/her analysis is simply not correct.
Just to set the record straight, as a consultant to Jay’s campaign, I can assure you there was no over-focus on the desi community specifically, or the Asian community as a whole.
Here is the reality of this race: Five candidates ran for an open seat. Jay entered the race as a complete unknown, with next to no natural base of support. There were three Republicans in the race, one of whom was also Hispanic. Sue Lovell has been a known Democratic activist and party official for many years, not to mention being the only woman in the race, and having the GLBT community behind her. (“Houstonian’s” comment about Jay receiving all the endorsements simply isn’t true. Check out her Web site and see for yourself.)
The object of the first round for us was to make it through to the runoff, which we did comfortably, by using television, direct mail, etc., to boost Jay’s name recognition with voters and spread his substantive message about City issues. (He was, I might add, the ONLY candidate in the race with such a message.)
In the runoff, we knew the electorate would shrink dramatically, though noone could predict just how low the totals would go. Lovell had the momentum on her side, was better known, had Democratic activists and the gay community behind her, and had considerably more resources, thanks to the Service Employee Union’s investment of nearly $300,000 in her campaign.
Lovell was able to spend all the money she raised in the runoff attacking Jay with an outrageously false TV commercial, while the SEIU union sent FIVE mail pieces on her behalf, both boosting her and attacking Jay. We were significantly outspent in the runoff, given no chance of winning by City insiders, and very nearly pulled it off anyway.
We are all terribly disappointed that Jay did not win, but are more than proud of our effort. All of us on the team have received condolence calls from our colleagues in the business that complimented us for closing such a big gap so fast.
The most disappointing thing in this race was the lack of participation by the desi community specifically, and the Asian community as a whole. Neither voted at all, and if just a few hundred more had, Jay would be Council Member-elect.
For Jay as a total unknown from a small community to get 49% in a runoff in his first-ever citywide race, is hardly a huge failure. Winning of course, is the only prize, but Jay Aiyer, by making a very strong first-time run, has positioned himself well to return in the future.
Mini, it sounds like you had great people on your team and you guys really worked your hearts out, and I really feel for you. I’m sure Aiyer has a good future in politics.
Your analysis of the runoff results — low turn-out elections tend to favor candidates with a strong grassroots base — makes a lot of sense.
I would be interested to also hear your analysis of why Lovell pulled ahead of Aiyer in the general election as well, where presumably there was a greater turnout. Was it the same reason, or different reasons?
(This is a genuine question — I’m not trying to put you on the defensive. Just thought we should take advantage of your insider perspective while we’ve got you on the phone. Thanks.)
Please forget my previous question. Looks like km has addressed it.
hungry- thanks. Don’t worry about putting me om the defensive. As the only desi consultant on the campaign, and a lifelong desi Houstonian, I am admittedly, still emotional over our loss. KM summed it up well and with more professionalism than I was able to muster. Apoogies to “A Houstonian” and SM readers again. Everyone at Team Aiyer is so grateful to all of you for your interest, support, and especially to folks like “A Houstonian” who VOTED.
that would be “apologies” not “apoogies.” Wow- I am tired.
Look, Jay lost by a narrow margin. There are not that many “desis” of India origin living in the Houston City limits. Even if Jay tried to woo the desi vote, it would not have made much difference. But it would have been better if he had somehow made aware to the voting population of Houston of Sue’s sexual orientation. That alone would have ensured Sue’s defeat. I am not a homophobe, but I do not endorse homosexuality and supported the Texas constitutional amendment against the gay marriage. Just like Sue had allegedly exploited or referred to Jay as having “terrorist links”, Jay should have exploited Sue’s sexual orientation. You have to get down and dirty to win.
There are some serious allegations that Jay will have to address before his next campaign. The three articles below provide some history on the issues.
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2005_3892460
YOUR GOVERNMENT / HCCS account at root of candidate scrutiny
By KRISTEN MACK Staff
THE race is for the City Council, but campaign-finance reports under scrutiny are for the Houston Community College System.
Two candidates for Council At-Large Position 2 are studying the reports hoping to find an issue against a third candidate, HCCS board member Jay Aiyer. Aiyer says there’s nothing to find.
Candidate Sue Lovell says the reports show that Aiyer has attempted to hide expenditures out of his HCCS campaign account – including a loan repayment to himself, unreported payments to political consultants and unitemized credit-card payments.
“Anyone can file a complaint and allege that someone did something wrong,” responded Aiyer. “In my case, it’s not true. Her allegations are all factually incorrect.”
Aiyer was appointed to fill a vacancy on the college system board of trustees in 2001 and was elected to a six-year term later that year without opposition. Though his spot isn’t up again until 2007, he has kept a campaign war chest.
Monitoring expenditures
Under a city law passed just this year, Aiyer can transfer no more than $10,000 from that account to his city race. But that potential head start has Lovell and another opponent, John Elford, scrutinizing Aiyer’s reports.
Lovell produced Aiyer campaign-finance reports from 2004 listing a $5,000 disbursement to Aiyer and recording that it was to repay a loan he had made to his campaign.
Kathryn McNiel, who was Aiyer’s political consultant in 2004 and completed the HCC campaign forms on his behalf, said she remembers seeing a $5,000 check to Aiyer and listing it among the campaign’s reported expenditures.
“Once those reports left my hands, I do not know what changes Jay made to them, when he finalized them,” McNiel said.
The $5,000 payment doesn’t show up on Aiyer campaign-finance reports provided to the Houston Chronicle by HCC’s general counsel office, which keeps reports filed by board candidates.
Neither those documents nor the ones Lovell has record a loan from Aiyer to his campaign.
Many of the documents on file now are affidavits of correction that Aiyer filed in April.
Aiyer maintains his corrections weren’t substantive and brushes off Lovell’s complaints as “classic political stuff” designed to cast a cloud on his campaign.
Lovell says her complaints have nothing to do with politics.
“Campaign-finance reports tell a lot about the integrity of a person,” she said. “Where you get your money and how you manage your money tell a lot about how you will manage taxpayer money when you’re on council.”
Filing ethics complaint
Allen Blakemore, political consultant to Aiyer’s other announced opponent, John Elford, said he also has noticed discrepancies in Aiyer’s reports.
“Jay Aiyer is not complying with the letter or spirit of the law,” Blakemore said. “They are hiding things and playing fast and loose with the rules.”
Kevin Roach, a friend of Lovell, filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission in April alleging Aiyer converted campaign funds to personal use, failed to report political expenditures, failed to report the “payee and purpose” of certain expenditures and failed to itemize payments to credit-card companies.
Ethics complaints are confidential, unless the commission issues an “agreed order,” meaning it has investigated allegations and found evidence of a violation.
All of this, remember, is over campaign-finance reports that don’t involve the Position 2 race. Lovell also has perused Aiyer’s City Council campaign-finance reports and says she sees no problems there.
That doesn’t mean you won’t hear more talk about campaign-finance issues as the council race gets hotter.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4919905.html
HCC trustee charged with felony for report switcheroo By KRISTEN MACK
Houston Community College Trustee and one-time City Council candidate Jay Aiyer is facing a charge of tampering with a governmental record, a felony that could cost him his law license, authorities said Monday.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office accused Aiyer of committing the offense in March 2005, by “unlawfully removing, destroying, and concealing, the original filing” of a portion of his campaign finance report and substituting it with another document.
The charges were filed in the 184th criminal court last Thursday. Aiyer posted a $2,000 bond the following day.
Aiyer, reached Monday, said he could not talk about the charges in detail.
“We will be able to work this thing out in a couple of days,” he said. “I think it’s going to be resolved.”
Aiyer, 38, a lawyer who once served as chief of staff to former Mayor Lee Brown, has hired Dennis Cain to represent him. Cain did not return a call seeking comment.
The charges stem from a complaint initially filed with the Texas Ethics Commission more than two years ago. The complaint, lodged by an associate of Aiyer’s then-competitor and now City Councilwoman Sue Lovell, accused Aiyer of trying to hide expenditures from his HCC campaign account, including a loan repayment to himself of $5,000, when there was no record of the original loan. It also accused him of failing to report payments to political consultants and failing to itemize credit card payments.
The ethics commission referred the complaint to the Harris County district attorney’s office in April 2006. The DA’s office looked into whether Aiyer tampered with government records, but did not investigate potential election code violations, said Donna Goode, the division chief over the DA’s public integrity unit.
When Aiyer became aware of the allegations, he met with HCC officials, who keep campaign finance filings. Over a period of a few months he reviewed his reports, according to the affidavit from the DA’s office. Officials said it was during that time documents appear to have been switched.
On one occasion, Aiyer arrived with papers in his hand and was left unsupervised. During another visit, Aiyer asked to see a copy of public information requests filed for copies of his reports. He was provided one copy of a report by the legal assistant to the HCC general counsel and never returned with the file. On a third trip to the general counsel’s office, Aiyer reportedly asked for a staple remover and stapler.
The DA’s office also said different fonts appeared on paperwork Aiyer said he retyped and filed on a typewriter at HCC.
“The allegation is he obtained these records and destroyed or removed them with the intent to defraud to harm,” Goode said. “A state jail felony is pretty serious for anybody. When you add on top of that that he is a licensed attorney and he is in an elected position, it’s a very serious concern.”
Chronicle reporter Robert Crowe contributed to this report.
kristen.mack@chron.com
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4930375.html
HCC trustee pleads guilty, gets probation in tampering By KRISTEN MACK
Houston Community College Trustee Jay Aiyer pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of tampering with a governmental record Thursday and received a year of probation.
Aiyer, one-time candidate for Houston City Council, also must fulfill 160 hours of community service and pay a $750 fine. He also is prohibited from working on any political campaigns during his probation.
Aiyer, 38, a lawyer and former chief of staff for former Mayor Lee Brown, has served as an HCC trustee since 2001.
“I’m glad we were able to resolve this quickly. I look forward to practicing law and spending time with my family,” Aiyer said.
He said he had not given any thought to whether he will keep his seat on the HCC board.
Aiyer originally was charged with a state jail felony, but pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor to avoid a trial.
“It made sense to make peace,” Aiyer’s lawyer, Dennis Cain, said. “It could have had a massive impact on his future had he pleaded to a felony. It doesn’t make sense to risk that kind of exposure. He wanted to put it behind him.”
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office accused Aiyer of committing the offense by removing and destroying a portion of his campaign finance report and putting another document in its place in March 2005.
The charge stemmed from a complaint filed with the Texas Ethics Commission more than two years ago. The complaint accused Aiyer of trying to hide expenditures from his HCC campaign account, failing to report payments to political consultants and failing to itemize credit card payments.
The commission referred the complaint to the district attorney’s office in April 2006.
“This isn’t the end of his problems,” said Donna Goode, the division chief over the district attorney’s public integrity unit. “He still has to deal with the State Bar, he still has issues with the Texas Ethics Commission and a decision has to be made by trustees about whether this disqualifies him from serving.”
Aiyer did not attend Thursday’s monthly HCC board meeting. Christopher Oliver, chairman of the board, said it was not clear how Aiyer’s plea would affect his service on the board.
Aiyer’s term is up at the end of this year. HCC often is viewed as a political springboard and Aiyer’s political future once seemed limitless.
Under state law, a person convicted of a felony is barred from public office, unless he or she since had been pardoned.
“I don’t know if it’s a disqualification,” Goode said of Aiyer’s sentence. “It’s certainly something an opponent wouldn’t have to go very far to dredge up and use against you.”
Chronicle reporter Matthew Tresaugue contributed to this report.
kristen.mack@chron.com
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