Houston Mayor Bill White's Political Blunder

The Big 3?
Bill White newspaper ad draws fire
By James Shannon, Staff Writer
The Texas Examiner


AT RIGHT: Bill White’s paid political advertisement ran in honor of the Martin Luther King holiday and the Obama inauguration. Courtesy of The Houston Defender

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson’s decision to run for governor in 2010 triggered a scramble among Republicans and Democrats who would like to succeed her. Now she has apparently backed off on earlier plans to resign her seat in 2009, but the succession stampede continues.

One prominent figure who wants the job is Houston Mayor Bill White, a former Clinton administration official prevented by term limits from making a fourth run at City Hall.

White has already reported raising $640,000 but stepped in controversy when he spent some of that money for a January ad in The Defender, a weekly black newspaper published in Houston since 1930.

The ad, which shows White in the middle of Martin Luther King and Barack Obama, was denounced as a “disrespectful insult to the intelligence of the Black community” by Deric Muhammad of the Nation of Islam, who called it “shameless political pandering to get the Black vote.”

Sonceria Messiah-Jiles, CEO of The Defender Media Group, confirmed that her newspaper produced the ad.

“Yes, we designed the ad, but it was approved by a staff member in the mayor’s campaign office,” said Messiah-Jiles. “Yes, the message is clear that the mayor is paying tribute to two great men. Yes, the ad could have been designed differently. Keep in mind, the mayor at least acknowledged the contributions of these men when others did not.”

The MLK ad flap has proved instructive for White, who was a savvy political insider and fundraiser for years before running for public office. It also demonstrates the pitfalls that may await those running a statewide campaign in Texas.