Teri Szynskie
Staff Writer
Two days before the Houston mayoral runoff election, candidate Lee Brown visited University of Houston Professor Richard Murray's Houston politics class Thursday in Hoffman Hall.
Although he seemed to offer no concrete solutions to city problems, Brown said he would work toward a more "neighborhood-oriented government" if elected.
He said he would "find out what the issues are (and) empower the people to define their own problems, to help them define their own solutions. And then work together as partners with City Hall and the neighborhoods to solve problems and make life better."
One audience member, commenting on Mayor Bob Lanier's support of Brown, said Brown seems like a "candidate of continuity."
In response, Brown said, "I think Mayor Lanier has done a very good job. But there are probably a lot of things I would do differently."
Brown said he will focus on education, pollution, water, crime and transportation issues. He said he is not opposed to a commuter rail system, and he does not plan to annex any of Houston's suburbs.
After heading police departments in Houston, New York and Atlanta, Brown was appointed federal drug czar by President Bill Clinton in 1993. He resigned from the cabinet position in December 1995 to teach sociology at Rice University.
Rob Mosbacher Jr., Brown's opponent, has repeatedly said the former police chief has been an ineffective leader.
To counter this claim, Brown asked the audience how an ineffective person could be appointed to the positions he held.
In the November election, among eight mayoral candidates, Brown received 41 percent of the vote while Mosbacher received 30 percent. Right after the election, Murray predicted that Mosbacher would begin attacking Brown in campaign ads.
Explaining his counter-use of negative ads against Mosbacher, Brown said, "I'm a cop. If you shoot at me, I'll shoot back."
"I can now understand why people hate politics," he said, adding that he will ultimately return to teaching, regardless of the runoff's outcome.
The runoff elections will be held Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Four of the five major mayoral candidates addressed Murray's class this semester. Helen Huey was the only candidate who did not speak to the class, Murray said.