History Helena Brown (politician)

1 history

1.1 life
1.2 election
1.3 political career

history
early life

brown born in southern california. @ age 4 moved family spring branch, houston. brown lived in houston city council district of life. brown s parents homeschooled her. had served republican party chair of precinct #577, 13-city block area, since age 18. precinct chairs party s votes within jurisdictions. brown had volunteered several republican party campaigns. in 2001, graduated university of st. thomas, gaining bachelor of arts degree in history. in 2001 started nonprofit organization called turris davidica aimed distribute roman catholic religious media , assist needy people. in 2010 organization defaulted on charter. emily deprang of texas observer said accomplishments of organization unclear.

according city administrator of bunker hill village, municipality in greater houston, brown worked in city government part-time receptionist 1 year in 2007. office of texas secretary of state states brown had been member-at-large of moritz village townhomes association since 2007; official website stated president of association while city council page on city of houston website said former president of association.

election

she elected city council post in november 2011. ran against brenda stardig , campaigned on platform of fiscal conservatism. there 8% turnout in district. voters favored brown because stardig supported rain tax, passed in 2010, taxed churches. taxation of churches had negative reception political conservatives in spring branch. voting base politically conservative despite presence of large hispanic neighborhoods within district a. mccoy said stardig s re-election campaign ineffectual harmed prospects.

brown won runoff election 3,042 votes in december 2011. since district had 200,000 people, winning votes represented fewer 2% of district s total population. stardig had ten-point loss. emily deprang of texas observer said brown had been lucky because of circumstances had been favorable her. city council post first political post brown had been elected to.

political career

in january 2012 took office. chris moran of houston chronicle said has stood out numerous no votes against spending , tags hold other votes.

during career voted against many goods , services characterized being luxury , opposing around 50% of spending proposals in city government. on many occasions voted against proposals every other council member voted on, making them 16-1. deprang said brown made waves satirical level of budget hawkery. made simplistic government-bad, free-market-good speeches evoked colbert report justify voting against funding meals elderly, storm sewers, , fire trucks. in order end budget deficit in city government, brown proposed outsourcing emergency services , defaulting on tax bonds , city pensions. brown became known using tags, parliamentary procedures used delay votes, rationale on agenda items occur 1 week later without tag. in february city council admonished brown , began overriding tags; previous such override occurred in summer of 2011. moran said override unusual , frowned upon break council decorum. brown named man, william park, senior adviser. park film producer involved in financial securities, had been banned industry. several former employees , critics accused park of having de facto control on brown s city council post , actions.

in 2012 mario diaz, head of houston airport system, invited travel korea meet airline representatives expanding service houston. brown s district has large korean american population. after airlines cancelled meetings, diaz ended korea trip brown went anyway, spending $11,000 in public money on airfare. jessica michan, press secretary of city of houston, said never met airline representatives. terrence mccoy of houston press said s unclear what, if anything, brown accomplished while in asia. in 2012 greg groogan of kriv said brown has been labeled both hypocritical penny pincher , bumbling puppet of shady financier , had taken quite beating in local press . in interview brown said own person , many know me , watch me on city council stick principles , not bullied. not pressured.

in 2014, brown replaced houston city council representative district brenda stardig following december 2013 runoff election.