Mayor Pothole Is (Characteristically) Confused

The Chron is upset with the way Mayor Pothole has handled the Aguirre/Kmart/JCI/Sonic controversy, and justifiably so:

Last week, Mayor Lee Brown said his Office of Inspector General was investigating the mishandled Aug. 18 police raid that netted 278 arrests, including alleged shoppers and fast food patrons, at a westside Kmart parking lot and nearby Sonic Drive-In. This week, the mayor's director of communications said Brown's assertion was the result of a "miscommunication" between the chief of police and the city attorney, and that the OIG is not, in fact investigating the raid.

Say what? The OIG was created by Brown himself in 1998 to investigate allegations of employee misconduct, both criminal and administrative. There certainly is no one to stop the mayor from calling on the office to look into the matter. At the least, he should know whether he had sought such an inquiry. So the idea that he might be confused on this point is troubling.

Mayor Pothole's administration IS troubling, but why should this come as such a surprise? Mayor Pothole has made a career of managerial ineptitude and inadequate responses to events (New Yorkers remember Crown Heights, I'm sure, even if most Houstonians are clueless about it).

Oh, I forgot. The Chron used to fawn over Mayor Pothole. Here's what they wrote less than a year ago:

An impressive educational background as well as stints as Houston's police chief, Atlanta's chief of police, the police commissioner of New York City, the federal drug "czar" in the Clinton administration and the last four years as mayor of Houston stand prominently on Brown's resume.

All of which brings up another point. No one in the race can match Brown's record on public safety, particularly his relationship with law enforcement in this community.

In these troubled and uncertain times, we believe, that is no small consideration.

Indeed.

[Posted at 00:06 CST on 08/28/02] [Link]