Houston mayoral race sees anti-gay mailing

HOUSTON — The finance chair and a finance committee member for a Houston mayoral candidate’s campaign helped bankroll the conservative political action committee that sent out an anti-gay mailer targeting his lesbian opponent, Annise Parker, according to Texas Ethics Commission documents.

The Houston Chronicle reported the revelation immediately drew accusations of illegal coordination from the campaign of Parker, whom the mailer urged voters not to choose because she was endorsed by the “gay and lesbian political caucus.”

Documents show the officials with Gene Locke’s campaign donated $40,000 to the political action committee responsible for the mailing. The committee received a $20,000 donation about a week before the mail pieces went out from Ned Holmes, finance chair of Locke’s campaign, and $20,000 from James Dannenbaum, who is on Locke’s finance committee.

The committee, known as the Conservative Republicans of Harris County, lists $56,000 in donations between Oct. 25 and Dec. 2. Only two other donors, who contributed a total of $16,000, are listed.