Houston City Elections - Michael Kubosh Brings Conservative Values and Broad-based Support to Race for City Council

It is time for conservatives to stand up in Houston and take control of our citys future. We have an opportunity to add a true conservative to Houstons City Council who also has a proven ability to build a coalition of supporters to take on issues like Houstons former red light camera program and Mayor Parkers anti-feeding ordinance.

It takes a unique individual to be able to effectively work with such a wide and diverse group of people. It is a skill that could be very valuable to a member of the Houston City Council. I sat down this week with Michael Kubosh, candidate for Houston City Council, At Large Position 3, to talk with him about who he is and why he wants to become a member of council for this great city.

I have come to know Michael over the course of the last four years. We have worked together on a campaign to elect Allen Fletcher, who would later become one of the Texas Houses most conservative legislators and on the Red Light Camera campaign where he worked with conservatives and liberals to stop a huge money grab by the City of Houston. 

Kubosh began his story with me about his background and how he came to this point by explaining, "Ive been a businessman here in Houston for the last twenty years. Ive been very successful in our business, and Im a supporter of many candidates who are on the GOP ticket. Ive also taken on the city with issues like the red-light cameras, and we won that election with 186,000 voters voting to get rid of those cameras. We also, Bob, when this administration wanted to criminalize the giving of people to the needy and to the hungry. I am also a husband and a father of five children." Kubosh is also a grandfather of sixteen grandchildren and even a great-grandfather!

I asked Kubosh about his tremendous ability to work with people from a wide variety of backgrounds. He seemed very proud of this and explained, "I really care for people and when you really think about it, the needs of people are the same no matter what party youre in, and the idea of being conservative and being pro-family and pro-life. It appeals to the ministers and it appeals to the people in the minority communities. We have to establish a relationship with people throughout the city. Im running for a non-partisan race. This is not a D-Race or an R-Race. This is a non-partisan race. People are trying to say that Im a Republican. Others say Im a Democrat. Some think that Im tied to one crazy group or another, but the truth of the matter is that Im a fighter." Anyone who has spent much time following Kuboshs political history could not disagree with that.

Recently, Houston Mayor Annise Parker made a statement about the new San Antonio ordinance that many would say restricts free speech and religious freedom. Her comment was reminiscent of President Obamas statement to the Russian President about having more flexibility after his next election where he would not have to worry about the constraints of having to run for re-election. 

Kubosh weighed in on this potential attack on religious freedom. "I dont understand the great drive to get something like that accomplished," Kubosh stated. I believe a minister has a right to marry or not to marry whoever he will. Many people may not know that Im an ordained minister myself. I have been since I was in my twenties, and I marry people from time to time in my office that come by and they want to be married. Id get a chance to talk to them about life, and about their family, and about their future. But to say that I would be prosecuted because I wouldnt perform a wedding for somebody regardless of why I didnt want to do it?"

I asked Kubosh to explain his secret to success in working with people to move his conservative agenda forward by gaining the support of people who do not traditionally vote with Republicans. The Red Light Camera campaign was a great example of this where he brought together conservative pastors and liberal city council members to achieve a success for the citizens of Houston. "Thats one of the ways that we built such a relationship within the minority community," Kubosh proudly explained. "First of all, they could see that it was a money grab and they saw that finally somebody was standing up to protect them and the citizens at large. Plus they were causing accidents. But when we won the election and then they threw out the election; theres where the trick came in. Because I said "I see trickery." The minorities really rallied around us because they saw that we had been victimized and they as well. Our vote was jeopardized and theyre concerned about votes. They started having town hall meetings in a lot of the black churches. I would show up and I became like a celebrity to them because I was a champion to them. Even though all my brothers were involved, I was the face of the movement. We pushed this and eventually we not only got our election reinstated, we also got the mayor and city council to vote themselves to get rid of the red light cameras."

Michael Kuboshs conservative values and his skills are respected by people on both sides of the political spectrum (much like former president, Ronald Reagan) make him a unique candidate for office and one that conservatives in the City of Houston should rally behind. Voter turnout in city elections is typically 10% or less. This means that if conservatives will get together and turn out our vote, we can easily move the balance of power in the Houston City Council.  Early voting starts Monday, October 21st and runs through November 1st. The general election day is November 5th. As a reminder, this is the first election in Texas where the new Voter ID law comes into play. Make sure you bring an acceptable form of ID with you to the polls. If you dont have one, now is the time to take care of that or to apply for a ballot by mail.

TexasGOPVote will continue its coverage of Houstons city elections. Next Wednesday, October 16th, I will be moderating a forum of candidates for various City of Houston elections including the Mayors race, City Controller and several City Council positions. The event is being hosted by the Daughters of Liberty Republican Womens Club and the Houston Young Republicans. The event will be held at the Sosa Community Center located at 1414 Wirt Rd., Houston, TX 77055 (map) from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Please come join me and hear from all of our great candidates!

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TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW:

Bob Price: Were continuing our coverage of the Houston city elections today with City Council candidate Michael Kubosh running for at large position number three. Michael, welcome to Texas GOP vote. 

Michael Kubosh: Thank you its good to be here with you today. 

Bob Price: Yeah Ive gotten to know you quite a bit over the past about four years now in working with you in a lot of different things, but I think a lot of the readers out there in Texas GOP Vote dont know who Michael Kubosh is. Lets talk a little bit about that. 

Michael Kubosh: Well first of all Im a husband. Im a father of five children. Im a grandfather of sixteen grandchildren. Im even a great grandfather, and I tell people that Im way too young to be a great-grandpa. 

Bob Price: I would agree with you on that. 

Michael Kubosh: Im a businessman here in Houston for the last twenty years. Ive been very successful in our business and Im a supporter of many candidates who are on the GOP ticket. Ive also taken on the city with issues like the red-light cameras, and we won that election with 186,000 voters voting to get rid of those cameras. We also, Bob, when this administration wanted to criminalize the giving of people to the needy and to the hungry. I mean think about it. She wanted to criminalize the feeding of the poor. We stood up and we got 34,000 petitions signed. A lot of our efforts changed a lot of the ordinance to where they didnt require churches to have approved kitchens anymore. They changed a lot of it. But still, we believe that something needs to be done. That shouldve never happened. 

Bob Price: You know, Michael, one of the things that has impressed me with your political background is the wide range of support that you have. From one of the most conservative members of the Texas Legislature , Alan Fletcher whose endorsed your campaign and probably wouldnt be in office without the support that you gave him to help get him there, to the minority pastors who some might perceive as on the other end of the political spectrum typically voting on the Democrat side of the aisle. How is it that you can appeal to such a broad cross section of the political world. 

Michael Kubosh: Well Bob, I really care for people and when you really think about it, the needs of people are the same no matter what party youre in and the idea of being conservative and being pro-family and pro-life. It appeals to the ministers and it appeals to the people in the minority communities. We have to establish a relationship with people throughout the city. Im running for a non-partisan race. This is not a D-Race or an R-Race. This is a non-partisan race. People are trying to say that Im a Republican. Others say Im a Democrat. Some think that Im tied to one crazy group or another, but the truth of the matter is that Im a fighter. So tag me in for FP for fighter for the people. I stand up and fight for whats right, and I put my own money into it. I think thats what shocks a lot of folks. We have stood up, my brothers and I, and have taken on issues and we have funded ourselves because we believe in what were doing. 

Bob Price: The red light cameras were a clear example where you not only put your own money into this but built a very broad cross-section of people in the community to stop this money grab that was going on by the city of Houston. How did that campaign come about? 

Michael Kubosh: Thats one of the ways that we built such a relationship within the minority community. First of all, they could see that it was a money grab and they saw that finally somebody was standing up to protect them and the citizens at large. Plus they were causing accidents. But when we won the election and then they threw out the election; theres where the trick came in. Because I said "I see trickery." The minorities really rallied around us because they saw that we had been victimized and they as well. Our vote was jeopardized and theyre concerned about votes. They started having town hall meetings in a lot of the black churches. I would show up and I became like a celebrity to them because I was a champion to them. Even though all my brothers were involved, I was the face of the movement. We pushed this and eventually we not only got our election reinstated, we also got the mayor and city council to vote themselves to get rid of the red light cameras. We would go to the city hall and the place was packed with my supporters; and when one of us would speak, wed stand and theyd cheer. Finally, the mayor said that shed throw us all out if we kept it up. She said we could stand up and support the person speaking but were not going to let you have any outbursts or clapping. So wed all stand up and raise our hands like this [jazz hands] whenever the person was speaking meaning that we were for it. 

Bob Price: Speaking of the mayor, she made a comment in the Houston Chronicle not too long after San Antonio passed its ordinances that many people would find unconstitutional where ministers could actually be prosecuted for expressing the gospel against homosexuality. She made some comments that very much resembled what President Obama said to the Russian president about just wait till next term and we can get some things done. Ive met your mother. You talk about a solid conservative lady. I dont think shed let Michael Kubosh support Mayor Parkers policies on that issue. 

Michael Kubosh: Nor would any of us that I know of. I dont understand the great drive to get something like that accomplished. I believe a minister has a right to marry or not to marry whoever he will.  Many people may not know that Im an ordained minister myself. I have been since I was in my twenties, and I marry people from time to time in my office that come by and they want to be married. Id get a chance to talk to them about life, and about their family, and about their future. But to say that I would be prosecuted because I wouldnt perform a wedding for somebody regardless of why I didnt want to do it. Regardless of what the circumstance was. Ive refused to marry people before because I didnt like the situation. It wasnt necessarily that type of situation that youre discussing but it was a situation where I didnt feel comfortable. So I didnt do it. 

Bob Price: I think those strong values and strong morals are part of that compass that you have that will serve the people well on all sides of the political spectrum. 

Michael Kubosh: I think what youre saying, Bob, is that you dont elect somebody and expect them to get the right values. By the time youre my age, 62, your values are very well set. My moral compass is set. My fiscal conservative compass is set. My desire to support family and to help our government is set, so nobody has to train me to figure out if Im going to do the right thing or not. When that vote comes up, Im going to make the right decision. Im going to stand up for the people of this city, and I want the people to come out and vote for me in November. I need your vote. I need your support. If I get into a runoff; which I hope I don’t, Im going to need your financial support. Because by the this race is over in November for me, Ill have pretty much depleted everything that I can put into it. 

Bob Price: Now lets talk about the election itself thats coming up. Early voting stats in…

Michael Kubosh: October 21st. Its going to be Monday, October 21st. It runs through the end of the month. I think it runs through November the 1st. Then after that, we have the election on November the 5th, but theres already voting taking place, Bob. Theres a lot of early voting ballots already out there because you can vote by mail. If youre over 65, or you have a reason to believe that youre not going to be here then you can request a ballot by mail and you can vote that way. 

Bob Price: Our military people voting that way as well because theyre serving overseas? 

Michael Kubosh: Yes. 

Bob Price: We definitely want to ask all conservatives to come out. Also at the same time while the city elections are going on, we have the constitutional amendments on the ballot for people to be involved in. The city election typically has such a low voter turnout. It really gives a great opportunity for a group of conservatives to come out and make a huge difference and thats what I’d like to ask our readers to come out and do in this election. Michael, I hope that youll come back to Texas GOP Vote and lets drill down into some more specific issues about the city council and the work that youd be doing there. 

Michael Kubosh: Thank you, Bob. I appreciate it. Thank you.