Brown out, Sanders in at Strayhorn campaign

Mayoral candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn has done some major housecleaning at her campaign, sweeping out San Francisco-based consultant Kevin Brown, and bringing in longtime friend and advisor Mark Sanders.

 

Brown works for Dresner Wickers and Associates, a firm which describes itself on its web site as “the go–to political consulting firm for Republican candidates, ballot initiatives, and major trade organizations.”

Sanders started out as a newspaper reporter before going into politics. He worked with mayoral candidate Lee Leffingwell’s consultant, Mark Nathan, in the Tony Sanchez campaign for governor in 2002. He then served as director of communications for Strayhorn when she was comptroller and then as spokesman for her gubernatorial campaign in 2006.

 

Sanders told In Fact Daily he got a call from his former boss on Friday, asking him to replace Brown. When she calls, Sanders said, “I can’t say no.” Sanders has been living in East Texas, raising quarter horses since Strayhorn’s last campaign for governor.

 

Strayhorn, Leffingwell and Council Member Brewster McCracken, as well as the lesser-known candidates David Buttross and Josiah Ingalls, are expected to appear at tonight’s forum sponsored by the American-Statesman, KLRU, and KUT-FM. The first hour will be broadcast live on KLRU, beginning at 7pm, and the entire forum will be broadcast live on KUT-FM.