Anti-gay activist Dave Wilson won a
local Houston election with the help of misleading ads.
According to KHOU
11 News, Wilson, a Republican, defeated 24-year incumbent Bruce
Austin, who is African-American, by only 26 votes to claim a seat on
the Houston Community College Board of Trustees in his predominantly
African-American district.
Wilson, who is white, strongly implied
that he is black in campaign literature mailed to voters.
One flier states “Please vote for our
friend and neighbor Dave Wilson” under stock photographs of smiling
African-American faces.
A second mailer includes the tagline
“Endorsed by Ron Wilson” followed in fine print “Ron Wilson and
Dave Wilson are cousins.” However, without reading the qualifier,
voters were more likely to attribute the endorsement to former state
Rep. Ron Wilson, who is African-American.
“I'd always said it was a long shot,”
Wilson told the television station.
Wilson, who owns a sign company, has
routinely attacked Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who is openly
lesbian. In 2009, he paid for 35,000 fliers featuring Parker being
sworn into office as city controller with partner Kathy Hubbard at
her side under the caption, “Is this the image Houston wants to
portray?”
Two years later, Wilson ran a campaign
to unseat Parker. In a letter to supporters, he criticized the
incumbent mayor for promoting a “homosexual agenda” and claimed
that “Religious freedom will be stifled and millions more will be
trapped as the demand for legal and political approval for homosexual
behavior increases.”