Many residents have been sporting “Brad Pitt for Mayor” T-shirts since mid-June, when a Tulane University professor and two brothers who own a New Orleans T-shirt shop joined forces to launch a quasi-campaign to convince Pitt to run. The actor founded the Make It Right organization in 2007 to build houses for low-income residents who lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina.

“He’s a family man, and you won’t have to worry about him being corrupt,” said Drew Cambre, 26, who works at a New Orleans pastry shop and has a “Brad Pitt for Mayor” sticker on his laptop computer. “Plus, he’ll help the movie industry here in New Orleans and keep a light on the city.”

Pitt said on NBC’s “Today” that he’s noticed the shirts but laughed off the idea of running.

“I don’t have a chance.”

He joked: “I’m running on the gay marriage, no religion, legalization and taxation of marijuana platform.”

Pitt is right about his chances, at least as far as the next mayoral election. He and his partner, Angelina Jolie, bought a French Quarter mansion in 2007. To be eligible, mayoral candidates must be residents of New Orleans for at least five years before the date of the election. The mayoral primary is Feb. 6, 2010.

So far more than a dozen homes have been built in the Lower 9th Ward through the Make It Right program and another eight are under construction.

Josh Harvey, 31, who sells the shirts at his Storyville T-shirt shop is donating $2 to the program for every shirt sold. The shirts retail for $20, and so far, more than $2,000 has gone to Make It Right, Harvey said.

It’s Pitt’s charity work that has some hopeful for his candidacy, even if it’s not this time around.

“He’s already doing so much good for our city, so why not?” said Stephanie Schneller, 29, who was in the shop buying Brad Pitt T-shirts for herself and a friend.

PS: Reitan is a grad student and he gave $500.

The proposed ban, called Proposition 8, will appear on the November ballot.

The head of the Pacific Justice Institute has filed a complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission over the $250,000 contribution by Pacific Gas and Electric Company to the group fighting to maintain the right for gays to marry.

PG&E turned the check over to “NO on 8″ in July.

“It is outrageous that a mammoth utility used my money to undermine the values of families in my community,” said Brad Dacus, who is the president of the Pacific Justice Institute.

“Proposition 8 has no relevance to the supply and distribution of energy services to its customers. As a corporation which has been given near monopoly status, its use of money extracted from customers to influence an item appearing on the ballot that does not promote the welfare of customers relative to energy is an abuse of trust,” the complaint states.

It asks the Public Utilities Commission to conduct an investigation and hold hearings as to the lawfulness of the contribution. In addition, the complaint requests that the “Commission take all appropriate actions to remedy this matter, including fines, available under the law.”

Under the California constitution, the commission has the power to conduct such an inquiry.

The commission has not yet responded.

Meanwhile, Pitt’s donation to “No on 8 ” is the largest to date by a major celebrity. Gay rights supporters say they hope it encourages other A-List stars to follow.

In a statement, Pitt said he was contributing to the fight against the proposed amendment “because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8.”