City controller Annise Parker and former city attorney Gene Locke are headed to a runoff to become mayor of America’s fourth-biggest city.

Parker, who would be the first openly gay mayor of Houston, collected nearly 31 percent of the vote Tuesday.

Locke, with 25 percent, topped architect and urban planner Peter Brown, who had nearly 23 percent.

A runoff is needed because no one received 50 percent of the vote. A specific date has not yet been set for the election, but it will be in December.

A victory for Parker would make Houston the largest U.S. city with an openly gay mayor.

Voters in sprawling Houston, a city crisscrossed by clogged freeways and freewheeling development, are to pick from a low-key field of mayoral candidates that are focusing on public transit, regulated development and environmentally friendly policies.

The Nov. 3 election “really does reflect a major consensus that is surprising for Houston, a consensus for planning, a need for light rail, a need to move beyond oil and gas,” said Stephen Klineberg, director of the Urban Research Center of Houston at Rice University. “It’s reflecting a real evolution of a city reinventing itself for the 21st century.”

No clear favorite has emerged in the race to succeed Bill White, who served three two-year stints that included a high-profile role embracing more than 150,000 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans in 2005. White, barred by law from another term, plans to run for the 2010 Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate if Kay Bailey Hutchison resigns to run for governor.

The candidates for mayor are former city attorney Gene Locke; three-term city controller Annise Parker; urban planner Peter Brown, an architect and two-term city councilman; and retired Air Force officer Roy Morales, a county school trustee.

Early voting began Oct. 19. If no one wins a majority in November, the top two finishers will meet in a runoff, likely in December.

Locke, 61, would be Houston’s second black mayor. Parker, 52, would be the city’s first openly gay mayor and second woman in the job. Morales, 53, would be its first Hispanic mayor, but is considered a long shot. Brown, 72, who is white, has the most money to spend – much of it loaned from his wife, oil-field services heiress Anne Schlumberger.

Although the ballot is nonpartisan, Locke, Parker and Brown are Democrats. Morales has tried to distinguish himself as a conservative Republican. Houston, which President Barack Obama carried in 2008, is a largely Democratic city, although the surrounding suburbs are conservative.

Houston is about 25 percent black and one-third Hispanic. Its gay population is estimated at about 60,000.

The winner will lead almost 2 1/2 million residents – up nearly 14 percent from 2000, as Houston has weathered the recession better than many cities.

But Houston hasn’t been totally immune to economic woes: Unemployment of 4.1 percent a year ago is almost twice that now. And declining sales and property tax revenues in a city with no income tax mean the new mayor could inherit what Parker has estimated to be a shortfall of more than $50 million in the $2 billion budget that took effect July 1.

It’s been a polite campaign, partly because the four contenders have a lot in common.

“The major candidates do not disagree much on the major issues facing the city, nor have they gone after each other personally,” said Richard Murray, a University of Houston political scientist.

Parker has said she’d help neighborhoods enforce their deed restrictions – Houston’s version of zoning of property for particular uses. Locke advocates expansion of the 7.5-mile light rail system and “building green” through developer incentives for environmentally friendly construction.

Brown, who has made “smart growth” the centerpiece of his campaign far more than his competitors, said 100 square miles of undeveloped Houston offer an opportunity for smart development, and that the city should emphasize creation of neighborhoods where people can live, work and shop. Morales favors reducing government and implementing a property tax cut to stimulate the economy.

They’ve all talked about building on White’s successes, promised to fight crime and guide Houston out of the recession.

“I’m the only one in this race who’s conducted tough audits, identifying millions of dollars in savings, money that’s not working for you in parks, in libraries, in neighborhoods, in the police department,” Parker said.

She is looking to follow the path of Kathy Whitmire, who used the controller’s job as a springboard to become Houston’s first female mayor in 1982.

Locke, the former city attorney, has attracted endorsements and financial backing from business leaders, cashing in on his three-year tenure in the 1990s during the reign of popular mayor Bob Lanier, who is supporting him. Locke has continued to cultivate city insiders since then as legal counsel to several government agencies.

“We get things done in Houston,” he says in a TV commercial. Locke raised nearly $1 million over the summer and had more than $1 million on hand for the final weeks, compared to Parker’s $223,000.

Brown, the urban planner, was far ahead in cash, with $2 million ready to spend in the late push to Election Day. He touted his history of supporting energy conservation and environmental issues on the City Council. His plan, he said, would provide “a clear business strategy and a dedicated business-friendly approach to government.”

Morales, by contrast, had roughly $4,600 on hand in his bid.

Klineberg said a signature issue like mass transit, once a campaign loser in Houston, represented a “paradigm shift.”

“That’s a striking kind of new consensus in this city reflective in the mayor’s race that would have been inconceivable years ago,” he said. “I think the reason for that is (what) Houston cares about – more than anything in the world – is success, prosperity, money. The business community is not undergoing a religious conversion. This is enlightened self-interest.”

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he’d appeal the ruling, which he labeled an attempt to strike down the ban approved by voters in 2005.

“The laws and constitution of the State of Texas define marriage as an institution involving one man and one woman,” Abbott said in a written statement. “Today’s ruling purports to strike down that constitutional definition – despite the fact that it was recently adopted by 75 percent of Texas voters.”

Abbott has argued that because the state doesn’t recognize gay marriage, its courts can’t dissolve one through divorce.

District Judge Tena Callahan’s ruled Thursday, however, that the court “has jurisdiction to hear a suit for divorce filed by persons legally married in another jurisdiction.”

Jennifer Pizer, marriage project director for the New York-based gay rights group Lambda Legal, said it is too early to predict the ultimate implications of the lawsuit, in which neither man is identified.

But Cathy Adams, president of the conservative Texas Eagle Forum, characterized the decision as a judicial overreach.

“Judicial activism is what they’re after, and it sounds as if they found someone in Dallas to participate in their endeavor,” she said. “The people of Texas have spoken very strongly in opposition to same-sex marriage.”

Peter Schulte, an attorney for the man who filed for divorce, told The Dallas Morning News that he and his client are “ecstatic” over the court’s ruling. Schulte said the decision was a surprise, and that he hoped to have the judge sign a divorce order in a few weeks.

Gov. Rick Perry said state lawmakers and voters have repeatedly affirmed marriage as being between a man and a woman.

“I believe the ruling is flawed and should be appealed,” Perry said.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she also supports Abbott’s decision to appeal. Hutchison, who is challenging Perry in the GOP gubernatorial primary, said she has “consistently voted to preserve the sanctity of marriage and as governor I will continue to defend traditional marriage.”

A phone message left by The Associated Press at court offices for Callahan was not immediately returned late Thursday. Callahan’s ruling was first reported in The Dallas Morning News.

Pizer predicted an eventual end to bans on gay marriage in Texas and across the country.

“Most people do recognize that, eventually, American law will treat gays and lesbians the same as every other American,” she said. “What we don’t know is how may chapters that story will be.”

An Associated Press review of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s internal affairs logs found that all but 39 of the 234 allegations of excessive force or unprofessional conduct lodged against agents since 2004 have been closed without disciplinary action. Moreover, in nearly every excessive force case reviewed by the AP, the accused agents’ bosses were the ones who conducted the investigations.

The allegations ranged from officers improperly tackling, punching and using pepper spray on people. The agency has long had a reputation for heavy-handedness and garnered national attention in 2006 when state legislators forced it to cancel a program that aggressively sought to curb public drunkenness through stings that arrested people – even some bartenders- in bars.

The commission has recently drawn scrutiny because of a June raid at a Fort Worth gay bar, the Rainbow Lounge, that put a patron in the hospital for a week. Two agents and their supervisor were fired for violating agency policy, and an investigation is ongoing.

Several experts in police practices said it isn’t unusual for internal affairs cases to be closed without disciplinary action because they often involve one person’s word against another’s and can’t be proven.

But allowing officers’ supervisors to investigate allegations of excessive force isn’t typical for large or mid-size organizations, experts say. Conducting a probe like that “seriously calls into question the integrity of the investigation,” said Jon Shane, an assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

The TABC’s internal affairs policy is similar to those of other state agencies with law enforcement authority, including the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Alan Steen, who has served as the commission’s administrator since 2003.

Steen acknowledged that there were problems early in his tenure with the thoroughness of some investigations into misconduct allegations, but that the process has improved considerably since new officers were hired to run the internal affairs unit. He said he’s still comfortable with letting supervisors who oversee the accused agents investigate the claims as long as there’s adequate training and oversight.

The commission’s 275 agents enforce the laws regulating the sale, possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages. They also have the authority to make arrests for other offenses.

Thirty-four other states have liquor control boards with agents who are peace officers. How much authority each agency has varies, but Texas has been one of the most aggressive, said Ted Mahony, president of the National Liquor Law Enforcement Association and chief investigator for Massachusetts’ state commission.

The AP found that 46 allegations of excessive force were made against 36 TABC agents since 2004. Nearly half came in 2005, the height of the agency’s crackdown on public drunkenness. All but five of the 46 were dismissed without disciplinary action. In two instances, agents received counseling for lesser offenses. Three allegations are shown as pending.

In compiling its own data, the TABC tracks excessive force by the number of complaints received instead of the number of officers accused. Using that measure, the agency’s data shows 36 complaints since 2004. TABC spokeswoman Carolyn Beck said the number is minuscule compared to the more than 108,000 citations its officers issued during that period.

The AP tabulated its figures by counting each time an allegation was made against an officer.

The AP’s findings indicate that TABC agents have faced allegations of excessive force at about the same rate as the Austin Police Department.

Sam Walker, a criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska, said he would expect agents working for state liquor boards to be accused of excessive force at a far lower rate than city cops.

“It’s just common sense that there would be fewer (cases) in that kind of enforcement situation than on the street in high-crime neighborhoods,” he said.

However, Mahony said agents face situations in which force is required more often than some might think because officers have to handle people who are drunk and frequently don’t cooperate.

One recent incident examined by the AP underscores the questions surrounding the process within the TABC.

It involved a Victoria-based agent shown on a security video appearing to tackle a bar patron violently from behind as the patron walks to the door of the club. Based on the video, an assistant district attorney in Victoria County declined to prosecute the patron for resisting arrest, but the TABC has decided that the agent didn’t do anything wrong.

Andy Pena, the TABC officer in charge of internal affairs, said the agent, Jeff Rendon, appropriately subdued a man who earlier tried to avoid getting arrested in a part of the club that did not have security cameras.

The patron, Eric Arriaga, has filed a federal lawsuit against Rendon and another agent claiming that his civil rights were violated and that he received numerous injuries, including a broken ankle.

It’s the third excessive-force allegation against Rendon, 37, since he joined the agency in 2004, the most of any agent in that time period. One was ruled unfounded after Rendon’s supervisor investigated. The other was closed as justified even though TABC officials never contacted the person who allegedly was roughed up.

Beck said Rendon is on administrative leave for a matter unrelated to the use of force. He did not respond to phone messages from the AP.

A liberal church movement based in Texas has launched a campaign that is “designed to ask people whether Jesus would discriminate against others,” according to PinkNews.

The Would Jesus Discriminate? movement launched its campaign on the web by quoting a series of Biblical passages suggesting Jesus never discriminated against gays.

The DFW Metropolitan Community Churches, which have five chapters in the Texas area, say they provide an alternative to the perceived discrimination and intolerance from “religious institutions [which] have used their interpretation of the Bible to justify discrimination against women, ethnic minorities, and people with a different sexual orientation and/or identity issues.”

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said agent Christopher Aller and agent trainee Jason Chapman, who participated in the June 28 raid at the Rainbow Lounge, were fired Friday. Their supervisor, Sgt. Terry Parsons, was not at the Fort Worth bar that night but also was fired, effective Sept. 2.

Aller and Chapman failed to report that they used force when arresting the customer or that he was seriously injured, according to a report on the agency’s investigation released earlier this month. They also were accused of participating in the raid without their supervisor’s approval, disrupting the business during the raid and wearing improper attire, the report states.

Parsons failed to ensure that the agents submitted a report on using force during the arrest, did not take appropriate action after learning they didn’t wear proper attire and did not notify supervisors that multiple arrests had been made that night, the report states.

The commission said Parsons’ direct supervisor, Lt. Gene Anderson, would be suspended without pay for three days and be on probation for six months, and Capt. Robert “Charlie” Cloud, who oversees the Dallas and Fort Worth TABC offices, has received a written reprimand. Both inadequately monitored new agents’ training and inadequately supervised Fort Worth employees and their activities, the agency said.

In announcing the disciplinary actions, the agency’s chief of field operations, Joel Moreno, said he was confident that Anderson and Cloud could make the necessary improvements.

“The first step is by working more closely with their employees, mentoring them and serving as positive role models by exemplifying the agency’s four cornerstones: service, courtesy, integrity, and accountability,” Moreno said in a statement. “It is essential that every employee understands our core value: We do the right thing, not what we have the right to do.”

TABC Administrator Alan Steen, who will make the final decision on any appeals, was not available to comment Friday, agency spokeswoman Carolyn Beck said.

The five may protest their disciplinary actions by submitting a written grievance in the next 10 working days.

Aller, who had worked for the agency for five years, and Chapman, who was hired in April, had been on desk duty during the investigation. Parsons had planned to retire Sept. 2 after completing 20 years with the agency but had been using vacation time.

Phone numbers for the fired employees could not be found Friday. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Officers Association has not been asked to provide representation for the three, president Darryl Darnell said Friday.

Another sergeant will be transferred from Fort Worth to the Dallas office next week “for the betterment of the agency and to create change in the office,” but that is not considered disciplinary action, Beck said.

Aller and Chapman accompanied six Fort Worth police officers to the Rainbow Lounge in what police billed as a routine liquor license inspection for a new business. Six people were arrested for public intoxication, and one patron, Chad Gibson, suffered a severe head injury while in the agents’ custody, the agency and police have said.

Gibson, who was hospitalized for a week, has said he has a blood clot behind his right eye.

Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead has said authorities set out to inspect the bar that night. But he acknowledged the visit somewhat resembled a raid because some police officers ran inside, responding to an officer’s two distress calls seeking help with a customer resisting arrest. The two TABC agents were wearing improper attire – shirts that said “state police” instead of coats and ties – and they didn’t tell the owner they were conduction an inspection, the agency said.

Since the raid, the agency has changed several policies – including how it uses force in certain situations – and is shortening agents’ shifts, increasing cultural diversity training and reviewing the agent trainee field training program, Moreno said.

“Most of these were not as a direct result of this incident, but we hope they will prevent a similar incident from happening,” Beck said Friday.

The raid led to numerous protest marches and rallies by gay rights groups, which demanded independent investigations. Some said the bar was targeted because it catered to a gay clientele, and some patrons said they were scared during the raid because agents used excessive force.

A group formed after the raid, Fairness Fort Worth, said Friday that the disciplinary actions and policy changes were appropriate.

“Fairness Fort Worth appreciates TABC’s strong commitment to instituting changes that result in better trained agents and improvements to services for all Texas communities,” spokesman Jon Nelson said in a statement.

A report addressing whether the agents’ use of force was appropriate during the raid is expected to be released in September.

Chief Jeff Halstead told the City Council that problems happened at the Rainbow Lounge in the early morning hours of June 28 because the department’s bar inspection policy lacked specific guidelines, which he said was why no policies were violated.

He said a revised policy should be in place by Sept. 1 with rules for a three tiered-system: bar checks, inspections and investigations.

The department is also trying to mend its relationship with the gay community – which held several protest marches after the raid – by having meetings, appointing an officer as a liaison and providing more diversity training to officers, Halstead said.

“Once the policy is complete, we’re never going to come here again,” he said after giving his preliminary report on the investigation into the raid. “We are recovering from this, and I’m very proud of that.”

A final report should be finished in late September or October, Halstead said. It will include the department’s findings on whether allegations against some officers – including excessive force and unprofessional conduct – are justified and any recommended disciplinary actions.

Gay rights groups initially demanded independent investigations, saying the bar was targeted because it catered to a gay clientele. Police have denied the accusation.

Halstead told the council that Fort Worth police decided to inspect the Rainbow Lounge and two other bars – in an area known for having many public intoxication arrests – a day after Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent and a Fort Worth officer arrested a man who was passed out in his car a block from the lounge.

Fort Worth police then led the inspection – not the state agency, as officials first reported – with five officers and one sergeant, and the TABC had two agents, Halstead said.

He said most of the six people who were arrested that night were taken into custody without any problems after officers saw indications they were drunk.

But in one case, officers saw the TABC agents struggling with a man later identified as Chad Gibson, Halstead said. A Fort Worth officer tried to help by applying a pressure-point technique on his face, but when that didn’t work the agents took Gibson to the ground, Halstead said.

After Gibson was handcuffed, he was stumbling while walking on his own with an officer, Halstead said. Another witness confirmed the TABC agent’s statements that Gibson fell and hit his head on the ground while he was standing by a police van, Halstead said.

Gibson was hospitalized for a week but has said he has a blood clot behind his right eye.

Halstead said he called Gibson’s father shortly after the incident, apologized that he was injured and promised to do a thorough investigation.

Halstead acknowledged Tuesday that while authorities set out to inspect the bar, what happened that night may have resembled a raid in some ways.

“I am apologizing for the actions and the reflection that this gave our community because they perceived it as a bar raid … and that was not our intent,” Halstead said.

A report released by TABC said two agents were wearing improper attire – “state police” shirts – and those agents are accused of violating the agency’s policies including not telling the owner they were conduction an inspection.

Some Fort Worth officers also ran inside the Rainbow Lounge just before 2 a.m. after an officer sent two distress calls 18 seconds apart on his police radio asking for help with a customer resisting arrest, Halstead said.

“Hey – I need help in here. … I’m by the restroom,” one officer said, sounding breathless, according to audiotape of the calls obtained by The Associated Press under the Texas Open Records Act.

Halstead said when the department got the second distress call, the situation became more urgent.

“I’ll be honest. The officers probably had adrenaline running in their veins, and they were probably excited. … All of us that wear this uniform have been there when you enter in after two distress calls are put out. You really don’t know what’s going on,” he said.

1. I’m no expert (yet), but panhandling strikes me as a profession that requires a soft sell.

2. Do all Oklahoma politicians dance with the crazy?

3. Is it a good idea to keep allies from joining the federal lawsuit for gay marriage?

4. A Merlose Place redux? The first one stank. What TV executive green lighted this wreck?

5. Israeli Army soldier Shmuel Freimark’s lawyer needs to come up with a better excuse for his client’s madness. Threats to kill because your tribe is getting bad press is a dumb tactic.

6. The initial TABC report shows what most knew. The authorities had no business raiding the Rainbow Lounge this past June.

7. Are most baseball fans by nature nostalgic and anti-modernity?

8. For the first time in awhile I was able to go to my local bar this weekend, and not feign interest for a conversation.

9. Never liked any film by John Hughes (RIP). For some reason they never resonated. I did however, have a serious crush on Anthony Michael Hall. Always have love for the nerds.

10. This story shows it’s time for us old-heads to change up our views on sexuality.

Thought for sure this story would generate more comments. Maybe people have moved on to the latest outrage, but the internal report by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission shows that TABC officials were violating all types of rules when they raided Fort Worth’s Rainbow Lounge.

From failure to follow appropriate procedures for a bar inspection to not reporting that Chad Gibson was injured, TABC officers did little right that June 28 night. Agent Christopher Aller insists Gibson touched his groin and that is why he had to be arrested (and the head injury was to make sure Gibson never touched a groin area again). Gibson denies he did anything to the agent, but why take his word right? If you get in trouble with officers of the law you must have done something because the police duty is to protect and serve. And in the history of police work, has a cop ever told a fib on a report? Perish the thought!

The Fort Worth Police Department and TABC still can’t get the story straight of who was in charge of Gibson when he was injured, each department pointing to the other. That might be cleared after the Fort Worth police finish their internal investigation but with Chief Jeff Halstead in charge, I have my doubts.

What do you Fort Worth citizens think?

One of the pleasures of writing here is the occasional fit some have over an entry they feel isn’t particularly gay. People will announce they come to 365 to read about gay stuff and anything else ruins the morning coffee. I’ve never understood the whole news segregation thing, but there is much I don’t get or appreciate (still wondering why anyone listens to Madonna or cares about the ramblings of a beauty pageant contestant).

Yesterday there was a lot of chatter about the Henry L. Gates post. A few wondered why it was here. Complaining about a post on a black guy’s troubles with the law is like a black guy moaning gays never had to sit at the back of the bus. Both grievances are based on the assumption that gay equals white. There were many gays during Jim Crow who could not choose their bus seats. They were gay and black. A number of black and brown gays and lesbians might want to know about the Gates saga because they too have had run-ins with the police. Like comedian Paul Mooney quipped: if you are black and live in America you have a police story.

But moving beyond the standard racial calculus, yesterday’s post is important to the “gay community” because the behavior of the police is of immediate concern to all gays and lesbians, no matter our racial backgrounds. The treatment of Chad Gibson should have made that clear. Gibson was beat down by officers of the state because he had the nerve to think drinking water in a gay bar wasn’t a crime. I’m sure those accusing Gates of bringing it all on himself, were filled with outrage over Gibson’s treatment and the initial response of the Fort Worth police chief. Those same outraged folks never called Gibson arrogant, opined  the whole affair never would have happened if Gibson just did what the officers asked, or  took the police account of Gibson’s attack as the gospel.

No tears for Gates though. He has access to power that Gibson can only dream of (is the Fort Worth case even known outside of the LGBT orbit?); however, it’s naive, and dangerous, to think the kerfuffle in Cambridge is not connected to our gay lives.