Houston mayoral candidate Bill King has launched a petition drive to end what he calls "pay-to-play" politics going on at City Hall.
“What this petition is going to do is force a vote on an ordinance that would limit contributions to $500 by people who do business with the city, and will ban contributions from strip clubs.”
Both are accusations King has levied against Mayor Sylvester Turner's administration.
“Other cities don't have this Wild West, no regulation on campaign contributions,” says King. “This is very, very unusual to have the kind of limits we have and to have no restrictions on people who do business with the city.”
“You ought not to need a law that says 'don't take campaign contributions from strip clubs,' but apparently we do.”
Volunteers will try to collect 40,000 signatures between June 9 and July 8. That gives the city time to certify the signatures and send it to City Council to either adopt the ordinance or schedule a public vote in November.