Politics may make strange bedfellows, but it also can form the basis for an interesting discussion of the current presidential election. That was the case at the University of Houston's Hobby School for Public Affairs annual luncheon, which drew two of the nation's foremost authorities on the Clinton-Trump race.
Former longtime Houston Chronicle political reporter Julie Mason, who hosts the popular Press Pool on Sirius XM's POTUS channel 124, heard weekdays (2-5 pm local time) from her Washington, D.C. base, returned to the Bayou City to headline the discussion with David Cay Johnston, author of The Making of Donald Trump, and a top expert on the New York real estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate.
Texas Monthly executive director Mimi Swartz moderated the lively discussion during the luncheon in the lovely surroundings of the Houston Public Library Julia Ideson Building Reading Room.
Proceeds from the luncheon benefit the 2017 Hobby Fellows program, which offers UH undergraduate students a chance to work as full-time interns during the legislative session in Austin.
The bipartisan crowd included honorary co-chairs Mayor Sylvester Turner and State Rep. Sarah Davis, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, former Houston first lady Elyse Lanier, Harris County Clerk Stan Stannert, former Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman, UH Hobby School of Public Affairs executive director Jim Granato, HSPA associate director Rene Cross,former State Rep. Peggy Hamric, event chair Kathryn McNiel, Kris and Neil Thomas, Delores Chambers, Katy Caldwell, Mary Flood, and Juan Palomo.
Elyse Lanier, Julie Mason.
