Zimmerman explains decision to run

Longtime Republican stalwart Don Zimmerman said Tuesday he made the decision to put his name on the list for City Council District 6 because he had been disappointed by the lack of some wealthy Republican who would be able to buy the job. Asked if the reason might be because being on the City Council is not such a great job, Zimmerman replied, “It’s a terrible job but Marsha Farney ponied up a quarter of a million dollars” to fund her successful campaign for the State Board of Education. And that’s a really terrible job, he opined. Farney is now a State Representative from Georgetown. So, lacking a candidate he liked, Zimmerman said he would take on the task himself. As for his platform, Zimmerman offered the following: “We believe it is outrageous that Austin city government has promoted staggering increases in debt and taxes to subsidize wealthy mega-businesses like Apple, and the wealthiest university in the nation (University of Texas) with their property-tax-subsidized medical school, on the backs of renters, homeowners and small businesses.” He added that he intends “to expose the misinformation of the ‘urban rail’ campaign which would waste over a billion dollars and do virtually nothing to relieve traffic congestion.”