Jennifer Gale

Infobox Person
name = Jennifer Gale


caption = Jennifer Gale at the University of Texas in 2006
birth_date = 1960
known_for = Running for Office
occupation = None

Jennifer Gale is a transgender perennial political candidate in Texas. Gale claims to be a native of Wisconsin, a United States Marine Corps veteran, and typically identifies as a Democrat. Gale has gained fame in her adopted hometown of Austin, Texas for repeatedly running or attempting to run for multiple offices including governor, Congress, mayor, city council, and the school board. Gale identifies as a woman and often attends municipal hearings, forums, and meetings in Austin where she is known for presenting her arguments in song.

Gale is one of a number of well known Austin eccentrics which include homeless cross-dresser Leslie Cochran, who also has run for municipal office in Austin, Texas. Gale has also had numerous dealings with law enforcement for trespassing violations and is no longer allowed inside the University of Texas student unionFact|date=May 2008.

Political history

In 2004, Gale shocked the Austin political establishment by earning 38.68% of the vote against incumbent board president Doyle Valdez for the At-Large Position 8 seat of the Austin Independent School District, garnering the highest percent share to date in her electoral bids [cite web |url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid:212988 |title=Austin @ Large: (Jennifer) Gale Force |accessdate=2008-05-05 |author=Mike Clark-Madison |date=2004-05-28] .

In recent elections, she received 9.3% of the vote in 2005 for Austin City Council Place 4 [cite web |url=http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20050507/enight_results.pdf |title=May 7, 2005 Joint General and Special Election Results |accessdate=2008-05-05] , 6.7% of the vote in 2006 for Austin Mayor [cite web |url=http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20060513/files/ENightCume1.PDF |title=May 13, 2006 Joint General and Special Election Results |accessdate=2008-05-05] , and 0.7% of the vote in 2007 for Dallas Mayor [cite web |url=http://enr2.clarityelections.com/Default.aspx?page=T&c=dallas&eid=126&lid=1&cid=0116&ref=false |title=May 12, 2007 Dallas County Joint Election Results |accessdate=2008-05-05] . In her most recent election, Gale placed fourth among six candidates for the 2008 Austin City Council Place 4 election, earning 1,951 votes or 5.8% of the total cast [cite web |url=http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20080510/files/coacume.pdf |title=May 10, 2008 Joint General and Special Elections |accessdate=2008-05-12] .

Gale is now campaigning as an independent against Republican congressman Lamar Smith in the 2008 November general election for Texas congressional district 21 [cite web |url=http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/candidates/guide/2008ind.shtml |title=Candidates who have filed a Declaration of Intent to run as Independent, Texas Secretary of State |accessdate=2008-05-27] .

Political platform and views

Gale claims that if elected to the Austin City Council she would get a National Football League team to move to Austin. [cite web |url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A616212 |title=That Girl Can Sing |accessdate=2008-05-05 |author=Kimberly Reeves |date=2008-04-25]

Some Austinites view Gale as the personification of the famous "Keep Austin Weird" campaign. Gale has embraced that slogan and has run for office with the slogan of "Keep Austin, Austin," which she modified for her 2007 run for mayor of Dallas using the slogan "Keep Dallas, Dallas."

In 2004, Gale was challenged by fellow mayoral candidate and popular local vagrant crossdresser Leslie Cochran to a debate at the University of Texas student union on the topic of who would best represent the homeless. Gale declined to participate unless given $50 worth of food from the Wendy's restaurant inside the union. "Dunlavy", the event organizer, declined.fact|date=May 2008

Media attention

*Austin American-Statesman: [http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/09/0409forum.html "Gale not allowed to speak at candidate forum."]
*Austin Chronicle: [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A603819 2008 City Council Candidate Preview]
*Austin Chronicle: [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid%3A212988 "(Jennifer) Gale Force"]
*Burnt Orange Report: [http://www.burntorangereport.com/archives/003787.html "Gale Gets No Satisfaction"]
*Daily Texan: [http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2005/07/12/TopStories/Plenty.Of.Free.Time.Run.For.Governor-961956.shtml "Plenty of Free Time? Run for Governor."]

External links

* [http://malford.ci.austin.tx.us/election/searchresults.cfm?cand=gale Election History in City of Austin]
* [http://www.jennifergale.com/ Official Campaign Website]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=30257394 Official MySpace page]

References