An Easter weekend campaign event replete with rousing speeches, dogs of both the hot and four-legged variety and a kids’ Easter egg “scramble” kicked off Mayor Annise Parker’s re-election bid Saturday at Discovery Green.

With no announced opposition so far, Parker’s bid to retain what she called “the best job in the world” would seem to be a cakewalk — if not an Easter egg roll — compared with 2009.

In her first run for the office that year, the former neighborhood activist, city councilwoman and city controller nosed out the candidate anointed for the open seat by the downtown establishment, attorney Gene Locke, as well as two other candidates, to become the first lesbian mayor of a major American city.

This year, the establishment seems to be satisfied with the mayor’s job performance, as evidenced by her endorsement by erstwhile opponent Locke and by former mayor (and still political paterfamilias) Bob Lanier. Parker also has raised more than $1 million in campaign funds with two more major fundraisers still this week.

“It’s been a long, tough 15 months,” the 54-year-old incumbent told the crowd on a warm and hazy Saturday afternoon. “Most of the decisions I’ve had to make were hard decisions.”

Those among the 300 or so at Discovery Green were, of course, pleased with her performance.

“She’s doing wonderful things in the city,” said Lesa Jackson, who volunteers at the GLBT Community Center and at Fresh Start Community Haven, a shelter for the homeless.

“We wanted to hear our mayor talk about redistricting, flooding issues and the budget,” said Tom Edmonds, an investor and native Houstonian. “She took over at a time when the city was in the greatest financial peril since Kathy Whitmire was mayor, and I think she’s doing a marvelous job bringing us out of it.”

City is ‘better off’

Parker, wearing a green jacket for Earth Day and running shoes for the race, told her cheering supporters that Houston after her first term was in good shape. “It is better off financially, it is better off economically, it is better off in terms of its governance than any other city in America,” she said.

Not everyone agrees.

Jared Woodfill, chairman of the Harris County Republican Party, last week found fault with “the drainage tax she pushed through and that she continues fighting (state Sen.) Dan Patrick on in Austin.”

Added Woodfill: “The last thing the people of Houston need is a new tax.”

He also accused the mayor of backing a new redistricting plan that “clearly increases Democratic strength on the council.”

Although Woodfill said he had heard talk of potential challengers, none has emerged.

“I don’t know what kind of institutional support someone could get at this point,” said Democratic political consultant Keir Murray. “Unless a candidate could bring a lot of his own money into the race, it’s awfully late. It seems early, but it’s late.”

Tough days ahead

Despite the campaign cakewalk to the November election, the mayor would face major challenges during her second two-year term, Murray said.

“The first term was the easiest,” he said. “The budget crisis is a continuing problem for anyone in office. Layoffs are coming, including HPD layoffs. There will be unhappiness. There’s no getting around it.”

Other longtime City Hall observers have suggested that Parker could face increasing difficulties with a fractious City Council.

They note that she has been either unwilling or unable to forge a consensus in the style of Lanier or her immediate predecessor, Bill White.

On Saturday, though, those were issues for another day.

“I know there are problems out there; I know times are tough,” Parker said, “but the Houston that I see has all of you in it, and the Houston that I see has a better, brighter future for each one of us. And if we only keep working and if we only keep helping each other, that future that could be, that should be, can be and will be.”

joe.holley@chron.com

Locke and Parker, both Democrats, competed in the run-off election to succeed termed-limited Mayor Bill White 16 months ago. They differed little on the issues, but attacked each other in mailings and on the campaign trail. One mailer funded by $40,000 in donations from Locke’s finance chairman and another finance committee member asked voters to choose Locke because Parker is a lesbian. Parker criticized Locke’s history as a lawyer and a lobbyist.

“I don’t know whether an endorsement translates into votes. An endorsement makes a statement that we’ve moved beyond the last campaign and this is a new race, a new day,” Parker said Wednesday.

“She’s bringing the city together,” Locke said Wednesday. “There’s a tremendous fiscal crisis facing the city, and I think she’s addressing that head-on.”

Lanier was mayor from 1992 through 1997. As mayor he appointed Locke city attorney, and he supported Locke two years ago. Since leaving office Lanier has continued to play an influential role in local politics. Candidates regularly call him and make pilgrimages to his home in search of his support.

“Times are tough, but so is she,” Lanier said. He said his support was based more on what he considers her straightforwardness and character than on her public policy stances. He said he also thinks that having a lesbian mayor is good for the city because it projects an image of tolerance and diversity.

Parker has not yet drawn an opponent for the November election.

When asked whether her re-election race is over before it starts, Parker said, “I certainly hope so. But I only know one way to campaign and that is very, very hard, and I’m going to be aggressive. I have a nice war chest and I’m going to add to that war chest.”

Major challenge doubted

Parker has amassed more than $1 million in her campaign account, and a fund-raising event is scheduled at the Four Seasons downtown next week. Invitations to the event feature testimonials from beer distributor, philanthropist and GOP donor Bobbie Nau, Houston attorney Pablo Escamilla, Planned Parenthood executive Mini Timmaraju, Locke and Lanier.

The list of hosts and sponsors is “a ‘Who’s Who,’ ” said political consultant Keir Murray. “She’s locked up most of the big support financially. Where does a challenger go to get money?”

By this time two years ago, Parker, Locke, Roy Morales and Peter Brown all were engaged in full-blown campaigns for the open seat.

“Every day that passes now, it gets less and less likely that the mayor will get a serious challenge,” Murray said.

No help from budget cuts

Locke serves as special counsel to the board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, to which Parker nominates a majority of board members. He also is general counsel to the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, to which Parker nominates six board members. His firm earned $17 million from those agencies and the Port of Houston from 2003 to 2009, according to figures that came out during the last mayor’s race.

Locke also recently registered as a lobbyist on behalf of CIGNA, which the Houston City Council approved Wednesday as the city’s new health insurance administrator in a 3-year deal worth nearly a billion dollars.

Having one of the city’s most recognized black leaders on her team comes as Parker faces several challenges courting support among the city’s African-American population. Parker has had to manage the fallout of an apparent beating of a black teenager by city police that was caught on tape. Although she has compromised on the issue, she continues to publicly proclaim her support for making churches subject to the city’s new drainage fee despite the opposition of black ministers, as well as a broad coalition of other religious leaders, school officials and nonprofit organizations.

Councilwoman Wanda Adams also recently questioned Parker about her treatment of black employees after the administration dismissed an African-American woman who led the 311 system.

Parker is likely to face more controversy as she seeks $130 million in spending cuts and savings to balance next fiscal year’s budget, which could cost more than 2,300 city worker their jobs.

chris.moran@chron.com

Shortly after Perry and House Speaker Joe Strauss announced they had reached an agreement to tap $3.2 billion of the state’s Rainy Day Fund to help close a projected $4.3 billion deficit, the House Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to back the measure. The vote sends the measure to the full House where, as in the Senate, it would need the approval of three-fifths of voting lawmakers before becoming law.

While Perry agreed to use the Rainy Day Fund to address the 2011 deficit, he vowed not to agree to use it to address the massive revenue shortfall that remains as lawmakers tackle the budget for 2012-2013.

“We have worked closely with state leaders and lawmakers to balance the current budget, which includes using a one-time amount from the Economic Stabilization Fund to help our budget deal with the impact of the national recession,” Perry said. “I remain steadfastly committed to protecting the remaining balance of the Rainy Day Fund, and will not sign a 2012-2013 state budget that uses the Rainy Day Fund.”

The state is facing a revenue shortfall that could reach as high as $27 billion over the next two-year budget when counting population growth and cost increases. The next budget likely will include severe cuts to all areas of state government, most heavily to public education and low-income and elderly health care programs.

Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner, of Houston, cautioned that people should not think schools, nursing homes and Medicaid providers will be spared from budget cuts because of Tuesday’s agreement.

“For the teachers that came to this Capitol on Saturday and yesterday, to all the medical providers walking the halls, all the children concerned about their needs, nothing is going to be used from the Rainy Day Fund to cover any of their needs for the next two years,” Turner said.

The Rainy Day Fund, which is expected to have a balance of $9.4 billion at the end of the next budget period, is made up of revenue from oil and gas taxes.

The measure approved by the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday also would make $800 million in agency cuts in the current budget, which covers state spending through Aug. 31.

House Speaker Joe Straus said the agreement allows the state to preserve about $6 billion of the reserve fund to cover future emergencies.

“Today Republican leaders locked in a plan to force up local taxes, make college more expensive, crowd more kids into classrooms, fire teachers, close nursing homes, and cut basic health services for children and the disabled,” said Rep. Mike Villarreal, a Democrat from San Antonio, who is on the House Appropriations Committee. “Texans have already paid taxes into the Rainy Day Fund, but the governor would rather sit on the people’s money than use it to save our schools.”

Conservatives have argued the Rainy Day Fund should be preserved.

“We can reasonably predict that economic pressures on the Texas state budget will be even more severe in the next legislative session,” said Talmadge Heflin, director of the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Fiscal Policy.

“It is the duty of those elected to government to govern — and it is the duty of those who elected them to hold them accountable. Now more than ever, Texans must demand that their Legislature craft a responsible, conservative state budget with no further use of the Rainy Day Fund,” Heflin said.