Julián Castro For Mayor

When mayoral candidate Julian Castro makes his private pitch to business leaders — particularly Anglo business leaders — he makes a variety of points that reveal a great deal about his re-education since his narrow loss to Mayor Phil Hardberger four years ago.

On the personal front, the 34-year-old Castro reminds his elders that since leaving the City Council, he founded a law firm, earned a lot of money, including at least one seven-figure referral fee, married Erica Lira, a fourth-grade school teacher, and then mentions that, in March, they are expecting a baby girl.

On the political front, Castro describes the “silver-lining” in his loss to Hardberger by 3,700 votes. Among the lessons he says he's learned by watching Hardberger is how to build consensus on the City Council and the city at large, how to stay neutral on statewide and national political races, and how to let City Manager Sheryl Sculley, arguably the best city manager in the country, manage the city while making the mayor look very good.

I don't know if during these private discussions Castro makes the point about the moment I believe that Hardberger brought consensus to the city. However, if he doesn't, then Castro ought to talk about that day after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2007 when Hardberger went on CNN and described in emotional terms about how the victims of Katrina needed “dignity” and then issued an open invitation for the refugees to come to San Antonio. That was the moment Hardberger made it fashionable for the city's Anglo business establishment to help not only 25,000 refugees from Katrina, but the homeless in San Antonio as well.