diane trautman for harris county tax

Diane Trautman for Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector

As with being a Texas public school administrator, and as with her

2006 statehouse run in the blood-red suburb of Kingwood, Dr. Trautman

likes big challenges:

"My race for Tax Assessor-Collector will be about one

thing--improving Harris County government," Trautman explains. "We

can be more efficient. We can be more responsive. We can be more

transparent in the way we collect county taxes. And we can have a

voter registration system that is fair and inclusive to all the

citizens of Harris County."

That last sentence is going to be the most important accomplishment we

can make in 2008 locally.

Paul Bettancourt, the incumbent TA/C (the post also serves as voter

registrar in each Texas county) is one of the most dangerous

Republicans in America. Not the county, not the state. The nation. He

runs a sophisticated voter caging operation which is the envy of all

who survey it. And only Republicans are allowed to survey it, trust

me. It is cloaked in partisan secrecy, so much so that even the Harris

County Democratic Party chairman, a wise constitutional lawyer

himself, is reticent to challenge it -- or Bettancourt himself, for

that matter.

Fortunately I have been able to pull back the shroud a bit, and will

promise again a more detailed posting about this in the very near

future.

But this is a post to congratulate and welcome his very formidable

challenger, so on with her announcement:

I am passionate about providing a quality education in all of our

public schools, and I believe that it is everyone's responsibility

to play a role in educating our children-especially our political

leaders. That is why, when our current Tax Assessor/Collector

publicly campaigns against our schools in the recent school bond

elections, I think he needs to be challenged. Instead of an

incumbent who has spent the last decade using his county office as

a partisan pulpit, we need someone who will focus on getting the

job done for all the citizens of Harris County.

Additionally, I think that the public has had enough of recent

ethics scandals in county offices, and that they are ready for some

accountability and ethical leadership in county government, which

will be a primary focus of my campaign. What is more, it is

outrageous that Harris County, the third most populous county in

the country, has one of the lowest voter registration rates. We

must do better if we are to have a truly effective government and

democracy. My campaign will be about modeling ethical and

appropriate officeholder behavior, building a voter registration

system that is fair, inclusive and works for all Harris County

citizens, and running an efficient, transparent office for county