Yeah, I know, that probably surprises you, seein’ as how I’m often called a liberal and all. But alas, it’s true. Forcing citizens to fork over their hard earned money for something that isn’t for the common good (please, not today) is something akin to theft. Hey, little Johnny wants to weave a quilt so fork it over buddy! Seriously, don’t try to convince me that this (African American quilt by Regina Vigil) benefits anyone but Regina Vigil because it isn’t going to happen. Now, if Regina Vigil was paid to put asphalt in one of Harris County’s various potholes, I’d be all for it.
So there I am, knowing I have to criticize one of the few politicians that I respect. I respect Judge Emmett because he is open and honest, to a fault. And this is a fault, in my book, right? So, I have to criticize him. Check this quote out from Moran’s article:
“I think in a budget of our size, we should be able to find it,” Emmett said after Tuesday’s Commissioners Court meeting.
That kind of thinking is exactly why we are in the budget mess we are in, not only in Harris County, but in every other governmental agency. In fact, Renew Houston is counting on that mentality in order to pass their boondaggle of a proposition in November: hey, it’s only $5 a month for you Mr. or Mrs. homeowner! 5 bucks! C’mon, it’s nothing.
Add that to the fact that at every single opportunity, I politely, and sometimes not so politely, ask Harris County politicians to stop criticizing Judge Emmett because it will affect the whole ballot in November, not just Judge Emmett. Are you getting the picture that I was a bit peeved at the Judge this morning?
But rather than just blast him, I did something that David Benzion over at Lonestartimes begged me to do when I was writing there. He got tired of D_n and others calling him after I ripped the local guys, or mentioned that D_n was a rhetorical conservative, and asked me to please contact people before I ripped them. Best lesson I ever learned – believe me, it has saved me a lot of headaches. So, I emailed the Judge to ask him, somewhat politely, what the hell he was doing.
He happened to be driving to a meeting, so he called me instead of replying. And once again, I understood why I respect him so much. He didn’t pull the misquoted line out or try to back away from it. Rather, he explained how it came about and why he wanted to find the funds. Basically, it boils down to this: if he says he is going to do something, then he thinks he should do it.
Forget the philosophy of the funding for moment and think about this. That $75,000 was budgeted to be given to the Houston Art Alliance. The HAA made plans based upon that promise, a promise that had been kept since 2006. When it came time to find budget cuts, Budget Director Dick Raycraft cut that $75,000. On his own, without going to the court. He simply decided to cut it. So Judge Emmett gets a call from HAA CEO Jonathon Glus asking for a meeting (noted in Mr. Moran’s article). Mr. Glus explains about the cut and Judge Emmett is unaware that Mr. Raycraft had done this on his own initiative. Judge Emmett rightly decides that the full Commissioners Court should be the ones to decide to renege on a promise, not the Budget Director.
So there you go, that is what this boils down to. Judge Emmett wanting to be fair and just, as a politician should be. Again, lets keep the philosophy out of it because that was already decided. Put pressure on the commissioners to eliminate this funding in the next budget, if that is your wish, but for sake of this argument, think about the bigger picture.
Interestingly, Mr. Moran managed to find Gordon Quan, the invisible candidate, for a quote:
He said, ideally, the county would look to private sources to cover the gap first. Nor could Quan resist suggesting with a laugh that Emmett use campaign funds.
Hey, using private funds to cover the gap is a great idea. If only Mr. Raycraft had thought about that before arbitrarily cutting it. The quip about using campaign funds is probably just a cover for what is undoubtedly going to be a very poor showing on Mr. Quan’s campaign finance report, due today. Judge Emmett filed his yesterday – the report isn’t available yet but it will show a very strong fund raising effort by the Judge. I doubt that the Judge’s supporters would like it if he used their contributions to fund African American quilt making. Or Hispanic American quilt making. Or American American quilt making. They want him to use their contributions to remain in office and continue doing the great job he’s been doing.
We’ll talk about the philosophy behind this another time. And hopefully, Judge Emmett won’t be using that line about finding such a small amount in such a large budget again anytime soon.
And about those layoffs. They aren’t laying people off, they are doing something far worse. They are reducing their workforce through attrition. You know, when someone retires, leaves, moves on, etc., they simply don’t replace them. This is the worst type of workforce reduction you can have because no one is in control of it. Let’s say 10 deputies retire or leave for whatever reason. I’d say that would be a whole lot more important than having 10 dog catchers quit. Or 10 secretaries in the office pool. Wouldn’t you? Do you seriously think that Commissioner El Franco Lee is going to stop shuttling seniors around if a bus driver quits? Nope, he’s going to bring in a temp. Just wait until the spending numbers come in and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Probably a subject for another post of its own but an across the board hiring freeze is nuts.