Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told his staff this afternoon that he will seek another term as Harris County Judge in 2018!
Whew! That was too close for comfort!
Go get ’em Ed!
politics in Harris County and Texas
I know, I know, we are all focused on the recent Presidential election and how the Harris County Republican Party screwed the pooch and got exactly ZERO candidates elected. But life moves on and the next primary for Harris County Republicans is in roughly 16 months. Can you believe that?
The biggest decision for Harris County Republicans is this: will Harris County Judge Ed Emmett run again? Tough call. On the one hand, he is the most popular Republican in Harris County in any General Election. And that is a simple fact based upon the number of votes he gets when he runs. On the other hand, he has a beautiful family, more grandchildren than I have fingers (and thumbs) and maybe it is time to enjoy life.
I’ve talked to Ed several times over the last few weeks about his decision. At one point, he told me he had already written the annual letter that he gives to his staff about the state of the county with one exception – the last paragraph with his intentions. And this afternoon, he told me that he still hasn’t decided and that he and his wife Gwen are going to make that decision tonight and announce it to his staff tomorrow morning.
Well, between you, me and the fencepost, I hope he chooses to run one more time. As a conservative, that is a natural position for me to take. As in, the devil you know is always better than the one you don’t. Or something like that. Plus, he has done more for Harris County Republicans and governance than anyone that I can think of. And my goodness, I can’t even imagine what Gwen is going to do with all of that energy he has. The guy is a perpetual motion machine. Sitting on a rocking chair is probably okay for a few minutes but then what? I mean, seriously, then what? C’mon Ed, give Gwen a break. Sort of like this guy’s wife says.
And if he runs, I hope he throws caution to the wind and decides to show Republicans how to govern in a BIG way. Use the Trump message to do populist stuff like improving public transportation (not toy trains), achieving his dream of helping mentally ill people (not counting the Hillary supporters that need therapy dogs and Play-Doh) and in general, showing that Republicans CAN govern when given the chance. But that’s just me. If he runs again, he’ll have his own agenda, obviously.
So what happens if he doesn’t run again. Well, if you believe failed Houston Mayoral candidate Bill King, Emmett has greased the skids and made it possible for him to run unopposed. When I asked Emmett about that, he seemed a bit perturbed (I do that to him often) and told me that he has no intention to pick his successor. So why is King telling people that Emmett has blessed his run and cleared the decks? No idea but multiple elected officials and HCRP insiders told me that Kind indeed said that. The funniest quote was from an elected official who said this about King: “He’s a nice little moderate.”
Besides King, at least three people want the job. Okay, more want it but only three are willing to say so, even if in private conversations. They would be soon to be former Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Mike Sullivan, current Harris County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez and current State Rep. Jim Murphy.
Should Emmett decide to spend time with Gwen and his grandchildren, it is going to be a slugfest.
Here’s to hoping that Gwen tells Ed, ‘Are you kidding me? Do you expect me to deal with all of that energy? Run again and do something big!’ tonight.
(This post needs a bit of context. On Friday, October 7, Stat Sen. Paul Bettencourt sent a press release about the Harris County property tax rate. I didn’t think much of it because lowering property taxes is Bettencourt’s mission in life. Then I received a call from a down ballot Republican candidate frantic that Bettencourt was undermining the Harris County Republican Party’s Harris County Works marketing slogan. There is your context.)
Does Harris County Work? On the surface, it seems as though State Sen. Paul Bettencourt doesn’t think so. He has a beef with the Harris County Commissioner’s Court and their tax rates. From his press release, titled “Sen. Bettencourt Busts Another Property Tax Myth, that ‘I Did Not Raise Your Taxes, Because I Did Not Raise Your Tax Rate’“:
Major urban areas in Texas are experiencing rapid taxable value growth and, in the past, the vast majority of cities and counties generally leave their rate unchanged or only cut it slightly, taxpayers’ tax bills have increased. In Harris County, for example, the taxable values have increased by $117 billion between 2011 and 2015, resulting in a nearly 53 percent increase in the county’s general fund property tax revenue or a calculated $568 million. During the same time frame, Dallas County’s taxable values grew by $33 billion, a 21 percent increase. Since Dallas County left their tax rate unchanged from 2011 to 2015, taxpayers paid 21 percent more by 2015 than they did in 2011.
“Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins made a true attempt to cut the tax rate this year in his county, but lost the vote 3–2. Harris County, the largest county in the state, has not set its tax rate but publicly noticed an overall no change in the tax rate. Harris County should follow the lead of the other tax rate cutters,” Sen. Bettencourt added.
Click here to read Bettencourt’s press release.
It isn’t surprising that Bettencourt would be talking about property taxes. After all, property taxes have been his signature issue through the years and he makes his living off of protesting property tax appraisals. What is surprising is the timing, thirty days before a critical election, and the target, Republicans that control Harris County.
I mean, seriously, don’t you think that Harris County Republicans have a big enough problem in front them without infighting? So why now? Well, there’s actually a good reason for the timing. From Bettencourt spokesman Robert Flanagan:
Harris County Commissioners have not currently proposed a tax relief plan, and are currently in their tax rate setting process (three meetings: October 4, October 11, and October 19), which makes this the best time to comment.
Okay, I get that Tio Pablo is trying to influence the commissioners to set a lower rate but he knows he isn’t going to change their minds. I mean, seriously, he knows that more than most because he’s been an insider on this issue so long. But that is my opinion. He doesn’t set the tax rate calendar, he has to live by it like the rest of us. So he really had no choice.
But even more than the timing, think about the HCRP’s slogan – Harris County Works. Remember that? They even have a website:
Although it hasn’t been updated since last year’s city elections even though we are less than 30 days away from this year’s presidential election (how sad is that?):
But they are still using the slogan on the Republican Judges website, which is current for this year’s election:
If I were on the Harris County Republican ballot and spending my life’s savings, I’d be a bit upset about this, especially coming from a high profile Republican leader. So I can understand the frantic call that I received.
Property taxes are burdensome and not the most effective way to fund government but that is a subject for another day. Harris County is unique among counties in the country because of the large unincorporated area and the large population in that unincorporated area.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett had this to say about the press release:
He seems to be busting a myth that only he knows about. Of course taxes go up with increased appraisals even if tax rates stay the same.
- I wish he would take steps to change the appraisal process.
- I wish he would allow federal and state funds to pay for indigent health care that is now paid for by county property owners.
- I wish he would meet with county officials and seek real solutions.
- I wish he would recognize that we have completely exempted the first $200 thousand appraised value for Harris County senior citizens.
- Most importantly, I wish he would discuss fundamental change to the flawed property tax system so urban counties do not have to rely on it.
Since he represented Harris County for years on the Harris County Appraisal District, I would like to know why the appraisal process and appeal process is still so bad. I sincerely want to work with him and the Legislature on real reform.
Interesting points from the Judge.
Precinct Two Commissioner Jack Morman was light hearted about the issue, telling me that if Bettencourt can get something done in Austin that will make it feasible for him to lower property taxes, he’s all for it and wishes him success. Morman noted that he too pays property taxes. I asked him if he thought that the budget was fat and bloated. He pointed out that because the two biggest issues for the county, criminal justice and indigent health care, are not discretionary and must be addressed by the county, there is relatively little money left for quality of life expenditures.
Morman also pointed out that the unincorporated part of the county is almost as populous as the City of Houston. You can read more about that in these two Houston Chronicle articles: Visualizing the country’s fifth largest city and Growing pains: Unincorporated Harris County population expected to swell past Houston’s. The swelling population, combined with the fact that the county doesn’t have a sales tax or receive franchise taxes, increases the burden on property taxes and highlights the need for serious property tax reform.
In short, Emmett and Morman think that Harris County Works but that Bettencourt could help make it work even better. And both are willing to help him.
As for Bettencourt, he said he is ready and willing to help. And that he has talked to the commissioners and that his door is wide open if they want to meet to discuss property taxes.
We went over Judge Emmett’s points above and here are Bettencourt’s responses.
Bettencourt’s biggest concerns are that Harris County’s property tax revenues have increased by $568 million in four years, the increase of 53% is far too high, and that the county is the most solvent county in Texas with the revenue stream being used to build up reserves. Lowering the property tax rate by a penny will not stop the inflated property tax revenue stream from continuing to build the reserves but will provide relief to the 30,000 laid off workers in his senate district.
Obviously with an issue this complex, there is no way that I can put every argument into one blog post. But I do need to try and answer the frantic question posed above: will this undermine the Harris County Works campaign?
I think the answer is no. All we have here is a disagreement between two camps on revenue. It is a major disagreement, a fundament disagreement, a philosophical disagreement between good, solid, conservative Republican politicians but not one that will hurt down ballot candidates.
And if anyone thinks that Tio Pablo isn’t going to help the local effort, rest assured, he is. He told me that he sent out 145,000 robo calls today asking Republican voters to vote straight ticket.
This election season has been very boring in Harris County. So much so that I was concerned that Republican turnout would be lower than it should be. But thanks to Houston Mayor Annise Parker, conservative Republicans are fired up and it just so happens that early voting starts next week! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
By now you know the problem. Parker and her right hand man, City Attorney Dave Feldman, stepped deep in it when they decided to subpoena the sermons and notes of five pastors. The subpoenas are supposedly related to the lawsuit filed by former Harris County Republican Party Chair Jared Woodfill and others in an attempt to repeal the Houston UNequal Rights Ordinance (HURO). Parker tried backpedaling when even her own supporters were outraged but Kevin Whited over at blogHOUSTON shows us that she isn’t telling the whole story about her knowledge and support of the subpoenas.
Public servants should tell the truth
The vigor with which Mayor Parker AND City Attorney Feldman were defending the city’s legal action just hours before makes it difficult to take their later statements seriously. It requires one to believe Mayor Parker was incompetent enough to defend a policy she clearly didn’t understand, only to “see the light” a few hours later (okay, when it comes to the mayor, that degree of incompetence actually IS plausible). It further requires one to believe that one of the most highly paid public officials in Texas, the city’s top legal official and one who CLEARLY relishes his power and position, somehow had an utterly incompetent moment in which he was completely absent on important Parker Administration legal policymaking. That is FAR LESS plausible.
We understand that politicians often feel the need to say anything to get past a bad media cycle, but we would really prefer they tell the truth.
If you click over and read the entire post, Whited lays out the timeline in detail. Too bad “professional” journalists refused to to the work that he did and allowed her to change the story without challenge. Terrible job by the “journalists” at the professional media outlets on this one.
Anyway, back to the “Thank you”. The pushback was so strong that even new Harris County Republican Party Chair Paul Simpson weighed in. Now that is news. Simpson has been mostly missing in action on the front lines in Harris County, focusing on building the professional organization that he promised voters. I give him many kudos for that – I have been very impressed with his new organization, from the new offices, to the youth movement in phone banking, to the weekly coordinated block walks, to the walk lists given to precinct chairs, and certainly to the fundraising. The latest HCRP state finance report continues the trend of judges funding the bulk of the party (which Simpson roundly criticized) but also has another $60,000 from Dick Weekly and a few other contributions from business interests. There can be no question that Simpson has kept his campaign promises about the organization and finances of the party.
But overall, the activities in Harris County have not been of the type that makes people want to get out and vote. Professionalism comes with a price and that is boredom. Plus “social conservatives” have felt excluded from the new party structure as most of the focus has been on limiting their message and focusing on “liberty” and “efficiency”. I mean, yeah, Harris County Works, but using that as a get out the vote measure? I don’t think so. Have you ever been to a county office and waited an hour or me to finish your business? Same thing with Republican Judges Work. Sure they do, except when they don’t. And the messaging is different between the two. Harris County Works urges you to consider voting for down ballot Republicans but the spearhead of that effort, County Judge Ed Emmett, refuses to advocate straight ticket voting. Republican Judges Work urges voters to vote straight ticket so that down ballot judges will keep their seats, regardless of their competence.
So when Annise Parker and team decided to bully a few pastors, it was a welcome relief to those of us hoping that Republicans turn out in droves and reject the majority of Democratic candidates. Believe me, this issue has fired up social conservatives enough that I think they will overlook the party’s slighting them and at least vote for top ticket Republicans like Greg Abbott. Hopefully they will either not vote straight ticket or vote straight ticket and crossover where necessary because as Judge Emmett told me, voting straight ticket without considering the individual candidates leads to incompetent people getting elected, whether it be in the Obama wave of 2008 or the tea party wave of 2010. And quite frankly, the Republicans do not have a great candidate in all races on your ballot this year. But if the price of having the majority of Republicans get elected is to have a few elected that shouldn’t be in office, I think most Texans will be willing to pay that price.
Hopefully Simpson will see the opportunity that Parker has provided for the HCRP and take full advantage of it. He can be professional and still help promote the bullying tactics of Democrats like Annise Parker, especially since his friend Sen. Ted Cruz was smart enough to see the opportunity and used it to promote his fledgling presidential campaign. My bet is that Simpson takes advantage of the opening and floods the base with emails about it, urging them to turnout and block this nonsense.
So thanks again Mayor Parker! You rock.
Oh my. I can’t wait to see the unintended consequences of Harris County Judge Ed Emmett’s latest idea to preserve the Astrodome (i.e., preserve Ed’s “legacy”). From his favorite stenographer, Kiah Collier of the Houston Chronicle:
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett on Tuesday proposed turning the Astrodome into “the world’s largest indoor park” and recreation area, a concept he said would preserve a taxpayer-funded asset and honor the reason his predecessor built the iconic stadium nearly 50 years ago: “To provide a place for traditional outdoor activities in a climate-controlled space, a space like none other in the world.”
And the Houston Chronicle editorial board quickly jumped on the the idea:
County Judge Ed Emmett has been a stoic warrior for the Astrodome, fighting to keep the Dome’s destiny firmly in the hands of its true owners – the people of Harris County. Private groups like the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the Houston Texans have attempted to circumvent our elected government with calls for premature demolition and other plans.
Where to start? Stoic warrior? Ed Emmett? I’ve seen a lot of descriptions of Ed through the years but “stoic warrior” doesn’t seem to apply at this point in his career as Harris County Judge. Where are the transportation solutions that is his expertise? Saving the Astrodome to protect his legacy can hardly be called warrior material. If you ask me.
A funny thing happened along the way to his positive press though. He called in to the boys on Sports Radio 610 this morning to push his idea. I was taking my wife to the airport and totally wish I hadn’t had the radio tuned to 610. By the time those guys got through with him, I thought I was going to get a divorce. That’s how mad my wife of 34 years was at me for me supporting Emmett through the years. I still support him overall but this is one of those areas we are just going to have to agree to disagree on. Tear the thing down already.
Unlike his favorite stenographer, Sports Radio 610’s John Lopez and Nick Wright asked real questions. It’s sort of funny when a politician used to getting his way with the press doesn’t. Click here to listen to an interview that you really, really need to listen to if you are a Harris County voter.
Somehow Ed has figured out a way to make everything free!!! Air conditioning, no problem. New roof, no problem. Developing a park? No problem because parks “evolve”. Security? No problem, we already have constables. Parking at NRG? No problem, FREE!
Are you kidding me? The guys on Sports Radio 610 In the Loop deserve major kudos for this one.
Let’s think about this for a minute. What do people use parks for? Hmm?
I can’t wait for the first July 4th in the Ed Emmett park. Imagine 5,000 families heading to EEP and firing up their grills for burgers and dogs! We’re going to create the world’s largest grease cloud!
But wait – Ed Emmett could single handedly revive the Occupy movement. No more worries about heat, cold, rain, or snow! Ed’s going to provide them a climate controlled environment to “protest” capitalism! No more worrying about charging their laptops and phones, we’ll provide outlets! How awesome. They’ll create a monument to Ed for his “legacy”.
Another thing. Those sky boxes? Remember those? Which gang do you think is going to rule the “park” from those suites in the sky?
And think about this. Ed’s favorite local politician seems to be Houston’s failed mayor, Annise Parker.
Now, we know that Mayor Parker can’t stand homeless folks. Along comes Ed with the perfect solution – a climate controlled park that belongs to the county, not the city! Imagine her relief to know that citizens no longer have to worry about those icky, smelly homeless folks on the streets of downtown Houston. Instead, they now have a climate controlled park to live in! Heck, I bet that their daily panhandling take will increase because they won’t be so darn smelly! Hey Ed, how about putting showers in? You know, for the “joggers”, wink, wink.
Let’s all sing along now, okay?
Where o’where has my Eddie gone? O’where, o’where can he be?
With his fiscal sense and his vision gone, o’where, o’where can he be?
by Don Hooper
Houston is home to a long list of famous plaintiffs’ lawyers. Did you know that Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan is trying to add his name to that list?
There are legitimate public policy reasons that protect local government from litigious plaintiffs; however, the Harris County Attorney’s office and Vince Ryan are using this veil to harass local citizens and business.
Recently, we saw Vince Ryan use expensive resources such as private investigators and jury consultants to attack a political foe, Dave Wilson. Thankfully, the Harris County jury did the right thing and Dave Wilson is now serving as a Houston Community College Trustee; but, this is a glimpse into the strategies and motivations of our current county attorney. In Dave’s case, Vince Ryan had to prove that Dave did not live where he said he did at the time of the election. So, months later, Vince Ryan employed private investigators to watch Dave Wilson. This entire episode was intended to harass Dave Wilson.
The Harris County Attorney’s office has established arrangements with various local law firms to file lawsuits on behalf of Harris County. Recently, Harris County, through outside law firms, has filed lawsuits against BP, Halliburton, the Melcher family, and Waste Management. Not only is this bad public policy; but, these lawsuits hit at the heart of some of the most prominent donors to the Houston arts and culture.
Channel 8, Houston Public Television, operates from the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting on the University of Houston campus. Houston Public Radio also operates from the Melcher Center. The Melcher family supports many important local charitable causes and community activities.
The Melcher family owns the property that houses the new Liberty Kitchen, located at San Felipe and Briar Oaks. Vince Ryan filed harassing litigation against the Melchers through a third party law firm over this notable property. The sole purpose in filing these lawsuits is to force a settlement, which brings money to the county and to the outside law firms.
Vince Ryan has begun a pattern of using outside law firms to sue local entities and families. Earlier this summer, Harris County joined a lawsuit against ten companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident. As reported on 60 Minutes, the recovery effort against BP is resulting in fraudulent claims against the company. While the State of Texas and the City of Houston have filed similar lawsuits, it is difficult to claim that the BP disaster created a negative economic impact on Harris County, Texas. Many local businesses, including environmental firms, barge, and shipping companies, thrived during the clean up effort. That being said, I mention the BP litigation to highlight the mechanics that Vince Ryan is using to file these lawsuits – give business to outside law firms (friends of Vince) generally in exchange for political support.
There is a legal doctrine called standing – a presumption that citizens cannot sue the government. Standing is generally the first sword drawn when the government is in a defensive posture. The City of Houston and the Harris County Attorney’s office all have standing “experts” on call and these are the first attorneys to the courthouse whenever a lawsuit is filed against local government.
So, what happens when government goes after good people with bogus lawsuits? Good government deserves the standing protection because we do not want our tax dollars to be wasted on fraudulent lawsuits. Should government lose its standing protection when they use government to hijack wealthy families and successful businesses? Are we at risk of losing this protection because of government gone wrong? This is a slippery slope because, today, it is the Melchers; but, tomorrow, it could be you.