On Friday November 2, 2007, the Houston Property Rights Association welcomed Harris County Judge candidate Charles Bacarisse. I've been lying down on the job on posting on HPRA meetings, but I will try to make up on this by following up with a meeting held on November 16, 2007 with Bob Lemer soon after this one.
The meeting with Mr. Bacarisse actually started with news on the latest happenings with the Floodway Coalition. HPRA members heard of stories from the Floodway Coalition's townhall meeting where that group has filed lawsuits against the City of Houston for unconstitutional regulatory takings stemming from the enacting of the ordinance. One person, who has land near downtown Houston, and which had planned to construct a parking garage, can no longer construct that parking garage due to restrictions placed on his property by the ordinance. That man has experienced a property value loss of $25 million from not being able to improve his parcel of land by construct that garage.
But on to Mr. Bacarisse. Mr. Bacarisse served 12 years as the Harris County District Clerk. He says he gave money back which was budgeted to his office 11 out of the 12 years he was in office, as he was able to hold his budget within line. he also started a criminal collections unit to go after criminals who had not paid fines imposed on them during punishment sentencing. This unit collected $60 million during his tenure in office.
Bacarisse thinks there is a big disconnect between voters and local government, with many in local government showing considerable arrogance once in office. He cited the Wayne Dolcefino stories on KTRK-TV showing County Commissioner Jerry Eversole living an indolent days while collecting his six figure salary as a commissioner. He said that the County is complicit with the City of Houston with regards to the Floodway Ordinance, though the County did not enact it. He thinks the Floodway Ordinance is bureaucratic arrogance at work.
With regards to Metro, Bacarisse has it in his campaign platform that Metro either abides to the clear terms of the 2003 Bond election (50 percent increased bus service, 25 percent of general mobility monies be paid, clearly defined train routes, amongst other things), or that a new election should be held. In retrospect, the group did not ask Bacarisse about the troubling issue of Metro's 1,500 foot radius condemnation power around rail stations.
In continuing with talking about his platform, Bacarisse told the audience that County revenues were up $175 million, 12 percent, in 2007 over 2006. He asked for a 5 cent per $100 property tax valuation at the Court, which would return $125 million to taxpayers. Bacarisse's opponent, the appointed Judge Ed Emmett, fired back "where are you going to cut?" Bacarisse told the audience that we need to keep the foot off of the accelerator and the way he wants to do this is through the enactment of a taxpayer bill of rights (or TABOR), to hold growth in spending to a combination of population growth and inflation. Bacarisse told the audience this can be done if he can get two of the other county commissioners to sign on to this. It does not have to be done by initiative or referendum, nor through permission from the State Legislature.
Bacarisse told the audience that the number of County administration personnel are up 90% in the past decade. There are now 51 members of County Judge staff, up from 25. He charged that Judge Emmett has added more than $200,000 in staff costs since being appointed.
Bacarisse said that the Harris County Toll Road Authority has $700 million in cash reserves, as well as having collected $358 million in tolls in 2006. The authority needs to make sure it spends money strictly on projects that alleviate congestion. He has been talking with David Hutzelman about such issues, noting that the Houston Texans practice facility was about to go into default. The bonds for the project were bought out by toll road revenues. Bacarisse said this was illegal, since the laws which created the authority forbid toll road monies from being used for non-transportation purposes. He said he is opposed to a State wide toll road authority, a regional toll road authority, the Trans Texas Corridor, as well as converting already paid for roads to toll roads. Bacarisse thinks that the County should stay in control of the toll roads.
Since this meeting was held before the 2007 elections, Bacarisse talked about the numerous bond proposals on the ballot. He noted that the advertisements for the County bonds told voters that they would not cost you a cent. The phone number on the bonds led to former Judge Robert Eckels' phone number at Fulbright and Jaworski. Bacarisse pledged that contributions to his campaigns would be posted to his site.
More with regards to the bonds, Bacarisse says that a big problem with bond issues is that would be issuers too often say, "give us $100 million" for parks, roads, etc. However, they do not spell out in a line matter what exactly the bonds are supposed to be used for. Bacarisse says this amounts to governments wanting a blank check instead of telling voters exactly what those bonds are supposed to be used for.
Astrodome: Bacarisse asked the audience "when was the last time you have seen a situation where the that the tenants on a property tell the landlord what will go on there?" That is what he sees happening with the Astrodome. We the peasantry are still paying $36 million in bond debt for the new seats that were put in so that Bud Adams would keep the Houston Oilers in Houston. Bacarisse says this is a lack of leadership on deciding what to do.
One HPRA member asked Ed Emmett a while back if he could tell him what the County debt was? The Judge couldn't tell him that. He asked Bacarisse if the County could put together an easy to read website which would tell taxpayers who we owe money to and how much. Bacarisse replied that the Harris County Auditor's site was somewhat useful, but that more could be done to make reports less confusing, more user friendly, and detailed.
Another member asked what could be done about County taxpayers having to pay for health care given to illegal immigrants. This woman asserted that 50 percent of those in intensive care in the Harris County Hospital District were illegals or those from other countries. Bacarisse replied that the federal government have said that we have to provide treatment. Bacarisse said he would like to look into stopping non-critical treatment, as well as having them pay something for their care. He mentioned that trying to get data out of the HCHD for 7 weeks concerning sponsored immigrants working legally, but cannot even get that much less data on illegal immigrants. Bacarisse supports Commissioner Sylvia Garcia's idea to attach a fee on wire transfers to pay for immigrant health care.
One attendee asked what Bacarisse was going to do about the evacuees from Louisiana. Bacarisse said that 2/3rd's of the evacuees have been absorbed into Houston successfully. The remaining 1/3rd are still a problem. The District Attorney has added 25 prosecutors since 2006. Bacarisse told the audience that if the next hurricane comes within the next 5-10 years, he intends to hang a no vacancy sign out, saying that Houston has done its part to alleviate the problems caused by other cities. What if the same thing happens to us? Will others do the same for us that we did for them? He also mentioned that the County has set up a secure website for illegal criminal case files, which can be accessed by anyone in law enforcement at any level of government. The feds now have an immigration person at the time of booking because they know where to go to look for information.
A final question was asked about the amount of taxpayer money that is paid by Houston residents, but that the County spends a disproportionate amount on areas outside the City, as well as in unincorporated areas. Bacarisse said he did not know exactly what the figures were for how much money was paid by various areas verses how much they received in benefits. Another member mentioned that it may be that Houston residents get more health care at the County hospitals, while areas outside of Houston get roads and more parks.
And so it was. The Wizard thinks that the County Judge race, mega money Democrat David Mincberg notwithstanding, is still Ed Emmett's to lose, though I will be voting for Charles Bacarisse in the primary. I think Bacarisse is more of a straight speaker than Ed Emmett and I also think that Emmett is too much the establishment man to effect anything meaningful. At least Robert Eckles would tell people no sometimes.
Next up is Mr. Lemer.
Wizard
Posted by The Mighty Wizard at November 17, 2007 12:38 AM