Will Eckels' departure be a twofer?

I still don't care what Robert Eckels will or will not be doing now that he's cashed in and moved on. But there is an item of interest at the very end of this story, and it has to do with the process to select a replacement for him.

Commissioners Court -- including Eckels -- will make the appointment. Eckels and the court's two other Republicans, Commissioners Jerry Eversole and Steve Radack, form a 3-2 GOP majority.

Ed Emmett, a transportation consultant and former state representative, recently emerged as a front-runner for the job.

Eckels said he hopes that the court's two Democrats, El Franco Lee and Sylvia Garcia, will vote with the majority so whoever succeeds him is appointed unanimously.

But the court's Republicans still haven't convinced leadership in their own party that Emmett is the best choice, said county GOP chairman Jared Woodfill.

Woodfill sent a letter inviting Eversole to discuss the appointment March 5 with the party's executive committee -- which comprises about 450 precinct chairs.

In the letter, Woodfill said the committee hopes the appointee is a conservative Republican who has experience in county government and the kind of name recognition that would allow him or her to win in 2008.

An election that November will fill the rest of Eckels' term, followed in 2010 by an election for the next four-year term.

Woodfill said the executive committee would welcome District Clerk Charles Bacarisse, County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt or County Clerk Beverly Kaufman as prospective appointees to succeed Eckels.

All three of the people that Jared Woodfill is pushing are current officeholders, of which two - Bacarisse and Kaufman - were elected last November along with Eckels. As such, if any of them are named to replace Eckels, someone else will have to be named to replace them. If it's Bacarisse or Kaufman, that means we'll have two countywide offices held by people who were not elected to those offices, for almost two years. While I welcome the opportunity for Democrats to take back two offices instead of just one, you have to admit that's a pretty neat trick.

And as far as Bettencourt goes, he's been office shopping for some time now. He'd have better odds in CD22 (assuming he can hold back the pink tsunami, of course), but this way at least the Republicans get to avoid having to defend an open seat. And hey, if they give Bettencourt a promotion, they can then bump Bacarisse up as well and have three offices held by appointees for the price of one. Woo hoo!

Bottom line, I hope that Commissioners Garcia and Lee give serious thought to dissenting. So far, at least, I'm not seeing any reason why they should give their seal of approval to this dog and pony show.

UPDATE: Maybe all of the grousing some of us have been doing has had an effect.

Resigning County Judge Robert Eckels said Wednesday that he weighed not seeking re-election last year but worried that lame-duck status would hamper his efforts to help the area recover from the 2005 hurricane crises.

The hurricane emergency convinced him he should run, Eckels said in a meeting with the Houston Chronicle editorial board.

[...]

Once he decided to join Fulbright, Eckels said, he originally planned to resign next September -- nearly a year into his term.

But a number of people advised him to resign sooner rather than later after he told the Chronicle late last month that he had been discussing taking a post with a law firm.

Eckels said this week that he would resign his post as early as March to become a partner at Fulbright. He said he will work with lawyers in the public financing and governmental relations sectors but not do much lobbying.

Not so unfazed any more, apparently. Here's a helpful hint for you as a parting gift, Bob: Next time you're thinking about resigning, don't tell anyone about it until you've got the letter typed up and signed. It's a lot cleaner that way.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on February 22, 2007 to Local politics