Annette Ramirez
Probably none of us is as excited about the race for Harris County tax assessor-collector as Annette Ramirez is. And that includes her Republican opponent.
“I always call it the sexiest race on the ballot,” says Ramirez, 52, a Democrat and licensed tax attorney who worked more than 23 years for Alief ISD. She’s joking — partly, but she also really loves the behind-the-scenes work of setting up fair and efficient systems.
Certainly, though, the position has a real impact on the everyday lives of residents. Besides sending out the often gigantic tax bill that home and business owners get every year, this officeholder oversees voter registration, vehicle titles, boat licenses, alcoholic beverage taxes and a host of other roles.
Ramirez actually wants to sweat the small stuff. She’s got a long list of ideas to make our interactions with government less painful. That includes working with the county attorney’s office as it transitions away from using an outside law firm, Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, to collect delinquent property taxes. A similar move on toll road collections saved drivers money by dropping violation fees by 45% and, because more people paid up, increased revenue for county government. Apparently, only the private lawyers lost out.
The Republican candidate on the ballot, former Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack, rightfully claims credit for the victory on toll road collections because he led the charge to ditch Linebarger back in 2018. In his 32 years as a commissioner — the editorial board endorsed him term after term — Radack also massively expanded public parks and recreational bike trails in unincorporated Harris County. During the recent endorsement screening, he recounted an impressive number of details and backstories on a broad range of issues going back to the 1980s. He managed to be both outspoken and cordial. At 74, he has served as a Houston police officer, Harris County constable and has built he also has strong relationships with Republican state leaders that could benefit Harris County.
In the end, though, Radack seems to be auditioning for the wrong job. He’s more interested in haranguing Democrats who have a 4-1 majority on Commissioner’s Court than he is in the nitty-gritty of this position. The Democrats may indeed need some haranguing from time to time, but that’s not the responsibility of the tax assessor. That’s currently up to Radack’s successor and the lone Republican on Commissioners Court, Tom Ramsey, who also gets assists from the likes of state Sen. Paul Bettencourt and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“Being tax assessor-collector, you have an office to run,” Radack acknowledged in the screening with Ramirez. But he focused on the opportunity this office would give him to “point out waste.” He lambasted the county’s attempt to launch a universal basic income program, which if it surmounts a legal challenge from Paxton would use $20.5 million in federal pandemic relief funds to give about 1,900 recipients $500 per month with the goal of allowing people to make their own choices to lift themselves out of poverty.
Unlike the Houston controller, who must sign off on the city’s budget, the tax assessor-collector doesn’t have power to block Commissioners Court. Radack noted the most he could do is temporarily hold back funds.
Radack is welcome to call out Democrats with op-eds in the Houston Chronicle or voice his opinions elsewhere, but voters should elect a tax assessor-collector focused on the decidedly unsexy aspects of the role. That would be Ramirez.
If you haven’t had a chance to listen to my interview with Annette Ramirez from the primary, you should. She knows her stuff, and I fully expect she will make a difference. And if you’re old enough to remember Steve Radack, you know that the best place for him right now is, like, a golf course. Yell at the livestream of the Commissioners Court meetings all you want, dude. Your watch has ended. Anyway, read the endorsement and vote for Annette Ramirez.
Yeah, I don’t miss the days when the likes of Bettencourt and Stan Stanart decided to butt into things that weren’t their jobs as tax assessor-collector and county clerk, respectively. I also don’t miss Radack on commissioner’s court. I remember Bettencourt’s pushes to handcuff the Houston city budget and Stanart for some reason doing press releases through his office on federal issues.
Run for the job and, if elected, do the job for the job; don’t use the office as a bully pulpit outside of your responsibilities. I’m figuring that’s why Bettencourt decided on the state senate instead, since he could rabble rouse more successfully there (and have a far more right-wing constituency).
If we could thumb up or down, Soup would get a thumb up from me.