The Chron finally makes an endorsement in the other open legislative seat, HD144.
Mary Ann Perez
For this open seat, we recommend the Democrat, Mary Ann Perez, whose professional skills and experience in another contentious political arena would serve her and the district well in Austin. Perez is opposed by a Republican and a Libertarian.
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A Milby High School graduate, Perez knows this territory well. She has an admirable history of community participation at the grass-roots level, beginning with service as president of her neighborhood civic association and on the board of directors of her two sons’ Little League.
She has since moved on to bigger things, serving as chair of the Board of Trustees of the Houston Community College, where she has proven herself as a knowledgeable and capable leader. If elected to the Texas House, she would be constitutionally obliged to resign from her HCC position, but she would bring her knowledge and experience with her to Austin.
Her community college board experience recommends Perez’s candidacy in two important ways:
1) It has given her real-world experience dealing with important public policy issues while learning the art of compromise.
2) It has brought her familiarity with education issues at a high level.
If they select Mary Ann Perez as their representative, District 144 voters will thus be sending to Austin a woman already well schooled in the two most important subjects facing the Legislature in 2012: education and working across the aisle to create reasonable compromise.
I’m not sure what took them so long to get to this race, since by the numbers it’s the most competitive district in the county and an open seat to boot, but there it is. If Perez wins and all other races hold true to their partisan leanings, Democrats will hold 13 of the 24 seats in Harris County. Perez has the backing of Annie’s List and the HDCC in this high-priority district. How good a day Texas Democrats have on Tuesday will depend in part on the outcome in this race.