They don’t love him enough to endorse him during or before early voting, but they do still love him.
Orlando Sanchez
[Republican] primary voters should give [County Treasurer Orlando] Sanchez a place on the November ballot.
Sanchez, 62, is a former three-term member of Houston City Council and two-time unsuccessful candidate for mayor, but he seems to have settled in well as county treasurer. While the duties of the treasurer’s office have been reduced to balancing the county checkbook, cutting checks and accounting for funds, Sanchez has also served as a reasonable voice against some government habits that deserve a second look.
Whether questioning Metro’s use of GO TEXANS marquees on buses or bringing attention to the county losing millions in credit swaps, Sanchez isn’t afraid to speak up where he thinks he has a duty. We wish he’d bark even louder as a county watchdog, even if there is a legislative muzzle over his office’s bite. Sanchez told the Chronicle he didn’t think it was his job to weigh in on commissioners’ individual spending choices, but an independent treasurer shouldn’t be afraid to provide independent opinions.
Just curious here, but do you think anyone on the Chron’s editorial board could name even one thing besides the “GO TEXANS” kerfuffle that Orlando Sanchez has done in his eight years as Treasurer? Here’s a suggestion of something they could have asked him about during their screening:
Sanchez hopes to reclaim the office’s past role in overseeing county investments, an idea with added momentum due to the legal problems of the current chief financial officer. To that end Sanchez completed a required investment education course to be certified as a county investment officer under the Texas Public Funds Investment Act.
That’s from the Chron’s 2010 general election endorsement of ol’ Orlando. Anyone know if he took any steps toward achieving that goal in the past four years? Anyone want to guess if the Chron asked him about it? But hey, he sure was on top of that issue of bus marquees. I wonder what accomplishment he’ll tout for the November endorsement screening.
By the way, if you click through the photo gallery in this story, you’ll see the Chron’s complete list of endorsements for the primary, not counting Sanchez and James Cargas. I guess that means the Chron officially took no position in the Democratic primary for County Clerk. Whether that was by accident or design, I have no idea.