Missed Opportunities....

What a difference four years makes.

In 2006, Democratic candidate for Harris County Treasurer Richard Garcia ran on a platform of abolishing the office against eventual winner, and Republican perennial candidate Orlando Sanchez who ran on a platform of....oh heck I don't know.

Now, as Chris Moran of ChronBlog reports the race is back on the table with Sanchez, again promising...nevermind, and Democratic challenger Billy Briscoe who's promising to push for an expensive audit with hopes that it will "improve" (READ: Increase the budget and responsibilities of) the office.

Moran also notes, in his article*, that the duties of the office have been stripped down to what basically accounts to cutting checks and balancing a checkbook, duties that could really be handled within the confines of the Controller's office. Four years ago Harris County voters had a chance to cut away a small slice of government bloat, they missed.

Look at where we are now.



*Sadly, this piece will probably be the only thing you see on the race, besides a throw-away endorsement of Briscoe by the Apple Dumpling Gang that is. Houston voters deserve better local political coverage. (NOT a shot at Moran, more a shot at the members of the ChronBlog mast-head who have decided to punt, for the most part, on local politics.)