| This morning I met our Travis County Tax Assessor/Collector, Nelda Wells Spears, for the first time. We'd never met and I asked to do so to gain a perspective for the upcoming primary. I was surprised to meet such an unassuming, quiet, strong and contemplative woman.
First, she's been a good tax assessor/collector and public servant for many years. The accurate picture of her performance is a best-in-any-Texas-county 99% collection rate and similarly best-in-any-urban-county 94% voter registration rate.
Since I moved to Austin in 1983, it's gotten easier to pay taxes, register to vote and register vehicles, especially these last 15 years. Turns out, we have Nelda to thank for all this.
Nelda, an Austin native, graduated from historically black Fisk University and returned to Austin. In 1986, her husband was murdered by drug dealers he'd chased off their East Austin property. Nelda was left a single mom with a 5yo daughter and an 11yo son.
She was appointed to fill an unexpired term as Travis County Tax Assessor/Collector in 1991. She was elected to that office in 1992 and in every election since.
She's since put her two grown children through college. Despite Glen Maxey's criticism for taking a part time job one season, I think it is very cool that she worked evenings and weekends part time just to make the extra $2,000 needed to pay her daughter's Dillard University tuition.
We discussed today's AAS article extensively re: the bill to require proof of citizenship to register to vote. She has received numerous calls and emails about this bill. She values the opinions of those who expressed reservations and opposition. And, she admits she could have been wrong (really, and she's a politician :) ) She's reconsidering her position and tells me she'd never support a bill, process or procedure which threatened anyone's right to vote or to even register. I don't think she considered the AusChron question in the broader context and simply thought whether her 80yo mother, or similarly aged two aunts, (all three for whom she cares) would have any difficulty if it'd been applied to them.
Nelda says she won't go negative. That's not who she is and she wouldn't want to keep the office if it caused her to compromise her principles or treat others as Glen Maxey is treating her.
Nelda Wells Spears is a woman who knows who she is, what's right, what's wrong and moves forward by working hard. She's exactly the type of person we need to keep in office.
Eugene Sepulveda
p.s. I've given money to Glen Maxey, voted for him, block walked with him, registered voters with him and strategized with him. Many of us owe Glen a great deal for what he's done. Though, for Glen Maxey to unfairly beat up on a well-performing, East-Austin-native, African-American woman, I don't think these are progressive, Democratic or Austin values.
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