Holy Shit! The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!
By Byron LaMasters
Ok, not really, but the Dallas Morning News endorsed Democrat Diana Lackey for Dallas County Tax Assessor over GOP incumbent David Childs.
In the last year for which statistics are available, the Dallas County tax office, headed by 15-year GOP incumbent David Childs, collected 95.8 percent of the taxes owed the county. That sounds good, but it puts Dallas County fourth among Texas' five major urban counties. (Only Harris County was less effective.)
One year might be a fluke, but for the past 10 years Dallas County's collection rate has consistently lagged those of Tarrant, Travis and Bexar counties. If Mr. Childs' office had been as effective as the other three, averaged, Dallas County's coffers would have been fatter by $43 million over that period.
[...]
The 51-year-old challenger, who has a bachelor's of science in accounting from San Diego State University, comes with an impressive resume and glowing recommendations from her former employers in California's Santa Clara and San Diego counties. Between them, she worked in those counties' tax offices for 24 years, working her way up from a trainee in San Diego to the No. 2 person in the Santa Clara office. (Santa Clara, site of San Jose, is California's fourth-most-populous county.) During her six-year tenure there, the county's collection rate jumped substantially over previous years'.
[...]
Fortunately, voters have an excellent alternative. We feel confident that Ms. Lackey can take the tax office to the next level.
Wow. I can't remember the last time the Dallas Morning News endorsed a Democratic challenger over a GOP incumbent (even if it's for the lowly office of tax assessor). Maybe I should lighten up a bit on them. Or maybe I should just remind themselves that they still have a rigid GOP bias.
Current DMN endorsement tally:
9 Republicans
2 Democrats
Posted by Byron LaMasters at September 29, 2004 01:39 PM
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