Burnt Orange Report

Meet VaLinda Hathcox

By Vince Leibowitz

[[EXCLUSIVE]] Given that I hadn't seen much about Land Commissioner candidate VaLinda Hathcox in statewide media following her filing yesterday, I decided to give her a call myself in an effort to help other Democrats get to know the candidate for Land Commissioner.

No stranger to politics, Hathcox, presently an attorney in private practice, has the distinction of having been the first woman elected County Attorney in Hopkins County. She presently lives in Hopkins County and she and her family own a ranch/former dairy farm in Hopkins County as well as property in Wood County.

Though County Attorney of Hopkins County is the only elected post she's held to date, her resume is lengthy and distinguished, starting with an internship in the General Land Office early in her career. While at the GLO, Hathcox helped re-write state leases to include provisions for geothermal resources. Following that, she served as a hearings examiner (equivelant to an administrative law judge today) for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts under Texas political legend Bob Bullock.

She also served as Special Assistant Attorney General under Jim Mattox as director of that office's legislative programs. Hathcox also served as General Counsel for the Texas Association of Counties and as director of programs for the State Bar of Texas.

Aside from having run for county attorney, Hathcox ran for State Representative in the Austin area years ago in a 13-field race which included former State Representative Glenn Maxey, and ran against former State Senator Bill Ratliff early in his career as well, in addition to a try for a multi-county state district judgeship serving Lamar and Hopkins Counties, where she made a good showing in spite of the district being heavily stacked toward Lamar County candidates.

As far as her plans for the office, among other things Hathcox wants to work to make better use of geothermal resources and ensure that are well-educated when it comes to lending practices related to home equity loans.

A Sulphur Springs native, Hathcox earned her bachelors and masters degrees from East Texas State University and her law degree from the University of Texas.