This caught my eye for a couple reasons. One, it's fun to pick on Don Zzzzzimmerman (with ReZultz!). Two, this is bizarrely disturbing.
This is running locally in Austin now as Don is running against incumbent Nelda Wells Spears.
Zimmerman's current website is equally ridiculous. Some may remember him from a failed attempt to be the Republican nominee in 2006 for HD-50 against Mark Strama.
(Glen Maxey is a BOR endorsed candidate. - promoted by Burnt Orange Report)
For political observers of Travis County, it comes as little surprise and even less of a shock that our friends at the Austin American Statesman declined to endorse me in my race for Tax Assessor Collector & Voter Registrar here. While candidates and political observers can debate the relative importance of newspaper endorsements until the cows come home (especially in a year when a boatload of the non-newspaper reading public is turning out to vote for the first time in a primary), the very least we should expect is some valid, well-reasoned commentary from the paper of record.
On that front, I think we need to clarify some issues raised in the Statesman's editorial, beginning with a large, rather obvious, factual error in the opening of their editorial.
It would not be too surprising to see a Republican make a run against Spears, 61, but none is running for the office this year.
Pardon me? You'd think the editorial writer would read the news section of their own newspaper or check out this nifty webpage on the Austin American Statesman.
You'll see there that the local Ron Paul for President chairman, former candidate for State Representative in District 50, and leader of the folks who opposed creation of the Travis County Hospital District, Don Zimmerman, is filed and running as the Republican candidate for Tax Assessor-Collector.
Instead, the challenger is a fellow Democrat, former state representative and political consultant, Glen Maxey, 55.
Well that's wrong, too. My birthday was Saturday so I'm 56. But that's an error that I won't raise too much of a fuss about.
Maxey has tried hard to explain just what it is beyond personal ambition that prompted him to run against Spears.
It's not too hard to explain if one just tried a simple check of my campaign website. There you can read about my reasons for running based upon serious concerns on Voter Registration, Collecting Delinquent Taxes, and on Voter Protection. If I was after personal ambition, I think I'd be running for something a bit more glamorous than Tax Assessor.
Maxey asserted that Spears was too harsh in seizing the homes of the poor in East Austin to satisfy unpaid taxes, but that isn't true. The foreclosures were filed largely against absentee owners.
Spears says she's not foreclosed on a single homestead in her time in office. Check out this website (it would be her office's official site).
You can look through the last year's foreclosure sales. Those who are redeemable for 24 months are those that are homesteads. I found a bunch during the last year. I don't know how Spears defines "homestead", but the law is pretty clear: You own it and reside in it to file for a homestead exemption.
A simple data match I did between the voter list and the property rolls, shows that over 5% of the folks in East Austin who own a home and are registered to vote at that same location don't have a basic homestead exemption. An activist leader would be finding out why that many folks are missing this benefit. And an active Tax Assessor would be educating them about obtaining it.
A true active leader would show up for more than 12% of the meetings since 2000 of the Travis County Appraisal District Board meetings. An active leader would be leading the conversation about what we need to do locally and at the Legislature to deal with inequities in appraisal policy.
Then he made a stink over some voter registration problems that appear now to have been resolved. It was the kind of administrative hiccup offices, public or private, occasionally experience.
A stink over some voter registration problems? It's stunning that the editorial board of the Statesman would dismiss denial of the right to vote of even a single voter, much less the thousands in question.
First, there was the purging of thousands of voters in the debacle of comparing the state voter list with the local one maintained by Spears' office. When it was discovered that many were inaccurately purged, Ms. Spears decided that these voters needed to register to vote all over again. Thankfully, lots have.
However, there are still many voters who were not notified of this bureaucratic mishap. Through no fault of their own, they are no longer registered after meeting all requirements. Ms. Spears seems to shrug her shoulders and blame the voters. Sorry, that's not good enough when dealing with the constitutional right to vote. She knows who was purged by the "system". She should have added them back on the rolls. I expect there are going to be some angry voters after this election.
Secondly, it has been discovered that over 1000 people who voted in the 2004 General Election were purged the month after the election. Over 225 people who voted in the 2006 General Election were purged one month after voting. These folks, once again, did what they were supposed to do, yet are no longer registered. And the American Statesman editorial writer blow this off as an "administrative hiccup"? The right to vote is sacred. It's not a hiccup.
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.
In a recent e-mail, former State Representative and community leader Glen Maxey shares an alarming experience during the Austin Chronicle endorsement meeting.
Nelda Wells Spears, the current Tax Assessor Collector and director of voter registration, was asked why she didn't go to the Capitol to speak against the Republican voter suppression bills. Her answer is stunning.
Ms. Spears response was shocking. She said she thought requiring ID and proof of citizenship when registering to vote was a great idea and something we needed.
This is a follow up from January 10th when Spears said at the Capitol Area Democratic Women's forum, "People have to check that box that says they're a citizen. We have a lot of people from other countries. We need something, some way... to make sure they're all citizens when they register to vote."
After watching the debate around HB 218 and 626 unfold during the 80th legislature, I can say that the Craddick, Abbott, and Dewhurst lead charge to suppress minority voters is not the answer. It is troubling to hear a Democratic candidate echo the Republican talking points.
(While the Travis County District Attorney's race has become hot, this race is equally important for Travis Democrats as it could have statewide implications (given the Voter Registration component of the office). - promoted by Mark Duncan)
With the Central Labor Council preparing to make endorsements in the Democratic Primary, I’ve taken a moment to reflect on my long history of work with and in support of the organized labor movement.
I grew up in a union family. While working for the State, I was a member of TSEU/CWA and AFSCME. I am now a member of the AFSCME Retiree Group and TSEU.
The first bill I worked as an aide to State Senator Kent Caperton was the due process employment bill for teachers. I’m proud of our work passing that bill to give job security and continuing contracts to public education employees
I was taught about the legislative process by Sen. Oscar Mauzy, one of the strongest labor movement leaders. While working for Mauzy, my proudest moment was working to bring worker’s compensation to farm workers.
During 12 years in the Texas House, I can point to a 100% labor record, 100% on consumer and environmental protection, and 100% on civil and worker’s rights.
You’ll not find a better friend of labor.
I want to bring my committment to the cause of organized labor to the second largest office in county government.
For the past 16 years, the incumbent has operated an at-will employment office. It’s unconscionable in 2007 for an elected official in Travis County to have an at-will employment policy.
That will change immediately when I take office. On my first day in office, I’ll impose a just-cause employment policy for employees of the Tax Office.
I pledge to do a case-by-case review of employees’ compensation in relation to their pay grades, and inequities caused by market study adjustments shall be remedied. I’ll be an advocate for my employees in the budget process.
In addition, I opposed privatization of state services as a legislator, and I oppose the privatization of our delinquent tax collection efforts at the Tax Office. Decisions of filing lawsuits and taking people’s property are serious decisions, and I’ll work to see that this is done fairly and only after all other remedies have been tried to help struggling families.
County employees deserve no less, and they’ll have my support from day one, not just when election time rolls around.
(Here's another candidate diary for discussion. - promoted by BOR)
Why hasn't Nelda Spears Filed her Personal Financial Statements?
On Tuesday, my campaign manager, Elliott McFadden, filed a complaint with the County Attorney against Nelda Spears for failing to file her Personal Financial Statements with the County Clerk in the years 2001, 2002, and 2003.
These reports include information about all sources of income, debt, and boards elected officials serve on. They are required to be filed every year by elected officials to ensure there are no conflicts of interest. Failure to file is a Class B misdemeanor. The Spears campaign response in the Austin Chronicle has been to hide behind the statute of limitations on these offenses.
This is absurd! Elected officials should be held to a higher standard than being able to get away with breaking the law because time has run out. Instead of arguing over which law Ms. Spear broke, she should just file the missing information.
As a leader on ethics reform in the State Legislature, I believe in full discloure to ensure there are no secret deals and no hidden conflicts of interest. I filed my Personal Financial Statements each year as a legislator which are available to view at the Texas Ethics Commission.
Though I am not required by law to do so, I am disclosing on my website my client list since I retired from the Legislature. I encourage Ms. Spears to file these missing reports prompting so that public can be assured there is no conflict of interest.
I'm Glen Maxey and I'm running as a Democrat for Travis County Tax Assessor Collector.
Glen Maxey is running for tax assessor-collector and voter registrar for Travis and we haven't even mentioned it here on BOR. I can see Glen not starting the thread, but no reason someone else can't. I think it's great news!
Austin Chronicle Campaign Buzz: June 29, 2007
In declaring for the race, Maxey is taking on 16-year incumbent Nelda Wells Spears, who had been rumored to be considering retirement. Asked Monday whether she's running for re-election for another four-year term, Wells Spears responded simply, "Yes, I am." She said she has "several projects in the works" that she wants to see to completion, citing specifically a computer-imaging system for records retrieval still in development that will "smooth the work flow," as well as additional training programs for employees. "We don't get many complaints about our public service," she adds, "but one is too many."
The first bill I worked as an aide to State Senator Kent Caperton was the due process employment bill for teachers. I’m proud of our work passing that bill to give job security and continuing contracts to public education employees
For the past 16 years, the incumbent has operated an at-will employment office. It’s unconscionable in 2007 for an elected official in Travis County to have an at-will employment policy.