Here is from today’s Chron:
Within hours of longtime Commissioner El Franco Lee’s sudden death Sunday, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett received calls from three people vying for his seat.
Emmett, who alone must appoint a temporary successor, said he will not consider these three or five others who by day’s end expressed their interest.
“There’s such a thing as dignity,” Emmett said on Monday.
While these contenders may have shrugged off grace and propriety, they and others coming forward more quietly understand that being precinct commissioner with a base annual salary of about $167,000 is a plum job wielding power to build roads and parks with minimal legislative wrangling and without the pressure of term limits.
The County Judge has the right to set his criteria on this appointment, but if he is going to rule out those that violated the dignity thing, he ought to at least give us the names of those he disqualified.
The real power is in the hands of the Democratic Party precinct chairs of Commissioner Precinct 1. They get to pick the Dem Party’s nominee who will be elected in November for a four-year term. Judge Emmett gets to pick someone who will only serve through the end of this year.
I don’t know if the precinct chairs have established a dignity criteria so stay tuned!
The Baseball Hall of Fame will announce the new inductees tomorrow. Of all the Hall of Fame greats who played catcher for most of their careers, name the player with the most career dingers?
Here is this from the Tribune:
Congressional District 29: Gene Green vs. Adrian Garcia
U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, learned in the last hours of filing day that former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, a friend and fellow Democrat, would challenge him for his seat, which represents parts of north and east Houston.
Garcia says that it is time for a Latino to represent the district and that as a Hispanic, he is a better voice to counter the incendiary remarks of people like GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Green, who has served in CD-29 since he was elected in 1992, faces a series of challenges with Garcia’s candidacy. Hispanics make up about 80 percent of the district, and Garcia has residual name identification from his unsuccessful 2015 Houston mayoral race.
Garcia’s last-minute filing could have been a sneak attack against Green, an incumbent who has perennially glided to re-election.
But the incumbent doesn’t appear to have been caught sleeping. Green came out of the gate swinging at Garcia, calling the challenge a “Hail Mary.” He has well over $1 million at the ready, and several people in the Houston area say that Green is using connections made over his 20-plus years in office to consolidate his Democratic support.
A third Democrat, Dominique M. Garcia, could pull enough votes to kick this to a runoff. Two Republicans — Julio Garza and Robert Schafranek — also filed, but this safely Democratic district is expected to come down to Green or Adrian Garcia.
Hall of Fame great Johnny Bench of course has 389 career dingers to lead those in the Hall who played catcher for most of their MLB career.
We will find out tomorrow if Jeff Bagwell gets the call to the Hall.
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