Back in 1999, when the Republicans first started their now two-decade long run in charge of Texas State Government, then Texas Monthly political scribbler Paul "the Clown" Burka asked one of the rare intelligent questions of his career: "Can the Republicans Govern?"
It was a salient question at the time because many of the newly installed R's had little, if any experience in public office, knew little about the workings of the Texas Government and, for the first time, were looking down the barrel of not being just in opposition but of actually passing bills, and governing.
After a couple of legislative sessions it turned out that they COULD govern, and despite the fact that many on the left didn't like it their transformative approach to State governance (namely: low taxes and light regulation) kicked-off the "Texas Miracle" aided, of course, by the oil and gas shale boom.
What made Burka "The Clown" was that he continued to ask "Can the Republicans Govern?" every two years after that for just about the remainder of his career, despite the fact that it was fairly obvious they could.
Fast forward to 2018....
Harris County has just seen most elected positions switch over to the Democrats, excepting 2 County Commissioner seats, and many of the people elected have never before held public office, nor do they have a background that would suggest they are entirely qualified for the posts they hold.
To whit:
Lina Hidalgo - Harris County Judge (elect) - Ms. Hidalgo is a 27 year-old graduate student with no prior political experience. She has been elected to the highest administrative office for one of the largest counties in America. She is a Stanford grad who, for the past few years, has been working toward a joint-graduate degree in law and public policy at NYU and Harvard, so she seems to be intelligent enough, and she has done a lot of advocacy work in public health, criminal justice et al so she should, at the least, be familiar with the nuts and bolts of the issues, but she is going to have to learn on the fly how to be an executive of a large organization with a myriad of departments that provides key services to a lot of constituents. That's a huge difference from being an advocate.
Diane Trautman - Harris County Clerk (Elect) - The politician elected to oversee both Harris County's court records as well as administrate the elections, issue marriage licenses, and a host of other services. She does have some political experience, being elected to the Harris County Board of Education. She has a bachelor's degree in English and a Master's secondary education, both from the University of Houston, and holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Sam Houston State University. This office is also in charge of the voter rolls for Harris County.
Marilyn Burgess - Harris County District Clerk (Elect) - Ms. Burgess has an accounting degree from Louisiana State and holds an active CPA certification. As an accountant myself I can tell you that's a good thing for the office she will be holding. The District Clerk's office runs in much the same manner as the County Clerk's office, acting as the official record-keeper for district courts. The District Clerk also administers the jury system and in Harris County is operating a passport office.
It should be pointed out that, in many cases, the clerks will also be providing record-keeping for judges who are brand new, and who might not understand all of the record-keeping requirements, or the procedures. This is going to put more pressure on those Clerk positions to learn quickly.
Dylan Osborne - Harris County Treasurer (Elect) Mr. Osborne has a degree in Social Sciences from University of Houston - Downtown and a Master's degree in Public Administration. He has worked on the staff of two Houston City Council members so he should be, at least, familiar with the functioning of government. The Harris County Treasurer's Office is a county function that many, including me, believe should be done away with. It's sole job is to handle deposits and issue payments for the county, something that could be easily folded into existing departments. The last couple of Democratic candidates running for this office ran on a platform of abolishing it. According to Mr. Osborne's campaign site that is not on his agenda.
Adrian Garcia - Harris County Commissioner Precinct 2 (Elect) - Garcia has a long history in Houston politics, unfortunately much of it is not good. He served on Houston City Council from 2004 - 2008 and was elected as Harris County Sheriff from 2009 - 2015. During his stint as Sheriff he came under fire for a sexual abuse scandal in the Harris County Jail and multiple problems in the sheriff's office were in the media. Since then he's jumped from race to race trying to find a soft-spot to land. It appears he finally found it.
None of the above should be taken to read that these people cannot, or will not, be effective leaders. It is not intended to be snark, belittling or disparaging to them.
What it DOES mean is that the question is fair: Can the Harris County Democrats GOVERN?
There is an increasingly large chance now that the City and County begin working together in ways that have been hinted at, but only in backrooms. The City of Houston could begin to exert a bigger influence on its extra-territorial jurisdiction to a point that it begins sucking up tax dollars and government functions for the outlying areas. A bigger concern is that the County starts pouring more dollars into the areas within the Houston City Limits, providing more services there to supplement Boss Turner's fiscal irresponsibility and residents in the unincorporated hinterlands start to get left out.
Can Harris County Democrats govern?
For their own sake citizens of Harris County had better hope they can.
If they can't then the Houston Area Leadership Vacuum could be legion.
