KRIV-26 is reporting some shocking political news (via Mike McGuff and Twitter):
FOX 26 News has learned Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt has turned in his resignation to Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.
Sources tell FOX 26 Bettencourt turned in his resignation letter Thursday, and it is effective Wednesday.
Betterncourt has been unavailable for comment.
[snip]
Sources said Bettencourt has chosen to work in the private sector.
There’s not much to say until this story is fleshed out a bit more, but if this is another case of a popular Republican running and winning while planning to step down the whole time (à la Judge Eckels), the little blog will be displeased once again. But perhaps there are mitigating circumstances, so we’ll withhold judgment for now.
UPDATE: The Chronicle is now reporting the same story, citing Joe Stinebaker.
UPDATE 2: KHOU-11’s Doug Miller has more.
UPDATE 3: The story seems to be that Bettencourt resigned to pursue a business opportunity he just received. Maybe that’s even true. Unfortunately, the appearance is that Bettencourt misled voters about his intention to serve them just as Robert Eckels misled voters about his intention to serve them, because local Republican Party leaders (oxymoron?) knew that a non-incumbent Harris County Republican running in 2008 (and on) would be in a lot of trouble. Perhaps someone should inform the aspiring Machiavelli behind these moves that the Texas Republican brand is damaged, and that misleading voters about one’s intention to serve if elected further damages the brand.
UPDATE 4: Paul Burka speculates about what’s behind the Bettencourt resignation.
UPDATE 5 (12/07/2008): Bettencourt is finally quoted in the Chronicle, and doesn’t seem at all bothered about misleading voters and citizens, who had every reason to expect he would serve out his term:
“I’ve had a wonderful 10 years of service with great people at the office who have done good things for the taxpayers of Harris County,” Bettencourt, 50, said Saturday, a day after word of his planned departure was leaked to the media and broken on the late-night news.
“But there comes a time when you decide that further challenges await you and that you know you need to accept those challenges before maybe you get to the age where someone won’t offer you the opportunity,” he said.
[snip]
Bettencourt said he first entertained the idea of leaving the county during the summer, well after the GOP primary, when it looked like he and every other Republican in Harris County were headed for defeat. But he insisted no serious discussions about the offer he chose to accept occurred before the Nov. 4 election.
“This business venture is something that took shape after the election and not before,” he said.
“You can always think pie in the sky, what do I do if the election doesn’t turn out your way. It’s another thing to have a thought like that and be approached to have a discussion about a new business venture.
In other words, the man isn’t bothered by breaking his commitment to voters but has offered no compelling information as to why we shouldn’t be bothered. It’s the latest case of a local GOP official misleading citizens and voters, and it’s deplorable.
Meanwhile, the Chronicle‘s Liz Austin Peterson has this quote from Bicyclist Bob Stein:
It is almost unheard of for an incumbent to resign before being sworn in to his new term, Rice University political scientist Bob Stein said. The timing of Bettencourt’s decision was suspect, he said, because a lesser-known Republican might have struggled to win in a year Democrats so heavily dominated countywide elections.
True enough. However, Peterson might have added that Bob Stein is a Democrat. For that matter, perhaps the Chronicle could, on occasion, find some source other than Bob Stein to cite.
Peterson does confirm that the news was leaked to local media late Friday. There’s only one reason to leak political news that way: Because it stinks and someone wants to bury it. While one can understand why the Harris County GOP’s local Machiavellis might want to hide the fact that they have deceived voters and citizens (again), a better move would have been not to do it in the first place, especially after the Eckels example!
