Trautman Says King’s Message Of Empowerment, Equality Missing In Today’s Harris County Voter Registration System

In a normal election cycle, Capitol Annex doesn’t cover county-level political races, even in the states large urban counties. However, the 2008 election cycle is like no other, and we have the chance to put two Tax Assessor/Collector candidates in office (Glen Maxey in Travis County and Diane Trautman in Harris County) in two counties where the TAC office still has control of voter registration. In one of these counties, Harris, Trautman is seeking to unseat a Republican voter ID shrill who has gained national exposure with his lies and distortions about illegal immigrants being registered to vote.
Today, Dr. Diane Trautman, candidate for Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector, commemorated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by reflecting on his message of empowerment, inclusiveness and equality. We include some of her statement below:

“As we pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today, we remind ourselves that his work goes on around the world — from Kosovo and Bosnia to Afghanistan and Iraq, where dedicated men and women struggle for the right to cast their free ballots in free elections,” said Trautman.

“But his work goes on around the corner, too, in the face of partisan efforts to disenfranchise legitimate citizens by purging their names from the voter rolls or imposing voter I.D. requirements that target low-income, minority, and elderly voters here at home,” Trautman added.

The incumbent Tax Assessor for Harris County lobbied aggressively in the Texas Legislature last year on behalf of a controversial bill that would have imposed an onerous voter identification system on low-income, elderly, and other legitimate citizens. The office has also been under intense scrutiny for purging tens of thousands of seemingly legitimate voters from the rolls, including a large number of minority voters.

Trautman stated, “I believe that Dr. King was a man who stood for empowerment, equality, and above all, the ability of everyone to participate in the democratic process. This is why we must build a voter registration system in Harris County that is fair, inclusive, and works for all Harris County citizens.”

“While handling the tax-payers hard earned money and managing the voter registration process, I promise that as Tax Assessor-Collector I would run the office with integrity, transparency and a commitment to empowering all of my constituents to participate in their government and their democracy…anything less is unacceptable,” said Trautman.

Anything less is indeed unacceptable.

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