ustxtxb_obs_1990_02_23_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

FUTUM COMMUNICATIONS, INC Data Processing Typesetting Printing Mailing 512-389-1500 FAX 512-389-0867 3019 Alvin DeVane, Suite 500 Austin, Texas 78741 the fiscal checks and balances, have changed in counties all over the state of Texas. Duties have moved back into treasurer’s offices. I think that in the three years I’ve been in that office, I have pretty much revolutionized the fiscal systems of Harris County and had an impact on the fiscal affairs of counties throughout the state. In that sense, Ann Richards is running for governor in part on her revolutionizing the office of state treasurer. What needs to be changed in the state treasurer’s office? I don’t know it’s a matter of what needs to be changed as what needs to be continued. Ann certainly has gone a long way. She’ll be the first to admit we got a long way to go in terms of modernizing, staying up with the technology. . . . There was a bill passed in the last state Legislature that mandated all taxpayers over $2 million to wire their tax payments in. That means, rather than a oneweek, two-week delay perhaps in getting money in, it’s instantaneous. . . . And so this changing technology opens the door for a lot of opportunity for generating more tax revenue for the state. Consolidation of funds? There are 250 some funds. Should there be some consideration of consolidation? Probably so, because we probably have about half that many in Harris County. I’ve never quite understood the proliferation of funds. And I don’t really get involved with it in Harris County because that’s the auditor’s role. That would be something that isn’t under the treasurer’s purview at the state level, and that’s something I would have to look at. You once quoted Roosevelt Ross Kenner as saying that women often populate organizations but rarely run them. Is there something of a feminist agenda in your candidacy? We’re talking to two minority candidates in a way, even though women are not a numerical minority Harris County is a fairly small office. But no minority supervisor. The vast majority, I’d say two-thirds, were Anglos. We now have approximately one-third Hispanic, one-third Anglo and that’s at both the management level and the staff level. There will be equal opportunity in the positions in my office. The same sort of hiring practices that Ann Richards has The same practices. And also the same practices as far as our purchasing. That’s an area where the state treasurer’s office generally can have clout, doing business with organizations that have good affirmative action programs. You’re ‘engaged in a primary with two opponents and [could face, in the general election in November, Republican] Kay Bailey Hutchison who’s out with Maureen Reagan really building up a bankroll. How do you see her as an opponent beyond the primary? She’s got ‘to raise more money than I do. For one thing, she doesn’t have the name identification that I do starting out, although she was in the Legislature and on television in the Houston area, she’s been pretty much low-profile for the last few years. So she’s got to spend some money to get some name identification, and after the primary I’m going to have a little breathing room for catch up there .. . Just one last question. By your framing issues, and by your sense of the race, the choice here is between a very competent candidate who has the experience to run the office and the proven administrative skills and your primary opponent, who is more ideological, more thematic, talking more about ideas that don’t have much to do with administrative skills. What’s the strategy that you design to deal with that kind of candidate, to break through what you would consider the lace of substance? . I do want to say that it’s not that I’m not ideological. It’s not that I’m not an activist. I have a long record of that, and will continue to have a long record of that. It’s that I’m going to talk about what the voters are going to be voting on. And the person who takes the office. I’m not going to flim-flam them about it. You operate with kind of a basic faith in doing that, that you’re talking to intelligent people and that ultimately they’re going to make the decision based on rationality,’ not on the fervor of the moment. . . . Will gender help you as much as it seems to be helping Ann Richards? Yeah, I think it will help me. I think that women like Hispanics and blacks, they feel very strongly right now there’s an issue in the forefront of politics right now, the pro-choice issue, and women are very mobilized on that issue, they want to see people in office who they know they can trust and who will be out there, a spokesperson on those issues as they know they can count on me to be. I think I’ll have a strong base of support among women activists. A R a I’ PN INN “Best Lodging Location for Fishermen & Beachgoers” Group Discounts P.O. Box 8 Port Aransas, TX 78373 Send for Free Gulf & Bay Fishing Information There’s always a feminist agenda in everything I do. I think that the sort of thing that I stand for there ought to be applied, can be applied in hiring practices. Can be applied in promotional practices. It can be applied in an educational role, in continuing to inform the public on what this means now. I think the treasurer could possibly . . . push things like maternity leave and child care for state employees, that sort of thing. . . . I’ll always push for that because I think that’s good government. And equitable hiring at all levels. I’ve just got a long record of doing that. How about minority hiring in the treasurer’s office in Harris County? When I came in, there were no minority supervisors at all. But the treasurer’s office in THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13