Featured Speaker: A Year In, Hidalgo Aims to Reshape Role of Harris County Government

Orginally Published by the Houston Chronicle
Author: Zach Despart

During her longshot campaign in 2018, Lina Hidalgo at times sounded like a candidate for mayor or Congress. With talking points on immigration, criminal justice reform and education, her critics contended she surely misunderstood the role of county judge.

Hidalgo insisted the incumbent crop of leaders had a too-narrow view of what county government could accomplish. She unseated Ed Emmett, the popular three-term county judge, in an Election Night stunner amid a Democratic sweep of countywide posts. And then she set about enacting her vision.

After a year in office, Hidalgo has mollified many concerns about her inexperience, marshaled the county’s response to a series of chemical fires and presided over a Commissioners Court of older men who often clash. With her two Democratic colleagues, she has broadened the size and scope of county government, and pledged to do so further in 2020 with a focus on early childhood development.

“We’ve begun to transform the way we do things in the county,” Hidalgo said. “The county used to be in this box that was just about roads and bridges. Now, we’ve seen and we’ve shown it can be about environmental investment. It can be about criminal justice reform. It can be about voting access.”

She has also seen her national stature rise. Forbes magazine named her to its “30 Under 30” list. Presidential candidates have sought to meet her during trips to Houston, attention she said makes her feel humbled.

Locally, the public views Hidalgo with a curiosity her predecessors did not elicit. After Hidalgo appeared on a BBC panel in November with a state senator and two members of Congress, she was the one several attendees waited to greet afterward.

During a holiday toys for kids event at the George R. Brown Convention Center in mid-December, Hidalgo greeted families waiting in line in English and Spanish. Young women, in particular, asked to take photographs with her. They asked how a person like her ended up in a position like this.

“They ask how did you do it? How did you manage to break into the machine?” Hidalgo said. “My biggest message to young people is to get involved … to volunteer, to participate. We need smart people in government.”

Of course, she is not without her share of critics.

Harris County Republican Party Chairman Paul Simpson is one, criticizing Hidalgo for promoting what what he called her “radical, liberal agenda,” instead of looking out for taxpayers. He cited the county’s landmark bail reform settlement, which could cost as much as $97 million over seven years, as an example of wasteful spending.

“Voters deserve better for the top leadership position in the county, and we’re all looking forward to replacing Lina Hidalgo with a more experienced, fiscally responsible county judge,” he said in a statement.

Hidalgo has yet to decide whether to seek re-election in 2022.

Trial by fire

The Harris County judge wields far less power than the mayor of Houston and has a smaller budget than the four commissioners. Apart from being the public face of the county and managing its emergency response functions, the clout of a county judge depends on his or her ability to influence commissioners.

That she swept into office amid a Democratic wave alarmed some residents, who worried how a 27-year-old who never had held public office and lacked formal management experience could oversee the government of the third-largest county in the nation.

Hidalgo had a brief period to settle in before she was tested.

Last March, in her 11th week on the job, a petroleum product tank farm ignited at Intercontinental Terminals Co. in Deer Park, sending an acrid, black plume of smoke over much of Harris County. The blaze burned for more than 60 hours and exposed weaknesses in the county’s ability to respond to disasters.

The company answered few questions during the incident; its spokeswoman cried at several news conferences. In contrast, Hidalgo and other county leaders were firm and calm, even when they had little information to offer. Even fans of Emmett, whose reassuring presence during hurricanes made him among the most popular Houston leaders, conceded she could play the role.

Hidalgo also helped the county implement several policy reforms, made possible by factors beyond her control.

The first is Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who had little influence over countywide policy as the lone Democrat on the court from 2017 to 2019. A former state senator, Ellis hired policy analysts at a time when commissioners largely concerned their precincts with building parks and roads.

When Democrats took control of the body, Ellis was ready to push progressive proposals that previously were unlikely to receive a second vote. Hidalgo praised Ellis for his institutional knowledge and success hiring policy wonks; she poached three of them, including one who became her chief of staff.

Ellis said he thinks Hidalgo has done an “outstanding job” to date.

“Judge Hidalgo worked incredibly hard this past year to fulfill the promises she made to voters who put their trust in her to lead the county in a new direction, guided by the principles of transparency, fairness and inclusion,” he said in a statement.

Second, Commissioner Adrian Garcia won election in 2018 by an even narrower margin than Hidalgo, providing a pivotal third vote for Democrats. The trio voted in lockstep on every major issue that came before the court last year. On 3-2 votes, the group approved the bail settlement and nearly doubled the size of the public defender’s office.

Commissioners Court did give unanimous approval to several major investments, including new staff for the pollution control department and fire marshal’s office after the series of spring chemical fires in east Harris County caught the county flat-footed. The group also worked well together on flood control initiatives.

Hidalgo and the Democrats also have revamped the twice monthly Commissioners Court meetings. Once brief affairs that concluded by lunchtime and featured little discussion of agenda items, the sessions now are all-day engagements with extensive debates and many public speakers. The county plans to build a new, larger court chamber to accommodate larger crowds.

The Texas Organizing Project, which focuses on engaging black and Hispanic voters, was one of Hidalgo’s largest campaign contributors in 2018, when local Democrats were skeptical she could win. Michelle Tremillo, the group’s executive director, said Hidalgo has represented TOP’s contituency well. She cited Commissioners Court decisions to raise the minumum wage of contractors and ensure flood control dollars are spent equitably.

“She has really taken the county judge's office and maximized having a positive impact in communities of color, in low-income communities, the very communities that are traditionally ignored by our government, Tremillo said. “We're proud to have supported her from day 1.”

Lessons learned

Her tenure to date has included a few defeats. Key among them was Democrats’ failure to pass a one-time property tax hike Hidalgo said was necessary to fund crucial services before a state-mandated revenue cap takes effect in 2020.

The two Republican commissioners, Jack Cagle and Steve Radack, used a unique Texas law requiring a quorum of four for tax rate votes to block the proposal. On the day of the vote, the pair simply skipped the meeting. Hidalgo criticized the move as dangerous and short-sighted.

Not only did Democrats go on the record supporting the first county tax rate increase in decades — which Ellis conceded would be a tough sell — they failed to pass it. Worse, they left themselves open to a charge frequently lobbed at Democrats: Elect them, and they will rush to raise your taxes.

The two Republican commissioners have taken different approaches to working with Hidalgo during meetings. Cagle is exceedingly polite, though he has at times urged her administration to be more transparent. Radack, who has tormented several county judges in his 31 years in office, more than once has addressed Hidalgo as “young lady” instead of “Judge.” She shrugs it off.

Hidalgo said she was unconcerned with political fallout from pushing the tax hike. She said in conversations she has had with residents, they understand the consequences when the county hospital system, for example, is unable to serve as many patients.

The county judge, who turns 29 next month, is preparing to unveil a plan tospend more on early childhood development, the focus of her State of the County address. She also wants to reform how the county allocates its annual $3 billion general fund budget. Too much money is spent, she said, without measuring the value of investments to county residents.

“There was no way to track failure, success, progress, long-term vision, nothing,” Hidalgo said. “It’s been steering this enormous ship to try to get to a place where budgeting is made based on impact, where we’re able to track success.”