It must be nice to win a Pulitzer or Oscar or Emmy.

But I doubt that any of those professional awards could equal the thrill I got upon realizing just how badly LST, KSEV and you– our readers and listeners– have managed to piss-off the Texas Association of Counties in general, and their chief public relations flack Jim Lewis in particular.

All excerpted text courtesy the Sept/Oct ‘05 edition of TAC’s County Magazine, page 49 (pdf); emphasis in bold added by LST.

HEADLINE: "Wednesday Morning Showdown in Montgomery County", by Jim Lewis

On the surface, it appeared to be a political public relations disaster in the making.

In the backyard of the libertarian radio station that has harped for years on the need for lowered appraisal caps, a Saturday morning Houston Chronicle article laid out how Montgomery County Commissioners Court, flush with $10 million in increased revenues, was about to adopt the same tax rate as the year before. And, the paper noted, "With the tax rate remaining the same, a public hearing will not be necessary."

Although I’m guessing you meant it as a slur, it’s nice to have my strong libertarian streak finally recognized.

Also, I just love the use of the word "harped"– me detects an "edge" to this piece one does not typically find in trade-association publications.

In an area of the state hyper-sensitive about "appraisal creep," this scenario looked like red meat for the hungry anti-government dogs at KSEV radio in Houston, in particular talk show hosts Ed Hendee (mornings) and Dan Patrick (afternoons). Sure enough, the next day a Weblog "published" by Patrick posted a highly satiric criticism of County Judge Alan Sadler’s comments in the paper:

"Red Meat for the Hungry Anti-Government Dogs at KSEV Radio".

Dude– that is so going on our advertising solicitation materials.

A little lame not to specifically name LoneStarTimes.com as the "weblog", but I’ll let it slide this once.

"In a display of Heavenly generosity unparalleled since the Israelites wandered Sinai subsisting only on manna, God Almighty himself has seen fit to open up the sky above Montgomery County Texas and pour almost $10 million dollars into government coffers for local commissioners to spend on a bunch of new stuff that is completely FREE and costs taxpayers nothing and you have nothing to complain about at all!!!"

Awesome.

And as soon as Hendee got on the air Monday morning, lambasting the county and its officials was high hilarity for the station’s fans on their rides to work. The way to fix the problem, he intoned, was for anyone in earshot to start calling Sadler and the commissioners.

That’s a favorite tactic of the Houston station – flood public officials with phone calls until someone cries "uncle." When lowering appraisal caps was before the Legislature last spring, Hendee issued marching orders for Houston-area callers to flood the phone lines of Dallas area legislators, threatening to beat them at the polls next year.

In other words, "mind-numbed robots". So very 1990.

In the Houston-area, most elected officials – both state and local – know better than to challenge the anti-government duo on the air – it’s virtually impossible to out-talk the professional BSers, since they control the microphone.

Holy freaking crap! He wrote "BSers" in the official trade publication of the Texas Association of Counties! That’s almost cussing!

But Judge Sadler took a bold step – he invited the station to set up their equipment at the county administration building and broadcast a live discussion of the county’s finances.

Bold? The Texas Association of Counties believes that a willingess to explain oneself to the public requires boldness?

When Hendee showed up Wednesday morning, it didn’t hurt that Sadler told him right off the bat that he is an advocate of both appraisal and revenue caps. Because of appraisal increases and the station’s browbeating, virtually all public officials in the Houston area are on board supporting the caps. But on the topic of the county’s budget, Sadler stood his ground.

Wait a minute … I thought we were "harping" … when did we switch to "browbeating" … why doesn’t anyone tell me these things?!?!

The next part of the article is basically pro-TAC propoganda, but in the interest of fairness, I thought it ought to be included in full. You all can no doubt offer your own thoughts in comments.

"On the other hand, I still have to deal with the realities of the budget and accomplish what the voters have mandated that I do," the judge said.

First, he noted, supporters of library services in the largely unincorporated county had petitioned the court to hold a 2003 bond election to build three new libraries – it passed, costing the county $1.075 million in new salaries.

And then the judge began detailing costs associated with providing urban-type services in one of the fastest growing counties in the nation – four bond elections in recent years meant hundreds of millions of dollars in roads as well new jail beds and a civic center had to be built. Another bond election was on the ballot in September.

Then he explained further details of the county’s budget needs – how they finally gave in to district attorney’s pleas to create a new grand jury after three years of asking, how they have to maintain a healthy reserve to preserve their bond rating, how they built the jail because they had 900 inmates for 575 beds and on and on.

Hendee couldn’t challenge those facts, so he fell back on a frequent line of attack – "So what do you say to those taxpayers who are hit with a tax increase that’s going up faster than their paychecks?"

Um, that isn’t a "line of attack" … it is just a good point. Cause even if you do want to buy into every single one of Sadler’s claims, that doesn’t solve the appraisal creep– sorry, "creep"– problem, does it?

After clarifying that most of the county’s $10 million increase in tax collections was the result of new construction, and only two percent due to valuation increases, Sadler made clear the choice the county faced.

"Ed, I wish I had a magic bullet for you, but I don’t. I guess we could stop having deputies patrol as much. I guess we could cut court dates back to four days a week. There are cuts we could make like that," he said. "And in fact if there are appraisal and revenue caps in the future, we will be making tough cuts along those lines."

And now you know– the only thing preventing anarchy and chaos from spreading across Montgomery County is an appraisal cap of no less than 10%.

With time out for commercials, Hendee continued to press Sadler for an hour and a half and by the end of the show, the two who began as adversaries actually appeared to be getting along okay. Instead of a browbeating, it turned into an education session about the county’s budget needs. On the whole, Hendee was unable to crack the judge’s case.

A couple of days later, Assessor-Collector J. R. Moore, who sat with Sadler during the discussion and added his two cents briefly on the radio, said the reaction around the county was quite positive. "The judge got the word out about what’s going on here and everyone seemed better informed" because of the interview.

But while it appeared Hendee was somewhat satisfied when he left, on the radio the next day, he continued to grumble about one issue he was still unhappy about – the commissioners court’s planned approval of 25 percent increases in their own car allowances.

Despite the judge’s valiant stand during his radio presentation, the pressure continued.

Jeez, what is with the martyr complex?

By Friday, the blog reported that Sadler’s office had put out word he would reject the car allowance.

OK, that is starting to get annoying. It is LoneStarTimes.com.

Nevertheless, thanks Jim Lewis– you made my day. If I can help in any way when it comes time to submit this piece for consideration in the TAC-affiliated National Association of County Information Officers competition, please let me know.

It looks like you all had a wonderful time in Hawaii this past year at the awards-ceremony.

And frankly, you sound a little cranky to me– another trip to Waikiki to learn how to better communicate to the taxpaying public just how frugal Texas county government is would probably do you a world of good.