By a 3 to 1 vote, LoneStarTimes.com suggests you consider voting for Richard Garcia for Harris County Treasurer.

There are just two things you need to know about Richard Garcia:

1. His entire campaign is devoted to a single promise–to completely abolish the wasteful, redundant and unnecessary office of Harris County Treasurer; AND
2. He’s not Orlando Sanchez

Let’s start with #1.

In theory, there is a place for the office of county treasurer–that of an independent watchdog. We disagree with, but can respect someone voting for Sanchez because they hope he will provide that oversight.

You’re not going to get it, of course. For one thing, the office of county treasurer isn’t truly independent– so there are institutional factors discouraging genuine watchdog-type behavior.

Which brings us to #2.

Even if it were possible for someone to perform a watchdog function in this role, there is absolutely zero reason to believe that Orlando Sanchez is capable of filling it.

His “business” record, such as it is, is paper-thin. Our favorite insight, however, came the one time we took a close look at a Sanchez financial disclosure report and realized that he was earning a nice salary as an “investment advisor,” but wasn’t actually listing any income from investments himself.

So… apparently Sanchez’ understanding of the market is so savvy that folks are prepared to let him guide their investing… but for some reason he just chooses not to invest his own money and earn a tidy profit himself.

What is wrong with that picture?

Let’s face facts– Sanchez running for office under the GOP banner was a “clever” gimmick whose time has long passed. There is nothing wrong with the Republican Party trying to recruit a Hispanic candidate for any particular office– but Sanchez is a proven (and proven, and proven) loser.

Not to mention that he’s played the race card. And he’s sucked-up to the liberal editors of the Houston Chronicle.

What the Hell is wrong with you people? Why is ANYONE considering voting for this guy?

Let us be clear– we don’t doubt that on a personal level Sanchez is a nice guy. And he’s almost certainly no more an idiot than many, perhaps most politicians. A LOT of people holding public office are chuckle-heads who prefer politics to working in the real world.

And we’ll give him this– he would have been a better mayor than Lee P. Brown. If you want to consider that an endorsement, fine.

But people, please.

Limited government conservatives– your bluff is being called. You bitch and moan on the radio every day of the year about eliminating the waste, inefficiency and expense of government. Now is the time to put up or shut-up.

Richard Garcia for Harris County Treasurer– it is a job nobody needs, and one Orlando Sanchez doesn’t deserve.