by David Rosen
Daily Court Review
After watching Republicans take control of Harris County in the mid-1990s, David Mincberg — who was Democratic party chair from 1994-98 — is trying to lead his team back into power.
“The demographics of the county had shifted, Republicans were running extremely well statewide and it was very difficult for what I’m going to call the local candidates, the county candidates, to win,” said Mincberg of the mid-90s. “So in 1994, that was just a tough time.”
Minberg, whom Rice University political scientist Bob Stein calls a “formidable candidate,” is running for Harris County judge in the March 4 Democratic primary against real estate broker Ahmad Hassan. The winner of the primary will go on to face either Republican incumbent Ed Emmett, or his primary challenger, former District Clerk Charles Bacarisse.
Mincberg, 57, is a graduate of Bellaire high school and the University of Texas, and had a successful business career before serving as one of Mayor Bill White’s “Dollar A Year” executives.
This election is the latest extension of a life already spent working in community service, Mincberg said.
“I’ve been civically and charitably involved my entire life,” Mincberg said.
His platform includes ethics reform in the wake of scandals surrounding former District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal, Sherriff Tommy Thomas and County Commissioner Jerry Eversole — particularly when it comes to county dollars being given to companies to do business.
“The first thing I want to do is clean up county government,” Mincberg said. “There’s a tremendous lack of trust and respect for countywide elected officials, and I want to restore the public’s trust in those offices. I want to bring transparency not only to running for office, but to the entire methodology of awarding contracts. And I think before we can talk about anything else we need to bring in a complete honest, ethical and transparent approach to government.”
Mincberg said he also wants to focus on traffic congestion, flooding and environmental issues.
“If we can’t offer the best environment in every sense of the word, from traffic and transportation, from parks and green space to air quality, we will suffer,” Mincberg said. “I want to make sure we have the best environment for our residents. That will be the best thing for our future.”
While Democrats haven’t won a single countywide office since 1996, Stein said the party has fielded an unusually strong local ticket this year for a group that has been out of power for so long. Below Mincberg on the ballot are fellow Democrats Houston Mayor Pro Tem Adrian Garcia running for Sherriff, former Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford running for District Attorney and former Houston City Councilman Vince Ryan running for County Attorney.
In the meantime, the Democrats have fielded an unusually high number of candidates for the judicial races in Harris County, Stein said.
Mincberg, who claims to have raised $700,000 for his race so far, said local Democrats have been revitalized by poor ethics on behalf of Republicans on the national and local levels.
“Firstly, the national Republican party, the leadership of the Republican party, is held in poor regard and poor esteem,” Mincberg said. “Secondly, the leadership of the local Republican party, including their elected officials, is today held in low regard. And then lastly, and again this goes back to our discussion of 1994 and 1996, the demographics of the county have changed, so that now it appears to slightly favor good Democrats being elected into office.”
Mincberg said he supports and expansion of light rail and commuter rail, but opposes congestion pricing.
“I haven’t seen anything at this point that would convince me to move forward with congestion pricing, and I think the way it got passed by County Commissioners was extremely unfortunate and shows how little thought or forethought had gone into the whole idea,” Mincberg said.
Mobility is important to lure businesses and jobs to Houston rather than competing metropolitan areas, Mincberg said, and is a keystone to the quality of life plank in his platform.
“When we talk about rail, rail has to be a very important component of how people have mobility here,” Mincberg said. “If we have a system where people are sitting in traffic in the mornings for an hour, hour and a half one way — they and their companies will not be happy here and will not make the decision to come to Harris County.”