Paul Bettencourt

Paul David Bettencourt (born October 20, 1958) is an American politician and businessman based out of Houston, Texas, who serves as a Republican member of the Texas State Senate from District 7. On January 13, 2015, he succeeded state Senator Dan Patrick of Houston, who successfully ran for Lieutenant Governor of Texas.

Political career[]

Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector[]

From 1998 to early in 2008, Bettencourt was the Tax Assessor-Collector of his native Harris County, the third largest county in the United States.

Bettencourt won reelection in 2000, 2004, and 2008.^[1]

The Democratic Party and plaintiffs filed suit and requested a temporary restraining order against the Voter Registrar Bettencourt after the 2008 election, asking a Federal Judge to block the counting of 7000+ provisional ballots from the November 2008 election.^[2] However, the temporary restraining order was denied by the Judge. All 7000+ provisional ballots were reviewed by Election Officials, and either rejected or accepted and then electronically counted.^[3]

Soon after he won a third term in the 2008 general election over a retired educator, Democrat Diane Trautman, Bettencourt resigned from office. He announced after Thanksgiving Day^[4] that he would instead launch Bettencourt Tax Advisors, LLC, through which he has continued a fight for lower property taxes for residential and commercial customers in Houston and statewide. Trautman questioned the timing of Bettencourt's decision, and asked the Harris County Commissioners Court to consider her as his successor.^[4] The Commissioners Court, by a four-to-one margin, instead chose the Hispanic businessman Leo Vasquez to fill Bettencourt's seat until a special election could be held in 2010.^[5]

Texas State Senate[]

2014 election[]

Bettencourt ran for the Texas State Senate in 2014 again enlisted the help of top Republican Strategist Allen Blakemore. In the Senate race, Bettencourt carried the support of former Harris County Republican chairmen Gary M. Polland and Jared Woodfill as well as Richard J. Trabulsi, Jr., the chairman of the political action committee, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, and pastor Rick Scarbough of Vision America.^[6]

After victory in a contested primary on March 4, 2014, Bettencourt won his Senate seat with 123,416 votes (71.8 percent) in the general election held on November 4, 2014. A Democratic candidate, Jim Davis, trailed with 45,162 votes (26.3 percent), and a Libertarian held the remaining 1.9 percent of the ballots cast.^[7]

Tenure[]

Bettencourt's District 7 encompasses parts of Houston and these smaller Harris County communities: Bunker Hill Village, Hedwig Village, Hunters Creek Village, Jersey Village, Piney Point Village, Spring, and Tomball. The district is so Republican that voters by a ten-to-one margin chose the Republican primary election on March 4, 2014, rather than the Democratic slate.^[8]

In the special legislative session in 2017, Bettencourt, the chairman of the newly established Senate Select Committee on Government Reform, introduced legislation to limit the ability of local government in Texas to raise property assessments for property tax purposes. Bettencourt's bill was backed by Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, but opposed by local officials who said the legislation would impair the ability of cities, counties, and special districts to pay for services but would net little tax relief to individual homeowners.^[9]

Bettencourt has also warned of serious pension liability problems in Texas and has proposed long-term market-based reforms which he claims will not impact those nearing retirement and have already paid significantly into the pension systems.^[10]

2018 reelection[]

Bettencourt won reelection to the state Senate in 2018, despite the overall Democratic sweep of Harris County. He polled 177,668 votes (57.8 percent) to 123,994 ballots (40.3 percent) for the Democrat David Romero. Another 5,866 votes (1.9 percent) went to the Libertarian Party choice, Tom Glass.

Tenure[]

He authored a bill that the Texas Senate passed in 2019 that would move bond, debt and tax elections to the November general elections and limit the length of propositions.^[11]

Conservative talk radio host[]

Bettencourt is a conservative talk radio host on KSEV, owned by his predecessor Dan Patrick.^[12]

Other political activity[]

Bettencourt is also a conservative political activist, and a television commentator. He is a former treasurer of the Texas Republican Party and vice chairman and treasurer of the Harris County party organization. He was a delegate to the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Republican National Conventions. He was a presidential elector for Mitt Romney in 2012.^[13]

References[]

External links[]

• Senator Paul Bettencourt: District 7 government site
• Paul Bettencourt for Senate District 7 campaign site
• Profile at Ballotpedia