Paul Bettencourt
| Paul David Bettencourt | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Texas Senate from the 7th district |
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Assumed office January 13, 2015 |
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| Preceded by | Dan Patrick |
| Harris County Tax assessor-collector | |
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In office 1999–2009 |
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| Preceded by | Carl S. Smith |
| Succeeded by | Leo Vasquez |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 20, 1958 Harris County, Texas, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Susan Sladic Bettencourt |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Houston, Texas |
| Alma mater | Texas A&M University |
| Occupation | Businessman and radio host |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Paul David Bettencourt (born October 20, 1958), is an American 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.
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.
In that capacity, he established a website that included on-line tax bills and the first on-line automobile registration and property tax payment plan in Texas. Under his management, the number of taxing jurisdictions served by the Assessor's office increased from forty-four to sixty-five. He kept the same $25 million budget throughout his decade in office. Bettencourt is known as "The Tax Man" for his work as Assessor-Collector and his push to lower property tax rates. Bettencourt was elected in 1998 as the first ever Republican Tax Assessor-Collector in Harris County's history, serving ten years in total. By 2000, his Voter Registration Department had scrubbed the voter rolls of then 50,000 deceased and felon voter registrations, of which 500 actually had someone still voting in 1994, 1996, and 1998 elections. In 2002, Bettencourt's office released an audit of the 2001 City of Houston elections showing 2,098 people voting illegally in those elections. While automating voter registration procedures, Bettencourt won reelection in 2000, 2004, and 2008, and set the highest record vote total, 607,085, in a contested major party race of any Republican office holder to date for Harris County in 2004.
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. 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.
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 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. 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.
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