Statement by Senator Paul Bettencourt on the Election Official Corruption Charges released by Harris County DA Kim Ogg and the Texas Rangers
Houston, TX – Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), released the following statement in response to the
election official corruption charges announced by Harris County District Attorney, Kim Ogg, Chief Assistant
District Attorney of Public Corruption, Michael Levine, and Ryan Christian with the Texas Rangers at a
news conference held in Houston on Tuesday, August 13, 2024.
“The purpose of my Senate Bills 1750 and 1933 as passed was to remove a corrupt Election
Administration Office from any election duties and reassign them to Elected Officials. Today’s
corruption charges brought against Darryl Blackburn include six felony counts regarding paper
ballot shortage and stealing voters’ rights on both sides of the aisle. This affirms
the public’s worst fears about this group’s lack of supervision from the previous Election
Administrators, Isabel Longoria, and Clifford Tatum, and in my opinion these upper managers
should be held accountable. The appointed Election Administrator, Clifford Tatum, is equally
responsible, because he ignored requests for more paper ballots first thing in the morning on
November 8, 2022. The County Attorney and Commissioners’ Court should be ashamed of funding
the defense of this corrupt county department.
The complaints from the handling of the 2022 November election were of a magnitude I have never
seen as a former Election Official. Paper ballot shortages, pages of not following the Texas
election code documented by a visiting Judge who ordered a new election in a judicial race, and
finally corruption charges on an election official all mean that this Harris County EAO was
eliminated just in time not to taint the 2024 election beyond repair in the public’s eyes.
I commend County election officials, Teneshia Hudspeth and Ann Harris Bennett for doing their
jobs and restoring the public trust in our local elections with oversite from the Texas Secretary of
State, DA Kim Ogg and the Texas Rangers for investigating a case of election official corruption.”
– Stated Senator Paul Bettencourt.