Statement by Mike Collier, Democrat for Texas Comptroller, on Glenn Hegar’s Online Ad:Glenn Hegar’s ad is most interesting for what it doesn’t say about fixing what’s wrong at the Comptroller’s Office. There’s not one word about fixing the revenue forecasts that led to unprecedented cuts in public schools. Neither does Hegar waste a word mentioning the personal, private records of more than 3.5 million Texans that were breached by the Combs administration.
Hegar promises to cut government spending and limit the size of government, which Susan Combs accomplished by low-balling the revenue estimate by $12 billion. Government can only spend what it takes in, but it can’t spend what the Comptroller doesn’t know it received. We need accurate forecasts, not ones that fit a political agenda. We tried that, and it failed. Hegar lacks the political courage to state the obvious because he wants the job more than he wants to do it right.
This is exactly why Texas needs a watchdog to hold the Texas legislature accountable and why we need an independent businessperson rather than an ambitious legislator to be that watchdog.
