PEOPLE
BY VANESSA HOLT
Lina Hidalgo Harris County judge
H arris County Judge-elect Lina Hidalgo was attending graduate school through a program at Harvard and New York universities when she said she decided to run for office in Texas, a state that became her home in 2005 when her family emigrated from Colombia. As the Democratic candidate Hidalgo defeated incumbent Republican Ed Emmett in the Nov. 6 election when numerous Harris County seats—including treasurer, clerk and one commissioner seat—flipped from Republican to Democrat officials following strong Democratic voter turnout.
Could you briefly summarize your background and how you decided to run for office? Like thousands of women across our country, 15 months ago I decided that sometimes you can’t just wait for things to happen—you have to do it yourself. I’ve always been an advocate, working throughout our community on health care access and criminal justice reform, and internationally on human rights and free expression. Harris County made me who I am. I got here when I was 14 and was able to attend some of the world’s best universities with support from all across our community. I knew the issues fac- ing us, from mental health care access outside the jail to our vulnerability to flooding—at that time we’d had two 500-year floods in two years already—were life or death issues. I decided to step up and give back. The county judge helps set a budget, mostly com- prised of our residents’ property taxes. It’s over $5 billion for the next fiscal year. To me, the role is ultimately about priorities and values. I will work to make sure that our county’s priorities reflect those of the community. I share all our commissioners’ com- mitment to building a county government that works better and saves us money. What will be your immediate top priorities? Immediately, I am focused on putting together an expert staff comprised of people with all points of view. I’m working to talk to those in the county who don’t yet know me, to identify their concerns and hopes, and learning as much as I can from our differ- ent department heads, so I’m ready to hit the ground running on day one. What do you feel is the most important role of the judge?
Howwill your approach differ from the current leadership? I’ll be very focused on transparency. Throughout the campaign trail, I found the vast majority of people to be unfamiliar with the role of the county judge and of the county. I believe we’ll build stronger government if people understand what our role is, so they’re able to hold us accountable. What issues do you think a Democratic majority can take on that the previous leadership did not address? We’ve spent over $8 million fighting a federal court order that ruled that our current money bail system is unconstitutional. In electing a new slate of judges, Harris County voters were very clear: it’s time to fix our broken criminal justice system. Instead of continuing to spend millions fighting reform, I look forward to working with all my colleagues on ending the lawsuit and instead investing in smart policies that keep us safe and save us money. Do you expect to make any changes to initia- tives started by the current administration? Every time you take over an organization, you do a complete review of the operations and finances. I’m interested in making the best decisions for the residents of Harris County, and I’ll continue working with my colleagues and our department heads to figure out what those are. To what do you attribute your Nov. 6 victory? Timing and circumstance played a role here, as with anything. Ultimately, our win was made possible by the desire to make change and a team of wonderful people stepping up to make it happen.
“I WILLWORK TOMAKE SURE THAT OUR COUNTY’S PRIORITIES REFLECT THOSE OF THE COMMUNITY.” — LINA HIDALGO, HARRIS COUNTY JUDGE
ISSUES FROM THE 2018 campaign
In her campaign Lina Hidalgo stated she planned to improve governmental transparency and reform the county’s criminal justice system. Here is how she said she hopes to accomplish this: Increase community engagement at all levels of county government Make meetings more accessible and hold meetings in every community Publish easy-to-understand metrics Reduce the over incarceration of youth and work with the sheriff’s office on policies to combat overcrowding Hidalgo’s first meeting as judge at Harris County Commissioners Court was Jan. 8. The next meeting is at 10 a.m. Jan. 29 at 1001 Preston St., Ste. 834, Houston.
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The Woodlands edition • January 2019
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