Tax Officer Suspended

[TxGran]

I am a volunteer registrar and received this alert today.

Registrars: It’s not just Florida anymore. Report all negative treatment by Tax office employees immediately! Know your rights! This illegal behavior was performed by a 20-year veteran and supervisor of that office, so it could be done by anyone.
Tax office supervisor suspended for a week
Disciplined after refusing to issue voter-registration cards to volunteer
By JUSTIN GEST
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

A supervisor in the Harris County tax office is serving a weeklong suspension for refusing to give voter-registration forms to a Democratic registrar — violating office policy — and telling the registrar she was acting under new orders.

Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt said he suspended Cindy Lay, a 20-year tax office veteran who works at the County Courthouse Annex in Spring, after investigating a complaint from Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Gerry Birnberg.

T.J. Wood, a Champions resident who volunteers as an unofficial voter registrar, said he went to the annex Aug. 16 to inquire about why he had been receiving a dwindling number of registration forms and had been denied forms Aug. 12.

Wood said that Lay told him that a policy effective Aug. 11 restricted issuance of the forms.

Wood said when he asked about the origin of the policy, Lay told him she was informed at a "downtown meeting."

"She became really angry that I was asking these questions," Wood said. "And then she said, 'Do you want me to get a police officer to talk to you?' She asked me for my driver's license, and I got real worried and said, 'No, I'm leaving.' "

Bettencourt described Lay's five-day suspension as a "pretty severe" punishment.

"Instead of having the simple discussion of asking how many forms he needed, they got into a complicated discussion that is not conducive to this office's policy of passing out forms like popcorn in an election year," said Bettencourt, whose duties include voter registration.

Bettencourt said Lay offered no explanation for her action.

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[slor]

1. That freeptard should be...

FIRED.