Michelle Deavenport

I'm a Jesus loving single - mom to 5 amazing people. A woman blessed beyond comprehension. Executive Director of The Pregnancy Help Center of Brazosport

[Mike Butler 🌌 @MikeBHoustonTX]

Un-Paywalled:
First sworn into office in 2017, Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett is tasked with a wide array of duties that affect nearly every Harris County resident, from collecting billions of dollars in property taxes to processing millions of vehicle registrations and title transfers every year. As the county’s voter registrar, she also oversees voter registration and maintains records for over 2.5 million voters.

In October 2023, Bennett announced that she would not seek a third term, citing a desire to focus on her family and health. The retiring official, however, still needs to lead her office in fulfilling its election duties through this year’s high-stakes presidential election cycle, including assisting voters with any registration issues that may arise.

Her prolonged absence from public view raises questions about what she has done since she was reelected in 2020, when she appears to have stopped showing up at the office. She has also hardly corresponded via email and missed a string of key public appearances last year while state Republican leaders targeted Harris County’s election process.

Bennett’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment on her badge swipe history, email records, absence from public meetings and events, or criticisms regarding her lack of public engagement.

Records obtained through public information requests reveal Bennett has not used her employee badge to access any county facility since October 2020. She swiped her badge 92 times in 2019, seven times in 2020 and not once since then.

Additionally, she has sent only 18 emails from her work account since the start of this year, aside from those approving employee time-off requests. Some of these emails were forwarded messages sent to her chief deputy, Wendy Caesar, while the rest dealt with topics such as software access and the office website, according to county records.

Last year, the state Legislature took unprecedented steps to change Harris County’s election procedures, abolishing the elections administrator’s post and returning voter registration tasks to the tax assessor-collector’s office. Bennett was not seen during that time, while the other affected elected official, County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, offered guidance to county leaders and the public.

INCREASED MONITORING: State monitors will have an 'enhanced presence' in Harris County for November elections

Annette Ramirez, the Democratic candidate vying to become the next tax assessor-collector, said Bennett should have done more to improve internal processes and interact with the public to ensure “we don't give Austin an opportunity to say that we haven't done a good job.”

“You, as a public elected official, are the face (of the office), and so you've got to show up. You've got to make sure that we are being transparent, communicating with the public…That’s the job,” Ramirez said, adding she would go to work every day if elected.

Steve Radack, the Republican candidate in this year’s tax assessor-collector’s race, spoke in Bennett’s defense. He said every manager has a different style, and over the years, he has also seen other government officials who do not always show up to work.

At the same time, Radack vowed to be responsive to constituents and to actively champion the policies he believes in if elected.

“My presence will be known,” he said.

A series of blunders
Born in East Texas, Bennett, 71, previously worked as a legal assistant and served over a decade as a district court coordinator.

She lost three county-wide elections in 2010, 2012 and 2014 before narrowly defeating Republican incumbent Mike Sullivan in the tax assessor-collector’s race in 2016. She won another four-year term in 2020.

The head of around 500 employees in the tax office, Bennett earned $171,199 in salary last year, according to the county’s auditor’s office. But several blunders during her tenure have cast doubt on her performance.

In 2018, her office mistakenly suspended over 1,700 voters’ registrations, sparking a partisan clash between Harris County Democrats and Republicans. Bennett blamed the mistake on a software glitch and said her office quickly addressed the problem upon discovering it.

That same year, her office failed to update boundary maps in Baytown, resulting in hundreds of voters receiving incorrect ballots and being excluded from numerous local races. Even after the mistake was corrected, those who had already cast their votes with the wrong ballots were not allowed to vote again. Bennett did not comment on the incident.

Meanwhile, her absence during last year’s politically charged transfer of Harris County’s election duties has not gone unnoticed.

Harris County has historically divided election duties between the tax assessor-collector and the county clerk, with the former handling voter registration and the latter overseeing elections.

Then, in 2020, Commissioners Court created an independent elections office to manage both tasks – as more than half of the 254 Texas counties have done.

Both Bennett and former Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman objected to the move. In a 2020 letter to county commissioners, Bennett argued the "checks and balances" between her and the clerk's office were crucial for building public trust.

The system shifted again in 2023, when the Legislature, citing issues like ballot paper shortages during the previous election cycle, abolished the elections office through new legislation that singled out Harris County. The controversial move, which set off a legal battle between the county and the state, handed election responsibilities back to the two original elected officials.

This time, Bennett was nowhere to be seen during the transition process.

Missing in action
She missed a Commissioners Court meeting last August that addressed the transfer of election duties, sending her deputy in her place, while her counterpart, County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, attended the meeting, provided updates and answered questions.

She then skipped a September press conference, supposedly co-hosted by her and Hudspeth, on the day they officially took charge of running elections and voter registration. Her spokesperson Laura Smith explained then that Bennett had a family member in critical care.

DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT: Voters without proper IDs more likely in minority neighborhoods, reports find

Unlike many department heads, Bennett almost never attends Commissioners Court meetings, at least in recent years.

She was also a no-show during last month’s budget season — a key event for county departments — where her staff presented her office’s spending plan in her place. The other two elected officials scheduled for that day, the county clerk and county treasurer, both made their own presentations.

Bennett’s office did not provide explanation.

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@MegynKellyShow @JHoganGidley @DouglasESchoen This has great implications for the Ted Cruz and Allred race.

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@MegynKellyShow @JHoganGidley @DouglasESchoen Have you seen this about the Houston poll Judge who hasn't checked into her office since 2020, yet has collected a $1.7M salary in 2023?
https://t.co/Oxwv05nlvN

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@FNC_Ladies_Rule @BretBaier @SpecialReport Finally, a "Kamala approved" interview with a journalist who wasn't afraid to do their job!

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@BethMooreLPM I love that matelasse bedspread. The color is gorgeous! Please tell me more about it.

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@BethMooreLPM When my son was 3 I listened to you on my iPod Shuffle during a traumatic season. He said, "Mommy, why you let that lady yell at you?" That 19yo is driving from CSTAT to join me at the MET for Bible study tomorrow! None of us is perfect, but you still have our ears. <3

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@BethMooreLPM That time was such a blessing to my kids and I tonight. Thank you Beth!

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@BethMooreLPM What a joy!!! Had 4 of my 7 kiddos listening with me. Wonderful ending and beginning.

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@BethMooreLPM I'm from Lake Jackson. Your neighbor!

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@sgruber91 Seth, have you heard of women intentionally getting pregnant in order to have a sacrificial abortion in satanic cults? I'm a PHC director and I've been told by a fellow director that they've had 2 clients in the last week that were Satanists, glad to be pregnant to abort.

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

Gotta know your limitations.
Gotta know God doesn’t share them. Know full well to your core that, when you can’t, he can. Let him do his own job.

[Nancy Pearcey @NancyRPearcey]

Piper keeps digging in deeper.

I am a professor at a Christian university. Some of my students are men--which means, I teach men. Many men also read my books, which could be construed as a type of teaching.

https://t.co/TzpVgn3dNn

[David Cassidy @DPCassidyTKC]

I think most healthy churches live at "simmer" - great! We don't want to be icy cold or tepid, lukewarm people. What is a "revival"? God turns up the heat to boil. Is 64:1-2. It's needed. We don't live there but we do go there at times. And thank God he will visit us in mercy.

[Lauren @LABC222]

I was today years old when I found out a woman would marry an idiot in the middle of a sex trafficking probe omg what the hell is wrong with women? All WEEK I was sick over pastor wives who stay married to youth pastor husbands who abuse teen girls but this- it’s up there.

[24-7 Prayer @247prayer]

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[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

Thanks The Megyn Kelly Show for being my top podcast on @Spotify this year. I loved all 5,045 minutes of it. #SpotifyWrapped https://t.co/zF2iXVrwAG

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@MQSullivan I would like to ask him when was the last time he purchased groceries to prepare a meal for a family. Or himself for that matter.

[K.J. Ramsey @kjramseywrites]

Word Made Flesh,

when you were born
Divinity became
someone who needed
to be held and fed.

Cradle me now
because having a body
often feels like being too weak.

But if you are no less Divine
because of your body,
I am no less beloved
because of the needs
of mine.

Amen.

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@aaronkeyes This podcast is brilliant! Listened w/ my 18yo son who came home from Christian camp saying "They're leading songs to evoke emotion through chords, not really intent on singing worship from intellect". Thank you for this. He's an A+ musician, disheartened by church worship

[Michelle Deavenport @michdea]

@prolifesavespe2 @carafem