HASSE: I WILL ABOLISH MY OFFICE IF I WIN.

By Juan Montoya
It's not often you run into a candidate whose major plank on his platform is to do away with the position he is seeking.
And not many candidates will say that one of the the major reasons they're running is to "have fun."
"Get ready for a fun campaign," said Tad Hasse, a candidate for the Cameron County Treasurer's post.
We ran into Hasse when we went to pay for a couple of parking tickets we acquired when we dallied a mite too long in the Sportsman's Bar on 10th Street.
Everyone calls him Tad at the City of Brownsville Municipal Court where he toils in a small office amid old computers, wires, and other dead ringers (telephones). Human Resources lists his position as an Information Technologist. In other words, he's a computer-technology geek.
And that's Geek with a capital G.
That's probably why he's unfazed in running against current treasurer David Betancourt, a county official carrying the namesake of the late county-court-at-law Judge Adolfo Betancourt. Currently, David's sister Laura is the current county-court-at-law No. 2 judge.
The Betancourt name alone is enough to deter other candidates from jumping in the race. It is known as a powerhouse in Democrat Party circles.
But Hasse said that the target is not David or the Betancourt name, but rather, the office itself.
"Do we really need a County Treasurer?," he asks. "I say no. Why am I running for it? I believe we can close down the position just like 9 other Texas counties have successfully done so, therefore saving Cameron County taxpayers close to $1,000,000 every four years," Hasse claimed warming up to the subject duting a smoke break outside the court.
"The duties of the treasurer have been absorbed by the Auditors Department for a long time, the responsibilities that were left do not justify the current $200,000 departmental budget allocated," he said.
"There is no doubt in my mind we taxpayers will continue to see a growth in this unnecessary and duplicated county position," he said. "My pledge to the Cameron County voter is that in the next 4 years ahead I will work diligently with our state and local government to close this position. We can save $1,000,000. A million that can be used to better our roads, to reconstruct drainage, reinvest in health issues or inject support to our law enforcement agencies."
If he sounds like a Boy Scout, it's because he is one.
He is the father of Eagle Scout Joseph Hasse, 20 and Aggie Becky Hasse, 18. He is also the scoutmaster for Troop 1, Brownsville Elks Lodge #1032 and has been a Boy Scout Adult Leader for the past 14 years.
This basic do-gooder has been active in countless civic service organizations including being a volunteer for the National Parks Service, the Community Garden Youth Program, the Imagine Brownsville Civic sub-committee, the Propeller Club, and even keeps his hand in renewable energy with his papers on Sustainable Ecological Technologies on behalf of the shrimping industry, the resaca cleanup project, and in Solar Energy Technology in conjunction with UTB Center for Civic Engagement.
"I keep busy," he said stepping on the butt of his cigarette and picking it up to dispose of it in the garbage can. "I'm going to be a hyper campaigner on this campaign."