Phil Ballard won a close Republican primary against Mike Lowe in February 2008. In August 2008 he defeated the Democrat nominee.
Ballard has had his hands full in negative story after negative story. First, he decided to make the unfortunate decision to abolish all the positions of ceritified appraisers. No other large property assessor office in the state has ZERO ceritified appraisers. A decision that was reported here on Friday January 9, 2009.
He has taken away all drive home county vehicles from the employees of the assessor’s . It is rumored that he has been hiring politically connected friends and relatives of individuals to his liking. Not posting the vacancies to allow all qualified citizens to apply and be considered for the positions. Thus, violating the equal opportunity employment nature of the office.
