I was truly shocked when I read this morning's statements from the Harris County Democratic Party Chairman in which our Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt was criticized in the Houston Chronicle under the headline, Doubt Cast on Record Voter Rolls.  At the heart of the criticisms is the idea that the Tax Assessor's office is purging voters who do not belong on the rolls, crediting Bettencourt with, "…groundbreaking efforts under state and federal law to remove outmoded or improper registrations." These efforts include removing voters who have moved, been convicted of a felony or have died.  However, instead of recognizing Bettencourt for improving the integrity of the election process, the Democratic Party Chairman treats his efforts as a negative.  The question that must be asked is, "Does the Democratic Party believe things would have been better under Bettencourt's predecessor who maintained thousands of invalid voters on the rolls?"  I, for one, am happy that convicted felons, illegal immigrants and dead people are no longer casting votes in Harris County elections as they did under a Democrat-controlled Tax Office.