Orlando Sanchez (politician)

Orlando Sanchez
Harris County Treasurer
In office January 1, 2006 – present
Preceded by	Jack Cato
Member of the Houston City Council from the At-large #3 District
In office January, 1996 – January, 2001
Preceded by	Lloyd Kelley
Succeeded by	Shelley Sekula-Rodriguez
Personal details
Born	October 14, 1957 (1957-10-14) (age 57) Havana, Cuba
Children	Aubrie
Residence	Houston, Texas
Alma mater	University of Houston
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Air Force Texas Air National Guard
Years of service	1976 - 1978 (USAF) 1978 - 1989 (TANG)

Orlando Sanchez is an American politician, twice elected (2006,^[1] 2010^[2]) Treasurer of Harris County, Texas, and recently won re-election to that office on November 4, 2014.^[3][4] He also served three terms as a councilman on the Houston City Council (1995–2001).

Early Life and Education

Sanchez was born in Havana, Cuba, and left with his parents after the Cuban Revolution. The family stayed for a brief time in Venezuela,^[5] then they came to Houston in 1962 when former Harris County Judge Roy Hofheinz hired Sanchez's father, Orlando Sanchez-Diago,^[6] to be the Spanish voice of the Colt 45s baseball club, which subsequently was renamed the Houston Astros.^[7] Sanchez grew up in southwest Houston and graduated from Bellaire High School (Bellaire, Texas) before joining the U.S. Air Force in 1976. After his tour, he enlisted in the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group of the Texas Air National Guard at the then-named Ellington Field. He attended the University of Houston and graduated cum laude with a degree in political science. In 1997, Sanchez was the University of Houston Social Sciences' Outstanding Young Alum and in 2001 received the Distinguished Alumnus Award.^[8]

Political career

Sanchez first ran for office in 1992 when he was the Republican nominee for Texas House District 132. Then in 1993 he was a candidate for Houston City Council in District C .^[9]

In 1995, Sanchez successfully ran city-wide for at large position on Houston City Council, where he served three terms beginning in January 1996 to January 2002 and stepped down due to term limits. His election made him the first Latino immigrant elected city-wide in Houston's history. The Harris County Republican Party awarded Sanchez the Political Courage Award for his vote to cut property taxes for the first time in decades in Houston.^[10]

In 2001, he ran for Mayor of the City of Houston. Sanchez ran against a well-funded incumbent, Lee P. Brown, and a fellow city councilman, Chris Bell. Sanchez, who gained 40% of the vote, faced Brown, who had 43%, in a run-off; Chris Bell received only 16% of the ballots cast.^[11][12] The center piece of Sanchez' campaign was public safety: he called for four fire fighters on each fire truck as the minimum needed to preserve the lives and safety of the fire fighters.^[13] On September 11, 2001, fire fighters helping victims in the World Trade Center attacks became national heroes;^[14] this helped to elevate the profile of Sanchez' cause. Then, in October 2001, Houston Fire Captain Jay Janhke was killed while putting out a fire. Brown was the subject of heavy criticism and shortly there after Fire Department policy was changed, and four fighters per truck became the standard for each call.^[15]

Sanchez pulled together a unique coalition of supporters that included the Hispanic community, Asian business leaders, Republican and independent voters.^[16] Historically, Hispanic turnout in Houston races hovered around 10%, but nearly 18% of Hispanic voters turned out in this race with over 77% of them voting for Sanchez.^[17] Voter turnout in the 2001 mayoral race between Sanchez and Brown was historic. Not only was Latino voter turnout nearly doubled, but the number of voters who voted in the December run-off remains the highest in Houston's history. Sanchez narrowly lost the race by 10,702 votes.

In 2003, Sanchez ran for a second time for Mayor against Bill White, a businessman and well connected Democrat, and Sylvester Turner, a state representative and former candidate for mayor against then-Mayor Bob Lanier.^[18] Sanchez had much better name identification in this race and had been offered several other opportunities, but, "I knew, standing on that podium, looking at the crowd, that I would run again in 2003," Sanchez said. "It's what I want to do and be. When I start something, I stick to it."^[19] Once again, Sanchez made the run-off,^[20] but lost to Bill White in the general election.^[21]

He was elected Harris County Treasurer in 2006 making him the first Latino immigrant to be elected to a county-wide non-judicial office in Harris County.^[22] Sanchez was reelected in 2010 and again in 2014.

Work and Organizational Involvement

As County Treasurer, Orlando Sanchez oversees Harris County’s multiple bank accounts, pays the county’s expenses and is an independent set of eyes in overseeing spending of county taxpayer dollars. The treasurer's office has won several transparency awards since Sanchez took office including Sunny Awards for transparency in 2010 and 2011 from the Sunshine Review^[23][24] and achieved Platinum Level in the Texas State Comptroller's Leadership Circle for Transparency in Local Government Reporting.^[25]

Sanchez sits on the Harris County Bail Bonds Board, is a member of the Board of Directors of Capital Bank, a life member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the 100 Club of Houston and is a former advisory member of the University of Houston Law School Foundation and current advisory member of Volunteer Interfaith Caregivers-Southwest (VIC-SW), an organization that provides free one-on-one assistance to the frail and elderly in southwest Houston through a network of volunteers who provide services.^[26] He is also a member of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group which ensures dignity and respect at memorial services honoring Fallen Military Heroes, First Responders and Honorably Discharged Veterans.^[27]

Personal life

Orlando Sanchez has one daughter, Aubrie, a graduate of Boston University.

Notes