# A 24-year-old is running Texas' money office > Don Huffines put a recent college grad in the second-most powerful seat at a 3,000-person state agency, and veterans are streaming out the door. - Title: A 24-year-old is running Texas' money office | Shortify - Summary: Don Huffines put a recent college grad in the second-most powerful seat at a 3,000-person state agency, and veterans are streaming out the door. Texas'… - Keywords: texas politics, comptroller, don huffines, state government, patronage, news, local, 24-year-old, running, Texas', money, office - Source: The Texas Tribune — https://feeds.texastribune.org/link/16799/17462392/texas-comptroller-shakeup-don-huffines-noah-betz - Author: Alejandro Serrano - Published: 2026-09-15T10:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 3 min - Topics: texas politics, comptroller, don huffines, state government, patronage, news, local ## Call him Mr. Betz When Don Huffines took over as Texas comptroller this summer, he brought his second-in-command to staff introductions and told the room to address him as Mr. Betz. > Call him "Mr. Betz." ## Class of 2023 Noah Betz graduated from Texas A&M with a business administration degree in 2023. Public records suggest he is 24 or 25. He declined to disclose his age. ## Second in command of 3,000 His title is chief clerk, known around the building as deputy comptroller. It is the number two job at an agency with 3,000 employees. ## Double his predecessor's pay Betz earns $306,000 a year, twice what acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock made before leaving in July. That lands him in the top 1% of government salaries. ## Huffines takes nothing Huffines says he is not accepting a government salary for the job himself. ## Three years, one client Most of Betz's work since graduating has been consulting for hardline conservative politicians, including Huffines' own campaign, and running Huffines' real estate and development firm. ## The office pushes back A spokesperson said Huffines knows how to staff a talented team and does not need hiring advice from liberal activists, calling the new leadership strong and experienced. > He doesn't need hiring advice from liberal activists. ## Decades walked out Dozens have left or been pushed out. Among them: Lisa Craven, deputy comptroller for nearly 12 years, and Brad Reynolds, chief revenue estimator since 2020 and in the division since 2010. ## This office writes the budget The comptroller issues the revenue estimate that sets how much money the Legislature has to write Texas' budget every two years. Get it wrong and the whole state feels it. ## His opponent's warning Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, the Austin Democrat facing Huffines in November, says expertise is being deliberately drained from the agency. > The office is being weaponized. ## Built on Twitter fights Betz led the Young Conservatives chapter at A&M and traded posts with Texas far-right figures like Michael Quinn Sullivan, often aiming at then-Speaker Dade Phelan. His account is now private. ## The Tarrant County loophole In 2024, County Judge Tim O'Hare gave Betz a five-month, $5,000 communications contract. A Democratic commissioner objected: as a contractor, he could keep doing political work on a county paycheck. ## $2.7 million in consulting Since 2022, when Betz was still a student, Huffines has paid his firm Bluestone Creatives nearly $2.7 million for consulting, marketing and even Christmas cards. ## No public finance on the resume The state auditor's job description lists knowledge of public administration, state fiscal management and tax policy. This appears to be Betz's first job in state government or public finance. ## The missing file The Tribune asked for Betz's personnel file, resume and job description. The agency produced neither the resume nor the job description and gave no reason. ## Locked out, then told Fired employees described logging in one afternoon to find themselves shut out, then receiving condolences before anyone explained why. Others told the same story. > We didn't even get to say goodbye. … People weren't even allowed in to get their things. ## Huffines calls it a mess He has not addressed the departures directly, but told Texas Scorecard he inherited a mess and that the easy path would have been letting the bureaucrats keep running things. > It would be so much easier … just to step in, let the bureaucrats run the agency. ## Key takeaway Texas' revenue estimates now run through an office where decades of institutional memory were swapped for political loyalty in a matter of weeks.