Name three main reasons you believe you’re the best candidate for this position?

1.     I have a unquestionable proven track record of Defending the County, fighting to keep businesses, houses of faith, Schools, local governments and political subdivisions open during the pandemic even to the point of openly standing against State and Federal authorities that have tried to take away or limit our civil liberties. I crafted three Mantra’s that have benefited Montgomery County over all other counties in Texas. One, You can't have a healthy community without a healthy econonmy. Second, the govnerment is not in the business of picking winners and losers and lastly, God created us for community.  

2.   I have fulfilled the commitments that I have made to the citizens of the county. “Promises made Promises kept.”

1. I introduced and fought for fiscal responsibility that resulted in the Montgomery County Taxes remaining at the effective tax rate and the No New Revenue rate for three years. Per Retired County Judge Barb Sadler “Never in the history of the county has this taken place”. This has given us a business climate that draws business to our county and has caused them to invest in the community because they Know MOCO government is stable and ideologically conservative.
2. I initiated and saw through to the end the removing of the tolls from Hwy 242. And implemented a countywide mobility plan that is more than a “spaghetti drawing” of wants but through stake holder meetings with local government and citizen / business community, have competed what is necessary to move forward with a plan.
3. I submitted to the Montgomery County Delegation to the Texas Capitol a law Allowing Montgomery County to establish our own  Citizens Ethics Commission designed to keep elected officials accountable to a clear ethics policy with “teeth to enforce “.
4. I said I would eliminate the use of Certificates of obligation and since being elected, the only bonds that I have approved have been defeasance bonds that have reduced the debt burden to the county taxpayers.
5. I said Montgomery would not allow outside influences to determine the fate of Montgomery County.  “Montgomery County First”. Best seen in the response that I took to the pandemic as mentioned above.
6. I told the Montgomery county citizenry that I would not raise my salary upon taking office. Instead I reduced the salary by 12 % and am the only Montgomery County Employee who has not taken a raise in the last three budget cycles.

3.   Having served in the 84th and 85th legislative sessions I am the only candidate that has the knowledge and history to go directly to the capitol and testify on behalf of the county on matters that are of great importance to Montgomery County. I testified against Tax Payer funded lobbying,against the redistricting of Senate districts in MOCO because of the neglect to consider “communities of interest”. I testified in favor of Montgomery County developing its own Ethics Commission.

4.  I said I would work to stabilize and unify Montgomery County Commissioners Court. The court is accomplishing tasks that have never been accomplished in the past.

Do you favor term limits? Please explain why or why not.

While some believe that we have term limits through the election process, this simply is not the case.  The approval rating of the US congress is consistently 20% while the reelection rate is at 95%.  Term limits are extremely important for 4 reasons:

1. Term limits brings into the government new Ideas creativity and the ability to correct bad habits that have been accepted as the status quo.
2. Term limits while not totally eliminating the possibility of corruption, minimizes the potential for ongoing corruption through having to elect new people to positions.
3.  Term limits force politicians to have a plan and to maximize that plan for accomplishing their goals. This leads to greater fiscal responsibility and efficient use of the time they have to serve.
4. Term Limits give the citizenry hope that change can take place and will insure that discouragement is minimized and opportunity is just around the corner.

Will you vote to require a supermajority vote to approve bond elections?

I fully support this concept, and much like adoption of tax increases requiring a supermajority I will work with the legislature in future sessions to include this into statute.

Do you think the county needs to zone areas to control population densities and development patterns?

Currently, Texas law prohibits this practice and reserves it for municipalities of more than 5,000 people.  Counties are not best suited to regulate zoning laws and this would just create another layer of government that would only add to the tax burden. 

Under what circumstance will you vote to award any contract with less than three qualified bidders?

1. When three qualified bidders are not available.
2. When Texas law prohibits bidding for specific projects or tasks. 

Since TAC (Texas Association of Counties) is very unfriendly towards taxpayers, will you vote for or against including Montgomery county membership to TAC? Why?

While I agree TAC more often than not is unfriendly towards citizens and taxpayers alike, Texas law requires counties and their employees to receive continuing education from the association and in order to receive those services a county must be a member, or face paying higher tuition fees for all the various classes hundreds of employees must take annually.  Knowing that TAC often lobbies against the ideals and or best interest of conservative counties, having a county judge with previous legislative experience has been invaluable, since I can directly lobby in favor of the conservative ideals and speak directly to members of the legislature from the floor of the chambers.   

Do you oppose the use of public funds, other than for needed infrastructure repairs, to subsidize the cost of private facilities such as stadiums, arenas, hotels and other such entities?

YES! 

Will you vote for or against Certificate of Obligation Bonds? When is a Cert. of Obligaton warranted? Though statutory(created by legislature), would you publicly condemn it's use?

I have stood against the use of certificates of obligation and will continue to do so. If the project is that important it should be left up to the people to make the determination if the debt associated with it is warranted or not. 

Did you take a position on The Woodlands incorporating?   Why or why not?

No.  As the former State Representative that represented The Woodlands and having worked on monumental legisltion that enabled the residents to have a say on whether or not they should form a city govenrment I felt it was important to allow the voters speak without influence.  

Will you vote to limit budget increases to a factor based on population growth and inflation? Explain.

The County Budget is primarily based upon the collection of property taxes. I have advocated that budgets be limited to the level of property tax collected consistent with population growth plus inflation. However for every tax cycle, our budget has not grown based upon those factors because I have insisted upon the Effective Tax Rate now called the No New Revenue Rate. We have stayed below population growth and inflation.

Do you support using zero-based budget practices for every governmental entity, elected and appointed?

Yes and I have demonstrated this in all of our departments through our budget officer.

What are the balanced budget “rules” for Texas counties in general and for Montgomery County in particular & how/when would you balance the Montgomery County budget & pay off debt?

Texas law requires that political subdivisions have a balanced budget.  A entity such as Montgomery County cannot project more revenue than needed to satisfy the budget needs nor can they have more expenses than they do revenue.  Montgomery County has received an Aaa bond rating all three years I have been in office and we remain one of a few counties to have this rating, which is the highest that can be achieved for a county.  As a result we have been able to defease debt by utilizing our high credit rating to continue to lower our interest cost and thus lower principal debt faster and a lower overall cost. 

Do you support a requirement that any government entity require a two-thirds majority to impose any tax increase?

Yes. As is currently required by Texas Law four out of five members of Commissioners Court would have to support a tax increase for it to occur. 

Will you vote for increasing the public debt of your jurisdiction to fund road construction/maintenance?  Explain why/not.

To continue to address traffic congestion and the unprecedented growth of our county road bonds are necessary from time to time, and should be presented to public for consideration and approval.  I do not support using bond funds or long term debt structures for maintenance projects.  Maintenance should be covered through normal budgeting and not structured on long term debt that exceeds the lifespan of the maintenance.   

Do you believe the private conduct of a public official is relevant to that official’s suitability for office?

Yes.

Is there anything in your background of an embarrassing nature that should be explained before your election? Arrests/Convictions? Bankruptcys?

Yes. On September 10, 2019 I was involved in an accident in which I was ultimately charged with Driving while intoxicated. While I had no alcohol in my system, the charge was made because I had residual sleeping aid in my blood when the accident took place. The sleeping aid was Ambien, it was prescribed by my physician and the amount in my blood was within therapeutic range (not being abused).

My initial response was to fight the charge since there was no intent on my part to drive under the influence and I was just trying to get a decent night’s sleep.

However when I read the Texas law on drinking while intoxicated, I discovered that while intent is considered in the disposition of many crimes, this is not the case with DWI events. Even though I was authorized to take the drug by a medical doctor, and even though it was determined that there was no abuse of the drug, According the Section 49 :10 of the Texas penal code, intent is not a  defense to prosecution. Residual Ambien was found in my blood stream and thus it was determined I was driving while intoxicated. 

After much soul searching believing that I could beat this charge, I remembered what I had promised to my constituents i.e. that I would serve the people to the best of my ability and that I would refuse any form of preferential treatment that is not granted to the citizens of this county. This applies to the rule of law.

I then plead guilty, paid all fines and fees out of my own personal savings and not campaign funds, surrendered my firearm as ordered by the court, with my right to carry suspended for five years, and incurred all attorney fees at my own expense, while serving without incident the terms of my probation. 

I announced my conviction publicly and explained the situation in an open and transparent way to the public.  It was important for me to share my story because during this difficult time I had heard numerous stories from constituents who themselves had done very strange things while taking the same prescription.  With the public trust I have earned over my tenure I wanted to make sure everyone had knowledge of how dangerous these sleep aids were. Including how I stopped taking the medication because of the dangers that I learned during this process. 

As it relates to my candidacy, it does not disqualify me from running for office and because I was doing as instructed by my physician I am moving forward with no regrets.

How much of a problem is county hiring based on the "good old boy" / "loyalty to leadership" instead of one's ability to efficiently and ethically perform their tasks and functions? and what can realistically be done about it?

While it has been an issue in the past it has basically gone away. When an elected official was going to hire this way, I confronted them and they did not hire that person.

What's your position on Toll Roads?

I have spoken to many groups of people all over the region about the state of Montgomery County. I almost always talk about transportation because the question continues to arise about traffic congestion.

I assure them that we are doing everything that we can do and will continue to do so. They invariably ask the question “what about toll roads? I respond with asking for a show of hands on two questions;

1. ”How many of you like waiting in traffic? Raise your hands.” Not one hand has ever been raised.
2. “How many of you like receiving a bill in the mail for driving on these roads? Not one has ever raise their hand.

So the people do not want to wait in traffic and they do not want to pay for roads. I am not against toll roads if they will relieve traffic, but I am against them being used as a tax after they are paid off. We all hate toll roads because after they are paid, they become a form of permeant tax.  That is wrong.

I can support a toll road with the following qualifiers:

1. Appeal to the state transportation commission for a road to be built with state money. If this cannot be done move to the second qualifier.
2. If all other funding options are exhausted and a toll road is going to be built, it must have an exit strategy so that when it is paid off the tolls cease.
3. If a toll road is going to be built, certificates of obligation are out of the question.

I would prefer all potential toll road projects be subject to voter approval, and will work to get legislation changed that make that a reality. 

What's your position on county using taxpayer money to fund Toll Roads, yet using toll fees for maintenance?

The way SH 249 was done prior to my arrival was not in the best interest of the taxpayers of Montgomery County with regard to how it was funded with seed money from general funds.  However, those funds have since been paid back to the taxpayers and the toll road is generating ample revenue to satisfy both debt and minimal maintenance that is currently required.  The good news in all of this is the road is producing more revenue than projected and thus should be paid off much faster than projected.  Future free road vote will be forthcoming.

Will you agree to abstain from giving tax-payer funds to non-profits?

No and here is why. Texas law requires counties to provide indigent services, mental health care, and food security to the impoverished.  Montgomery County, instead of performing these services as a county department or in this case multiple county departments we utilize service contracts with each of the non-profits who receive funding from the county.  With these contracts we provide foster and emergency housing to Montgomery County kids in CPS care, indigent healthcare, indigent food security, mental healthcare and crisis assistance to all residents of the county who may need these services.  The non-profits are not handpicked, they are the only ones based here performing these tasks at a huge discount to the taxpayers.  Should Montgomery County attempt to cover the entire cost of just one of these functions like mental health care we would have a department budget in excess of $10 million a year, but for $250,000 a year we are completely covered. The non-profits utilize the funds awarded in their service contracts to further attract state and federal grants that further stretch those dollars and again keep the overall cost to the county taxpayers low.  I do not support granting funds to non-profits that are nation-wide or state-wide or that do not perform a service to the public that statutorily is Montgomery Counties responsibility. 

Do you consider the salary increases for County Commissioners over the past 10 years to be equitable in light of the salary increases for other county officials?

What County commissioners are paid in Montgomery County is determined at the budget hearings. For the third year in a row, I chose to not accept a raise and voted against the final budget which included raises for every county employee, elected or appointed. 

What would you do at the county level to protect citizens from the federal or state government?

Whatever is in the legal parameters of my position? And if needs be I’d break with the legal parameters if the government is operating illegally or in a way that threatens lives and property.

In light of census data showing avg. MC taxpayer salaries of $40K, what salary would be appropriate for commissioners?

The real question should be…what is the comparative salary that a commissioner should have as an executive vice president of a 400 million dollar company? Or what would a CEO make managing a 400 million dollar company? I believe I have demonstrated to the public that I take my salary serious as I have lowered it and capped it and have considered salaries as a reason to vote against the budget. 

Do you believe Americans should be forced to provide medical care and public education to people who are in our country illegally?

NO.

Did you agree or disagree with the governors' mask mandate during the 2020 Covid 19 "epidemic"?  Would you have enforced it at the local level?  Why or why not?

I totally disagree with the mask mandate and stated so when Harris County chose to mandate the masks at the Governors allowance. When the governor mandated masks, we simply refused to comply and refused to enforce.