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ISSUES

Taxes

The first topic mentioned on the campaign traii when visiting voters is "property taxes". The conversation is usually, "Why are they so high?" or "How did they come up with that appraisal?" When elected Travis County Judge, I will work to establish a reasonable and transparent method of appraisals and to stop the steady push to raise the propeerty tax rate. Further, I will push for property tax reform.

I hear time and again that the methods used now are impossible to understand and that the tax burden both on individuals and business is unbearable. Tom Pauken, Chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission, proposed a list of workable ideals when he was Chair of the Governor's Committee on Property Tax Reform. I will work with state legislators to find a more equitable and fair tax program wherein property owners will know from year to year what they are expected to pay.

The only way we can change the way our government is run is to change the people who are running our government. I will stand up for Travis County and be your property tax reform advocate.

Transportation

As an Austin native, I have watched as state and local governments have failed to provide Travis County residents with adequate, safe roadways. Interstate 35 was built inadequately from its inception. My mother knew the engineers who laid it out and repeated to my family stories of how they wanted to lay out more lanes and plan for the future growth they knew would come. Politicians stopped the original plans.

The fact that there are no major east-west thoroughfares is another symptom of politics over-riding common sense. We still have no real east-west conduit for traffic. Instead, our tax money is being spent on utopian transit ideals that may please folks in Portland, Oregon but do not and will not suffice in supporting the growing truck and auto traffic coming to Central Texas.

Fiscal mismanagement, poor business judgment, and misguided idealism have put us decades behind in planning and developing safe, adequate roadways for the residents of Travis County. Commuter railways forced on us, and toll roads laid over existing roadways have only enraged the local residents. And, they are not solving the problems confronting us, such as traffic congestion and safety hazards mounting in a manner to rate our bottleneck in downtown Austin as one of the worst in the state if not the nation.

The toll road Highway 130 is good for traveling and I use it when I can. But, I am close to it and find it convenient. However, I see very few trucks or other traffic relatively speaking. I feel Hwy 130 is failing to fulfill its promised goal of getting heavy trucks off of I-35. The tolls are apparently prohibitive to commercial usage.

My goal is to find citizens to place on the transportation committees who will exercise common sense and realistic business models in developing the Travis County mobility growth plans into the future. We must stop wasting finite resources on schemes that will not fix our transportation problems. It is bad enough to pay unreasonable taxes, but to waste our tax money is immoral.

Public Safety

Our county has become a fertile bed for international gang activity, a hub for drug and human trafficking. Interstate Highway 35 is a major conduit for these activities. We recently had a raid on a suburban home in Travis County where drugs were being distributed by the gang, La Familia. Recently in Travis County a school was shut down by a girl gang fight. My goal is to ensure that our county law enforcement is at its full, optimal force level. I want to ensure that our county deputies are trained and supplied with the best available resources in order to protect our schools, our parks, and our neighborhoods from gang infiltration and recruiting, drug sales, prostitution, carjacking, gang initiation assaults, and home invasions.

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Endorsements

Jerry Patterson, Texas Land Commissioner
Michael Williams, Texas Railroad Commissioner
COL. Art A. Casiraghi, U.S.Army Ret.
Moton Crockett
Carl Daywood
Barbara Daywood
Steve Dawson

 

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