The other person on the ballot hired some lawyers to protest my candidacy. Unfortunately, I did not withdraw from Precinct Chairman in writing within the time allowed which was earlier than the filing date. Therefore, I will be on the ballot unopposed for Precinct Chairman even though I had originally been removed from the ballot for that position.
1. Please describe the education and experience that qualify you for the position of member of the Texas Senate.
I am a member of McDermott Road Church of Christ in Plano, have been married to the same woman for 38 years, we have 3 children & 8 grandchildren, I served as an officer in the Marine Corps 1972-1976 with final rank of Captain, am an alumnus of Abilene Christian University and Price Waterhouse Big 4 CPA Firm, worked in Petroleum Industry / Management Consulting / Texas Public Education, served as a Republican Party Precinct Chairman & Publicity Director for the Plano Multi-Cultural Outreach Roundtable, and have posted ideas weekly online with public feedback for over two years.
2. Texas ranks very low among states in percentage of persons with health insurance. What measures would you support for improving access to health care in Texas?
Texas Health Savings Accounts
Maintain database of IRS-qualified HSA expenses.
Enrollees establish HSA at insurance company or thrift.
Enrollees issued debit card.
Providers approve expenses for immediate payment on purchases of covered expense (insurance companies) or qualified expense for which there is adequate savings.
Public money issued as voucher which may be allocated as desired to either pay for insurance and/or be placed in the individual HSA account.
With this approach each individual will make the choice of how their money is spent based on their life situation.
3. How should Texas finance the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges?
User fees (tolls) collected via license plate numbers. * See Below
Should the gas tax be raised?
It should be eliminated in favor of a sales tax on vehicle fuel.
Should the gas tax be dedicated solely to road construction and maintenance?
If collected then yes.
Do you support increased construction of toll roads?
Yes, provided the tolls are only used for the road on which collected. *
* Also, the Texas law that requires parallel access roads for toll roads should be continued. This is a good law as it respects the poor, avoids coercion to pay the toll, and forces the toll road authority to maintain a high standard or lose business, unlike “Independent” School Districts.
4. Do you consider Texas’ current per-student public school spending to be adequate and equitable? If not, what measures would you support to increase funding of public school education?
Adequate Not Equitable
Parents should have freedom of choice for their children's education. Currently Texas only supports “Independent” School Districts and charter schools. Parents should be free to choose a non-public school alternative and receive the state money for educating their children after their children demonstrate competency for core subjects by:
Student passes computer-based semester exam for each required course at anTesting centers should be open at flexible times for students throughout the year with students being able to take any specific test for their semester grade level any time the testing center is open.
approved testing center.
5. Texas is one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide in the U.S. What changes would you support to Texas’ energy policies?
Encourage businesses to develop home electric generation systems, cost-effective geothermal heat pumps, and methane/propane powered vehicles with Texas Energy Incentives.
The electric grid is inefficient including: turbines convert about 33% of fuel to electricity; transmission lines lose about 66%; with inefficiencies in dynamos, transformers, and other equipment yields about 6% of fuel energy to homes.
Home generators using natural gas would be considerably more efficient: fuel cells 60%+ or turbines with buried mufflers for noise mitigation 33%+.
Geothermal heat pumps reduce energy required for HVAC.
Methane/propane vehicles could be filled at home and emit less pollutants.
6. State hospitals that serve people with mental illness have reduced the number of available beds, yet the need for services is increasing. How do you propose that Texas provide for the care of those with severe mental illness?
Allow non-violent criminals to remain at home with an ankle tracking system to monitor their location at all times then use the money saved to help persons with mental illness.
7. What other issues do you believe will be most pressing in the next session of the Texas Legislature, and what is your position on these issues?
Persuade the Federal Government to return the offshore land that belongs to Texas from 10 to 200 miles from shore. Offshore leasing is the second largest source of "Federal Revenue" after income taxes which I learned working as a consultant for the Minerals Management Service.
Some information from the following web addresses is applicable to the offshore income question:
http://www.mms.gov/aboutmms/OCSLA/ocslahistory.htm
http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/lsesale/visual1.pdf
This change can be effected cooperating with other states or the courts.
Replace property taxes with higher sales taxes.
Bring pressure on Texas State Agencies to hire Texas based businesses starting with replacing Pearson for student end-of-course evaluation testing.
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