Challenge To The County - Questions For The Candidates
The first of many challenges, I hope. If you would, please list in the comments of this post, what are the three biggest concerns you would like to see the candidates address?
Remember, we have candidates for the following:
US Senate
US House of Representatives
Railroad Commissioner (wonder what they do? look here)
Chief Justice, Supreme Court (candidate unopposed)
Justice, Supreme Court
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals
State Representative (candidate unopposed)
Sheriff
County Tax Assessor
County Commissioner
Constable (candidate unopposed)
9 comments:
To the US Senate Candidates:
1. How you would have, or should have voted, is a moot point. What is your plan to administer the debt, and how should the gov't get out of the banking business?
2. Is a wealth redistribution plan the right way to go?
3. Do you know how much how much each family in this country owes, when you total the real debt? Include SS, medicaire, etc.
4. Won't our children be paying exorbitantly high taxes to service the debt?
5. Iraq is over. Both parties looked at the same intel, and voted to go in. The pertinent question is, what is the end game in Afghanistan, how long will we be there, and how do we handle Pakistan?
6. If Iran is within a year of completing the nuke they are working on, what will our response be?
7. If Russia invades either of the breakaway republics, will your position be to defend them, and should we rush their admission to NATO?
8. What is your interpretation of 'advise and consent' as related to Supreme Court nominees? Short of criminal activity or serious character flaws, shouldn't each be given an up or down vote on the floor?
9. Should Israel surrender the Golan Heights?
10. Can North Korea be trusted?
11. Rather than punish the big oil companies, won't we actually have to give them money, if we plan to 'invest' in offshore drilling, and clean coal?
12. Assuming Democrats win large majorities in both chambers, how would each of you work across the aisle?
To the candidates for US House of Representatives:
1. How often will you come home, and listen to your constituents during your term?
2. Assuming the expired drilling ban comes back up for a vote, how would you vote?
3. How would an 'investment' spending bill for nuclear, wind, solar, etc be funded?
4. Is the military underfunded? if so, how much?
5. Will you start working on a real, albeit painful and politically risky, fix to medicaire and social security?
6. Would you consider asking younger voters to sacrifice, pay in to Soc Security and Medicaire, with the stated intent of unwinding it, and paying no benefits to them? If not, is there really any other way to fix it?
7. Many older voters retirement plans have suffered greatly due to the collapse of the stock market and treasuries. Won't there be huge political pressure to bail them out? If so, how will you respond?
8. How indebted are you, right now, to lobbyist donations?
9. Does campaign finance really work? After the sum raised by Obama, is it really worth giving 84 million taxpayer dollars for a fairness doctrine that obviously is easily subverted?
10. Does the collapse of Freddie, Fannie, Lehman and AIG convince you that social engineering, like housing loan guarantees, is a failed strategy?
To the Railroad Commission candidates:
1. What is the yearly budget of the RRC, and how is it funded?
2. Does the RRC still oversee rail shipping activities, and in your assesment, how safe and reliable are the RR companies?
3. Steel went through the roof last year, and remains high. What effort should the RRC make to insure the foreign steel being used for pipe now truly complies with US standards?
4. Every year, we see refineries threatened by hurricanes on the Gulf Coast. Is the RRC in any position to relax any standards or regulations to make it feasible to relocate those facilities out of harms way?
5. Speaking of regulations, do either of you favor a loosening of FERC and EPA regulations, to reduce the cost of pipeline infrastructure construction?
6. I am told the pipeline industry workforce is getting older, and suffering from a high rate of skilled labor retirement, such as welders and operators. Does the RRC view a less skilled and experienced labor force as a potential hazard, and are they, or should they, invest or support a drive to train younger workers?
To the Supreme Court Chief justice:
1. Regardless of how you view Roe V. Wade, should it have been adjudicated at the Federal level, or is that a States Rights issue?
2. What would be, or what is, the constraint from placing military troops on our southern border to prevent illegal immigration?
3. Isn't illegal immigration tantamount to an invasion?
4. The homeowners struck hardest by Ike, on the waterfront, may be denied the right to build back, due to beach erosion now bringing the water line closer to their home sites. Is this fair, and how would you view zoning variances?
5. The Imminent domain decision a couple of years appears to place landowners and Judiciary in direct confrontation. Flatly stated, do you view this as constitutional?
6. What is your position on the death penalty?
7. This year, voter registration, and possibly vote fraud, is back in the news. What are the constraints against voter ID cards, and why are they a hot button issue?
8. Every citizen is guaranteed a speedy trial, and it seems, at least a decade of appeals. Can the appeals process be sped up in any way?
9. Are mandatory evacuation orders legal?
10. Is it worth the time and money we spend each year combating marijuana in this country?
11. Why aren't criminal street gangs and drug cartels considered terrorist organizations?
12. Do you consider terrorists enemy combatants, or criminals?
13. I heard an interesting question in the presidential debates, and I'd like you to adress at least the legal issue: Is health care in this country a right, an obligation, or a privilege?
14: For the Chief Justice: Does Texas maintain the prerogative to secede from the US legally?
15: Again, for the Chief Justice: Are race based quota programs constitutional?
For the Appeals Court Judges:
1. Again, is there any way to speed up the appeals process?
2. Are you for, or against, the death penalty?
3. Why do we treat violent juvenile offenders any differently than adult offenders? (I wish I had asked the Chief justice that!
4. If three strike sentencing makes sense, why not two strikes?
5. As a practical matter, has the Patriot Act caused any weakening of citizens rights against illegal search and seizure?
6. Since only a very twisted few murder for love, how exactly does a hate crime murder differ from any other murder?
7. On a personal level: When you hear about a prisoner exonerated after 20 years through DNA evidence, how profoundly does that affect you?
8. With meth and other potent drugs on the rise, and since they impair criminals from feeling pain and fear, how does that affect your feelings on police brutality, or excessive use of force now?
9. In your view, can Law Enforcement be trusted to police themselves in matters of excessive force and evidence tampering?
10. Considering the judiciary as an institution nationwide, is it now too lenient or too harsh with regard to appeals and sentencing?
To the candidate for State Representative:
1. Isn't redistricting just gerrymandering?
2. Where can Texas be more efficient in it's use of Taxpayer dollars?
3. Do you support NAFTA, and how has it changed spending at the border?
4. Should Texas, Arizona and California foot the bill for patrolling a national border?
5. How much will Ike cost the taxpayers, and what happens if another Ike shows up next year?
6. Does Texas spend enough on education?
7. Is Texas unfairly burdened by the cost of "anchor babies"?
To the candidates for Sheriff:
1. Are the Sheriff's department manpower and equipment levels adequate?
2. How bad is the drug problem in the county? What is the worst drug problem you fight?
3. What have been the biggest recent successes and problems in the department recently, and how do you propose to address the problems?
4. How well did the department respond to Ike, and how well did it interface with the State and Federal players?
5. I am told we a drug trafficking corridor. Is that true?
6. How do you you interdict suspicious travellers without 'profiling', or can you at all?
7. Where will the bulk of next years budget be spent?
8. What new challenges face law enforcement in the coming years, and how will you prepare for it.
9. Does the county house it's own prisoners, or are they 'farmed out'. How much, per prisoner, does that cost us over housing them ourselves?
10. DARE has been around since the 80's. Do you see that program as being a success? What other youth outreach programs is the department involved in?
For the candidates for Tax Assessor:
1. Will the housing market collapse affect property values, and in turn, tax revenues?
2. Why do citizens without benefit of fire hydrants or a standing fire department, pay the same property tax rates as citizens who enjoy those protections?
3. With Duoline coming in, one would assume the tax base might grow a little. Has any thought been given to, and would you support, any effort to grant tax limited term abatement or incentives to industry moving into the county?
To the candidates for County Commissioner:
1 Has the budget for the precinct you are running for went up or down in the last four years? Why?
2 Do you support or oppose the optional county road system (OCRS)? Why?
3 If the OCRS is done away with, what money will we save, what efficiencies will will we gain, and what level of service and responsiveness will we lose?
4 How good is the condition of the precincts equipment?
5 What are three big items on your agenda if you are elected?
6 What lessons, if any, should we learn from Hurricane Ike?
7 I have heard of several proposed developments in Precinct 1. Have the drainage issues all been addressed?
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