Welcome!

I first campaigned for state representative because, like you, I knew that politicians in Austin had lost touch with the commonsense values that define the Coastal Bend.

After serving one term as your state representative, I must admit, the political mess was worse than I could have imagined!

The moment I took the oath of office, Texas faced a $27 billion budget ‘shortfall.’

Much of the 2011 – 2012 budget shortfall was due to a sort of creative number shuffling, meant to hide how serious Texas‘ financial issues are. In short, rather than facing constituents and telling the truth, for years, the Legislature has deferred portions of the budget from one cycle to the next and relied on ‘one time revenue sources’ such as federal stimulus dollars to help shore up critical services such as education. When the one time money runs out, lawmakers are left to look for another miracle to cure what ails.

I know that is not how most Texans run their households. When the money runs out, we pay for the necessities first and forgo the luxuries until our household economies improve.

In the weeks ahead, I will outline critically needed budget reforms to return accountability and transparency to the budget process.  Below are the principles of my budget reform plan:

• Transparency  
  • No hidden costs, no accounting tricks.  Any Texan should be able to review how their tax dollars are spent without an accounting degree!
• End Diversions
  • Texas law mandates that certain revenue must be spent on specific programs but the Legislature has routinely diverted funds meant for one program to other programs.  If revenue is dedicated for a specific program, that revenue should only be used for its intended purpose.
• End Deferrals  
  • The Texas Constitution requires that the Legislature pass a balanced biennial budget.  For years, the Legislature has balanced the budget by deferring expenses into the next biennium.  This past Legislative Session, in order to meet the balanced budget requirement, the Legislature deferred $2.3 billion in school payments into the first month of fiscal year 2013.  This is wrong.
• First Priorities First
  • Education, Public Safety & Infrastructure – Nothing is more important than efficiently and adequately funding public education, ensuring safe communities, and making sure infrastructure keeps up with the demands of an ever-growing Texas population.  All other areas of the budget should start at zero, and not funded until we fund our most important priorities.

Reforming a process that’s evolved under the influence of special interests over many years will not be easy, but it can be done.

I am committed to returning to Austin to help undo the mess.  With your help, we will restore commonsense values to state government.  Thank you for your support and please contact me if your have any questions.

Sincerely,