2016 Ellis County Constable Pct 4 GOP Candidate Questionnaire responses

56 years old

Midlothian

23

Wife: Melva. Two daughters: Tara 34 and Krystin 23.

High School and some college

Been the Constable since Jan. 1, 2009.

Ellis County Constable Precinct 4

I attend "Gods Church on the Hill" in Lone Elm occasionally.

I am a member of:
JPCA (Justice of the Peace and Constable’s Association);
Marine Corps Association.

I am involved with the community by helping individuals and family who need assistance in living expenses and food.

a) I graduated High School in May 1978, and joined the United States Marine Corps. I attended Boot Camp and was number one in my platoon, being the shooter scoring 232 out of a possible 250 with the M-16, and running consecutive perfect PFT scores 300 of a possible 300, thus being Meritoriously promoted to PFC E2 upon graduation. I was then ordered to Camp Pendleton California for Infantry Training, following thatm, I was then ordered to Millington Tennessee for Aviation Hydraulics’ training, where I graduated first in my class, and again meritoriously promoted to Lance Corporal (E3) and given my choice of "Coasts". I picked the west coast and was ordered to MCAS El Toro, CA. I joined the Black Sheep VMA-214, made famous by the TV series during the early 80’s. Sent to Aircraft specific Hydraulic school in MCAS Cherry Point NC I again was first academically in my class. I was able to return to MCAS El Toro, and transferred to VMFP-3, a recon squadron. I was chosen as a troubleshooter for RF-4B phantoms, and sent to school for a "back seat" license. After graduating from there, I was able to fly in the back seat of the phantom when on "Test Flights for flight controls and landing gear" and occasionally when out on a mission when a normal RIO was not available. I was promoted to Corporal (E4). In 1981, I was one of 140 Marines chosen by Headquarters USMC to join and form VMFA-314 "Black Knights". This squadron was picked by USMC and the NAVY to be the first squadron for either service to transition to the F/A-18. I was promoted to Sergeant (E5) just three years into my enlistment, and temporarily stationed in NAS Lemoore CA for F/A-18 "Airframes" training. After six months in Lemoore, we returned to MCAS El Toro CA and received our 12 F/A-18A aircraft from McDonnell Douglas. I worked with the Technical representative for McDonnell and wrote the maintenance procedures and what was eventually called "work packages" for the entire fleet still to come. As a squadron we were deployed 29 months of the next three years, then we were the first squadron to take the F/A-18 overseas, starting sea trials and work ups on the USS Coral Sea CV-43. Deploying to the Mediterranean in the Fall of 1985 as part of battle group and CAG-13. While deployed, we took part in numerous operations, starting with forcing an airliner to land in Sigonela Sicily because one of the hijackers of the cruise ship Achilles Laurel was onboard. He had murdered a handicap American and thrown his body over the side of the ship. We ended the deployment with operation El Dorado Canyon. Where we attacked Benghazi Libya after months of aggression from the Libyan air force against us and of course in retaliation to the bombing of a disco in which Americans were killed. We were the first to fly the F/A-18 into combat, and all aircraft returned unharmed.

b) Upon returning from the Med, I was promoted to Staff Sergeant (E6) and stationed in NAS Dallas with VMFA-112 "COWBOYS". At the time, this squadron was still flying the F-4 Phantom II. It was scheduled to receive F/A-18 aircraft in the future, and a few of us trained came to Dallas to get the squadron ready.

c) I was chosen to serve as a Maintenance Controller, where I scheduled the various work centers to perform maintenance on 12 F-4 aircraft. I was sent to Cherry Point NC in 1987 to attend Quality Assurance school and subsequently transferred to Quality assurance. Quality Assurance personnel are the last ones to inspect a "safe for flight" repair, and sign off that it is done correctly by the mechanic. I was the Airframes QA representative until being promoted to Gunnery Sergeant (E7) and transferred to become the Squadron Airframes Division Chief (or boss of three work centers) Metal Shop, Airframes and Seat Shop. After serving as the A/F Chief for approximately 12 months successfully, I was selected to be the QA Chief. As QA Chief, I was responsible for all inspectors within the squadron, as well as for internal flight log recordings... being awarded the Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal by the Secretary of the Navy for leadership.

d) In 1995, I was promoted to Master Sergeant (E8) and selected by the Squadron Commanding Officer and Aircraft Maintenance Officer to be the Squadron Maintenance Chief. In Charge of the entire maintenance department (13 work centers and several administrative (aviation) offices of VMFA-112 for four years earning a Meritorious Service Medal from The President of the United States for Leadership as the Squadron Maintenance Chief. Honorably retiring after serving 21 years.

e) In preparation for retirement, I interviewed with Midlothian Police Department in 1997 and gained them as a sponsor to enter the Police Academy. Attending the academy at Weatherford Junior College. I would work at the USMC from 6:30a until 5:00p and start class at 5:30 – 9:30 Mon – Fri. After a year, I graduated from the Academy first in my class, with a perfect score for the physical fitness training portion, and was hired immediately by Midlothian PD. I took saved Leave (vacation) from the Marine Corps and completed two months of FTO training in one month by working two shifts until completed. I received permission from my Commanding officer to work full time at MPD as long as it didn’t impede on my work hours at the squadron and the USMC agreed not to deploy me anymore. However, I would deploy once more because of events out of our control, but would only be gone for 3 weeks. MPD set my work hours to complement the USMC work schedule. So I worked at MPD from 7.00p til 3.00a and The USMC from 0630 until 5.00p for seven months until my retirement... not once having a day off. MPD was Friday through Tuesday and the USMC was Monday through Friday. I was, and I am still, driven and can accomplish anything I set out to do.

f) I worked with MPD as a patrol officer, eventually becoming a Field Training Officer (FTO) and then a shift senior officer, who would be in charge if the shift sergeant was absent.

g) I left Midlothian PD in 2002 after starting my own business (Trucking Company) I subsequently was hired by Constable Perry Curry as a reserve officer and was his Traffic Enforcement Officer for a time. Eventually I closed my business due to competition and soaring fuel costs. I was hired by Constable Steve McKinney in 2006 as a reserve deputy, the hired as a Chief deputy in 2007. While in the capacity of Chief Deputy, I formed a Mortgage Fraud Task force that included Cedar Hill PD investigators, The IRS Investigators and the FBI for fraud we uncovered in both counties. This was prior to the Mortgage collapse that occurred shortly there after. We were able to clean up several neighborhoods in Ellis County and southern Dallas County of a rampant Mortgage fraud cases. These neighborhoods (Honeysuckle Estates in Midlothian) and( Lake Ridge in Cedar Hill). Today these neighborhoods are occupied with legal residents and not criminals or straw buyers. Saving the real residents hundreds of thousands of dollars on their investments.

h) I stayed in this position until 2008 when I ran for Constable and was elected in the March primary. Knowing I needed more contact with the Sheriff’s Office and needed to work closer with these guys, I resigned from the Constable’s office and went to work for Sheriff Ray Stewart. I worked at the Sheriff’s office until 12/31/2008.

i) On 01/01/2009, I was sworn in as the Constable of Ellis County Precinct 4. I have been here ever since!

I worked in the Constable’s office as a deputy and eventually was promoted to Chief Deputy. I realized that this was a unique opportunity to serve more closely to the people of the precinct. Closer than is possible as a Sheriff’s deputy or City Police officer. The fact that you can be in neighborhoods to interact as long as you like to make sure those folks are satisfied that their needs are important to law enforcement. We can meet our citizens virtually anytime they prefer. I find this kind of policing more to my liking. I can operate as a law enforcement officer when it comes to someone breaking the law, or maybe wanted as a felon, however, our main focus is the individual law abiding citizen in our precinct.

a) As Constables we are task with just a short list of job responsibilities as determined by Texas State Law.

b) Serve the papers of the Justice Court and other courts.

c) Balif the Court (security of the justice court).

d) These along with all other duties assigned to Texas Police Officers.

e) Historically Constable’s offices assigned themselves duties as well. In my office, we have assigned ourselves to patrol the precinct neighborhoods in attempts to keep the Burglary’s down. Along with the Sheriff’s Deputy’s, we have succeeded in keeping our precinct to a relatively low property crime rate. I am convinced that our visibility is disconcerting to would be thieves and they go elsewhere to ply their trade.

a) The premiere school for Law Enforcement Management is at Steven F. Austin in Huntsville Texas. All Police Chiefs and Constables as well as their staff officers and senior deputy’s in a position of management attend this institute. The courses train management in incident command and several high level management courses. Normally taught by PhD’s or senior officials. Example I have been taught by the former Chief of Police from England, who led the officers against Ireland for decades. To an Israeli police commando who taught us tactics for school active shooters.

b) I have attended the New Constable’s course in 2009.

c) I have attended and graduated from the Constable’s College at LEMIT. 100 hours of intense civil and incident command courses.

d) With the above noted, I have 200 hours of formal Civil Training since 2009. I only send my deputies or myself to training in job specific courses to make them or I better as Civil servants.

a) As the Maintenance Chief for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 112 (VMFA-112) I was responsible for a budget that exceeded 50 million dollars. This included a Jet fuel Account, A new Parts Account, A repair Parts Account and all petroleum and lubricants for Twelve F/A-18 aircraft. I managed the funds when we deployed, ensuring I had enough of the above procured from the Navy if that is where we were going or the US Airforce if we went there. Never once was the budget in deficit, in fact, we returned a fair amount due to maintenance practices we employed.

b) I have handled the budget for the Constables Office for 7 years, to include a $2000 dollar reduction in fuel brought on by a personal conflict with the County Judge. This requires that I have had to spend my own money on fuel for my issued Tahoe as does the Constable Pct 2 and the Sheriff. We have all had to use our own money to serve our citizens. Most people don’t know that.

a) My prior education was in Marine Corps leadership, and not Law Enforcement. However, I think maybe the USMC education has been the best preparation anyone could have for a law enforcement management position. We have a sense of mission accomplishment that is second to none. We know what it’s like to sacrifice ourselves for the mission.. Our family life suffers because of it. We are protectors and will never fail or quit. We have a heritage of great men who have come before us, and none of us will jeopardize their reputation earned by blood with our actions. There is no one who is more driven, or who can absolutely run to the sound of gunfire like a Marine. People can say that they will respond to a stressful situation this way or that way, but who has proved it?

b) I think I am highly prepared to take the helm of the Constable’s office, I have proven that I am capable, efficient and have a good sense of Economy of management. My office has a zero back log. There is nothing left undone or awaiting action in my office.

Yes to Bankruptcy 2009 – 2014 Chapter 13. I owned a Trucking company that I built from 1 pick up in 2002 to 5 Class 8 semis in 2005. These trucks hauled only high end automobiles from dealer to dealer in all 48 states. I built a company that grossed over a million dollars a year, but had a huge overhead... fuel of $6000 per month, truck payments and trailer payments, commercial insurance of $3000 a month, drivers, taxes and licenses etc. Registered each truck in all states we normally ran in, and permitted in the states we seldom ran through. After becoming successful, we were attacked by big auto transport companies, who undercut our rates. There is no loyalty in Auto dealerships, and they go to the lowest cost carrier. I held on with Internet dealings and transport for a while until the diesel prices spiked and couple that with a driver who ran under a low bridge in Utah, to a driver who Stole one of my trucks and went to a crack house. To a trailer in Missouri who’s wheels broke off and crossed the interstate and hit another truck head on.

I started having to rob Peter to pay Paul to stay in business, or spend personal money to fund business until it was all gone. I decided with the advise of a lawyer to declare Bankruptcy, and stop all interest payments. Up to that point, we had never been late with any payment. However, there was no way to make those payments if we shut down the company. That’s what we did. We closed the doors, and sold our trucks for a loss. We spent 5 years in Bankruptcy paying $1,500 a month to the bankruptcy court $90,000 total, to pay back the creditors. We stuck it out and completed the chapter 13. Currently we once again have stellar credit, but it took it’s toll.

a) I am a proven leader.

b) I was promoted eight times by the USMC (two of them meritoriously).

c) I was awarded a Meritorious Medal MSM by the President of the United States. (leadership) our country’s seven highest medal to be awarded.

d) I received a Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal from the Secretary of the Navy. (leadership).

e) I served as an FTO and senior shift officer for MPD.

f) I was promoted to Chief Deputy Constable.

g) I was elected twice to Constable 2009 and 2013.

h) I have fought cancer (2014) beat it and am now cancer free. I only took 10 days off for major robotic Cancer surgery and recovery, name anyone else who has done that one!! That’s what it means to be a Marine! Mental toughness and intestinal fortitude.

i) Have successfully applied and managed seven Constable Budgets.

YES. I plan on continuing the incident command training blocks. This allows me to not only monitor the officers who are in command during an emergency, but is also lets me fill in the command position as needed. The Constable’s office does not have a training budget, the state sends us $705 dollars per year to train on which is spread among seven of us, so I must transfer money from another line item to keep all my deputy’s current and viable and safe.

I think that depend on what the citizens want from my office. If they want the level of patrol and security that we are currently giving them, then we need to increase my fuel and everything that relates to vehicles. I.e. tire, oil and repairs. We have a need for a more comprehensive vehicle change out program. Currently we are driving a 2013 Tahoe a 2007 Charger and two 2007 Crown vics that were taken out of service by the Sheriff's Office and I was able to acquire them for my reserve program. I need to update the 2007 Charger with a new and safe patrol vehicle, but again it came down to a personal conflict with the county Judge who has consistently denied my office another safe vehicle. If we had a comprehensive vehicle program, with year, mileage etc for patrol vehicles, then I could better manage my budget yearly with known repair costs. The budget that the Constables operate with hasn’t seen much change in the past 10 years or more. With a doubling of our population, we have seen a significant spike in requested service, yet our budget remains in 2005 numbers.

1) I think the greatest challenge for the Constable’s office is equipment. My office has a very small "operations" budget. I must stay within these set boundaries. I am experiencing equipment getting a year older every budget year, with really no relief from the County Judge's office. All Constables' offices received a new vehicle in 2013.
However, the other vehicles currently within the office are a 2007 Dodge Charger with over 130K miles which my Chief Deputy drives, and I have two 2008 Crown Victorias on loan from the Sheriff’s Office (already removed from service by the Sheriff's Office because of year and miles). The loaner squads are used virtually everyday by two reserve deputies who provide free training to our area senior citizens or to area church groups. These two deputies provide their time and certifications to this county without being paid a penny. I feel they should at least have a police vehicle that is safe and mechanically sound.

Currently I personally do most of the repairs in my own garage as my labor is free. However, there are times when I must have a third party/business make major repairs that are beyond my capability. When that happens, the repair bill is extremely high. I am only allocated $2,500 a year for Auto Repairs. The fix for this is to replace the 2007 and 2008 police squads and update the fleet.

What most people don’t know now is the County stopped insuring vehicles that were over five years old. That means the county is now self insuring. This sounds great on paper, but my office just had an accident last year, where a deputy had hit a yellow pole in Walmart Parking Lot. The county Judge did not want to repair the vehicle out of county funds, but wanted the Constable’s office to cover the accident from my budget. I don’t have an accident budget line number, nor was my operational budget increased when the county decided to drop full coverage on older vehicles. Eventually the commissioners (led by Commissioner Perry) voted to repair the vehicle from county funds, whereupon Carol Bush stated "I would have voted No".

This office desperately needs at least one new vehicle a year for the next three years. We owe it to our deputies to have the safest and most reliable vehicles in the county, before we allocate administrative offices new vehicles. I see a huge liability for the county if one of my deputies gets hurt while forced to operate substandard equipment because of the County Judge’s failure to provide the equipment requested at EVERY budget since 2009.

2) The second challenge would be the population boom. If you drive through Constable Precinct 4 lately, you will see how many new neighborhoods are in the process of being developed. This is going to put a burden on our ability to serve papers as well as our ability to provide a "safety net" of additional patrols. I am confident my staff and I will come up with a sound plan to address and execute those ideas and steps to provide the same level of service seen from my office for the last 7+ years without additional burden on our taxpayers.

3) And lastly, working in a hostile environment, where the county Judge uses her personal dislike for me to penalize the citizens in my precinct. She has constantly disrespected the folks, by not providing the proper, safe and reliable equipment or fuel allowance for the past four years. Luckily, the price of fuel has continued to drop, and I am able to provide more of patrol function again. I see no relaxing of these constraints that she puts me in until the Commissioners take a personal interest in the yearly budget and remove her from being the sole executive who sets each allocation.

1st priority: To provide the utmost professional service that is possible. We will continue to operate with a zero service backlog as long as we possibly can, and I don’t see any change in the coming future that would derail our perfect service record. Couple that with the fact that we are also trained and experienced as "street officer’s" we also maintain a vigilant patrol schedule.

2nd Priority: To attempt more neighborhood oriented relationship with all the new folks who are moving in. Working with the County S/O and local police to establish electronic communications where we can provide fast emergency communications as the events unfold. I used Facebook to alert residents of the pending tornado this past December. That only effected the folks who were monitoring my facebook and not all the folks in the path are on my facebook. We need to work on fixing this last bit of 70’s technology and thought process.

3rd priority: To forge a relationship with the folks to alleviate there apprehension about reporting suspicious activity. I had a call from a lady here who thought she may have a terrorist who just moved in next door. She stated to me that she was uneasy calling, because she didn’t want to be labeled a racist. We checked out the person, and it proved to be a non-issue, but the mere fact that she was uneasy to call Law Enforcement tells me we have a long way to go in terms of communications... so we need to train our neighbors on how to contact us.

Character. Independence. Integrity. Honesty. Humble and can listen to people. Must be able to judge a person’s character as well. Self Starter. Committed to professionalism. Can and will go to work everyday. Able to see a need in a person’s life and HELP them! Etc.

First and foremost the citizens rights come from GOD and then are enumerated in the US Constitution. We have what we call God Given Rights, and thankfully our forefathers wrote them down and it was ratified by the states in 1789.

This is where I am going to differ from most of my Law Enforcement brothers. I believe that everyone has a God Given Right to keep and bear arms. I will go further and say "Every Man should own and carry a weapon where he can provide instant protection for himself and his family." Also this would allow him to protect a third person or a Law Enforcement Officer discharging his or her duties.

I further believe that no State should require a law abiding citizen to obtain some kind of License in order to do so. To me that is an "Infringement", and our Constitution forbids that. I understand that what is NOT specifically spelled out in the US Constitution is therefore the prevue of the States themselves. However, "Infringe" is NOT left out, therefore it should be honored. Knowing this, I think there should be a movement by the people to change their own State’s Constitution allowing for full "Constitutional Carry".

I am totally against it. I am not against sequestering the item or items until the court finalizes the verdict. If no charges are brought, or those charges are subsequently dropped, the property should be returned to the owner. Including currency.

I am a Constitutional Officer. My office is well known for its stand on the protection of one’s constitutional rights. At no time will a person’s rights be infringed upon. I do not enforce FEDERAL law unless there is a corresponding Texas law in effect. I am not sworn to, nor will I take an oath to do so. I am an Elected Texas Constable, NOT and Elected Federal Officer.

Look and listen. Understand the demographic that you serve. Get out and talk to them. Find out what the needs are, then By God take care of them. You can’t fake at this job. People know if your heart is not in it, or if you are in it for other reasons. People know! You must speak for them. You are their voice, and you owe it to them to push THEIR agenda, and not your own. The single biggest mistake an elected official commits is thinking he knows what’s best for the people he represents, instead of what the people want! You have to know your people!!!

I don’t have a problem with the tactics that law enforcement must use in these times. The bad guys are using bullet proof vests, I energy ammunitions that penetrate our current ballistic protection and we must be prepared to deploy overwhelming offensive support. I know that the average citizen is not touched by what the bad guys are doing, and we pride ourselves in providing a bubble of protection so that they can raise their families in as little violence as possible… But, violence happens. When it does, Leaders must do everything in their power to mitigate the injuries to our first responders. I am not sure if everyone knows, but our tactics over the years have been extremely dynamic. For instance, when we had an active shooter at a school, we would all wait at the perimeter until everyone had arrived, then we would stack up and enter the school at that time. Now the first person on the scene immediately engages the suspect. I tell you this to demonstrate how drastically times have changed. I use to not subscribe to the idea that we needed armor cars in police departments, but then you analyze these events and see where the officer could have been saved if an armor car had been available to get between him and the bad guys. So I guess what I am saying is I see a need for at least one Law Enforcement agency to have this capability. However, I don’t think it ought to be in the Constable’s office.

I have been the Constable for 7+ years. I am relatively well known within my precinct, and hundreds of residents have my cell phone number and call me often. That being said, I am at work everyday and usually I can be found driving in the neighborhoods of my precinct. I routinely stop and speak to the citizens if I see them out. I don’t normally knock on folks doors to see if they have any issues. I am also a strong supporter of social media. This allows the citizens to participate in any discussions, inform me of suspicious activity and to discuss general issues affecting them for a period of time. My following has grown to over 4,000 now, and I used the power of the internet to alert folks to the Tornados in December 2015. I would like to expand this capability and see if we can’t capitalize on it more in the coming years. I am in the process of developing a website now (totally funded by me and not with taxpayer money) that will (hopefully) be the next step in corresponding with the people in my precinct.

This is a question that can be answered in few words. My decisions are and will continue to be based on Texas State Laws, as well as common sense. I don’t think a young adult needs to be branded for years for something he or she did as a 16 year old kid. Likewise I don’t think and adult who has a thousand things on their mind ought to be issued a speeding ticket unless the speed differential is over 15 mph from the posted speed limit (neighborhoods and school zones not included). I think that getting compliance is better than taking someone’s money. The hardships some of these tickets put on lower income people, are sometimes hard for them to overcome. My office is NOT a police department. My office gets no money from any citation issued period. My office has not issued a traffic citation in over two years. We concentrate more on being in the residential areas combatting burglary’s and other crimes against person’s or property.

I am the MOST qualified person for the job. I have been their elected Constable for over seven years, and I have given 100% to this office. I am the only graduate of the Constable College at Sam Houston State University.

I have double the formal training hours as it relates to this office compared to my opponent. My opponent has attended classes in subjects that the Constable’s office doesn’t participate in. However, the Civil courses that are pertinent to this office, were not attended by my opponent. This demonstrates a huge lack of judgment.

You must strive to always obtain as much formal knowledge within your field as possible in order to better provide for your citizens, and to reduce the liability on the County. If a person is a mechanic, yet mostly attends class on how to paint bathtubs, then that amount of training hours bares no significance to the job held or aspires to be. My theory here is, you are going to class to obtain a certificate instead of obtaining better education for your job, thereby wasting taxpayer’s money by training you for something they get no benefit from.

I am the only one experienced with designing, submitting and operating within a budget, and I have done so as a Marine Corps Leader, and seven years as YOUR Constable. I have strived to provide the very best service as possible given our meager operating budget allocated to this office. I have the most Experience and the most qualifications.