Local candidates debate issues at forum

(ROCKWALL, TX – Aug. 29, 2016) Local candidates for state and county offices were invited to respond to questions from the audience of about 60 people at a forum hosted by the Rockwall Democratic Party on Saturday, August 26, moderated by Michael Handley, host of Eyes Wide Open, an internet political talk radio program.

Justice of the Peace, Place 3

Two candidates who will be on the ballot for Justice of the Peace, Place 3, Rockwall County were invited: Tim Wells, Democrat and Mark Russo, the Republican incumbent, but Russo did not participate.

Wells is an attorney and said that his legal training better qualifies him to hold the office of Justice of the Peace than his opponent, Mark Russo, who is not an attorney. Rockwall JP’s have the authority to issue warrants for search and arrest, judge certain misdemeanors, and serve as a coroner in some instances. But Wells said that “Texas Law does not require you to have any legal training.” And added “I have sworn to uphold the law. We take an oath.”

Texas House District 33

Three candidates who will be on the ballot for Texas House District 33 were invited: Karen Jacobs, Democrat; Justin Holland, Republican, (who declined to participate); and “Crazy” Rick Donaldson, Libertarian.

Donaldson is running as a Libertarian and added the word “Crazy” by hand to his name card, and said that’s the way he will appear on the ballot. “You’ve got to be crazy to run as a Libertarian when you’ve got Republicans and Democrats who really control the thing. So that really is why I am in this race, to shake up the status quo, let people know that there is a difference,” he said.

Donaldson described the case of a young girl suffering from intractable epilepsy as another reason he is running. He said her parents moved from Texas to Colorado to get the medical marijuana-based treatment that reduced her seizures. Donaldson not only wants to decriminalize the use of Marijuana, “I want to abolish all Texas laws that have the word cannabis in them,” he said.

Jacobs said that education is very important to her. “Right now, our school finance system is fundamentally broken.” She went on to describe outdated formulas for funding education at both the K thru 12 level, and the college level, that need to be revisited. “We don’t have affordable college tuition any more, and our kids are graduating with way too much debt. In the 1980’s when I graduated from college, the state paid about 50 percent of the cost of college tuition. Today, the state funds about 15 percent.”

Open Carry on Campus

The two candidates disagreed sharply on the issue of open carry on campus. Donaldson said, “I am for open carry on campus. I am for open carry everywhere. If we’re going to prevent crime, we ought to have more people out there armed, because we don’t know who the bad guy is.”

Jacobs disagreed. “Open carry or campus carry, were solutions looking for a problem,” she said. “My uncle taught me to shoot on my grandfather’s farm, but there is a big difference between that and carrying an assault rifle on your back in urban and suburban areas. We need to reduce gun violence.”

A Community’s Right to Ban Fracking

One area where both candidates seemed to agree was in the area of a community’s right to ban fracking. Donaldson said that the state was violating the constitution by opposing anti-fracking ordinances passed by municipalities. And Jacobs is on record as saying that communities have the right to ban fracking, and the state should not over ride those laws.

A Community’s Right to Require a Birth Certificate to Enter a Bathroom

On an issue that was recently hotly debated in Rockwall, the issue of whether transgender folks should have to use the bathroom of their birth, the two candidates again agreed.

Donaldson told of growing up in North Texas where he attended ball games and concerts, and asked “When the women’s bathroom got overrun, where did they go? They went to the men’s room,” he said. “Come on, there’s doors on those stalls, you know, except for around the urinal and I don’t know too many women that would stand up in front of a urinal. Bathrooms should be the least of government’s worry. We don’t need the federal or state government getting involved in the bathroom!” he added.

Karen Jacobs says that when the state tries to legislate social issues, they want to pick your pocket or cut funding to something you care about. Jacobs claimed that we know these social laws are unconstitutional and pointed out that taxpayer money is required to fight about them later in court. Her recommendation? She would attach the expenses of fighting such lawsuits to the budget and then “Maybe it should come out of the governor’s travel budget,” she said grinning. The audience laughed and applauded.

Submitted by Stephen Jacobs, Rockwall Democratic Party.

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