What is the job of the position you are running for?
What is the job of the position you are running for?
The Sheriff is the “conservator of the peace” in Texas. There is one sheriff per county making there 254 Sheriffs in Texas. The Sheriff is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the county jail. He also provides bailiffs to the courts and has primary jurisdiction over crime and disorder in the unincorporated area of the county although his jurisdiction is not diminished by the existence of municipalities. The Sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer of the county and the only county-wide elected law enforcement official.
What are the three main reasons you are running for this office? Do you see any potential conflicts of interest?
What are the three main reasons you are running for this office? Do you see any potential conflicts of interest?
I am running again to continue to serve the community I love and in which I have raised my family; to ensure Montgomery County remains one of the safest and most special conservative communities in the State; and because I am proud of what my administration has accomplished and will continue to accomplish in my third term. I do not have any conflicts.
Please describe the qualifications and experience that make you the best candidate for the office you are seeking.
Please describe the qualifications and experience that make you the best candidate for the office you are seeking.
I am the best qualified because I have been doing the job for the entirety of my adult life. I started with the MCSO as a cadet in 1994 and worked my way through all ranks in the agency to ultimately assume the office of elected Sheriff in 2017. I have prepared myself not only through my career but also through training and formal education as is reflected in my resume. Areas in our county are consistently ranked as some of the best places to live in the country and that is not by accident.
Give at least 3 examples from your past record that will convince voters that you are / will be a Constitutional Law Enforcement Officer
The COVID lockdown era is the best example of my record as a Constitutional Sheriff. I am proud to say I did not make any arrests or issue a single citation for mandate violations. My response was praised by Sheriff Richard Mack and he has endorsed my candidacy for the third time. I have always leaned toward individual liberty when presented with difficult decisions and that has served our community well when faced with difficult seasons.
What goals do you have in mind, if you are elected, and to which you want to be measured against in the coming term?
My continued goal is to keep our community safe and do so in a fiscally conservative way. I have done that over my last two terms, and I intend to keep that track record. My goals for the next four years are clearly outlined in my agency strategic plan, which has three overarching goals and strategies used to accomplish those goals.
What is the most important action needed to make Montgomery County safer?
The most important thing, and one clear example that separated us from Harris County, is the strong working relationship between the Sheriff's Office and our elected criminal court judges and district attorney. This partnership will keep criminals off the street when they need to be and rehabilitate the ones possible. We must continue to serve our community based upon conservative principles and the rule of law.
What do you see as the 3 major challenges for your office over this next term?
The first challenge, and a strategy reflected in Goal #1 of my strategic plan, is the border crisis, which has created enormous problems related to narcotics (specifically fentanyl), human smuggling, and human trafficking. Secondly, ensuring we have adequate resources provided by the Court to address the needs of the community and our employees, which is Goal #2 of the strategic plan. I have a strong record of making empiricially based requests to the court and have been the recipient of budget increases that are needed to keep our crime rate down and our deputies backed-up to ensure their personal safety as well. The third major challenge our area faces is exponential growth, which is reflected in goal #3 of my strategic plan. From law enforcement to schools to transportation it is a constant struggle to keep up with the population growth of the county.
Please describe the best way for the average voter to determine which candidate for this office is best.
Track record. Background. I am the only candidate in this race who has experience with budgets of 100 million plus and management of a department of over 1000 employees and a jail that holds 1253 inmates.
Where do you think the possibility for corruption resides in county government? How would you handle it in your department, even if you think there is none?
I developed core values for the agency when I assumed the office of Sheriff. Those core values are Professional, Accountable, Compassionate, and Trusted (PACT). I do not tolerate professional misconduct, which is a breach of the trust between law enforcement and the community we are charged to protect. We in law enforcement receive our power from the community and our compassion for those we police must be reinforced through mutual respect. I believe we must maintain internal employee standards and forward-facing community relationships through agency core values.
Are the United States and Texas constitutions living documents? Please answer in the context of Progressivism versus Originalism.
I don’t think we get to reimagine documents just because attitudes change or agendas don't fit with the pillars of our founding. We can rewrite laws and certainly add to the constitution through the established legislative process, but the basic principles upon which founded the greatest country in the world don’t change over time.
Civic, Political or union organization or individuals to whom you have contributed (five years):
My political donations are public record through the campaign finance reporting documents. I regularly donate to republican causes, the county fairs, scholarships, and many others. I personally donate to my church, the Edna Gladney Home for Adoption, my alma mater, and the NRA, among others.
What will you do to ensure that the Texan rule of law prevails over the Biden federal law enforcement policies that allow illegals to operate in Montgomery County?
What will you do to ensure that the Texan rule of law prevails over the Biden federal law enforcement policies that allow illegals to operate in Montgomery County?
I work with our federal law enforcement partners in Montgomery to the fullest extent I can. We at the MCSO are an ICE agreement 287(g) county, which is one of only seventeen in the State. The cooperative agreement that I signed in my first year of office in 2017 allows me to designate jail personnel to train with ICE and become dual credentialed, thus giving jailers the authority to access ICE databases used to determine immigration status for every new arrest that enters my jail. Those that have committed crimes in my jurisdiction and are in the US illegally, receive ICE "holds" that subject them to federal custody or deportation. Federal law has severely limited my authority to enforce field-based immigration law; however, I have taken full advantage of the "controversial" 287(g) program (liberals hate it) that forces the Biden administration to act on immigration violations. I will take advantage of every opportunity I can to keep dangerous illegal immigrants off our streets including being the FIRST agency to answer the call from the Governor to participate in Operation Lone Star. With the support of the Court, I sent jailers to the border to develop the intake process for inmates arrested in this mission.
