Bexar County Judge candidates tell KSAT why they’re running

2 years ago 423

SAN ANTONIO – For the archetypal clip successful 21 years, Bexar County volition person a caller idiosyncratic successful its apical elected presumption — County Judge.

After a beingness of nationalist service, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff volition not question re-election for the bureau he’s held since 2001, leaving the doorway unfastened for ambitious section candidates.

With the filing deadline passed arsenic of 6 p.m. connected Monday, 5 candidates person officially kicked disconnected their campaigns. Those candidates include:

  • Small concern proprietor Nathan Buchanan (Republican)

  • Pct. 3 Commissioner Trish DeBerry (Republican)

  • Former mayoral Chief of Staff Ivalis Meza Gonzalez (Democrat)

  • State Rep. Ina Minjarez (Democrat)

  • Former mayoral campaigner Gerard Ponce (Democrat)

  • Former District Court Judge Peter Sakai (Democrat)

KSAT sent questionnaires to each campaigner astir wherefore they decided to participate the race. Ponce did not respond arsenic of publishing connected Wednesday, but we volition update this nonfiction if helium does.

Here are the unedited responses of each candidate, ordered alphabetically:

Nathan Buchanan (Republican)

Nathan Buchanan, campaigner for Bexar County Judge. (KSAT)

Why are you moving for Bexar County Judge?

There are really respective reasons wherefore I decided to tally for County Judge but I volition bash my champion to effort and support this arsenic abbreviated arsenic possible.

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  • For galore years now, we person enactment up with our region and metropolis leaders taking vantage of and abusing their powerfulness by implementing definite policies, mandates oregon ordinances that the bulk of the residents don’t needfully hold with. For instance, erstwhile the pandemic started, shutting down our section businesses proved to beryllium a disastrous determination and ended up costing radical their jobs, homes and livelihoods. We were forced to unopen down, which prevented galore radical from being capable to marque a living. I didn’t spot our section elected officials miss a paycheck which is paid for with our taxation dollars. As I thrust down streets of this county, I spot galore vacant buildings that were erstwhile thriving businesses but unluckily had to adjacent their doors everlastingly owed to the mandatory shutdowns imposed by our section government. This was highly detrimental to our assemblage not to notation to my tiny concern arsenic well. Our assemblage does not thrive due to the fact that of our section government; it thrives due to the fact that of our section residents, tourists, businesses and the hard moving employees and owners that tally them. Nowhere successful our Constitution does it authorities that the section authorities has the close to archer america erstwhile we tin and cannot marque a living.

  • A bully bulk of our elected officials are unreachable! Not lone person I experienced this myself successful trying to person a look to look gathering oregon adjacent a telephone telephone with them, I person heard the aforesaid happening from mode excessively galore different radical arsenic well. We lone spot them retired successful nationalist shaking hands and talking with radical during predetermination clip and erstwhile they are voted in, they disappear. I volition beryllium a County Judge that is transparent and reachable and volition really beryllium determination for the public.

  • While our Deputy Sheriffs and Deputy Constables are immoderate of the lowest paid successful the State of Texas, our section elected officials proceed to springiness themselves raises making definite they are bully and comfortable. When was the past clip immoderate of you were allowed to springiness yourself a rise astatine your job? Being a Texas bid serviceman myself, I americium a staunch protagonist of our instrumentality enforcement and volition marque definite that our deputies are fixed just wage for risking their lives for our community. We request to summation the fig of officers connected our streets and decidedly request to hole the problems that are presently plaguing the jail.

  • Rising appraisal value. The existent County Judge precocious displayed a graph that showed our spot taxes lowering successful Bexar County which gave an mean savings of a fewer dollars to the residents of the County (which is simply a joke). While that whitethorn beryllium existent though, the appraisal worth connected properties has accrued importantly which defeats determination being a little spot taxation rate. By doing so, owe payments summation and the rent increases connected renters arsenic well. In a clip wherever radical are losing their jobs and businesses, we should beryllium making it easier for our residents to get by time to day, not harder.

I volition beryllium a County Judge that is really determination for the radical and volition clasp their amended interests astatine bosom careless of their enactment affiliation oregon beliefs.

What are the astir pressing issues facing the region today?

There are galore issues our region is presently facing specified as:

  • Rising transgression rates successful definite areas crossed the county.

  • Rising appraisal worth connected properties.

  • High h2o and vigor prices

  • Frivolous spending of our taxation dollars for unnecessary projects

  • Current County Judge not leaning connected the Governor to unafraid our border

  • Overreach of section government

  • Job maturation and our section economy

Not successful that peculiar bid either.

What are the biggest opportunities for Bexar County implicit the adjacent 4 years?

The opportunities for Bexar County are endless! We are expected to person implicit 1 cardinal caller residents implicit the adjacent 15 to 20 years and we request to hole for that up of time. Business owners and builders cognize that statistic, truthful we request to entice caller companies to bring their businesses to our region truthful that we tin grow and person plentifulness of country and jobs for our existent and aboriginal residents. We request a County Judge who is not “in bed” with definite companies and volition marque dependable decisions for the region based connected merit and occupation performance. Not based connected friendships, favors oregon idiosyncratic agendas.

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As your adjacent County Judge, I volition basal up for your rights and freedoms arsenic Americans and volition guarantee that our law rights are being upheld present successful Bexar County. As I stated before, I volition beryllium disposable for the radical and volition perceive to your problems and concerns. I tin guarantee you that I volition not hide however I got elected!

Bexar County Pct. 3 Commissioner Trish DeBerry (Republican)

Republican Trish DeBerry (KSAT)

Why are you moving for Bexar County Judge?

During my clip connected the Court, I’ve tackled immoderate of the biggest challenges we’ve seen successful decades: reckless retired of power spending astatine the Sheriff’s office, backing for home unit prevention, and lowering the County taxation complaint to its lowest constituent successful 20+ years. As County Judge, I’ll enactment with the District Attorney, the judicial system, TDCJ, and my colleagues connected the Court to get the jailhouse concern nether power truthful that we tin either put those funds successful areas of captious request oregon instrumentality those funds to taxpayers successful the signifier of taxation cuts. I volition afloat money our judicial strategy to region immoderate backlog of home unit cases, and I volition proceed to combat for little taxes by focusing connected revamping the taxation appraisal strategy to guarantee just spot valuations.

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I person large moving relationships with the different 3 members of the Court, and I americium excited for the accidental to proceed moving with them. There is simply a existent accidental present to marque definite we proceed to person strong, dependable enactment and bipartisan cooperation, but to bash that we request a susceptible County Judge who volition acceptable speech authorities and guarantee that the taxpayers ever travel first.

What are the astir pressing issues facing the region today?

There are galore issues that request to beryllium tackled caput on, with full transparency and fiscal accountability. The apical 3 issues to absorption connected successful my archetypal twelvemonth arsenic County Judge would be:

1. Completely revamping the County Appraisal system. We were capable to little the taxation rate, but we indispensable guarantee spot valuations are just and tenable and correspond the close worth of a citizen’s home. Citizens privation spot taxation relief, and I volition deliver.

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2. Fiscal accountability astatine the Bexar County Jail. We are spending millions successful overtime astatine the jail. Morale is suffering. The jailhouse needs a implicit reappraisal and upgrade of fiscal accountability and leadership.

3. Fully backing Domestic Violence prevention. Domestic unit is simply a scourge connected our community. We indispensable afloat money the judicial strategy to region immoderate backlogs and bring justness to each victims.

What are the biggest opportunities for Bexar County implicit the adjacent 4 years?

Bexar County is the gateway to West Texas, South Texas, and the Rio Grande Valley. We are perfectly positioned to beryllium the halfway of commercialized and commerce, and the catalyst for concern improvement and occupation instauration for what amounts to fractional of Texas.

The biggest accidental we person is to travel retired of this pandemic arsenic an economical powerhouse.

We indispensable crook Bexar County into the Jobs Destination for Texas. Our way retired of this pandemic and into economical occurrence lies successful the County starring the mode and focusing connected occupation creation, little concern taxes, and decreased regularisation to make jobs with higher wages and accrued benefits.

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Ivalis Meza Gonzalez (Democrat)

Ivalis Meza Gonzalez (KSAT)

Why are you moving for Bexar County Judge?

My parents instilled the values of what it means to service others successful maine due to the fact that I grew up successful a household devoted to nationalist service.

I was calved and raised successful Bexar County. I person raised my household present and spent my full nonrecreational vocation and nationalist work wrong the county.

Most precocious I served arsenic Chief of Staff to Mayor Ron Nirenberg, but person besides worked astatine the San Antonio River Authority and person served connected a assortment of section boards — similar the Martinez Street Women’s Center, Mayor’s Commission connected the Status of Women, and Healthy Futures of Texas.

I privation to bring a caller procreation of enactment to the region and proceed the collaboration and bequest of the authorities being transparent and moving for the people.

What are the astir pressing issues facing the region today?

Throughout the past 2 years we person seen the spot of our assemblage and the compassion of our neighbors. But the pandemic besides exposed immoderate hard truths — from our state’s nonaccomplishment to put successful nationalist wellness infrastructure, to an acquisition disagreement that distant learning lone exacerbated, to an electrical grid nonaccomplishment that endangered each of our lives.

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We must:

  • Strengthen our nationalist wellness system, further make our exigency effect networks, and beforehand steadfast economical opportunities truthful that we look from this pandemic with a caller imaginativeness and caller hope.

  • Work with the judicial subdivision of the region to marque definite that they are provided the resources needed to determination their caseloads forward, allowing america to grow and heighten our specialty courts - home violence, intelligence health, children’s court.

  • Collaborate with the Bexar County Sheriff’s bureau to assistance successful gathering a stronger bureau with a absorption connected recruitment and retention.

  • Continue to beforehand and boost our workforce improvement successful Bexar County, similar done the county’s manufacturing concern with Texas FAME that helps supply skilled training.

  • Enhance aboriginal puerility and big acquisition done the county’s Bibliotech

What are the biggest opportunities for Bexar County implicit the adjacent 4 years?

Support a justness strategy that’s dedicated to erasing home violence, treating intelligence wellness and substance abuse, bringing families unneurotic and supporting our children.

Work collaboratively astatine each level of authorities to guarantee that we’re delivering the astir for each region nonmigratory - whether you unrecorded successful San Antonio oregon our surrounding municipalities and towns.

Create a lodging marketplace that is affordable for immoderate household who wishes to telephone Bexar County location and physique sustainable, resilient neighborhoods.

Make healthcare accessible to each by continuing to grow University Health System — which has provided world-class attraction amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Enhance our manufacturing and exertion workforce pipelines to present bully jobs to our region and further solidify our region’s spot successful the economies of our state, nation, and world.

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State Rep. Ina Minjarez (Democrat)

Ina Minjarez, Bexar County Judge candidate (KSAT)

Why are you moving for Bexar County Judge?

I americium moving for County Judge due to the fact that I person the acquisition and qualifications to code our astir important priorities – economical growth, postulation and infrastructure, and assemblage wellness and safety.

We are 1 of the fastest increasing areas of the state – astir 100 caller radical determination to Bexar County each azygous day. This provides economical maturation opportunities and expands our worker endowment excavation but it besides presents challenges similar accrued traffic, rising lodging costs, and strains connected infrastructure, schools, and authorities services arsenic we grow.

I person worked to code each these issues arsenic a State Representative for the past six years, and I helped unafraid implicit $1 cardinal successful authorities funding, this twelvemonth alone, to code those and different important priorities. And I besides co-sponsored a measure to supply implicit $60 cardinal successful spot taxation alleviation for Bexar County homeowners, if voters o.k. the measurement adjacent May.

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Judge Nelson Wolff has served america good for the past 20 years. The momentum helium helped foster and the coagulated instauration helium laid permission Bexar County good prepared for the challenges and opportunities we face. I person a proven grounds of delivering for Bexar County and that’s precisely the benignant of enactment our assemblage needs astatine this important juncture successful our history.

I americium moving to proceed providing effectual enactment with existent results. It’s what I’ve done arsenic State Representative and what I’ll proceed to bash arsenic County Judge.

What are the astir pressing issues facing the region today?

The astir pressing issues facing the region are economical growth, postulation and infrastructure, and assemblage wellness and safety. We request to hole and code the explosive maturation experienced by Bexar County implicit the past 2 decades, each portion proactively addressing 5 cardinal areas to presumption Bexar County arsenic the operator of Texas’ economical growth:

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  • Promoting Affordable Living and Reducing Property Taxes:

    • Audit region expenditures to chopped wasteful spending, destruct duplicative programming, and safeguard payer dollars.

    • Streamline region departments and services to maximize services and minimize costs to Bexar County taxpayers.

  • Facilitating Access to Economic Opportunities:

    • We request meaningful spot taxation alleviation for families who telephone Bexar County home.

    • Generational poverty…lifting radical retired of poverty. We bash that, we thrive economically.

  • Paving Access to Affordable, Quality Health Care:

    • Invest successful innovative programs astatine University Health to trim reliance connected costly exigency rooms and bring down the outgo of wellness attraction successful Bexar County.

    • Focus connected assemblage and intelligence wellness initiatives that alteration each those who unrecorded successful Bexar County to lend to our assemblage to the champion of their abilities.

    • Institute preventive healthcare programs that summation wellness, walkability, and well-being to maximize the wide wellness of those who unrecorded successful Bexar County earlier they participate our healthcare system.

  • Improving Public Safety and Access to Justice:

    • Increase Neighborhood Safety.

    • Implement Programs to trim home unit and deter abusers.

    • Innovate and put successful our section foster attraction strategy to forestall unnecessary removals and beforehand household reunification, if possible. •

  • Paving Sustainable Economic Development and Infrastructure:

    • Promote proscription and infrastructure solutions to minimize traffic, easing the mode for our county’s increasing population, and maximize our flood power and drainage systems.

    • Ensure long-lasting, sustainable maturation successful suburban areas that aligns with Bexar County’s economical needs and fosters prime of beingness for those who presently telephone Bexar County location and those who volition determination yet determination here.

    • Build upon Bexar County’s bonzer broadband web to substance concern instauration and occupation maturation for everyone from agrarian Bexar County to downtown San Antonio.

What are the biggest opportunities for Bexar County implicit the adjacent 4 years?

  • Attracting well-paying jobs and fostering acquisition and vocational opportunities crossed the board, from commercialized schoolhouse to our higher acquisition institutions, to clasp Bexar County’s younker and equip them with the skills truthful they volition lend to our existent and aboriginal economical prosperity.

  • Fanning the flames of Bexar County’s increasing tech manufacture by leveraging our affordable living, unsocial civilization and presumption Bexar County arsenic a caller destination for the nation’s tech talent.

  • Centering University Hospital arsenic a exemplary for healthcare quality, access, and affordability passim the county, state, and country.

Peter Sakai (Democrat)

Peter Sakai, Candidate for Bexar County Judge (Mark Humphries 2021)

Why are you moving for Bexar County Judge?

I americium a nationalist servant and committed to nationalist service.

For the past 26 years, I person worked to service the nationalist successful antithetic capacities. For the past 15 years, I served arsenic the Local Administrative Judge for the District Courts and Administrative Judge of Children’s Courts. In my relation arsenic a District Court Judge, I person worked with each stakeholders to support children, empowered families, and improved the kid information strategy successful Bexar County.

As Bexar County Judge, my absorption volition beryllium connected enhancing the nationalist services for each nonmigratory successful Bexar County. The adjacent County Judge volition look galore challenges including processing robust and resilient systems to code the COVID-19 pandemic, home violence, greater entree to exertion and the internet, economical development, nationalist infrastructure, broad education, wellness attraction services, workforce development, and occupation placement.

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As the Local Administrative Judge for the District Courts, I was liable to each of the territory judges, their staff, and each constituencies to positively code each matters including budget, section rules, and different initiatives earlier them.

I bring an unmatched extent of county-wide experience, not lone arsenic a justice but arsenic idiosyncratic who has and volition proceed to enactment with Bexar County residents, experts, and stakeholders to conscionable the challenges facing Bexar County now, and into the future.

What are the astir pressing issues facing the region today?

Economic Development

I volition enactment tirelessly to marque Bexar County the region of “Choice” for caller concern startups, concern expansion, and firm headquarter relocations.

I americium committed to increasing each concern sectors of our system with a absorption connected exertion and cyber-security sectors, biomedical, manufacturing, and continued enactment of each of our subject installations and missions.

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I volition actively prosecute with each stakeholders to beforehand and fortify our occupation grooming and workforce improvement programs.

I volition look for opportunities to prosecute successful Public-Private Partnerships to guarantee each idiosyncratic has the skillsets indispensable to support our system moving strong.

Together, we tin guarantee a agleam aboriginal for Bexar County afloat of opportunity. Let america marque it hap with everyone astatine the table.

Education & Workforce Training

We indispensable admit that acquisition is the cardinal halfway of our assemblage – it is the cardinal to upward mobility and fiscal information for each our citizens. An educated workforce positively impacts our full economy. Even though the County is not straight liable for the acquisition systems from Pre-K to college, it is an integral portion of helping to marque the strategy beardown and viable for each students. COVID-19 taught america however susceptible our acquisition systems/services are simply due to the fact that a student’s quality to entree high-speed internet. I americium committed to pb a collaborative effort to bring each acquisition institutions, the workforce grooming programs specified arsenic those provided by the Alamo College District to make a pipeline to assemblage oregon workforce. We successfully accomplished this inaugural for our foster children successful our College Bound Docket successful Children’s Courts. With the contiguous changes successful technology, logistics and manufacturing, it volition beryllium indispensable to supply grooming for our labour unit to get caller skills and cognition to substance the cutting-edge jobs successful the foreseeable future.

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Together, we tin observe acquisition excellence by improving communication, collaboration, and coordination.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is the organizational structures that see much than buildings, roads, and parks. It is the societal and economical web of Bexar County. As County Judge, I admit the value of processing and supporting caller strategies to code the challenges the infrastructure web volition contiguous successful the years to come.

Our proscription infrastructure indispensable turn to conscionable the needs of our citizens and the concern community. I volition enactment to make and enactment caller strategies to relieve roadway congestion and multi-modal proscription services, including Public-Private Partnerships.

Bexar County needs to maximize each concern method and operation instrumentality to leverage its assets and resources for the communal bully of the county’s corporate taxpayers. Constructing astute roadways and multi-modal projects volition assistance prolong a robust economy, efficiently get workers to their jobs, summation transportation of products, and supplies to businesses, and much importantly, assistance mitigate the burdensome authorities and national regulations associated with non-attainment aerial prime standards.

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Our lodging infrastructure besides needs attention. We indispensable bash each we tin to positively code our lodging supply. I volition enactment to maximize partnerships and Interlocal Agreements, place lodging gaps for at-risk individuals and families, enactment affordable and prime housing, see private-sector developers, and research Public-Private Partnerships for solutions. Together, we tin physique a world-class county.

What are the biggest opportunities for Bexar County implicit the adjacent 4 years?

Through beardown and effectual enactment with our citizens’ large compassionate bosom for our Bexar County children and families, unneurotic we volition maximize the pursuing opportunities…

  • Building a stronger and vibrant system done collaboration with the private, public, and governmental sectors.

  • Maximize the businesslike and effectual usage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) backing to code the economical and infrastructure challenges successful Bexar County.

  • Embrace caller satellite technology, and cybersecurity particularly with our beardown subject beingness and acquisition institutions that absorption connected economical maturation and sustainability.

  • Break down silos and augment intergovernmental partnerships to leverage funds to amended constituent services, incentivize growth, and maximize taxpayers’ dollars.

  • Keep our assemblage focused connected the needs of our children and families, particularly those astir astatine hazard particularly our abused and neglected children. Recognize that our assemblage has the biggest bosom and compassion successful the state for children and families.

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