GOP candidates weigh in on state issues

• AJ Louderback, left, and Jeff Bauknight, right, answer voter questions at the American Legion. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

District 30 state representative Republican run-off candidates, Jeff Bauknight and AJ Louderback, answered questions from DeWitt and surrounding counties at the American Legion Hall on May 16.

While the candidates agreed on most issues, such as border security, Louderback received applause on several answers. About 80 people attended in person with the Republican Women of Yoakum Area live streaming the event on their Facebook page.

GOP voters had e-mailed and messaged questions to the DeWitt County Republican Party, which were compiled for the forum. Many questions related to the proposals for the party platform, which will be solidified at the State GOP Convention this week.

In his opening remarks Bauknight told of his education at A&M, working in western states then in 2004 coming home to Victoria, where he and his wife chose to raise their daughters. He started an air conditioning business and got involved in community non-profits, culminating in service on the city council and as mayor. He said he’s passionate about representing the district in Austin and he knows how to get legislation passed.

Louderback said he was “born in Blessing, raised in Palacios, (and had) public school parents.” He said he was hired in law enforcement the day after he got out of the military, and 46 years later he’s still a reserve deputy for Jackson County. He said he has two decades of legislative experience and values family, community and quality of life. He said people are moving back to De-Witt County for rural values and quality of life, and he wanted to talk about rural values at the forum.

BORDER SECURITY What methods would you use to secure the border?

Lauderback said former President Trump traded tariffs for border security, and Texas can do a lot no matter who is in the White House. E Verify is one of them, remittance payments are another and stop entry without fear of being deported. Those are things that will encourage the lawlessness to stop. Bottom line when we closed the international bridges, things got better in Mexico right away. Then Gov. Abbott opened it back up.

Bauknight said we need to continue funding the governor’s Operation Lone Star, finish the border wall, and place more deputies and sheriff’s departments to surge in areas where it’s required. We need to make it very difficult for the cartels to even consider coming through House District 30. The biggest thing is to make sure we get a Republican administration and Trump in the White House in November, but Texas will take care of itself come the next legislative session.

House Bill 7 (HB7), a partisan bill proposed in the 2023 session, which would establish a Border Security Force for transnational criminal activity and compensate persons affected by it. The bill “died in chamber,” according to legiScan.com.

Louderback: The bill had some merit and was an innovative approach that may have worked, but the DPS was not onboard with it and had serious concerns.

Bauknight: I’m proud of the legislature for bringing it forward and taking action in the continuous fight to make the border secure. I applaud them thinking outside the box to stop the flow of fentanyl across the border.

Requiring the use of E-Verify by all employers in Texas to protect jobs for legal workers by preventing the hiring of illegal aliens.

Louderback: I’m for it. It’s important to find a way to find folks here under false names, fraudulent workers and students, who are not who they say they are.

Bauknight: I am generally for it, but for one caveat, one fatal flaw. It makes no provision for a false positive or a false negative and that needs to be in place. An employer should be protected if the system glitches and shows incorrect information.

End all subsidies and public services, including in-state college tuition and enrollment in public schools, for illegal aliens Louderback: Yes, a million VISAs are not being used. Instead of coming in illegally, they need to apply for a VISA and come legally.

Bauknight: No problem with it except in a situation of life or death for a child.

SCHOOL CHOICE

Parents and guardians should have the right to select schools, whether public or private, for their children, and the funding should follow the student.

Bauknight: I support a parent's right to choose what’s best for education. It’s really embarrassing that we’re so far down on the list, one of the ten worst for education in the country. I believe that school choice is going to be needed for parents while we do an overhaul of how we deliver public education. We are going to have to have parents involved, set the expectation that students will show up for school and they have to earn their grades. And we have to get some of the burdens off teachers so they can actually teach.

Louderback: Who could be against school choice? But there’s another part of this that’s always concerned me: What about the Cuero Gobblers and the Yorktown Wildcats? I want to make sure there’s a balance where we have school choice and also keep our public schools in shape. When we do it, we need to do it smart. All education systems need to be supported at the highest level.

PROPERTY TAX REFORM

Eliminate all property taxes Bauknight: I don’t see it being realistic right now. But with a 25% value added on each sale, people are getting priced out of their homes and businesses. We should do more on exemptions. Appraisal districts are not doing their job; they’re not realistic. We need to cap the amount of appraisal value, not pricing people out from homes and businesses.

Louderback: Property taxes are too high in Texas. Exemption is the best way to go. And use surplus money.

VACCINES

Ensure that Texans are free to give or to withhold consent for any vaccine without coercion.

Bauknight: We should take government out of our lives for the most part. He said he would fight against anything like COVID mandates.

Louderback: I fight all government oppression. Taking the jab is a serious issue. I never did. It was wrong then, it’s wrong now. I’ll fight it to my dying breath.

URBAN VS. RURAL REPRESENTATION How will you ensure equal time and effort between urban and rural constituents?

Bauknight: I’ll be a representative for everyone. I guess you’re saying Victoria is urban. I don’t look at it as rural carve outs; I look at it as all rural. I’ll always be there to represent you.

Louderback: Born rural, raised rural, lived rural. This district is six counties and I’ll represent all of them. It’s who I am; it’s what I am.

ENERGY GRID

Louderback: We need less solar and wind. Nuclear plays a part and new coal-fired plants. The grid is in jeopardy on the hottest days and coldest nights. We need to examine safe, secure, dependable energy.

Bauknight: We need more base-load power. Solar and wind are unreliable, so base-load sources are best. Natural Gas makes sense for us in Texas because we have so much and the new small nuclear reactors are great opportunities with more power and more reliability. But they’re down the road about five years.

TWO IDEAS TO MAKE STATE GOVERNMENT SMALLER

Bauknight: Anytime we can reduce regulations it’s a good start. I like the work of the Sunset Commission. We need to take a good look at education and TEA and get that right sized.

Louderback: We need to take a comprehensive look at every state agency and cut waste in spending. HHSC is a massive agency (that) we need to take a look at. I guarantee you we have a bloated TEA. But there’s bloat elsewhere and your state legislator should be willing to undertake a look at it.

GOVERNING PRINCIPLES

Bauknight: I believe in the right to choose our own direction in life. It’s up to you to make your decisions; it’s not up to the government to make your decisions for you. I have conservative values, Christian values. I try to remember when making decisions that affect others, if there’s a way to go with less government intrusion, then that’s the path I want to go with.

Louderback: Freedom, less government and more freedom in every respect. Let’s make sure that everything that’s going on is accurate, truthful, workable and good for you. Constituent values, listening to your values and what you need.

A video of the forum is available on the Republican Women of Yoakum Area Facebook page, which also live streamed the event. Early voting runs through May 24 at the DeWitt County Election Office, 115 N. Gonzales in Cuero. Tuesday, May 28 is the election date.