Elect Yantis Green

As expected, the Tom Green County Democrat Party Chair attacked our campaign in her final Saturday column in the San Angelo Standard Times before the November 2nd election.

Linda Shoemaker states that “Yantis has said…that the local economy is bad and he expects it to be bad a year from now.  He is negative on the future of Tom Green County.”  Yet, neither Shoemaker nor Johnny Silvas, my opponent, has ever offered a forecast of the local economy or one shred of evidence to believe that the economy, including sales tax receipts, will be any better 9 months from now when the Commissioner’s court will begin the budget process for the next fiscal year.

In fact, they run from any discussion about the economy.  Shoemaker and my opponent both point to televising County Commissioner meetings as proof Democrats are making a difference in this campaign.  The fact is, the Commissioner Court in June of 2009, long before Silvas or Shoemaker ever mentioned televising Commissioner’s meetings, appropriated funding to do just that.

My opponent said in his interview with the local TV station that one of the main reasons people should vote for him is because he speaks Spanish. Well, so do I; at least well enough to travel to most Central & South American Countries.

He also talks about wanting the county to engage in “talks about the long term water supply.”  My opponent obviously doesn’t understand what county government is and more importantly, what county government is NOT.

Texas counties do not provide one drop of water for anyone.

That’s just not what the Texas Constitution created counties to do.  One would hope anyone running for this office, and any person heading a political party for that matter, would at least understand the parameters of each office.

The San Angelo Standard Times published an article, “Hickory Boondoggle” last Thursday, September 23, 2010.  In that opinion piece, author Allie Devereaux attacked the City of San Angelo and the Tom Green Co. Water Control & Improvement District No. 1 for policies and efforts concerning local water use, supplies, and future plans.  For the next week, I met with City officials, discussed the article, and worked hard on a letter in response because the article attacked the WCID, which I have managed for the last seven years.  City officials and WCID officials agreed both entities would respond to the article with letters representing our positions.  San Angelo City Manager Harold Dominuez would write the City’s letter, and as his counterpart, I would write the letter for the WCID.  On Wednesday afternoon, September 29th, one day before the letters were to be published, San Angelo Standard Times Editoral Page editor Jack Cowan called me and said he could not publish the WCID’s letter with my name on it because I am a candidate for Tom Green County Commissioner and it is the current policy of the paper that they will not publish opinion letters from candidates.  Now, I could understand that if the letter was about a political subject specifically addressing an issue in the campaign.  This is not.  Standard Times Editor Tim Archuleta and Editorial Page Editor Jack Cowan decided they didn’t want my name on this non-campaign related letter.  Period.  After a few anxious phone calls, the board of directors of the WCID agreed to allow their names to be attached to the letter.  It was our belief that the letter and the timing was too important not to publish it along with the City’s letter.  For seven years, I’ve been fighting for the rights of the family farmers in the WCID and they count on me (and pay me) to handle these kinds of situations.  That’s my job as District Manager.  Similarly, it is Harold Dominguez’s job to handle these kinds of situations for the City of San Angelo.  I believe the Standard Times is wrong in this situation.  I’ve represented the family farmers in the WCID at the federal level in Washington, D.C. and Denver, Colorado, and at the Texas Legislature in Austin, and in countless local and regional meetings throughout West Texas.  My name is familar to people in the water business, and I believe the newspaper lessens the credibility of the article and hurts the family farmers in the WCID by refusing to use my name.  This is a unique circumstance that doesn’t fit with the Standard Time’s policy.

Local governments in Texas are funded primarily with revenue generated from property tax.  Every year, Cities, Counties, School Districts and Special Districts set a tax rate and adopt a budget based upon property values set by tax appraisal districts, projected revenues and mandated and discrectionary services.  In Tom Green County,  approximately 9 out of 10 property taxpayers live inside the city limits of San Angelo. 

In fiscal year 2011, property owners in Tom Green County will pay 49.3% of their property tax to the San Angelo ISD; 31% to the city of San Angelo, and just 19.7% to Tom Green County.   That means for every $100 you pay in property tax, $49.30 goes to the SAISD, $31.00 goes to the City of San Angelo, and only $19.70 goes to Tom Green County. 

That means:

$49.30 out of $100 will go to public education including pay raises for educators;

$31.00 out of $100 will go to municipal functions including, infrastructure, water, police, fire, ambulance, public venues, economic development, and discretionary expenditures in San Angelo;

and

$19.70 out of $100 is left for the criminal justice system (including the Sheriff’s department, the jail, the Justice of the Peace Courts, the County Courts-at-Law, the District Courts, the Community Supervision and Corrections Department, and official records including the County & District Clerks), road & bridge maintenance, elections,  tax assessor-collections, and the County library.   

That’s $49.30 for schools, $30.00 for the city, and $19.70 for the County. 

I’m committed to keeping your County property tax rate as low as possible while providing core services and meeting mandates from the state and federal government.

His name is Steve Mostyn; he is a multi-millionaire trial lawyer from Houston.  He is an Obama liberal Democrat willing to spend millions of his own money to defeat Texas Republicans in November.  According to published reports, he’s willing to spend $3 million of his own money attacking Texas Governor Rick Perry.  He will spend much more supporting Houston liberal Democrat Bill White.  Mostyn created the “Back to Basics” Political Action Committee with the sole purpose of smearing Rick Perry.  These are identical tactics of Obama’s ACORN and Organizing for America.  Mostyn has funded misleading TV, radio, and print ads including the full page ad attacking  the Governor in many newspapers including the San Angelo Standard Times.  The SAST also ran Democrat Bob Krueger’s letter to the editor on the same day which virtually made the same charges.  Krueger’s accusations, as well as those from Mostyn and his PAC, are nothing more than talking points from the DNC.

As the only candidate for Tom Green County Commissioner  who attended every county budget hearing, I confidently praise the Tom Green County Commissioner’s Court for the hard work it’s done and for making the tough decisions mandated by hard economic times.  I watched Ralph Hoelscher, Aubrey De Cordova, Steve Floyd, Richard Easingwood and Judge Mike Brown go through the proposed budget line by line; listen to department heads, make sensible reductions in spending, and look for solutions to funding for mandated services while balancing critical services.  I don’t think this court will vote for a tax increase this year.  And kudos to the county department heads who recognized the critical state of the local economy and responded by reducing their budget requests.  I can’t vote on the FY 2011 budget, but I know how tough the process has been on everyone involved. 

Do you have a question or concern about the Tom Green County Budget? 

Please call me at 325-212-0723, or email at yantis@yantisgreen.com.  I’ll find an answer to every question you have!

Texas Conservatives & TEA Party activists scored resounding victories at the Republican Party of Texas Convention in Dallas last weekend.  Delegates swept out the previous leadership and ushered in a new era of Conservative leadership with a platform that holds GOP candidates & elected officials responsible to the party platform for the first time.  While there was a spirited, and at times rowdy, challenge for chair & vice chair, Texas Republicans clearly chose real, conservative leadership and united at the end of the convention.  Steve Munisteri is now GOP Chairman & Melinda Fredericks, who ran with Lubbock’s Tom Mechler, is Vice-chair.  Thankfully, Ron Paul was nowhere in site:  the TEA Party movement has never been about one person; it’s about cutting spending & taxes & returning the government at every level to the people.  Look for major changes in how the Texas GOP raises funds.  I know the GOP platform is on the right track because the liberal media and Texas Democrats have been attacking it since Saturday.  It’s time for Texas Conservatives to lead the nation once again.  Stay tuned!

TEA Party voters across the country are shaking up the status quo in Republican ranks today with primary races in 11 states and the Republican Party of Texas convenes in Convention this weekend in Dallas.   Today’s races in Nevada, California & Arkansas will test the strength of TEA party activists while the Texas GOP leadership, platform & rules are up for grabs.  Not since the Reagan Revolution has there been such a benchmark in the Republican Party defined by grassroots folks.  Sharron Angle is poised to take on Harry Reid in Nevada this November while Meg Whitman could become Governor of California & Carly Fiorina could take on Barbara Boxer in November. 

Some GOP insiders I’ve talked to expect TEA Party Conservatives eventually to take over the GOP much like the Christian Coalition did.  As usual, Texas Conservatives will lead the state GOP and the Texas GOP will lead the nation.  The Texas GOP Convention likely won’t be pretty; kind of like making sausage, we may not want to know how it’s made, we just want it to be great when they’re through.  Expect the Texas GOP to hold on to Conservative principles; limited government, low taxes, spending cuts, strong defense, securing the borders, free market answers to the economy and healthcare, etc. I’ll post major changes to the Texas GOP Platform here as soon as possible.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon must not be a student of history. 

His attack on U.S. immigration policy and Arizona’s new illegal immigration law ignores history, protocol, and ultimately, national soverignty.  Calderon views illegal immigration as a ‘migration’ problem coupled with the demand for drugs in the U.S. and the flow of illegal guns and cash from the U.S. to Mexico; in his view, all of Mexico’s problems are our fault. 

Calderon says Mexicans “migrate” to the U.S. to earn more money than they can in his country and that’s our fault.  He decrees that the demand for drugs in the U.S. is the only reason drug lords are so powerful and so vilent in his country.  He also dictates that our legally purchased guns are somehow making their way across our southern border and killing innocent Mexican citizens.  Calderon seems to want his cake and eat it too.  He seemingly wants the U.S. to ’reform’ immigration policy (again, he uses the term migration) so that Mexican citizens can waltz across the border as easily as if they were traveling from Texas to Oklahoma without any documentation, work where they want, live where they want, send their non-U.S. citizen children to public schools, receive free health care, welfare, food, shelter and clothing, just like any U.S. citizen can.   And by the way, U.S. taxpayers should foot the bill. 

President Calderon is wrong. 

There was another foreign leader who chastised Americans, Democracy and Capitalizm on our own soil…the Soviet Union’s Nikita Khruschev pounded his shoe on the lecturn shouting ”we will crush you!” and ”Your children will be communists!”

Khruschev was wrong, too.  

This is a nation that welcomes immigrants.  We celebrate our diversity every day in every community.  We respect our differences and we know our uniqueness & our heritage blend together into what is the greatest legacy of freedom, liberty, and tolerance that has ever existed on the face of the earth.  Unfortunately, our success has bred jealousy and fostered enemies.  So we must regulate who comes into our country, how long they stay, and what they do.  If they want to become citizens, great!  We have a process for that, flawed as it may be, we do have a process.  Yes, it needs to be fixed.  And those just want to come here, work hard seasonaly and send money home, we have a process for that as well.  But those who want to come here under the radar, beyond the laws of their home country and ours; the drug dealers, dealers in human trafficking, and their ilk who seek to do harm to others in the name of profit, we must have a stronger policy to stop them. 

Arizona has taken that first step.

Texas should lead the rest of the way. 

President Calderon didn’t win any conservative friends with his remarks on this visit.  We must let Congress and the White House know that this is our country and we want an immigration policy that reflects the needs and wishes of the American People, not the liberals in Washington, D.C. nor the anti-American protesters in Arizona, academia, or Mexico.

I was honored and humbled today to accept the “Tough Tusk” award from the National Federation of the Grand Order of Pachyderm Clubs.  The Nationwide Conservative group hasn’t bestowed its highest award in four years, so this really special for me.  The ‘Tough Tusk’ is awarded for ‘outstanding citizenship in the field of political and governmental affairs.’  San Angelo Pachyderm Club President Tony Massaro and Vice-President Fred Contreras nominated me for the award.  The application included my election as delegate no. 1 to the 2008 Republican National Convention from the 11th Congressional District of Texas, my work on the Mitt Romney Presidential campaign in 2007-2008, my 3 terms on the Christoval ISD board of trustees, and my work on numerous local and statewide political campaigns.

I believe we have an obligation to participate in our government.  We must go beyond just voting.  We must educate ourselves and keep up with the issues facing our communities, state and nation, and we must hold all elected officials accountable for their actions.  When our representatives vote our values and principles, we should let them know they’re doing a good job.  When they don’t vote our values or principles or vote contrary to the party platform, we should let them know clearly that they aren’t doing what we elected them to do.  And if they consistently vote outside our values, we should vote them out of office. 

It’s groups like the Pachyderm Clubs, Republican Women and TEA Partys that provide normal folks an opportunity to participate more fully in our government at every level.  I’m humbled & honored to be recognized for being effectively involved and I encourage everyone to find a way to stand for what you believe.

Kudos to the Standard Times reporters for the article on the GOP County Commissioner candidates.  While the coverage was about as fair & balanced as possible, there was some critical information missing.  I know the paper had only so much room to print the article and had to make a decision about what to put in and what to leave out.  The complete questionaires for the three candidates are online at gosanangelo.com under the local news tab. 

Here’s what was left out.  Under basic information, the paper requested our Civic Involvement.  The following is our responses: 

Chad Buie: Past YMCA board of directors, Mentor program – Kids at Risk Blackshear, United Way loaned executive

Yantis Green:  Angelo State University Alumni Association member; former President, Christoval Chamber of Commerce; former board member, San Angelo Schools Foundation; Knights of Columbus member; founding President, Christoval Baptist Church After School Day Care center; Eucharistic Minister, Holy Angels Church; Holy Angels Spring Festival Committee member; San Angelo Pachyderm Club member; former member, Tom Green County Friends of 4H; platelet donor, United Blood Services; former Christoval home football game announcer.

Kenny McCrea:  Worked with the YMCA coaching Gray-Y football for four years; coached girls fast-pitch softball for San Angelo girls fast-pitch softball association and competitive ball for ten years, served on the board of directors of the San Angelo girls fast-pitch association, served as a deacon of my church for a number of years, served as a youth pastor for a couple of years.

Three questions were omitted; 3, 4 and 8. 

3.  Name one county program or department you would like to improve?

4.  What role should the county play in providing health for indigent residents?

8.  What made you decide to want to run for Precinct 4 Commissioner?

Here are our responses to No. 4: 

Buie:  The county should continue its role with the indigent health care issues of Tom Green County.  As with all county services, we should strive to meet the expectation of the taxpayers. 

Green:  According to the Texas Health and Safety Code, Sec. 61.022 (b) The county is the payor of last resort and shall provide (health care assistance) only if other adequate public or private sources of payment are not available.  The county is required to set aside 8% of its annual budget for indigent health care or about $1.9 million dollars.  Tom Green County has upper payment limit (UPL) agreements with Shannon Hospital and San Angelo Community Hospital which allows the county to leverage local tax dollars for federal funding by sending quarterly payments to the State Comptroller’s office.  The Comptroller receives federal funding and returns it to the county under the UPL agreements.  The last reporting period showed that every county tax dollar generated $3.21 in indigent health care provided by the two hospitals under the agreements.  The UPL agreements send 81% of that funding to Shannon and 19% to San Angelo Community based on history of care provided.  The county also spends about $500,000 per year in payments to La Esperanza Clinic and private physicians for indigent health care.  I believe the county’s role should be that of payor of last resort; however, commissioners should continue to work with local health care providers to look for ways to maximize local funding and ensure all indigent patients receive the best care possible while ensuring taxpayers get the maximum return on their tax dollars. 

McCrea:  Tom Green County does a very good job in this area already.  There is a statute that allows up to 8% of the total county budget to go to indigent heatlh care and it is my understanding that our county applys the full 8%.  People who are requesting indigent health care do have to qualify.  It is a much needed program. 

To read the rest of the responses, go to www.gosanangelo.com, click on local news and scroll down to Precinct 4 Commissioner questionaire for each of the candidates. 

The answers to these questions along with the information about Civic involvement is critical to making a decision about which candidate will make the best Tom Green County Commissioner for Precinct 4.