My positions on the issues

It’s easy to say things like our crime rate is too high, taxes too high , excessive spending and so on. It’s quite another to lay out specifics on what is wrong and tell the citizens of Harris County specifically what needs to be done. So as he remarks on the various issues working against you the citizen, Warren will point out the specific things that can be done or that he intends to do. Warren is a true citizen politician which means he’ll do what you would do on almost everything rather than what the typical politician would do to insure they get reelected. Warren has no intention of being reelected!

Crime Control: 

Our violent crime rate is too high as is all other types of crime. This is a result of a bail bond program that doesn’t work as it should, a backlog of court cases, increase in population while at the same time losing so 60 Sheriff deputies a month for various reasons. The County Judge can’t just put on a six gun and go out like “Dirty Harry”. The judge and commissioners court can increase the budget of $683 Million to $750 Million as requested by the current Sheriff but only after the Sheriff demonstrates that they are spending the money wisely. This can only happen by reducing the budgets of each precinct to basic needs, canceling socialist programs for guaranteed income and projects not needed at this time. Warren will work with the Bail Bond Board to resolve the deficiencies. Provide risk management guidance to the Sheriff to better organize the jails and increase the capacity by using strategically located vacant commercial properties around Harris County. Another key issue to fighting crime is the proper utilization of the Constables. Many neighborhoods are using contracts to employ the constables to be there to deter crime and be more responsive to calls for help than possible for HPD or the Sheriff’s department. So efficiently using this resource can help the Sheriff’s department be more focused on the more serious crimes such murder and give the citizens a real sense of security. The Sheriff’s department has to develop a better program of compensation to reduce the exodus of deputies as mentioned above. All of this can be done!

FLOOD CONTROL: 

There are some 190 projects to be funded by a bond passed a few years ago but only a fraction have started and or completed.  Warren will make sure that these projects are continued and that any “Cracking of the Bond” which means money diverted to projects not originally intended stopped. The Army Corps of engineering has developed a plan to tunnel water back to the ship channel. Warren will take a shovel over and tell them to start digging! Many projects are considerably easier to do, like taking some of the Bear Creek Golf course and increasing the size of the Addicks reservoir while establishing a new golf course that Bear Creek needs. This scenario exists in many areas of Harris County. If Holland under sea level can keep from flooding so can we above sea level!

PROPERTY TAX RELIEF: 

While it’s hard to understand why we haven’t figured out a way to eliminate property taxes all together, the existing rates are too high. This is creating a burden on everyone in Harris County no matter if you rent or own. In the past the only buffer we had to the high rates was a conservative or reasonable appraisal. Now HCAD is moving those appraisals to be more closely related to market value. If you’ve ever protested your taxes or hired a firm to do that for you, you would quickly realize that you’re not alone. The building is packed with taxpayers and Harris County employees alike spending great amounts of money, time and energy. If we get the budgets of each precinct reduced to what is needed, the pressure to keep our taxes high would be much less. In the meantime Warren will stress the importance of appraising land with two sets of values. One for tax purposes and the other for market value. Values for tax purposes should in Warren’s view be about 70% of market value. The tax waivers given to various commercial developments and corporations should be eliminated as that unfairly puts the pressure back on the taxpayer citizens thus defeating the overall reduction we need.

TOLL ROADS:

If you’ve lived in Harris County for more than 30 years as I have, you may remember the promise from Harris County officials that once the toll road now known as Beltway 8 was paid for, the fees would go away.  Well, whoever it was that said that didn’t think things through for the long run.  If the fees went away, you still have maintenance, repairs and improvements required for any road built so if the fee went away the aforementioned three things would have to be paid for by property tax in most cases.  That would not be congruent with the goal to lower property tax.  However, when elected I promise to conduct an audit and discover where we can give the commuters of Harris County some relief short of raising property taxes. 

TRAFFIC CONTROL DURING AN ACCIDENT

Warren is very concerned that over the 50 plus years of driving in Harris County there seems to be a lot of time taken and lanes blocked with very little if any concern given to maintaining some traffic flow without jeopardizing the investigation and or clearing of an accident. The Sheriff’s office needs to put together a team that specializes in going out to major accidents to concentrate on developing as much traffic flow as possible to keep the more than 500,000 plus cars moving during accidents all around Harris County. If the Sheriff won’t do it Warren will!

OVERSIGHT OVER COMMISSIONERS COURT

When Warren first started considering becoming your County Judge, he was shocked to discover how little control or power existed over commissioners court and how each commissioner spent their budgets or made decisions for their respective precincts Indeed the County judge we currently have, Lina Hidalgo, is merely a rubber stamp for whatever Rodney Ellis and friends wish to do.  Contracts are being let for things we don’t need, studies and programs such as those that guarantee a minimum income for a few thousand families costing us millions of dollars that are needed in other places. Former commissioner, Jack Cagel, was asked once if Lina was his boss. His response was that she has one vote just like me. This was my aha moment. I will seek legislation that gives the County Judge more than one vote and perhaps veto powers as well. This should have happened a long time ago but until some two to three terms back, enough of the commissioners were doing a pretty responsible job managing your money. By the way the money they spend is YOUR MONEY! It’s amazing how much you can get done with other people’s money! While legislation is pending, Warren will question contracts that look out of line, studies we don’t need, vendor relationships to the commissioners that pose a conflict of interest such as major campaign donors and just refuse to sign any contracts that he doesn’t think is in the best interest of the citizens. Programs such as the type regarding guaranteed income will be contested rather than signed off on as Warre is convinced they violate the Texas Constitution. The commissioners court is currently practicing pure socialism right in front of all of us!

PRECINCT BOUNDARIES

In addition to the horrible response to Covid 19 initiated by the current county judge, Warren became even more alarmed at the latest precinct map that Commissioner Rodney Ellis drew up this is by far the most corrupt act he’s ever seen. By switching Precincts 3 and 4, over 2,000,000 people were disenfranchised overnight. It made it almost impossible for Commissioner Jack Cagel to get reelected as he now represented a precinct that never voted for him or knew him. When you look at it you have to ask yourself was the architect of this absolutely drunk. This only benefited two people when it was drawn and no one else in Harris County Those two were Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Adrian Garcia. It ensured a democrat majority in commissioners court and smooth sailing for the installation of socialist programs like guaranteed income. To make matters worse Harris County is stuck with this fiasco until 2030!

During a visit with Commissioner Ramsey, I saw barns filled with trucks, tractors, boats, and all kinds of equipment. I saw people loading and unloading, planning to go out and do all of the work we all rely on to repair our roads, bridges, parks and drainage systems. When I met with Commissioner Ramsey, he told me he was in charge of 6,000 miles of unincorporated roads. I’m quite sure that Commissioner Ellis used the census pursuant to the Voting Rights Act of 1968 to redraw this mess treating our precincts as voting blocks. Warren does not believe that our precincts are anything other than service blocks and for sure not voting blocks! I will ask the Attorney General of Texas to try to get our precincts out of the shadow of the voting rights act and reestablish our boundaries to geographically more even in area and no longer subject to the gerrymandering we go through every ten years. If he fails to do that, Warren will do everything possible to get our boundaries back to normal as much as possible for 2030.