We put each candidate “Under the Red Hat” for the Heavy Weight Race of Lamar County. Here is the challenger Mike Malone’s interview.
Question 1: Tell us what you see as the description of your position and its responsibilities?
Mike: The position of the Constitutional County Judge is primarily an administrative position considered to be the administrative head of county government somewhat like the City Manager is the CEO of city government. The County Judge presides over the county’s Commissioners Court which oversees all county business. The County Judge has judicial responsibility for certain criminal, civil and probate matters; and prepares the county budget along with the County Auditor. Constitutional County Judges are not required to be licensed attorneys and in fact most are not. Most of the judicial duties should be fulfilled by the County Court at Law and Lamar County which would result in a savings of tax dollars to the citizens and allow the County Judge to devote more time to management of the county’s business.
Question 2: You are the opponent, tell us why you should be elected?
Mike: I will bring better management and leadership skills to county government. I can save the county taxpayer’s money through better management, make the county government more efficient, cost effective, and responsive to the citizens. I am the candidate with the most public management experience record.
Question 3: Why not your opponent?
Mike: My opponent continues to hear more than 40% of the cases that can now be heard by the County Court at Law Judge Bill Harris. He does so in order to get a $15,000 dollar salary supplement from the state but it requires county tax payers to spend over $40,000 a year in contract labor costs for court reporting and court bailiff services for him to do so. I will allow Judge Harris to hear most of the judicial matters there by saving more than $40,000 and I will concentrate on administration to make better business decisions for the county to reduce waste and inefficiency.
Follow-Up: Anything specific you would look at or could do from the County Judge position that would be good or increase business?
Mike: For example, when I talk about leadership qualities you have to first of all respect your peers, your County Commissioners. There are 5 people in the room when any matter is brought before the Commissioners Court and 4 of them are Commissioners. Commissioners have road crews to supervise. The County Judge needs to concentrate on management. He needs to be researching every issue, every purchase, every type of equipment, every type of software. He needs to get information together and immediately when he has it in his hands, transmit it and communicate it to the Commissioners. Give them an opportunity to have this information long before the meeting is held where the decisions are made. So better decisions will result from that because you have to have a give-and-take, you know they say well I’ve got this information and I have a question. The County Judge only has one employee to supervise and that is his secretary. County Judge if he is doing the job properly will let this judicial business go on to the County Court at Law, we created it for that purpose to save time for the Judge to be able to do better administration. Judge Superville was County Judge, we have spent over $11,000,000 renovation of the historic county court house. Everybody is proud of the way it looks but we have continued to have problems with the roof, we have had problems with the elevator, we have had problems with the emergency power system, we have had problems with the windows leaking, leaking air – leaking water. All sorts of things have happened. With better administration you would have contractual documents in place and you would have the best people doing the work. When they make a mistake you would have them come back and correct it. But what we are doing is we are continuing to have to hire people to come in and research what is causing this leak, what is causing that, we have got to do and redo and continue to spend money. That is not good management. When I was City Manager we had a train station out in West Paris that had been vacant 20 years and the roof was leaking. People came from the Chamber of Commerce and asked the City Council to apply for a grant for $1,000,000 to renovate this building. We had to come up with ideas of how to apply for the grant, what we would do with the building that would comport with the terms of the grant which revolved around transportation. We did apply for that grant and happened to get it. The architect came up, had all the plans done and was meeting with me down in the building. He was telling me all the things we are going to do, we will do this, we will do this, and we will patch the roof. I told him that he can stop right there, we are not spending $1,000,000 on this building and patch the roof. I said we are going to put a new roof on this building. The architect said we don’t have the money in the budget for that we can only patch where the leaks are. I said well that won’t work. What we did was we hired a construction manager, Wendell Moore, he understood how to take those tiles off that roof and do that job. We had a relationship that we built through my leadership with the Bonham State Jail and we brought 40 prisoners a day up there and Wendell supervised and took all that tile off that roof, we replaced the broken tile, we repaired all that underlay, we got that roof done and saved the tax payers about $300,000 plus on that project. We came in well within the budget, we got it all done and we have never had problems with that building. That is a historic building, same kind of situation as the County. Here is a situation of continuous problem spending, spending, spending, still no solution. Here is a building that is continuing to be used and we have not had any issues like that with this building. It is a matter of having the leadership skills and the management to get these things done. It is a matter of working with commissioners so that they have information ahead of time when they get to the meeting rather than dropping it on them in the meeting and saying well here is my solution commissioners I think we need to do this. We all need to work together in a way to affect the best solution. Everybody is not always going to agree, but the County Judge is in the best position to gather information and to discern what people to listen to. That is what I see as my strong suit is leadership management and that is what I think the election is about.
Question 4: Tell us in short about yourself – education, experience, family, faith?
Mike: I am a native of Lamar County and my family has been her for several generations. I am of the Baptist faith. I was educated in our Paris Schools and graduated from East Texas State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and History. I was the youngest Mayor of Paris at the age of 26. I served two terms on the City Council, 3 out of the 4 years I was selected Mayor by my peers. After my service on the council I worked for the Ark-Tex Council of Governments located in Texarkana. I worked in four counties, worked for a while in job training, and then the most of my time spent there which was 3 years, I was a housing specialist and I worked with grants for housing, HUD, and rental assist programs. I left that job to take the job as City Manager and was hired on a 4-3 vote by the City Council of Paris to be the City Manager in 1986. I held that position for almost 17 ½ years which is way longer than any other person has held that position. During my tenure as City Manager there were numerous improvements made to the infrastructure of the city including new streets, hot mix overlay of city streets on a regular basis – we usually averaged about 10 miles of hot mix overlay a year in addition to all of the upgrading of the base and seal coats that we did for normal maintenance. We created several new parks during my tenure. We made major improvements to both the water plant and the waste water plant. We built a brand new fire station out on North Main, the Main Station. We built sub-stations as well and redid the station out in West Paris. So there were continuous improvements to the infrastructure – water and sewer system we worked on constantly, we replaced line, and got out from under an EPA order through real intense effort to correct problems that had existed for years and years and years in the waste water system so we were successful with that.
Question 5: What is your party affiliation and why?
Mike: I am a Republican, I am conservative, and I am concerned for our nation. I favor less government not more. I want a strong national defense and ready military, and respect and support for the military, our veterans and for those who provide the backbone of our nation, our teachers, our Law Enforcement Officers, our Fire and Emergency Service personnel, and others that serve the public. The Republican Party ideals are more in line with the principles of freedom, self-reliance and the capitalism that built our nation. I say today that if you look at locally at the Democratic Party and the State Democratic Party and the people that are running on that ticket are supporting ideals that are foreign to most of the people of Lamar County and it just doesn’t comport with what we believe in here.
Question 6: How do you feel about straight party ticket voting and why?
Mike: Well 20 years ago the local Democratic Party was composed of primarily of conservative people. The Democratic Party now has experienced an extreme shift to the left. As a result I don’t believe the values of most people in Lamar County are represented by the Democratic Platform that the Democratic candidates like my opponent are sworn to uphold. I am a Republican because I am a conservative minded person and I am concerned about the direction that the Democrats are moving the country in. If you are running as a Democrat in Lamar County today, you are not reflecting conservative values and ideals of the citizens of Lamar County.
Question 7: Do you own any businesses or do any other work outside of this position?
Mike: No.
Question 8: What will be the 1st thing on your agenda if you are elected?
Mike: I will shift most judicial duties to Judge Harris and the County Court at Law that was created in Lamar County to give the Constitutional County Judge more time to manage the county business, thus saving more than $40,000 a year immediately. I will see that the proper planning is done for the effective utilization and cost effective repairs of county facilities such as the court house and court house annex. Thousands of tax dollars have been wasted on ineffective repairs and poor planning and administration of these facilities.
Follow-Up: Have you talked to Bill Harris?
Mike: I have talked to Bill Harris. Bill Harris for the entire time he has been in the office has wanted to hear those county cases and Judge Bill Harris told me that he wanted to hear the cases, would hear the cases and I told him that I would allow that to be done. I would forgo that $15,000 salary supplement. I am already a retired person with a pension. I am not interested in being County Judge for the money. I am interested in being in a position where I can do more to work with people, help people and be a part of the community. So this is really an opportunity for me to serve in a way that I think I could be effective.
Question 9: Have any organizations or groups endorsed you?
Mike: The Republican Party.
Question 10: Anything else you would like to add or say in your own words?
Mike: I enjoy working for the public and have the needed leadership and management skills that will be an asset to Lamar County government. I would appreciate the vote support of everyone and will work hard to bring more efficiency and effective services to the citizens.
Written by “Under the Red Hat.” The Red Hat is un-biased, un-affiliated and represents all of us here in our community. If you have an idea, a comment, or want to more about people in our area that are making an impact on our lives through their profession, life, or cause, then just let us know who you would like to see “Under the Red Hat!” redhat@eparisextra.com