House candidate Kerwin touts Contract with Texas

Apr. 30—District 58 state representative candidate Helen Kerwin's Thursday Dillon Depot stop proved less a stump speech and more a coffee talk, albeit one with cups of homemade ice cream and frosty mugs of root beer substituting for java.

Kewin and attendees conversed freely throughout the night with each contributing roughly equal input.

With none of the originally three candidates having secured 50 percent of the vote in the March Republican Primary, Kerwin and State Rep. DeWayne Burns, R-Cleburne, now find themselves locked in a runoff to determine which of the two will move on to challenge Libertarian candidate Richard Windmann in November's general election.

Early voting for the Republican runoff runs May 20-24 with the election to be held May 28.

Kerwin and Burns originally planned to appear at Dillon Depot simultaneously. Burns appeared last month but illness prevented Kerwin from joining him on stage.

Happy to finally be there Thursday, Kerwin complimented the Depot, Mug on the Square and other Cleburne locales.

Kerwin tipped her hat also to county residents Duaine Goulding and John Wood, both of whom were present, for their recent appointment to the Johnson County Central Appraisal District's board of directors.

"That's historic and, I think, a first for a Texas county," Kerwin said. "I think any move to make government more transparent as opposed to operating behind closed doors is wonderful."

Governmental entities within the county nominate and vote on members of the board, Goulding said.

Historically, Goulding said, the chief appraiser basically hand picked his own board, which county, city and school district officials rubber stamped through there votes.

This go around, however, Cleburne business owner Craig Hundley recruited several county residents to lobby for nominations in effort to secure board members determined to increase CAD transparency and work towards property tax/valuation reforms.

Goulding talked of reforms by the new board members so far and more to come including expansion of the board with several members to be chosen by voters rather than governmental entities.

Kerwin applauded those and other moves underway to decrease, reform or ultimately eliminate property taxes.

Kerwin cited as well her support of the Contract With Texas.

"I'm so excited about this," Kerwin said. "I was the first non-elected official to sign the contract."

Crafted by several Republican Texas House members, the contract addresses the Republican majorities in the state House and Senate and calls for reform.

"Republican speakers of the Texas House have centralized power to themselves, which renders individual Texans without effective representation and colluded with Democrats to advance progressive policies and stop Republican priorities," the contract reads. The House's most recent session was marked by obstruction, dysfunction and a lack of fundamental fairness in application of the House's rules, and this cannot continue."

The gist being that Republicans should lead by example and conservative principles, Kerwin said.

Among other priorities, the contract calls upon signers to only solicit support for the speakership from Republican members and end the practice of awarding Democrats with committee chairmanships.

The contract calls for ensuring a vote on GOP legislative priorities before any Democratic bills, limiting the speaker to two term and and allowing audio and video recording of all House proceedings including point of order debates.

Kerwin bemoaned important bills killed during the last legislative session involving border security measures, illegal voting and other items.

She spoke of a recent trip to the border to assess the situation and commended Gov. Greg Abbott for his efforts so far to staunch illegal immigration.

Kerwin once again voiced support for school choice as in parents having the right to decide which school best fits their children.

Burns and several other House Republicans last session raised Abbott's ire by refusing to vote on his, depending on who is asked, school choice or voucher program. A program Burns said would cost billions and fund education for illegal immigrants. Several have said that Kerwin, and candidates in other House races, were handpicked to oppose those House members who opposed Abbott's bill.

Describing herself as more conservative that Abbott, Kerwin dismissed claims of her being a puppet of Abbott or other politicians as untrue.

"I'm a first time state candidate who came up through local government," Kerwin said. "I promise you I will never vote on a bad bill."

Kerwin vowed not to fall in lockstep if elected.

"No, I'm going to vote what my constituents want," Kerwin said. "Look, I'm 76. My children are raised. I don't care what people think except my constituents. I'm going for the right reasons and the right reasons only."

Several in Thursday's audience said they plan to keep Kerwin true to her words if elected.

"Thank you for telling me that," Kerwin replied. "I want to know what you all think, want your input and let me know about the issues. And I want you to come down to Austin if you disagree or agree. My door will always be open."