Questions for Candidates for State Legislative Office from the Conservative Coalition of Harris County Our questionnaire has two parts; a short answer section to go onto the Voter s guide and longer answer section that will give the candidate space to indicate their reasons and opinions concerning issues surrounding their races. This questionnaire will be posted onto the Conservative Coalition of Harris County website for public voter viewing. Candidate Name Position for which Candidate is Running Valoree Swanson Re-election to State Representative District 150 Short Answer Question Form: Please indicate your position with the following abbreviations. (SF-Strongly favor, F-Favor, U-Undecided, O-Oppose, SO-Strongly oppose, NR-No response) Question Position 1. Do you support defunding Sanctuary Cities? SF 2. Should illegal aliens be allowed taxpayer funded (subsidized in any way) college enrollment in Texas universities? 3. Should a school voucher system be adopted within some ISDs within Texas? SF 4. Do you favor additional safeguards against the use of foreign laws and customs such as Sharia Law in Texas government (e.g. the so-called American Law for American Courts bill)? 5. Do you favor prohibiting the use of embryonic stem cells for scientific research? SF 6. Should Planned Parenthood personnel, including management, be prosecuted for selling baby parts? 7. Should companies contracting to provide services to government agencies be subject to the Texas Public Information Act requirements? 8. Should candidates for the legislature release their previous three years of tax returns? 2018 CCHC PAC Texas State Legislator Questionnaire Page 1 SO SF SF SF-at least to show exactly how the government money is spent Personal financial statements are already required. All information concerning any
9. Should legislators be permitted to immediately lobby their former colleagues upon leaving office? 10. Should the Texas House speaker s race be decided in secret ballot by the GOP caucus only? 11. Have you ever supported protecting unions' use of members dues for political purposes, a mainstay of Democratic Party support? government contracts should be released. SO The Republican Nominee for Texas House Speaker should be decided by secret ballot in GOP Caucus. I pledge to support the Republican Caucus nominee when voting publicly on the floor after the Caucus. No I agree with Gov. Abbott that union dues should not be collected by governmental entities on behalf of unions. 2018 CCHC PAC Texas State Legislator Questionnaire Page 2
Long Answer Question Form. Please give your answer to each of the following questions and please include your rationale with each answer. Please be concise and clear. 1. Please describe the qualifications and experience that make you the best candidate for position for which you are running. Answer: Top 10 most conservative legislator, according to Rice University study; 100% (99% on one) voting score and awards from all the top conservative groups; founding member and only woman in the courageous Texas Freedom Caucus; endorsements from Gov. Abbott, Sen. Bettencourt, Commissioner Cagle, Texas Right to Life, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Texas Values, Young Conservatives of Texas, CWA National, Dave Welch-Texas Pastor Council, Texas State Rifle Association-TX affiliate of NRA, 27 conservative state representatives, over 161 current and former precinct chairs, District Chairs, and SREC, 5 local school board members, Barbara Cargill-State Board of Education, and many, many more. Many, many years of volunteering as a conservative Republican, working to elect conservative Republicans to office, build the Republican Party, advocate for conservative issues, vet candidates, etc. Served on SREC for 8 years and as Republican Precinct Chair and election judge approximately 24 years. 2. Please explain what you believe are the most significant issues in this race, why you are running for this position and what differentiates you from the other candidate(s). Answer: I am a true, proven conservative with a top-notch, award-winning voting record. I also have many, many years of consistent volunteer activism for conservative issues and candidates. Whether it is pro-life, pro-family, 2 nd Amendment, protection from lowincome housing, property tax relief, fiscal conservatism, improving education, fighting government regulation, or other conservative issues, I have a proven top record. I will continue to work hard to get the funding Harris County needs for new and improved flood protection infrastructure. My top priority is the building of the 3 rd reservoir that would hold back floodwaters from Cypress Creek and its tributaries. I am also pushing for new flood control mitigation on Spring Creek and Willow Creek. 3. What will be your top 3 priorities during your upcoming term? Answer: Obtaining funding and speeding the building of new flood control mitigation infrastructure, continuing the fight for property tax reform, continuing to protect my district from low income housing, improving education, protecting the sanctity of life, protecting the privacy and safety of women and girls 4. Please describe what you believe is the proper role for the state government in job creation and intervention in the economy. Answer: Government should have as few regulations as possible and maintain low taxes in order to free citizens to invest and build businesses. It is not the role of government to choose winners and losers by giving special breaks to specific companies. 2018 CCHC PAC Texas State Legislator Questionnaire Page 3
5. Please describe your plan for balancing the Texas budget. What budget items need to be cut and what taxes and fees need to be increased? Answer: Only revenue-neutral taxes changes should be considered. No more of their hardearned money should be taken from taxpayers. Unnecessary spending should be cut from the budget and various examples of corporate welfare, such as The Texas Film Commission that subsidizes many poor quality movies with tax payer funded subsidies. Expensive rules and regulations should be cut as much as possible. 6. What are your suggestions toward public education funding within Texas? What are areas the waste can be reduced, areas of revenue enhancement, or idea to increase efficiencies in public education spending? Answer: Texas needs to properly fund public education, while also carefully monitoring the use of taxpayer money. The entire funding system needs an overhaul. More of the money needs to be required to be spent on teachers in the classroom and less on administration. School districts and other taxing entities should be required to post extremely thorough, transparent information about their tax rates, total revenues, budget, etc. They should be required to hold elections before being able to raise taxes (not just rates) to increase revenue more than 2% above the increase of population and inflation. 7. If the current District court injunction is upheld against the recent law passed in 2017, what additional legislation is needed to eliminate sanctuary cities in Texas? Answer: It is a great law. I believe it will be upheld in appellate courts. 8. What initiatives will you propose to help the voters in your district? Answer: Anything the state government can do to help fund and speed up the building of new flood control infrastructure. I have been in close contact with Sen. Cruz, Cong. McCaul, Gov. Abbott, Commissioner Cagle and many others on these issues. I am very encouraged at the top priority that the 3 rd Area Reservoir, to be built on Cypress Creek, is receiving from all of the above. 9. Would you vote to fine employers a percentage of their net receipts for each infraction if they hire illegal aliens knowingly or through failure to verify? Answer: The concept is one I would support. Exactly how it should be structured is something I would want to hear more details and testimony on. 10 Please describe your plan for balancing the Texas budget. What budget items need to be cut and what taxes and fees need to be increased? Answer: See 5 above. 11 Should the Texas legislature pass a bill that will require future legislatures to limit how much state spending can grow, by using the estimated combined growth in population and inflation? Answer: Yes, however, it would need to be a state constitutional amendment, or future legislators would just change it whenever they wanted. 2018 CCHC PAC Texas State Legislator Questionnaire Page 4
12 The Texas House was widely viewed by conservatives across the district as being less conservative than the Senate in the 85 th legislature. What can be done to make the House similarly conservative? Answer: As part of the Texas Freedom Caucus, I worked hard to change the leadership system currently in place, which puts the control in the hands of a coalition of the most liberal Republicans and all the Democrats. We chubbed on the final night of House bills in order to gain leverage to be able to get the conservative bills to the floor that the majority of Republicans wanted but that were being blocked by Speaker Straus and his team. We were successful in getting some of those bills to the floor and passed. Other bills, we were able to amend on the floor to make watered down bills stronger. I was one of 14 courageous members who used the rules of the House Republican Caucus to force the Chairman to call a meeting to discuss changing the bylaws of the Caucus to nominate the next speaker candidate within the caucus, as spelled out in the Texas Republican Platform. We then were able to build a great coalition of allies and succeeded in changing the bylaws to spell out the nominating process in detail. As soon as it was evident that this would pass, Speaker Straus and his top lieutenant announced their retirement. I am very hopeful that this will lead to electing a much more conservative Speaker in 2019. However, the grassroots statewide need to elect more true conservatives to the House and hold their members accountable. It is very important not just to listen to what candidates and elected officials say at home but to examine their voting record. Many of them talk one way at home and vote entirely differently in Austin or Washington. 13 What taxes for taxpayers need to be reduced or eliminated in Texas? Answer: Property taxes continue to shoot up due to the rise in appraisals. I strongly backed bills that would have required rollback elections before tax revenue could rise more than 4% and other great bills that were purposely killed in the House. I filed bills in both the regular session and special session that would have eliminated property taxes and moved us to consumption taxes and other more fair means. 14 Assuming you have read the 2016 Texas GOP Platform, what recent issues were not covered by the 2016-17 state legislative session and should be addressed in the future? Answer: All the major issues that were on the governor s special session call that did not pass, plus flood rebuilding and major new infrastructure, constitutional carry, and others. 15 How can Texas use the 10 th Amendment, an Article V amending convention, or other tools to stop the expansion of the federal government? Answer: I supported the Article V Convention of the States bills that passed in 2017. I also support the many lawsuits that our current and previous attorneys general have filed and litigated to stop the federal government s constant attempts to overstep the bounds of its power over Texas. Passing bills and then defending them in court is another way that Texas is fighting back against federal government intrusion. Further use of the 10 th Amendment will continue to be warranted, but federal government overreach is much less of a problem under a Republican President and Congress. 2018 CCHC PAC Texas State Legislator Questionnaire Page 5
16 Should Houston continue to enjoy extra-territorial jurisdiction, including levying taxes on persons and transactions not in the actual city limits? Answer: Absolutely not. 17 Should school districts, cities and other political subdivisions in Texas should be able to use taxpayers money to lobby for that political subdivision interest against the taxpayers? Answer: Absolutely not. 18 Does the state need to pass a law requiring transgender people to use bathrooms in public schools, government buildings and public universities based on biological sex? Answer: Yes. Those places could also provide the option of a single person use bathroom. 19 Should the legislature pass a measure to subsidize private school tuition using state funding, aka private school choice, specifically for students with disabilities? Answer: Yes, as long as it does not put government controls on private schools. The funding should follow the child to allow the parents to make the best choice for their child. This can be done while still maintaining quality public schools. I will carefully monitor the details of any such bills to come up with the best possible bill. BY RETURNING THIS QUESTIONNAIRE, THE CANDIDATE ASSUMES FULL RESPONSIBLITY FOR ALL ANSWERS TO THIS QUESTIONNAIRE. THE ANSWERS ON THE FOREGOING REFLECT THE CANDIDATE S BEST EFFORTS TO ANSWER THIS QUESTIONNAIRE HONESTLY AND DIRECTLY. PLEASE SAVE YOUR COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRE TO YOUR LOCAL MACHINE IN THE EVENT THAT THERE ARE ANY TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WHEN YOU ATTEMPT TO EMAIL IT BACK. Once this questionnaire has been completed, please email it to: alex@cchc-pac.org * Please note: You must return your questionnaire from the email address to which it was sent. Questionnaires returned from any other email address will be considered fraudulent and will not be recorded and no answers will be published in the voter s guide. CCHC-PAC deems a return from the proper email address as authentication of the correct respondent. 2018 CCHC PAC Texas State Legislator Questionnaire Page 6