Six Candidates Vying to Win Jobs as Hays County Judge and Commissioners
Research Provides Voters With a Better Sense of People on the Ballot
Editor’s Introduction: The Austin Bulldog is stepping off the beaten path of how to cover an election. We will point you to some of the stories written by other publications, but we will provide information that journalists seldom take the time to dig up and assemble.
Rather than selectively quote from our background research, our approach is to use an extensive, organized plan to find, copy, and publish source documents that you can explore to form your own conclusions about people seeking elective office.
Caveat: We found that the officeholders and candidates in Hays County are not required to submit an important document that their counterparts in Travis County must complete and file: Personal Financial Statements, per Chapter 159 of the Local Government Code.
That didn’t seem right, as these statements provide a tremendous amount of information, including sources of occupational income; investments of every kind; debts; business interests; trusts; board and executive positions; and a whole lot more. This is the kind of information that the public needs to be able to monitor the conduct of their elected officials for possible conflicts of interest.
But in researching the law we learned that counties with a population of fewer than 100,000 residents are not required to file these statements. But wait, the 2009 population of Hays County was estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau at 155,545. The kicker is that state law, as stated in the Code Construction Act Section 311.105, defines population as whatever it was in the most recent federal decennial census. That census was taken in 2000, when the population was 97,582.
So, for this election cycle, the candidates and officeholders in Hays County are off the hook and don’t have to disclose information about their personal finances. This is the last election cycle this will be true for, as the 2010 census results will make official the higher population and cause the disclosure rules to apply forevermore.
Meanwhile, we’ve dug into the public records and here published what was found, to include voter registration and voter history; campaign finance reports, business records, property records, service on boards, key staff, spouses, web pages, and links to news stories. For some candidates we also found probate records, a physician’s profile, and a condemnation lawsuit.
We did not find anything that points to problems with any of these candidates, but you can read the documents and let us know if there are implications we didn’t fathom, more reporting that needs to be done. We invite your comments.
Commissioners Court majority at stake
Far down the ballot from the high offices in the federal and state government to be decided in the November 2 general election are the meat-and-potatoes positions that more directly affect the day-to-day lives of citizens.
Among the contests deserving voters’ attention is who will control the majority of the Hays County Commissioners Court for the next four years. The office of county judge and two of the four commissioners posts are up for grabs in a rapidly growing county where the population has jumped by nearly 60 percent in the last decade.
Perhaps the most important function of the Commissioners Court is that it controls the purse strings for the entire county government. The Hays County Commissioners Court recently adopted a budget of $243 million for the fiscal year that began October 1, including construction and debt service. The Commissioners Court sets tax rates, decides priorities for building and maintaining roads and bridges, calls bond elections, and allocates money to all county departments to provide essential services. Woe be unto the elected official or department head who loses favor with the commissioners court, as budgets can be slashed with impunity, as officials in Williamson County, for example, have learned the hard way lately.
Longtime Commissioner Jeff Barton, a Democrat who lives in Buda, is trying to move up to be county judge. He defeated the incumbent in the Democratic Primary. Barton is opposed by Bert Cobb, a Republican who lives and practices medicine in San Marcos.
Vying to fill the Precinct 2 Commissioner’s post vacated by Barton are Democrat Ray Bryant, a former Kyle City Council member who lives in that city, and Republican Mark Jones, who also lives in Kyle and serves on the school board.
The incumbent Precinct 4 Commissioner is Karen Ford. She is a Democrat who lives in the unincorporated area on Nutty Brown Road (County Road 163). Her challenger is Republican Ray Whisenant of Dripping Springs.
Here’s the results of our research:
Candidates for Hays County Judge
Jefferson “Jeff” Barton (Democrat)
Office sought: Hays County Judge
Judge’s salary: $77,490
E-mail: [email protected]
Current office: Commissioner Precinct 2
Texas Voter Registration Application and Voter History
Personal Financial Statement (Not required in Hays County)
Business Records (1 business)
Current boards:
Central Texas Sustainability Indicators Project
Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transit Working Group
Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District
Alliance for Public Transit
Central Texas Housing Finance Authority
Plum Creek Watershed preservation group
Hays County Family Justice Center
Former boards:
President of the nine-county Capitol Area Rural Transportation System
Vice-chair of then three-county Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
Executive board of the 22-county Central Texas Higher Education Authority
Founder, Onion Creek Cleanup Hays Consolidated Campus Leadership
Team Budafest board of directors
Kyle Lions Club officer
Sigma Delta Chi regional Freedom of Information Chair
Key staff:
Campaign Treasurer: Cyndy Slovak-Barton 512-268-0841
Executive Assistant: Phyllis Burnett 512-262-2091
Campaign Consultant: Amanda Domaschk
Spouse: Cyndy Slovak-Barton, co-publisher, Hays Free Press
Web pages:
http://www.jeffersonbarton.com
http://www.comm2.co.hays.tx.us
Links to stories:
Endorsed by Austin American-Statesman on October 17, 2010
Austin American-Statesman, October 14, 2010
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:586590
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:654030
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A529170
http://haysfreepress.com/archives/8206
Albert “Bert” Cobb (Republican)
Office sought: Hays County Judge
Judge’s salary: $77,490
E-mail: [email protected]
Current office: None
Texas Voter Registration Application and Voter History
Personal Financial Statement (Not required in Hays County)
Business Records (3 businesses)
Former boards:
President, Tri-County Medical Society
President, Pan American Allergy Society
Board Examiner, American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy
President, Rotary Club of Greater San Marcos
Key staff:
Campaign Treasurer: Lon A. Shell 512-644-0848
Spouse: Gaye Cobb
Web pages:
http://www.drbertcobb.com/meet_dr_bert/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Bert-Cobb/219840900872
Links to stories:
Austin American-Statesman, October 14, 2010
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/will-hays-county-turn-red-again-this-november-924314.html
http://haysfreepress.com/archives/8206
Candidates for Hays County Commissioner Precinct 2
Ray Bryant (Democrat)
Office sought: Hays County Commissioner Precinct 2
Commissioner’s salary: $65,048
E-mail: Use form at http://www.voteraybryant.com/contact.html
Office held: Former Kyle City Council Member
Texas Voter Registration Application and Voter History
Personal Financial Statement (Not required in Hays County)
Business Records (None located)
Past boards:
Kyle Planning and Zoning Commission
Kyle Board of Adjustment
North Hays County ACC Steering Committee
Kyle Community Relations Committee
Past President, Amberwood Homeowners Association
Kyle Genealogy Society
Key staff:
Paula Alvarez, Campaign Treasurer 512-268-6030
Spouse: Sandra Bryant
Web pages:
http://www.voteraybryant.com/index.html
Links to stories:
Endorsed by Austin American-Statesman on October 17, 2010
http://haysfreepress.com/archives/811
http://haysfreepress.com/archives/8206
Mark Jones (Republican)
Office sought: Hays County Commissioner Precinct 2
Commissioner’s salary: $65,048
E-mail: [email protected]
Current office: Vice President, Hays CISD Board of Trustees
Office salary: $65,048 (Commissioner 2010)
Texas Voter Registration Application and Voter History
Personal Financial Statement (Not required in Hays County)
Business Records (None located)
Past boards:
Plum Creek Conservation District
Founding Treasurer, Central Texas Life Care
Key staff:
Campaign Treasurer: James Anderson 512-799-4245
Spouse: Kerri Jones
Web pages and social network sites:
http://www.markjones2010.com/meet_mark/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Jones/126360718007
Links to stories:
http://haysfreepress.com/archives/3441
http://haysfreepress.com/archives/8206
Candidates for Hays County Commissioner Precinct 4
Karen Ford (Democrat)
Office sought: Hays County Commissioner Precinct 4
Commissioner’s salary: $65,048
E-mail: [email protected]
Current office: Precinct 4 Commissioner since 2007
Texas Voter Registration Application and Voter History
Personal Financial Statement (Not required in Hays County)
Business Records:Owner, White Hat Creative, communications company (No documents located)
Current boards:
Clean Air Coalition, 2nd Vice-Chair, representing Hays County
Clean Air Force, executive committee and board member
Envision Central Texas, co-chair, Natural Infrastructure Committee
Hays County Water Conservation Working Group, founder/leader
Hill Country County Coalition
Past boards:
Rotary Club of Dripping Springs, co-chair 2009 Veteran’s Day Tribute
Cypress Creek Watershed Protection Plan
Nutty Brown Road Neighbors Association, founding member and chair
Hill Country Alliance, board member
Art From the Streets campaign, Chair
Regional Water Quality Protection Plan, stakeholder
Association of Retarded Citizens, past volunteer (ARC-Central Texas)
Big Brothers/Big Sisters, past volunteer
Key staff:
Precinct 4 office 512-858-7268
Barbara L. Stroud, Campaign Treasurer 512-923-7341
Spouse: Nick Burkhalter, custom homebuilder
Web pages:
http://www.votekarenford.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Karen-Ford/124891224914
Links to stories:
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/hillcountry/entries/2008/08/26/looking_for_places_to_shoot_gu.html
http://haysfreepress.com/archives/8206
Raymond “Ray” Whisenant Jr. (Republican)
Office sought: Hays County Commissioner Precinct 4
Commissioner’s salary: $65,048
E-mail: [email protected]
Current office: none
Texas Voter Registration Application and Voter History
Personal Financial Statement (Not required in Hays County)
Business Records (5 businesses)
Property Records
Probate Records (2 estates)
Current boards:
Texas Ground Water Association, president
Texas Water Well Drillers/Pump Installers Advisory Council, chairman
Past boards:
Central Texas Ground Water Association, president
Dripping Springs ISD Board of Trustees 1981-1990
Dripping Springs Lions Club Chapters
Dripping Springs Senior Citizens Cottages
National Ground Water Association
Hill Country Care Nursing Home
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission’s Abandoned Water Well Plugging Task Force
Key staff:
E. Wally Kinney, Campaign Treasurer 512-858-4736
Spouse: Connie Whisenant
Web pages:
http://www.raywhisenantforcommissioner.com/
http://northhaysgop.org/2010/03/ray-whisenant-hays-county-commissioner/
Links to stories:
Endorsed by Austin American-Statesman on October 17, 2010
http://haysfreepress.com/archives/8206
Next: Travis County Commissioners Court
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