Open and Accessible Courts
We need a Justice of the Peace who is not going to lock the doors of the court annex building during business hours to keep the public out. Maintaining access to the courts is one of our fundamental rights we as Americans and Texans value tremendously. If elected public officials don’t want to be accessible to the public, then they should not be elected to public office. I will immediately enact a policy of open access of justice and break those locks on day one. No more having to knock on the door to try and get in to speak to the court clerks.
Experience Matters
Our Justice of the Peace should be someone who is experienced and qualified in the criminal justice system. My 20+ years in local law enforcement and management of a $2.2M department budget with 28 employees makes me the most qualified candidate for the job. Our current Justice of the Peace has no prior legal or law enforcement experience, other than being married to a sitting district judge. We deserve better than that, especially when taxpayers pay over $80,000/year in salary & benefits to the individual in this elected position.
Fix Our Broken Court
The Court has seen a 65% reduction of case filings over the past 3 years. However, the current JP has requested a salary increase and auto mileage allowances each year she’s been in office – even within her first 6 months of taking office in 2015! We need to elect someone with the right experience to go in and fix this broken system without the backwards philosophy of thinking that less work should equal a higher salary.