Primary candidates speak at League of Women Voters forum

The League of Women Voters of Hays County hosted a forum for candidates in contested primary races at the San Marcos Activity Center.

Thursday’s forum featured candidates in races for State Representative District 45, County Court-at-Law No. 3 Judge, Hays County Constable Precinct 1, Hays County Constable Precinct 3 and Hays County Sheriff.

State Representative, District 45

The night kicked off with a discussion with State Representative District 45 incumbent Erin Zwiener, who was the lone candidate in the race to appear at the forum. Zwiener’s Democratic opponent Liliana Posada nor the three Republican candidates — Austin Talley, Kent “Bud” Wymore and Carrie Isaac — appeared Thursday. Statements were read for the absent candidates.

Zwiener was asked by the League of Women Voters if she would support or introduce legislation that would give more Texans access to healthcare and some form of health insurance.

“I would absolutely support legislation to give more Texans access to healthcare coverage and I did so in the last legislative session,” Zwiener said. “The most critical thing we can do to expand healthcare access for Texans is keep our rural hospitals open and drive down healthcare costs for everyone is to expand medicaid … If we expand medicaid, we bring in another $6 million of federal money a year. Those are your tax dollars that we send to (Washington) D.C. and we’re not getting back and we’d cover another one and a half million Texans.”

Zwiener was asked an audience question on whether she supports judicial realignment.

“That’s a question that is relevant to Hays County because we have concerns that our District Judges in this region have not been spending enough time working in Hays County,” she said. “And so, to address that we can either redraw some of the District Courts and have some exclusive to Hays County rather than sharing them with our neighboring counties, or create new District Courts to serve this area. I do support that and I’ll be working with the state senators for this area where most of the judicial legislation originates to do just that.”

County Court-at-Law No. 3 Judge

Democratic candidates for County Court at Law No. 3 Judge — Tony Fusco and Millie Thompson — followed Zwiener.

Fusco and Thompson were asked by the League of Women Voters about their experiences with mental health courts and if they would work with the incumbent — Tacie Zelhart — on the county’s mental health court.

“The idea is that with certain populations, we don’t want to attach a criminal adjudication or stigma to their name for the rest of their lives because there are other things going on with them,” Thompson said. “With the mental health situation, the other thing going on with them is their mental health diagnosis. So, yes, I would work with the incumbent in order to make sure that the diversion program is successful and that folks with mental illnesses are not unfairly stigmatized because they’ve been arrested related to their mental health diagnosis. I do have significant experience with folks experiencing mental illness for all diagnosis and I would look forward to working on that court.”

“Few problems are more pressing in our society right now than mental health in a variety of areas,” Fusco said. “I would say, Judge Zelhart deserves credit for establishing or taking an active role in the creation of the mental health court. As part of my experience with clients and mental health, it’s extensive. During the course of my career, I have been fortunate to work with some really great doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists that have assisted us on a pro bono basis or retained basis … My experience in this area is extensive and I would welcome the opportunity to work side by side with Judge Zelhart on mental health court issues.”

The candidates were then asked if they would support the creation of a Public Defender’s office.

“The Public Defender’s Office, I believe would be a step in the right direction,” Fusco said. “Given the expansive growth the county has experienced over the last decade, and especially the last five years, there is a need for that … I am very, very much in favor of it or at least some sort of hybrid system involving a Public Defender’s office and the appointment of private attorneys.”

“All of the studies show that people who don’t have money, can’t afford a lawyer, do better when they’re represented by folks in a Public Defender’s office,” Thompson said. “I have been outspoken my entire career on the importance of Public Defender’s offices in Texas and in any county I’ve been in. I support a Public Defender’s Office in Hays County. I think that when it comes to people who don’t have money, the worst thing that can happen to them is they have poor or no representation in court. They need better representation in court for those who are not wealthy because of the consequences in their lives.”

Hays County Constable, Precinct 1

Incumbent David Peterson was the only Democratic candidate for Hays County Constable, Precinct 1 to attend Thursday’s forum. Cody Cheatham was absent due to a previous engagement, he said in a letter read during the forum.

Peterson was asked by the League of Women Voters about what safety changes he would like to see implemented to protect law enforcement officers.

“One of the most important things in law enforcement is training,” Peterson said. “Training is so important to send your deputy constables to training at all times. But, of course, with the growth of (San Marcos) and the county, you can only depend on that money that we budget coming in.”

Peterson was also asked an audience question about what he brings to the table that his opponent can’t.

“My 33 years in law enforcement — 19 years in the sheriff’s office and 14 years in civil process — brings me a lot,” Peterson said. “I feel that as being constable, the advance of having civil process under your belt is a big plus.”

Hays County Constable, Precinct 3

Hays County Constable, Precinct 3 incumbent Ray Helm was not at the forum, however, his opponent Jessica Deatherage did attend.

The League of Women Voters asked Deatherage about what approach she would take in preparing herself and her deputies to respond to the mental health crisis.

“There is training provided out there for all of our officers, all of our deputies, I also have a certificate as a mental health officer,” Deatherage said. “But I believe that I bring experience with me as far as I’m concerned. My grandmother, many years ago, back in 2007, she was diagnosed with dementia and so I quit my job and was her full-time caretaker because she was diagnosed with dementia and Parkinson's. I learned very quickly how to handle certain situations … But it’s the training, you have to have that.”

Hays County Sheriff

Each candidate for Hays County Sheriff attended Thursday’s forum — Incumbent Gary Cutler and challenger David Graham on the Republican side; and Democratic Primary contenders Dicky Haverda and Alex Villalobos.

The sheriff candidates were asked by the League of Women Voters about what criminal reform policies they would support.

“Another full-time felony court would be good,” Graham said, “Or a dedicated mental health court or substance abuse court because not everybody needs to be incarcerated. Sometimes it would be better if they were rehabilitated and get treatment versus incarceration.”

Cutler said he supports diversion programs.

“I’m a strong supporter of diversion programs and also cite and release, which has been implemented in my first month in office back in 2010-2011,” Cutler said. “But I know there have been discussions about mental health programs and I’m a strong supporter of that. There’s not a sheriff in the country that’s not in support of that.”

“I’m in favor of cite and release and diversion programs,” Haverda said. “They’re all out there. They just need to be utilized a little more. Mental health, the jail is not a place for people with mental health (illnesses). I worked there for 22 years. I saw on hand people walking into jail because they have to get them off the street. They’re in between a rock and a hard place. Those people need help and jail is not the answer.”

“As a member of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission for Hays County, I’ve been a part of doing an entire assessment of the criminal justice system in Hays County with the collaboration of all the different sections of criminal justice,” Villalobos said. “Clearly, some of the initiatives that have been implemented or re-established as the outcome of this commission were cite and release and currently cite and diversion is on its way in. We had to help create the platform to utilize it … With the consideration of officer safety in the field, I’m also a proponent for LEAD — Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion — which is a policy that can be pushed down from the executive officer of the sheriff’s department to address very critical issues in the field.”

The candidates also addressed an audience question, which asked what they would do as sheriff to modernize the department.

“We have a growing population, a young population, and I believe that technology, utilizing cyber investigations is something that we need to address so that we can become a little bit more equipped to support our surrounding law enforcement agencies,” Villalobos said. “As we continue to grow into an urban county, our crimes will change. Allowing reciprocal information for us will create a support system for the surrounding agencies within the county is a great tool for other agencies to come and start utilizing us as their central piece of information to standardize some items, to create some consistency with evidence gathering but also to support those cases that need to be prosecuted.”

“There are areas that need a little bit more upgrade,” Haverda said. “Some of the deputies’ equipment is getting outdated. I know it’s all about funding. The commissioner’s court does what they can with the money and that goes back to the taxpayers and we have to keep an eye on that. We can always use joint ventures with other agencies to get us by as we progress and pay off some of these high bonds that we have that aren’t going to stop the (jail) outsourcing.”

“There has been modernization in the sheriff’s office,” Cutler said. “So, I’m not sure what people are talking about. There’s not much that we haven’t done there when it comes to technology … We’re doing expansion of the Hays County Jail — State of the Art upgrade. So, there is modernization taking place.” “You modernize through the use of technology, training, equipment and of course supervision,” Graham said. “Training is so important because you want to expose officers to as much specialized training as you can, especially early in your career and that’ll give them the knowledge and the confidence to their job and be efficient and effective. You need to give them the proper equipment so they can do their job properly and be efficient and effective. Supervision is important in that too because supervision is what guides them to make sure they’re maintaining their policies and procedures and doing things operationally correct.”

Early voting

Early voting begins for the March 3 primaries on Tuesday, Feb. 18 and stretches through Feb. 28.