San Marcan seeks petition to run in primary for Texas Railroad Commissioner

San Marcos community member Kelly Stone has announced that she is seeking to run for Railroad Commissioner in 2020.

According to a press release, Stone filed a campaign treasurer with the Texas Ethics Commission, and is seeking petition signatures in lieu of fees for the 2020 Democratic Primary for Texas Railroad Commissioner.

Stone was the eighth woman to finish the Texas Water Safari alone in a C1 boat, according to a press release. Stone, a former lecturer at Texas State and single mother of three, is petitioning “in order to bring education and resistance to the lack of transparency in the state’s oil, gas, and pipeline regulating body.

“The commission doesn’t regulate the railroads, and Stone wishes to advocate for a name change, along with fighting for environmental protections and the rights of land-owners against corporate eminent-domain,” states a press release. “As the controversial Kinder-Morgan pipeline is trying to make its way through Central Texas, where she calls home, Stone is taking her progressive teaching agenda to a larger classroom: the entire State of Texas.”

According to the Secretary of State’s website, 5,000 signatures are necessary for a statewide office, such as Railroad Commissioner, if an individual desires a petition in lieu of filing fees, which would cost $3,750.

“In seeking petition signatures, I want to bring a more democratic approach to representing people and the planet rather than the desires of Big Oil,” Stone said in a statement.

“Team K Stone 2020 is in development, preparing a waste-conscious campaign for the 2020 election cycle, and the team is collecting signatures, donations from individual contributors, and rallying enthusiastic volunteers to prepare a robust campaign, setting plans in motion to conduct the first full-fledged whistle stop train tour in Texas since 1948,” stated a press release.

The Texas Railroad Commission is made up of three members who serve 6-year terms.