Mike Schofield
Experience: Three terms as our state representative; 11 years before that as a policy advisor and assistant general counsel to Gov. Rick Perry
Occupation: state representative; attorney
www.mikeschofield.com
Erik Le
Occupation: business owner
www.eriklefortexas132.com
Why are you running to represent House District 132?
MS: We have a unique community. Even by fast-growing Texas standards, our area is exploding in both population and potential. We need to make sure our state government provides the infrastructure needed to help manage our growth, then gets out of the way, so Texans can use our ideas and hard work to build our future. As your representative, I will continue to fight for individual freedom, to secure our borders, finance our schools and reign in property taxes.
EL: I wanted to represent District 132 with the true Conservative American Value to show America that Texas is the most diverse and has been great land of opportunity for a minority like me.
What are the most important issues facing residents in your district, and how would you address them if elected?
MS: As I speak to voters in our district, I have found that the three issues they are most concerned about are securing our border, preventing property taxes from continuing to spiral out of control, and funding our public schools. Real solutions will come from Texas, not Washington. As your representative, I will continue to prioritize these issues, including my bills to automatically increase your homestead exemption as property values rise and freezing seniors' property taxes.
EL: The most important issue facing residents in my district is education, safety, and healthcare. Education is one of my top priorities. Building a strong education foundation for our young generation is investing in the future of this nation. I would eliminate all nonsense and political curriculums. Instead, we should focus on science, facts-based to bring back our superior education systems to our children. I would advocate for the legislature to increase more funding for police as well as for training to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the communities that they serve. Health care is an essential part of our life, I believe in a patient-centered health care system, which is based on free markets,to create competition and innovation to drive health care costs down.
What should the state government's role be in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and helping communities recover?
MS: Texas needs to protect employees and small-business owners in our community from government-imposed rules that put their jobs and their businesses at risk, whether related to COVID-19 or anything else. As the pandemic winds down, Texas will be in a strong position to recover our economic strength for the same reason we have such a good economy in the first place—the ingenuity and hard work of individual Texans.
EL: The state government should play a significant role in creating a coherent, scientific and data-driven policy with people's health as the top priority to mitigate the risk of transmission and protect the at-risk group from hospitalization and severe illnesses. From my observation, health policy, health officials have been increasingly becoming political and disregard the scientific norm and regulation in order to please their political ideology than truly care about the wellness of society.
How might you prevent future flooding in the district?
MS: The original plan for flood control in our area called for a "third reservoir" along Cypress Creek, mostly in land now owned by the Katy Prairie Conservancy. Planned in the 1940s, but never built, it would protect thousands of homes in our area. We need to pursue this plan, which could protect your home without taking any private property, as well as coordinated flood-control plans that take into account all of the current and planned growth.
EL: Flooding has been an issue for Houston and greater areas, there are different mitigation measures that we could take to tackle the flooding such as cache basin, using natural waterways to slow and hold floodwaters, decrease runoff.
What are your top priorities regarding voting rights and fair elections?
MS: We need to ensure that not only does every voter have access to the ballot box, but that their vote actually counts. This includes ensuring that every person who casts a vote is who they say they are and that they are eligible to vote. We need to protect our Voter ID law and current Texas laws preventing mass "ballot harvesting" of illegal ballots, and pass my bill preventing Congress from taking over Texas elections.
EL: During the 2020 election, we broke the record of voter turnout. Voting in Texas is fairly easy and secure. We do have abundantly of voting locations within 15 mins of drive and about 2 and half weeks for early voting. I think voting integrity is very important because it ensures every legal count and every illegal vote got rejected. If the legal vote got diluted and canceled by illegal vote, it's voter suppression.
