2014 Primary: Ken Cope, US Senate

In the race for U.S. Senator from Texas, voters have many good choices and do not have to settle for the incumbent, Sen. John Cornyn. One of those choices is Ken Cope. I had an opportunity to meet Ken and talk about the race.

Ken was raised in California but as the saying goes, got to Texas as soon as he could. He has been married 39 years to his wife Marie. They have three children and five grandchildren. Ken entered the US Army as a private and left as a Lt. Colonel, an impressive achievement on any level. He has an undergraduate degree in accounting from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and a MBA from the University of Dallas. After his career in the Army he worked for several aerospace companies, including Northrop Grumman.

When talking to Ken, you realize two things real quick: (1) he doesn’t care much for the way Sen. John Cornyn goes about the job and (2) he has no shortage of ideas about how to do the job better.

His central complaint about Big John is one that I share – Cornyn’s utter lack of leadership. Ken reminded me that Cornyn is the ranking member on the Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee and yet you’d have to waterboard the guy to get him to talk about immigration. Ken told me that Cornyn runs away from solutions on immigration and talked about his own four point plan for the border.

1. Secure the border with a fence, to be built in one year using the Army Corp of Engineers and stretching from sea to shining sea. (The 1,700 mile ALCAN Highway was built in 8 months).  Also included with be:
   • High tech surveillance, including tunnel and seismic technology
   • A highly mobile Border Patrol with air assets and drug sniffing dogs in abundance  (Less than required to support today’s ineffective approach).
   • At the Governor’s discretion, National Guard units in training, on stand-by, and as active support units, and providing logistics and infrastructure.
   • Law enforcement agencies will start recording Hispanic crime and illegal alien crime which is does not today.
2. Overhaul the immigration entrance system by:
   • Lowering fees to a reasonable and affordable level
   • Simplifying and accelerating the process (Cross balancing existing resources will place more staff on this activity.)
   • Issuing provisional Social Security cards
   • Offering illegal aliens an opportunity to become documented workers who pay taxes
   • Limiting the number of immigrants overall, denying anyone with a criminal record and anyone previously deported
3.  Illegal aliens who do not come forward within 6 months of the passage of this law risk deportation upon detection.
4. All incarcerated illegal alien convicts will be deported when the border fence is complete as will all illegal aliens with prior convictions. (very significant crime reduction and cost savings)

He describes Sen. Cornyn as a “seat warmer” who is afraid to get in front of issues. He talked about Cornyn’s lack of support for Second Amendment rights, saying Cornyn was disconnected from Texas. He also noted that Cornyn is unwilling to fight, using the Ted Cruz filibuster as an example, and saying that Cornyn has a habit of capitulating before he even reaches the negotiating table. I couldn’t agree more on that point.

Ken also has his own “Contract with Texas“:

Two-Term Limit. After successfully serving as your Senator for my first term and winning Texans’ support into a second term in 2020, I would not seek a third term. I will not become a career politician. The framers of our Constitution did not want career politicians, and neither do I. Also, I urge other candidates, in Texas and across America, to voluntarily term-limit themselves as I am doing.

Restricted Campaign Donations. If elected, I will accept no second term campaign donations until 18 months before the election, or May 2019. Our Senators and Representatives devote far too much energy to building huge campaign coffers at the expense of service to their constituents. My pledge gives me four and a half years to focus only on providing responsive, attentive representation to the people of Texas.

We’ve Reached Our Debt Limit. I will support no further increases in our debt limit. We need to spend less, not borrow more, and my vote on further debt limit increases will be a NO in every case.

Obamacare Must Go. I will vote against any measure that funds the Affordable Care Act or preserves it in any way. I will work with Republicans and Democrats to put forth a workable, market-based alternative by July 2015.

Read First, Then Vote. I will not vote for any piece of legislation unless I have first read it and understand it. No Senator or Representative should ever be “surprised” at what was in legislation they voted for.

My overall impression of Mr. Cope was very good. He is well educated, has international business experience, obviously had an outstanding career in the Army, and is a fountain of practical solutions for the job. You would do well to take a good, hard look at him when you are making your choice for who to vote for in this race. There are many candidates that would represent Texas better than the incumbent and Mr. Cope is definitely one of them.

Website: CopeTexas.com

Facebook: CopeTexas