The race to replace retiring Rep. John Davis is of particular interest to me because I live in Texas House District 129. I had the opportunity to sit down with Jeff Larson and discuss his candidacy for the district.

 

Background

Jeff grew up in Ohio, where he met his wife Janette. The couple has been married 30 years and have one daughter, Jenny, who is a junior at the University of Houston. After graduating from Youngstown State University, Jeff landed a job at NASA and moved to Heritage Park in Friendswood. He earned a Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Houston.

Professional Life

Jeff worked at NASA for three different contractors in Mission Control for a total of 25 years. He could see the writing on the wall as the shuttle program was winding down, so he and several co-workers formed their own company focusing on the commercial aerospace industry. The company specializes in the technical aspects of putting space commercialization.

Political Experience

After living in an area of Ohio that did not have enough interest in Republican politics to even hold a primary, Jeff found a blank line under “Precinct Chair” when he voted in his first Republican primary in Harris County. So he wrote his name in, someone from the HCRP called and told him the job was his, and he has been a precinct chair for most of the 28 years since. His reason for participating in politics is to leave the place better than he found it. He became very active in 2008 after attending a Ron Paul rally and has been a board member and now Chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas.

Issues

Jeff told me that he wants to apply a consistent philosophy to state policy, which can be summarized by saying that growth is caused by economic freedom. He is no fan of the recent use of the Rainy Day Fund, saying that the legislature should have reallocated current revenue to address priorities vs. dipping into the RDF or raising revenue.

The single biggest issue facing the nation, state, and district is Obamacare and the burden that it will put on taxpayers. He wants to push back against federal encroachment in all areas. He also wants to get the state out of the business of crony capitalism, using his philosophy of economic freedom and competition.  He mentioned the shortfall in the Teacher Retirement System and asked why are we talking about Arts funding when basic responsibilities aren’t being met?

Jeff breaks the district into three different areas. Clear Lake as a bedroom community, and Sagemont and Pasadena as blue collar areas. He bemoans the sky high combined debt of the various governmental bodies in the district, especially the school districts. Texas needs to revamp school funding without breaking the bank and can do it by focusing on many small pieces, attacking them one by one. He is no fan of the Robin Hood funding system and thinks that we need a set of standard expectations across the board, defining what a proper education is, and then funding it. Anything beyond this standard can be funded separately by local communities.

As the district becomes less dependent upon NASA, he wants to focus on attracting the bio technology industry and healthcare segments to increase jobs. He told me that his opponents focus too much on the activity at the Port and blue collar jobs and we need to leverage the technical infrastructure already in place in the district.

Jeff’s biggest priority is to make Texas number one in economic freedom – he said that we are currently in the top five but we need to strive to be number one. Freedom plus cheap energy equals prosperity.

Contact Information

Website: TexansForJeff.com

Facebook: TexansForJeff

UPDATE 2/24/14

Jeff Larson noted this in a comment and I wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to see it because not everyone reads comments.

David, I think you nailed about 98{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of my positions here. There is one little nuance that may not have come out in my interview. I would say that some of my opponents focus too much on the Port as the source of blue collar jobs in the community. There is a lot of other industry and sources for those jobs here in the district, much of which relies on the Port, but very importantly is not constrained by the Port for further growth. My apologies if that didn’t come out in the interview.

You may have had to edit for space considerations, but I’m pretty sure I mentioned my big support for vocational training in the schools. We need to take care of our top students who are going on to college, but we need to take care of the students who are headed down other paths in life, too. Pretending that everyone is going to Harvard, or even just going to Texans A&M, doesn’t serve either the students who are going on to academia or those who aren’t.

Thanks for the interview! There is more diversity of thought on the Republican side in 129 than appears at first glance.