East Texas

By KELLY GOOCH and ROY MAYNARD
Staff Writers

Republican Brian Walker is running for District 11 state representative and is challenging Democratic incumbent Chuck Hopson for the job.

Walker ran for state representative in 2006 and made it to a runoff with Larry Durrett.

According to the resume on his Web site, he received a doctorate of jurisprudence in December 2003 from the University of Houston Law Center and a Bachelor of Science in resource and environmental studies from Southwest Texas State University in August 2000.

Walker lives in Tatum and has a law office in Longview.

He came to the Tyler Paper office Oct. 10 and discussed topics such as illegal immigration and education.

But first he told the Tyler Paper a little bit about his background.

Walker said that he did not grow up in a political family and discussed a time when he drove by the state capital and ended up meeting Bob Bullock.

Bullock discussed the possibility of Walker getting a job and Bullock told him to come by at a later date, he said.

Eventually, Walker said he got a job as a Senate messenger.

Walker also talked about his time as an assistant district attorney in Harrison County and his time as an assistant sergeant-at-arms for the Texas State Senate.

"I love Texas. Texas is the best state in the best country in the world to me," he said during opening statements he made.

However, Walker said he would like to see the status quo change.

"I think many of our politicians are duplicitous," he said. "We are in a period in American life when things are bleak, and could get a lot worse if we don't have people with tenacity and vision."

Walker later talked about specific issues.

Walker: Illegal immigrants will continue to pour over our borders; gas prices will re-escalate. There are so many problems that need to be addressed and we need people with backbone to address them. We need leaders in Austin. So many get elected and then just do the minimum. That means sometimes you're not there to make friends in Austin; you're there to represent the people in your district. The No. 1 issue to people of House District 11 is illegal immigration. I don't poll test to figure out my issues. Two years ago I was talking about illegal immigration before a lot of the pundits were talking about it.

Walker then said that the issue of why illegal immigrants are in Texas has to be addressed .

"Ultimately, you have to nip it in the bud at its source," he said.

The answer to the question of why illegal immigrants are coming to Texas, Walker said, is because of the economic opportunity that awaits them here.

He also said that he believes employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants should be penalized.

Walker then discussed water.

"That definitely is a county-by-county issue," he said.

Walker: As a state representative I'm not going to impose my will on a county. I can tell them where I stand philosophically. I almost also prefer to keep government small. But if they want to create water districts, that's fine. The macro issue is that you have urban areas who say they need water, and rural areas like East Texas who are blessed with water. Will the urban areas get their hands on it? Ultimately, the Legislature has power over water allocation. We hear that big cities have more votes, but I'm not sure I agree with that. You have some legislators who are more effective than others. We can coalesce through our rural caucuses and fight the cities.

If big cities do get water from East Texas, Walker said he wants to make sure it is at a fair market value.

Walker then discussed the issue of the margins tax and said he is not happy with how it is working.

He said he is in favor of a simplified sales tax and would like to get rid of property taxes and business taxes.

Walker: I would like to see us to run solely on a flat sales tax. If we went up 4 cents on the dollar, we could get rid of property taxes and get rid of business taxes and we would have more money coming into the coffers to pay for public education.

"It discourages investment. It discourages enterprise," he said of business taxes. "Everyone is penalized when we increase business taxes."

Walker: I believe in Texas, our tax climate penalizes success. We penalize people who own businesses and people who own property. ... I would like to work on raising the exemption. I would like to see the $300,000 ceiling moved up to $1 million.

He said that he believes there is a loss of production in businesses because of the time they take to follow the law by doing things such as putting receipts aside.

Walker: My opponent claims I support a 34-percent sales tax. I have never said that.

The District 11 candidate also talked about appraisal caps and said he would support a 5 percent cap.

The Tyler Paper then asked Walker about issues facing constituents in District 11.

He said the national average income is higher than the average income for the people living in the district.

Although that is an issue people are concerned about, Walker said it is not the No. 1 issue he hears about when he talks to people.

Walker: One of the duties of a legislator is helping to attract and create jobs. We have many great energy resources, natural resources, lakes, outdoor recreation activities. We have plenty of things that should attract industry to this area.

The candidate then addressed public education, and said that taxpayers in school districts should be getting the most out of what they're paying for.

"I think we need a revolving budgetary system," Walker said.

He also said he is in favor of 75 percent of tax dollars going into the classroom and that no more than 25 percent of tax dollars should be spent at the administrative level.

Walker: I'm running for state representative because I believe we have a lot of work to do in the state of Texas. Things are insane these days. We have millions of illegal aliens pouring into our country. Forty percent of our public school graduates need to take remedial education. ... We need a state representative who is willing to fight to bring more jobs into the district, willing to fight for the people. Right now we have one who is like many who get elected. It seems like he cares more about his buddies in Austin than the interests of his constituents.

He also said he would stand up for what he believes is right.