Houston City Elections - Early Voting Underway - Michael Kubosh Discusses Transparency in Government

Monday night brought a record turnout for Houston City Elections Early Voting, much from traditional Democrat parts of Houston. Time to crank up the GOTV effort Precinct Chairs! As early voting was about to begin, I sat down again with City Council At Large Position #3 Candidate, Michael Kubosh to discuss transparency in government. As you can imagine, after his dealings with the City of Houston on the Red Light Camera issue, this is an issue he is very passionate about as you will see in the interview below.

Early voting runs through Friday and election day is Tuesday, November 5th. Besides the city elections, there are also bond issues and the Texas Constitutional Amendments. It is time to keep Houston and Texas red!  Lets turn out the vote.

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TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW:

Bob Price: Well we’re a week away from the early voting of the Houston city elections. We’re going to select a new mayor, controller, and city councilman member. We’re following up one more time with city council candidate for at large position number three, Michael Kubosh. Michael, welcome back to Texas GOP Vote.
 
Michael Kubosh: Thank you, it’s good to be here today.
 
Bob Price: This election, early voting starts on Monday and it’s going to run through the end of the month and then the election is right after that. Typically what kind of voter turnout do we get in city elections?
 
Michael Kubosh: Somewhere between eight and about twelve percent so that means it averages about ten percent of the people that are registered to vote. Every citizen that casts a vote is really casting ten votes when you look at it. When they diminish the vote, those who do vote have a much stronger voice. It’s like a ten to one multiplier. How important it is to get out to vote because it’s going to change the direction of your city. Please get out and vote this October the 21st through November the 1st. Early vote and then on November the fifth, is the election day.
 
Bob Price: Now when you say change the course of the city, the city is a running in kind of the wrong direction financially. We’ve talked with controller candidate Bill Frazer about that at length. I think it’s important that we get our council in a solid position to be able to stand up to the mayor and stop some of this frivolous spending and get our pension plan under control. Not only those issues but the drainage fee tax, where the money is spent in the wrong direction, we’re not getting in the money that we were promised, how would you on the city council go about working with the mayor on these issues?
 
Michael Kubosh: One of the things that I’ve told people in this election cycle is that I have absolutely no experience in city government, and by that I mean I have no experience in telling people one thing, Bob, and doing something else. I see that this money being spent on Prop One years ago, we call it the rain tax, but the money is being used to pay salaries instead of doing actually what it’s supposed to do and that’s to repair roads, and sewers and drainage fees. We have to hold this government accountable and as a city councilman, that’s we have to do. It’s more than just saying no on a vote. It’s getting the word out to people about what’s really going on. We have to sound the alarm. Until a city council member is able to do that and to shine a light on what’s really going on, the people won’t know. If you’re just voting no, it’s just not enough. You have to be proactive. You’ve got to do something. You’ve got to get the word out. Every city council meeting, Bob, I’ve told the people over and over, when you come to city hall, you won’t see me coming in late behind the horseshoe, I’m going to be standing at those double doors. When you get off that elevator, you’ll see me and my staff. I’m going to be shaking your hand, finding out why your there, what are your needs, what are the issues you have, why are you taking your time out of your day to come to the city council?  I’m going to be concerned about it. I’m going to stand up for you. I’m going to do everything I can do to help you because that’s what I do.
 
Bob Price: Now why do you want this position? What is it about this city that really drives you to really want to be in this position?
 
Michael Kubosh: I’ve got sixteen grandkids. I’ve got five children. I’m concerned about the direction this city is going. I’ve got a lot of property about this city. I’m concerned about the wealth and the welfare of this city. I don’t want to see a school bankrupt. I don’t want to see a school broke. I don’t want to see crime rates go up. It seems like every day that somebody is either getting shot at Denny’s or the Subway sandwich place. It just seems scary, Bob, that when we go out to a restaurant, we’ve got to worry about being victimized by a criminal. We’ve got to do something to protect our citizens. The number one function of government is to protect its citizens. Not just from criminals but also from those people that promote these bonds, these schemes where they want you to vote on a big bond and you don’t ever know what the money actually went for. We’ve got to change this. We’ve got to get some transparency in our government, and it’s going to take an outsider like me to get on the inside so that’s what I’ve been telling people. I’m an outsider, put me on the inside. I’ll show you what’s really going down there at city hall.
 
Bob Price: Now you’ve been talking to people all across the political spectrum in this political campaign. You’ve met with Republican clubs across town. You’ve met with union groups across town. What’s the reaction like when you’re speaking to these people?
 
Michael Kubosh: I’m well received because the people are the same throughout the city when it comes to city politics. It’s a nonpartisan race. They’re concerned about their roads, sidewalks, sewers, police protection. Doesn’t matter if you’re a democrat or republican, you don’t want to be held up and robbed in a Denny’s. People resonate with that. We’ve got to do something to beef up our police department. Right now, we have a hundred and fifty less police officers than what we had fifteen or twenty years ago. It’s scary but we’ve got to do something to solve these crimes. We’ve got to also do something about these young people that don’t have a job because if my grandson isn’t working, then he’s stealing. He’s either stealing from me because he’s not doing anything, or he’s out there stealing from somebody in the public. If we get people job, and people are making a good living, they’re not nearly as likely to commit a crime.
 
Bob Price: Early voting starts Monday. We want to get everybody out there to the vote. Don’t forget to bring your photo ID with you because this is the first election in Texas history where we’re actually requiring you to prove that you are who you say you are when you’re getting ready to cast your vote. Michael, thank you for taking the time to explain the issues over these past few weeks to voters at Texas GOP Vote and good luck in your election this next couple of weeks.
 
Michael Kubosh: Bob, I’m looking forward to serving the people.