On Tuesday, January 9, State Representative for House District 88 candidate, Karen Post, kicked off her campaign in Gray County by holding her first forum at the Pampa Senior Citizens Center.
Karen Post was born in Fort Benning, Georgia, moving to Texas nine years ago when her husband of 47 years retired from Master Sargaent of the Army and decided to move closer to their children and grandchildren.
Post currently resides in Hale County, TX, the heart of District 88 with 18 other counties making up the district, including Gray County.
Questions that were asked are as follows:
“If you wind up in Austin in District 88, what would your goals be?”
Eighty-eight is my priority. I used to be the Hale County Republican Chair and in the process of trying to have some issues in Hale County discussed with our State Representative, I was having difficulty reaching him. A few in the district wanted to know if this was consistent or not compared to some others and that made me think why we need to look at another possible representative and be able to get a better investment from our state representative because talking to different voters in different counties and from different county chairs, they want more investment than what we’re getting. So I decided after much encouragement from some chairs and some of the voters, I chose to run.
“Those who are moving to Texas and companies that are being established here from out of state, what would you like to see to keep that momentum going?”
Well, I’d have to have understanding of where the economic boom is effecting and where it might need to be improved in other areas so it could be more balanced. Our rural areas out here could use some encouragement and increase in boom. We know that North Texas has been growing considerably. I would like to see a good broad variety of industries come in.
It’s just finding what would work for our state. But one of my biggest priorities is our agriculture area and District 88 is huge in agriculture. In fact, the section that deals with cotton in District 88 is called the ‘Nation’s Cotton Patch’ and it is. It grows more cotton than anywhere in the United States, so agriculture is going to be one of my goals. And being able to expand that would be a big boom for our state also.
“Do you think that legislative body in Austin has shown preferential treatment to other areas of the state over the Panhandle?”
The best way I can say that is when legislative has made up past bills that effects the state, our more local governments have been suffering from mandates without funding. That’s been a concern I’ve been informed of time and time again.
Local government is being asked to do different regulations without additional funding coming to help. Our taxpayers are given that burden to fulfill that need on what it costs to fulfill that new law. And so it could be said that yes, some of our big cities are getting laws that are helping but it doesn’t take into consideration our rural area which include HD 88. We have energy as another source ranging from wind and solar, oil and gas and nuclear that we deal with in this district.
“Are there any issues or concerns that you would like to address or see improved in Texas?”
First my priority is House District 88, all 19 counties. That is where I feel that each state representative needs to focus on the residents of their district that have voted them in and keep an open and transparent communication between the two as best as anybody can.
My concerns for HD would be that we can get more economic improvement because there are areas that need help, they’re struggling. I’ve seen one county where they said that when one business closes, another won’t replace it. And there’s several counties in our district that’s like that. We need to find what works in each county and give them that support. Because I really love this area of Texas.
Karen Post was also inquired about her opinion on the proposed projects from Intersect Power in Gray County and the concerns of the citizens that would be directly effected.
Although she said she did not have enough information to make an opinion on the matter, she sympathizes with the judge and commissioners who do have to make the decision.
Early voting will be February 20 through March 1 and general election day will be March 5. Residents of Gray County who would like to vote can do so by going to the Gray County Courthouse located at 205 N. Russell in Pampa, TX in Room 104 on the first floor.
