State Rep runoff comes to an end, early voting begins

As the runoff election for State Representative for District 115 -- covering Carrollton, Coppell and parts of Dallas -- comes to a close, candidates Bennett Ratliff of Coppell and Steve Nguyen of North Irving take one final stand.

Early voting has already begun for the runoff election and the final voting day will be held July 31. The politically charged atmosphere in the nation has provided plenty of fodder for both candidates, but the largest issues stay close to home.

Education:

Bennett Ratliff has experience in this realm as a nine-year school board member for Coppell ISD. His wife is an educator and his children went through the city's public school system and graduated from Coppell High School. Financial woes are the toughest issues facing districts throughout the state, Ratliff said, coupled with the view that schools are, to some degree, losing control over curriculum.

"Right now public school finance is in the courts again for the sixth time in 20 years," he said. "The reason it keeps going to court is because the school finance system -- and the way it is funded -- is broken. They have taken control away from local school districts and their boards. Local school boards do not have control of their taxes anymore. They don't have discretionary control of their spending anymore, and to some point, they do not have control over their curriculum anymore because it's been taken over by the state."

Ratliff said the federal government has been trying to design a one-size-fits-all solution for every child in the state.

"It's not possible," he said. "We have a very diverse state -- we need to recognize that and trust our local school boards and local school districts to do a good job and be able to customize that they need for their local kids, local needs and local economy."

Nguyen also has a history of working with school districts as a volunteer for Dallas and Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISDs.

"As a father of two young children, I want them, their peers and future generations to receive the highest quality education," he said.

The state government has taken too much control over not only the funding of public schools but also what's being taught in the classroom, Nguyen said.

"We need to eliminate unfunded state mandates on our schools and put an end to the unfair Robin Hood scheme, which was never intended to be a long-term funding solution. Further, I support more local control, so that local parents, teachers and principals can make the decisions that affect our children's education."

Immigration:

Ratliff said illegal immigration is a supply and demand issue.

"I am a free market guy and I believe that as long as there is a demand for undocumented workers, there will be a supply," he said. "We have got to deal with the issue at the demand side, which is why I have been for taking a harder look at our E-Verify system. We need to look at the way people present their documentation, get their documentation and make sure that their documentation is verified by employers. If we can address it at the workplace we will solve it on the demand side. I think that is the best way to deal with it."

Taking a closer look at how police departments handle illegal immigrants is also on Ratliff's radar.

"We routinely run people's criminal backgrounds, why shouldn't we run their immigration status?" he asked. "If they are not a citizen we need to turn them over to the proper authorities. We need to deal with them on a criminal level first, but if they are indeed here illegally then we need to turn them over to the proper federal employees and hope they do their job. That's an issue at the federal level that needs to be dealt with by our congressmen."

As an immigrant himself, Nguyen has a keen understanding on the importance of entering the country legally.

"We came here when I was 7-and-a-half," he said. "We came, in my opinion, the right way -- legally. We went through the process to become citizens. Oct. 5, 1983, is when my parents and I became citizens, and those were special times for us. I'm certainly for legal immigration, but things need to be done the right way and according to the rule of law. The way we should probably address this, I believe, is to do what I do at my office and verify [workers are U.S. citizens]."

Business owners, Nguyen said, should think about costs associated with hiring illegal immigrants.

"A lot of us know immigrants come here for work reasons, and there would be some people who would try and take advantage of that," he said. "I understand that it is asking business owners to do something, but the amount you invest in [E-Verify] is not very much. In general, I don't like any mandates on business owners, but I think the cost you would invest in this ... the amount of savings you would have [in regards to] illegal immigration would be a plus."

Nguyen also said that he would like to see an amendment to the state's constitution declaring English as the state's official language.

"I think that English should be our national language," he said. "I think it gives more identification when you have a national language. I think it's the language we should be doing state business in -- not to say that you have to ban any other language at all, but when you conduct state business, we should [use] one language. I think that for state business, English should be the language we use."

Health care:

Most Republicans are turning their noses up at the thought of Obamacare, calling the recently passed health care reform "over-reaching." Both candidates agree with that sentiment and are happy to face the challenge of health care in the state.

Ratliff said Medicare fraud, defensive practicing by doctors and the plethora of opportunists abusing health care programs are at fault but that state politicians can find a cure.

"We have got to get doctors back to practicing the medicine that they need to be practicing as opposed to being worried that they have an attorney looking over their shoulder," he said. "I think there are a lot of fraud issues that are driving our costs up and a lot of opportunists out there that are taking advantage of the system and billing for things they do not need to be billing for. We need to be policing that. I think we can provide the same level of health care at a lower level [of cost] if we do so with a more controlled environment and more efficiently. I am very opposed to the federal government telling us how to do that in Texas. We are pretty smart in Texas, and I think we can develop a system that is right for Texas."

Nguyen said Obamacare is a bad thing for both the state and the country for several reasons.

"First and foremost, it's overreaching to have the federal government be able to dictate to the state and private individuals what they have to have whether they want it or not ... also, it doesn't really do anything to address the cost of health care," he said. "I understand the need to have adequate health care insurance and coverage, however, we can't take a system that's not working very well and continue to increase and shove more patients into it."

The costly program, Nguyen said, will raise taxes and fees on individuals and business owners.

"Even after all the taxes that will be raised and fees assessed on individuals and business owners [are taken into account], it's still going to be about a trillion dollars short according to the last report I saw," he said. "We're doing something that doesn't help and is overreaching, but beyond that there's not a way to pay for it even after increasing taxes. That's more deficit spending again."

Residents can vote at Josey Ranch Library located at 1700 Keller Springs Road in Carrollton, or at Valley Ranch Library, located at 401 Cimarron Trail, Irving.

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