|
The Candidate
Dave Nalle is a small business owner who lives in Manor.
He is running for the Texas House of
Representatives for District 46, which covers part of east Austin and
a large section of eastern Travis County. His campaign will focus on the
application of libertarian principles of fair and equitable
government to issues of state and local concern.
The District
District 46 is the part of Travis
County east of IH35, south of Highway 290 and north of the
Colorado River, plus a spur that runs up into Pflugerville to include
the incumbent's house. It's an area of enormous diversity, including
struggling ethnic neighborhoods of northeast Austin, middle-income
urban neighborhoods like University Hills, more affluent
neighborhoods in the Hornsby Bend area, major industrial presences
like AMD and Tracor, several small towns like Manor and Webberville,
large ranches, small family farms and a variety of small and
medium-sized businesses. It is one of the areas around Austin where
urban expansion hasn't yet made an indelible mark, but where the
signs of coming growth are more and more apparent.
The Campaign
As a resident of eastern Travis County, I see the City of Austin and
its government as the primary threat to the rights and welfare of my
neighbors, both those who live in the city and in surrounding areas.
Austin faces genuine problems with uncontrolled growth and its government has
created new problems with half-baked schemes to engineer growth to
benefit particular interest groups or serve unproven ideas of urban
planning. The net result of this is that the city has taken to
exporting its problems to surrounding areas. The relatively wealthy
and powerful areas to the west of the city have proven they have the
clout and the resources to resist the city's
encroachment, though they haven't won every battle. The less
populous and less organized areas east of the city have fewer
resources and less ability to defend themselves. The city government
is aware of this and is now exporting its problems to that relatively
defenseless region -- ours.
Got too much sewage? Seize part of an organic farm to build a sewage
treatment plant. Need a new prison? Put it in an east Austin
neighborhood. Too much traffic on IH-35? Seize family farms, destroy
neighborhoods and build a speculative highway east of the
city.
In the face of these attacks we need someone to champion all of our
interests, not someone who represents just a small part of this
district and works hand-in-hand with city government. That's the
role I want to play. The city dominates county government, but the
state legislature has the power and autonomy to stand against local
power groups which are out of control. That's where this
fight can be won.
| 
