Skyrocketing taxes are a concern for millions of Americans today. With property taxes seemingly increasing in Texas every year, as well as across the United States, Texans have been seeking relief while local governments have continually ignored citizens.

In 2017, 2018, and 2019, the Amarillo City Council was among the taxing entities in Texas to approve tax increases, effective or otherwise. In 2017, the Amarillo City Council voted to approve an 8.33 percent tax increase for Amarillo residents and in 2018, the Council approved a 1.8 percent tax increase. There was also a tax increase passed earlier this year.

With the impacts of all these tax increases and the inability or lack of interest on the part of local entities to provide tax relief, you would think that voters would be interested in holding their elected officials accountable for their tax increasing records at the ballot box. One local elected official should be hoping that doesn’t happen as she eyes a climb toward higher office.

Enter Elaine Hays, the Place 1 member on the Amarillo City Council, who is now projecting herself as “fiscal conservative” running to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon), who is leaving office after 25 years of service. Hays’ website shows she hits all of the buzzwords needed to win a Republican primary, including “liberty,” “term limits,” “balanced budget,” and “conservative values.” She has even gone as far as to sign the Americans for Tax Reform’s pledge to “oppose any and all tax increases”, if elected to Congress.

While Hays projects herself as a conservative fighter, her record is one that more represents an establishment checklist than it does a profile in courage.

On taxes, her record is not one for those looking for a candidate who can make Washington live within its means. Of the three tax increases that have come before the Amarillo City Council since Hays first took office, she voted for two of the proposals. The only time she voted against a tax increase just happened to come weeks before she would declare her exploratory committee for Thornberry’s seat.

However, her record of whiffs on issues isn’t just confined to taxes.

On liberty, her record does not represent one of a candidate who can prioritize liberty in the Capitol. Her votes on adding red light cameras to the streets and her lack of action or dissension as Mayor Ginger Nelson and the City Council cracked down on public freedoms at Council meetings should show this to be a fact.

On limited government, her record also does not reflect what she preaches. She voted for a budget in 2017 that cut funds for certain first responders while giving the city manager’s office a major budgetary increase. It is this writer’s opinion that her record shows a tendency to support increasing bureaucracy and the power of bureaucrats more so than it does placing liberties back in the hands of citizens.

The list goes on and on.

Simply put, it is this writer’s opinion that Elaine Hays’ record does not represent the kind of candidacy that she is presenting to the voters of the 13th District of Texas. She is willing to sign a pledge to not increase taxes today, but what happens when she gets to Washington? Will the pressure of the establishment inside the Beltway be enough to make her change her mind? She obviously didn’t have a problem voting to increase taxes at City Hall twice. At best, let’s just say that her record isn’t promising.

If local voters cannot trust Hays to be honest about her tax increasing record, how can we trust her to uphold her campaign promises when she gets to Washington?

The best thing Amarillo voters can do is reject Elaine Hays’ tax-increasing record in the March 2020 Republican primary for the 13th Congressional District seat. Then, Amarillo voters should strongly consider voting her out of office completely in 2021.

Politicians should be held accountable for their voting records and should have to answer to voters, whether at a town hall or at the ballot box. Voters should not give Hays or any other candidate a pass on their records just because they hit the buzzwords.

This district will be selecting our first new representative since 1995 and only the fifteenth person to hold the seat since its creation in 1893. This election is too important to waste our votes on slogans and promises over true records.

Vote wisely, Amarillo.

-Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief