By Jason Foglesong, Republican candidate for U.S. House

In the United States, we are blessed with the right to speak our minds, worship as we please, keep and bear arms, and much more. One of our rights (and duties) as citizens is to vote for people who we believe will best represent us in government. This is true at all levels...and if you don’t participate, you really ought to start.

One of the most important questions a voter can ask is “Why?” If the “why” is not clear, then ask “who benefits?”

There has been plenty of writing done on all of the ways Amarillo is being managed poorly, and the absolute lack of responsibility and conservative values to be had in our City government, although at least two of the members profess to be Republican. Why is there a special election being held in May (at a cost of $230,000), looking to soak taxpayers for nearly $300 million? (Hint: city officials benefit from this via low voter turnout).

Why was the new civic center not made a priority five or even ten years ago, instead of now as we look at losing the AQHA and maybe the WRCA Rodeo?

Why is the city trying to buy downtown properties, and who stands to profit from this? I seem to remember asking similar questions about downtown properties back when Debra McCartt was our mayor.

Why is the city council holding meetings at 1pm on a Tuesday? (Hint #2: because people who care enough to ask hard questions are all at work).

Why is it that we have to sift through hundreds of PDF files to find out what actually goes on at those meetings?

Where is the transparency in government that keeps our officials accountable to the citizens?

Why is one of our Congressional candidates - who claims to be a conservative Republican - able to make that claim with a voting record of increasing taxes for the past several years, and adding more red light cameras? By the way, Gov. Abbott outlawed those. So then we can ask - why are our city officials wasting taxpayer dollars attempting to collect on tickets generated illegally?

Why is our mayor saying “maybe” to taking in refugees when our governor clearly said “no”? See the NYT for details.

Why are there individuals coming to our district from outside - knowing nothing of our needs and values - and trying to buy OUR Congressional seat?

Who conducted a poll recently, with only five of the fifteen names available to voters to choose from? That’s incredibly dishonest.

It’s becoming clear to me and many others that some of our Congressional candidates are not at all who they claim to be. It’s very important, voters, to do your research. Ask questions - find out what they’re hiding or what their actual voting record is. How many of these people are the truly inspiring visionary they want you to believe them to be? Are they even members of the Republican party? Partisanship aside for a moment, if you are a Democrat, you ought to be asking these questions of your candidates as well.

I’m Jason Foglesong, and I am many things beyond a Republican. I’m a citizen, and educator, an informed voter, a Christian, a Trump supporter, and a gun owner. I’m a huge nerd. I’m in this race because I’m fed up with insiders, lobbyists and millionaires telling the average citizen how things are going to be, taking our money and votes, and leaving us in the dust as they enrich themselves further.

I want to be your new representative. I’m offering you the following: Accessibility to me - digitally and in person. This holds me accountable to you, and I will fight to keep things as transparent and easy to understand as possible. My platform includes making E-Verify mandatory, drug testing Federal welfare recipients, establishing national Voter ID, and forcing the government to live below its means so the taxpayers can get some more relief. If you want to know more about me, please find me on Facebook or Twitter, or come by my website at www.foglesong2020.com.