Janet Tycelia Dudding
Democratic Candidate for Comptroller of Public Accounts
Dudding/Photo by Campaign
Question: What is your age?
Answer: 62
Q: What is your educational background? Please list any degrees or certificates earned and any institutions attended.
A: Master of Business Administration from Millsaps College; Bachelors of Business Administration (Accounting) from University of Southern Mississippi; Certified Public Accountant, licensed in Mississippi (#3509) and Texas (#90754)
Q: What is your occupation?
A: Certified Public Accountant
Q: If you are a business owner, please list the business or businesses that you own. (If this question is not applicable, please note that below.)
A: My individual licenses are current and I am current on my continuing professional education, but do not own a firm permit.
Q: Please list any civic boards or commissions (non-profit, government, union, political, etc.) on which you have served as a board member or equivalent.
A: Currently treasurer College Station Noon Lions Club, Executive Board of Brazos County Branch of the NAACP, president of Texas Democratic Women of the Brazos Valley
Formerly treasurer Texas Democratic Women of the Brazos Valley, at-large board member Texas Democratic Women, executive committee Brazos County Democratic Party, president Bay-Waveland Garden Club, treasurer Texas A&M Women's Club, treasurer Beverly Homeowners Association, Vestry Christ Episcopal Church
Q: Have you previously held or do you currently hold any elected office? If so, what office(s)?
A: I have never held elected public office.
Q: If your campaign has any online campaign resources where voters can learn more about you, such as social media accounts or a website, please list them below.
A: www.janetdudding4texas.com/ facebook and twitter: janet4texas
Q: Why did you decide to run for this office in 2022?
A: I feel that I am needed now to use the bully pulpit as the state's accountant to help out with how our tax money is being spent and what we're getting for our money. I am a governmental certified public accountant, who's spent my adult life in governmental audit, accounting, administration and even investigation. I do care deeply about local control and stretching our dollars to get every penny's worth out of our tax dollars.
The Comptroller's Office is staffed with knowledgeable professional personnel. I've grown up with and as governmental staff -- knowing that there are dedicated caring professionals staffing the office helped with my decision to run.
The Comptroller's Office interacts with every aspect of business as it funds the business of government. We are all trying to make it work. We need to get the most value from our dollar.
Q: If elected, what will be your top three priorities in office?
A: Texas’ Comptroller of Public Accounts is Texas’ sole accountant: the state’s treasurer, check writer, tax collector, procurement officer, economy watcher and revenue estimator. Elected by the people of Texas, the Comptroller is designed to be independent and answerable to the people of Texas.
All state money comes in and goes out through the Comptroller’s Office. Federal money comes in and is spent the same way. As the state’s only accountant, the Comptroller has the bully pulpit on how our money is spent.
1—For a decade, the public has been told that “Texas cannot afford” to expand Medicaid to 1.4 million adult Texans. The fact of the matter is that Texas is spending ~$100M more to deny coverage than it would to expand comprehensive mental health care and physical health care to adult Texans who qualify under the federal regulations. To compound this, we in Texas are spending our property taxes for critical indigent healthcare. I will use the bully pulpit to point out that we will save state – and local – tax dollars by expanding comprehensive mental health and comprehensive physical health care to the ~1.4 million adult Texans who qualify for Medicaid. Expanding Medicaid $45B in gross product, $29.4 in personal income and adds ~half a million jobs.
2 – Broadband expansion is now a function of the Comptroller’s Office and I applaud the work started. I would like to explore local broadband as a utility fund of local governments to keep costs down, provide reliable service and provide a revenue stream to rural local governments.
3 – As a Katrina survivor, climate change is personal to me. The Comptroller is charged with reducing greenhouse gases like methane, a leading cause of climate change. The Comptroller oversees procurement. The Comptroller also has rule-making authority, which then becomes part of statute. Working with other state agencies, as outlined in the statute, and stakeholders, I believe we can drastically cut methane emissions on Texas’ vast state-owned lands. Doing nothing about methane is costing us billions of dollars with each climate emergency disaster.
4 -- The Comptroller plays a part in public school district property appraisals. Look at your property tax bill – the largest portion is public school property taxes. No Texas Legislative bill in recent history has affected appraised value. Appraised value for public schools is under the Comptroller’s purview. Under the guise of “Property Tax Assistance,” the Comptroller audits school district values. Many times, when the Comptroller comes up with a higher value, the appraisal district complies by raising its value. (Higher appraised values * tax rate = higher taxes.) I am very about the Comptroller using his rule-making authority to hide compliance details on public school property tax corporate giveaways.
Q: What is an issue you believe has gone overlooked in your race and how will you address it if elected?
A: Nobody wants to pay more taxes than they have to and for decades we've been paying more taxes that we would have if the money had been handled "smart." Our property taxes oftentimes end up taking up the slack. This is the case with expanding comprehensive mental and physical health care. This is the case with our school property taxes and public school funding and this is the case with the Chapter 313 corporate tax breaks.
I am very concerned about the Comptroller using his rule-making authority to hide compliance details on Chapter 313 public school property tax corporate giveaways.
Q: Why are you the best candidate for voters to support for this position?
A: As a single mother, I averaged 20 hrs a semester while I earned my accounting degree. Started working for the State Auditor, threw myself into my MBA and became a CPA. But I'm not the kind of CPA you come to see in April to file your federal taxes. I'm who you come see to see if your tax dollars are being well spent.
That first job out of college was investigating whether elected officials were embezzling money or taking kickbacks. I helped lay the groundwork for Operation Pretense (when 50+ politicians when to prison for procurement corruption). I moved on to audit counties and cities and school districts and state agencies and have spent my adult life in governmental audit, accounting, administration and even investigations.