You win Dale Jackson

Dale Jackson was doing everything he could to discourage me from running he attacked me on the attack blog. He ridiculed me on the radio and made it clear he would not give me a fair chance to share my candidacy. My job is to important to my family for me to come out and identify myself and if I can't get support for my good ideas without being a start in the established two party system I am not going to embarrass myself and my family.

Shame on you Huntsville.

Good bye.

Part 5 of Candidate X on the Issues: Taxes

Legislators in this state have played with the people's money long enough.

I will never vote for a tax increase of any kind.

Here are some of the scams pulled in this state over the last few years by politicians to attempt to steal people's money.

1. Amendment 1.
2. Yearly property tax appraisals.
3. Removal of the sales tax on groceries which was a sneaky tax increase.

When Democrats say they want a removal of the sales tax on groceries they really pushed for a tax increase. The Republicans were not much better. They wanted to tie it's removal to revenue generation by the state. This is unacceptable the state should not be charging a sales tax on food. It must be 100% removed immediately with no caveats.

Read my lips "No new taxes!"

Part 4 of Candidate X on the Issues: Education

For starters I would make it clear that if a PACT parent has a document guaranteeing a college education for their kids the state will honor that commitment. Otherwise, they may either stay in the system as is or withdrawal the funds they put in tax free.

I would remove the required AEA payroll deduction from paychecks of teachers. All teachers can opt out of the union with no consequences. This would remove the stranglehold Paul Hubbert has on our educational institutions.

I also believe that we should stop taking money out of the State's Education Trust Fund for any readon. I pledge to never vote yes to remove money from a steady source for funding for Alabama's children.

I support school vouchers for all parents in the form of 75% of the total cost per pupil but no more than 75% of the cost of the private school. This is one of the first things I will focus on when I am sent to Montgomery.

Part 3 of Candidate X on the Issues: Illegal Aliens

Alabama needs leaders with the political will to tackle illegal immigration in a way that actually does something.

I am going to make this simple.

1. Require E-Verify for all businesses.
2. Punish employers who willingly higher them.
3. Expand our ability to hold illegal aliens with more beds in prisons set aside for them.
4. Require law enforcement to determine the legal status of all individuals involved in traffic stops and arrests.
5. Require all state contractors to sign a pledge that they will not hire illegal aliens and if they violate that pledge there will be a 10% fine based on the contract awarded.

Most of these target businesses because they benefit the most while the people of America suffer.

Part 2 of Candidate X on the Issues: Ethics Reform

Alabama has huge problems with unethical legislators. We need a real plan for this to happen.

1. Ban double dipping but for all state employees not just for educators. 1 state check at a time.
2. Ban Political Action Committee to Political Action Committee transfers.
3. Lower the reporting requirements on elected officials who receive gifts or bribes from lobbyists.
4. Require the elected officials who take gifts or bribes from lobbyists to post the gifts online within 24 hours and before every vote is cast.
5. If you take a a gift or bribe elected officials must disclose who it is from, what was discussed during the transaction and how they want you to vote.
6. Ban lobbyists from the state house on days where votes take place.

This is the absolute minimum I would accept for real reform.

We must remove the secrecy of lobbyists from our legislative process.

Candidate X will be on the radio on Friday!

I got word from Dale Jackson that I won his poll and he will have me on his show.

When do you want to do this?

How about Friday at 7:30?

You need to give me something to work with position-wise other than no one knows who you are.

He seems reluctant and angry about it. But I am happy he will have me on.

I will be posting my positions this week to get ready.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I can be reached at candidatex@live.com

Help get Candidate X on the radio.

I tried to contact some journalists in Huntsville and have not had much luck in getting responses. The only person to respond is WVNN morning DJ Dale Jackson and he hasn't been supportive of me coming on his show because I don't want to identify myself. He did put a poll on his website at http://www.wvnn.com/index.shtml asking if he should interview me.

Please vote yes in that poll. At 10:30 59% of voters said yes.

How many signatures do I need to get on the ballot?

I asked the Secretary of State's office. They responded.

You will need 558 verified signatures of registered voters on the petition. Check out our website for information with regard to independent candidates. A sample petition is also available on the website.

558 seems like nothing. Do they need to all live in State House District 20?

Signatures must come from HD 20.

I was really worried about the ballot access. I am less worried now.

The Secretary of State's office got back to me

I wrote the Secretary of State's office hoping to get information about running as an independent candidate. They finally got back to me.

From: Janice.McDonald@sos.alabama.gov
To: candidatex@live.com
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 08:36:35 -0500
Subject: RE:

Yes, an independent candidate running for an office in the 2010 election will need to circulate a petition and gather signatures of registered voters equal to 3% of those who voted in the last gubernatorial election. We will need to calculate that number, and I will get back with you later today.

Janice

Janice McDonald
Elections Director
Office of the Secretary of State
State of Alabama
Voice: (334) 242-7559
Fax: (334) 242-2444

I will keep you updated.

Part 1 of Candidate X on the Issues: Economic Development

There are moves in this state to raise taxes or "reform" our tax structure. This is a flawed way of looking at our key problems, out of control government spending.

Those who want to raise are taxes and call it the "removal of sales tax on groceries" are cutting off their nose to spite their face. Increasing taxes on anyone is bad, especially right now. Do not misinterpret my meaning here. I do want to remove the tax on groceries but I want to do it by cutting errant government spending. That is how we do this, by cutting taxes on everyone.

We also must return property appraisals to every for years.

Finally, in order to prevent proration and other economic "catastrophes" that lead to cries for more taxes, we should restrain our budgeting to the lowest revenue estimate from the Executive Budget Office for the next year. In the past our state legislators knew we were in perilous economic times and continued to increase spending. Staying below projections will force our leaders to make the hard decisions before we find ourselves in poor economic health.

Candidate X's 2nd Q & A

Why are you running as an Independent?

Because of two reasons.
1. I do not have the money to wage a primary campaign against an incumbent Representative, Howard Sanderford.
2. I can wait until June 2010 to declare my candidacy and thus continue to work. I am not a wealthy person, I am running to put citizen legislators into office. I would like to say that as a conservative I would normally vote for Rep. Sanderford but he has been in office since 1989 and I can not point to one thing he has done. It is time for new blood.

Are you a conservative or liberal?

I consider myself to be a conservative. I have voted for Democrats in the past but I am fed up with Montgomery in general. When elected I will caucus with conservatives and work on conservative causes.

Are you available to for interviews?

Yes. I believe people who wish to serve the public should be willing to talk about what they want to do if elected.

Contact me at candidatex@live.com for more information.

Have you ran for office before?

No. I am a politically active first time candidate.

How can we find out where you stand on the issues?

My website is in the works as we speak and I will be releasing my position on issues daily.

How do you become an Independent candidate?

I tried to find this out and no one in Madison County knows so I sent an email to The Secretary of State's office.

Mrs. McDonald,

I am considering a run for office and have a question.

Question: If I run as an independent it is my understanding that I need 3% of the number of votes cast in the last Governor's election. How many votes were cast in State House District 20?

Thanks for the help.

Candidate X

Candidate X's 1st Q & A

Is this serious?

Yes. I am a serious candidate and I will win against whoever my challengers are. When I win, I will represent Huntsville and State House District 20 with pride and energy.

Who is Candidate X?

This is a very important question. I am a man who sees a real need for change in our state's government.

According to Wikipedia, "Mister X or Mr. X is commonly used as a pseudonym for someone whose name is secret or unknown."

Why not use your real name?

I have a career that I can not jeopardize at this point, but once I reveal myself I will. Politics in this state are very dirty and with the last date to file petitions for office being June 1, 2010 for independents I see no need to identify myself now. I will explain my ideals and philosophy long before that time but I can not divulge my identity.

Won't people see you as cowardly for using this alias?

Maybe. But I am a real person and I need to work until I officially become a candidate.

There will be more to come.

If you have a question please direct it to candidatex@live.com