Wes McCollum for Precinct 4 Commissioner

By LOU ANTONELLI

Editor-in-Chief

One of the harder ways to win an election is as a write-in candidate. The normal rigors of running – the time, effort and money required – is multiplied ten-fold when your name is not on the ballot. Therefore a candidate must be motivated by some compelling need or principle when he runs as a write-in.

Wes McCollum is running as a write-in for Precinct 4 Commissioner because the incumbent has betrayed the voters of Titus County who expected him to be a responsible steward of the public trust and a guardian of the taxpayers’ money.

The incumbent opposed the Unit Road System in 2016, when it was approved, and has been working behind the scenes this election year to get it repealed so he can hire his own people and buy all new shiny equipment for his pretty little personal kingdom.

Instead of giving the hard-working taxpayers of Titus County a break, and supporting a cut in the salary of commissioners once the Unit Road System went into place, he refused to give the cutback a second thought and for two years has been drawing a full-time pay for a part-time job.

The voters’ approval of the Unit Road System derailed the Good Old Boys Gravy Train of cronyism and corruption, and now the local forces of nepotism, patronage and collusion and trying to get it back on the rails.

The incumbent defeated a very capable opponent in the spring primary in an upset that surprised some people. Truth be told, there persists in the public perception the image of a county commissioner as being a scrawny guy with a two-day old stubble and mud-covered boots whose main qualification for the job is that he knows how to run a bulldozer.

There has never been a woman on the Titus County Commissioners Court. Under the Unit Road System, we hope to see women admitted to this Old Boys Club now that it’s not necessary the office holder be a heavy equipment operator. But apparently it was too soon for Judy Kent to take her place on the court, and she lost to the incumbent in what now in retrospect seems to be a serious blow for reform and term limits in Titus County.

With no Democrat on the ballot, the incumbent has come out of the closet in his support for the regressive repeal of the Unit Road System. But Wes McCollum has stepped up, in response to this betrayal, and taken to the campaign trail in defense of the taxpayers.

McCollum is well-known in Titus County and has a long record of helping and volunteering for many, many groups and organizations. He will make an infinitely better commissioner than the incumbent. At the very least he will listen to the taxpayers.

We are grateful McCollum has taken on this thankless task. Strike a blow for responsible government and fiscal responsibility by writing him in for Precinct 4 Commissioner.