Republican candidates in the contested March 3 primary for Montgomery County judge, as well as the unopposed Democratic primary candidate, shared their platforms in a Feb. 17 forum presented by The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce at Sam Houston State University’s The Woodlands Center.

The forum was moderated by Community Impact and Woodlands Online.

Incumbent Mark Keough and challenger Wayne Mack, the current justice of the peace for Montgomery County Precinct 1, are seeking the Republican nomination for the Nov. 3 general election. Democratic candidate James Graf is unopposed in the primary election.

What they said

In their opening statements, candidates described their vision for the county.

Graf, who spoke as an unopposed primary candidate, said he is CEO of a company based in The Woodlands with almost 40 years of experience in business and related fields.

“I look at the job as we need to do more to support small businesses, especially in cases where businesses are financially disrupted by roads and other projects out of their control,” he said.

Keough and Mack each introduced their background and reason for running before the question and answer session.

Mack said he began his career with the county in 1986 as a janitor and has also served in law enforcement, as well as in his current role as justice of the peace.

“Montgomery County is no longer a rural county, we need to quit thinking in a rural mindset. … Growth is not coming, it’s here … the question is if we are going to manage that and strategically not react to crisis, to crisis, to crisis,” Mack said.

Keough described his background as a CEO and chief operating officer, as well as his time on the current Commissioners Court.

“First thing we wanted to do is we wanted to stabilize government … we have the most stable and unified commissioners … I also committed to lowering taxes,” he said of his experience.

Offering input

Candidates were offered different questions on several topics, followed by several questions that were asked to both.

On a question regarding how the candidate would reconcile maintaining county services with fiscal responsibility, the candidates’ responses included the following statements:

Keough: “The question is, how are we going to do that? I’ve advocated for … doing both of those [courthouse and jail], as well as the tax office, as well as the animal shelter… but we have to do it in pieces, being fiscally responsible and not constantly increasing taxes, just like any good business.”

Mack: “There’s catastrophic issue with … the courthouse … 100,000 people go to that courthouse every year, and we’ve got to have a plan, it’s a health issue. It’s not if we need a jail, if we need a courthouse, it’s how we’re going to get there and how it’s going to be funded. … we’ve got to have a strategic plan.”

When asked about planning for future mobility needs past the current road bond, the candidates’ responses included the following:

Mack: “We should have a strategic plan and then be honest with the taxpayers. No one moves here because they want to spend their life sitting in traffic … The CEO of county government should be leading in this.”

Keough: “We may have the opportunity, based on growth, to continue with the regular road bonds every three to four years… because the fact that matters, our infrastructure is demanding that we’re able to expand.”

What’s next

Early voting began Feb. 17 and will end Feb. 27. A list of some of the positions on the sample ballot for voters in The Woodlands area in Montgomery County can be found here.

Election day is March 3.