Name:

Clint Phillips

Office sought:

271st District Attorney

Have you ever been arrested or charged with a crime? If so, explain.

I have had my fair share of moving violations over the years. And once, when I was in college, I spent the night in the hoosegow for celebrating a friend's birthday just a little too rigorously.

What is your philosophy on prosecution?

I believe that Mr. Green and Mrs. Jones, the last two Wise/Jack County District Attorneys might be inclined to chuckle when reading a question like this one. Not because it is a bad question (it isn't, it is a good question), but rather because when they originally took office, they probably had an idea of how they would run the office and it might not have worked out exactly as they had planned. Would-be District Attorneys, like all three of us in this race, have an idea how they would approach the job, but having never done it before, they are all either guessing or being overly simplistic in their views. That said, I believe the District Attorney of communities such as Wise County and Jack County, needs to be flexible enough to find Justice when she hides herself in facts or law that are extremely delicate, while at the same time adhering to the Rule that all persons are equal under the law. This means the District Attorney does not show preferential treatment to friends of the family. This means the wealthy are not given special treatment. This means the poor are not unfairly singled out for harsh sentences merely to make prosecution "numbers" look good.

Finally, knowing that it is impossible to know all the facts of each and every case, it would be my prayer, if elected, that God would use me as a tool for the effective Administration of His Justice.

As far as philosophies go, I believe the above represents something I could take office and leave office with, absent any compromise along the way.

What have your life experiences taught you to prepare you for the office of you seek?

As far as life experiences go, the one which most aided in my preparation to run for District Attorney was growing up in Keller before the population explosion in that City. When my family moved to Keller in 1973, there were just a shade over 4,000 people living in the town; a far cry from the 24,000 that lived there when I left to go to law school.

This experience allowed me to grow up around hard working farm and ranch families, along with folks who were commuting to Fort Worth or Dallas. It allowed me to learn what it means to move cattle from one pasture to the next, to appreciate the need for timely rainfall and to understand what it means to have another family bring meals over to your house when someone in my family was very sick.

Understanding and appreciating Rural Values is a lesson that I learned well. I think the current administration was not as honest with the American people as those values dictate, and that is the primary reason I feel I could not run as a Republican. To do so would be hypocritical on my part, though I appreciate a great many Republican conservative values. Likewise, I feel those values would make it impossible for me to run as a Democratic candidate, because that party's platform supports abortion and seeks to impose unreasonable gun control laws; neither of which fits with what I learned growing up. What I learned growing up counsels me to be Independent today.

Growing up in Keller when I did also gave me the opportunity to see first-hand what sort of crime comes with a sudden increase in population: all of it. As Wise and Jack Counties stand on the edge of a growth corridor that started in Plano in the Sixties and has been moving steadily Westward ever since, they stand to experience that same sort of increase in criminal activity that has followed that growth corridor ever Westward. Sadly, there will be more crime. We as a community can elect to face that fast and deal with it now, on a pro-active basis, or we can hide our heads in the sand, pretend it isn't coming, and give the next generation just one more headache to deal with when they take the reins. How can we act pro-actively without raising taxes for more judicial services? See below.

What do you believe is the biggest crime problem facing Wise County, and what will you do to alleviate that problem?

Drugs impact as much as 80% of all criminal activity in this region. Whether it is cooking Meth, selling pot, breaking into a trailer to steal something to pawn to buy drugs, or something that happens to change a family's world while someone is high; drugs touch way too many lives. If elected, I would work with County officials to determine the viability of establishing an area Drug Court. Governor Perry has a $1.7 Million Annual Grant Budget for establishing Drug Courts. If appropriate, I would help our county draft a Grant Proposal to obtain funds to establish such a court, as studies have shown Drug Courts to be more effective at diverting first-time drug offenders out of the system than traditional probation/incarceration. A fractional reduction in repeat drug offenders means fewer overall drug-related thefts, drug-related violent crimes, drug possession and distribution charges and less domestic violence.

A Drug Court would not solve all social ills, but it is a step in the right direction.

We hear a lot about change from the presidential campaigns. What kind of change would you like to see in Wise county and how can you help make that change a reality?

I love living in Wise County. Growing up in Keller, I watched city officials react to growth instead of planning for it. If elected, I would work hard to help area officials plan for the future by trying to explain that crafting our own future is preferable to having it dictated by others who come later.