Todd Maternowski Democrat Congress for Congressional District 32

1. CANDIDATE QUESTIONAIRE
NAME: ___Todd Maternowski_______ OFFICE SEEKING: __U.S. House TX-32__________________________
1) Arrests: Have you ever been arrested, and may I have your permission to run a Background check? I was
arrested twice in 2000 for driving without insurance. I was a dance teacher making $80/week, and couldn’t afford to pay
either the monthly fee or the tickets, so they went to warrant and I was arrested. I spent less than a day in jail both
times, and have faithfully paid my car insurance bill every month on time ever since. Yes, you can run a background
check.
2) Degree Verification: May I have your permission to verify your post-secondary education? I worked three years
towards a B.A. in Religion at the University of Chicago, but dropped out twice due to lack of funds and never went back
to finish. You can verify it if you’d like.
3) Why are you running for office? It was the best way for me to do the most amount of good for the most people.
4) What are your Key Qualifications, that separate you from the other candidate(s)? The key difference is that,
unlike them, I cannot be bought or cajoled into supporting legislation that is detrimental to my constituents. For the last
15 years, I have been a leader of various groups –both in and outside of work—and have used practical, people-oriented
group dynamics to achieve what others said was impossible. Now I want to take that track record to Congress. Unlike
them, I’m not running to pad my resume, or using it as a stepping stone to a higher office, or using it to get in to the
lucrative Congress-to-lobbyist pipeline. I’m in it to make a real-world difference.
5) Will you accept monetary compensation for any activities outside of your office compensation? No.
6) Term Limits: Will you sign a pledge to push for the implementation of Term Limits and how will you make this a
reality? Yes. I believe (and plan to serve) in a 6-year term limit for House members, and a two-term (12 year) limit for
the Senate. I recognize this will be an uphill battle, due to the entrenched nature of the incumbents in Congress.
7) RESIDENT TAX BURDEN
Collin County Residents are burdened with the 2nd Highest Total Property Tax Payments in the State of Texas and
Education represents over 60% of the Collin residential tax burden. Taxpayers will be paying over $350 million over the
next 25 years for the following stadiums:
McKinney ($80 to $120 million)
Prosper ($48 to $72 million)
Allen ($60 to $90 million
Frisco Memorial Stadium FISD portion ($15 to $22 million)
Frisco Star Center FISD portion ($30 to $49 million)
Bond measures and Tax Increases have passed, largely because Texas legislators have enacted regulations that allow:
- Corporations to contribute to PAC supporting ISD Tax Increase and Bond Measures
- ISD to pick favorable Election Dates and Voting Locations
- ISD’s to exploit confidential Parent Contact Information, Internal/Publicly funded resources and personnel to
create materials for “get out the vote” activities such as Mailing, Phone Calls and Emails.
- Administrators to “encourage” teachers to contact parents about voting
- Administrators to use scare tactics to threaten to cut teachers and popular school programs.

2. - ISD’s to erroneously blame “state funding cuts” to justify tax increases
- ISD’s to remove anti-PAC signs while allowing pro-PAC signs.
What are your thoughts regarding Education Funding? Educational funding is always going to be a tight balancing act:
while Collin County has extremely high property taxes, the high quality of the schools leads to more well-off couples
moving in, which leads to higher property values (which leads to higher taxes as more kids come into the system, and so
forth). Expansion is a necessary aspect of increasing the overall tax base, though I question the necessity of some of
these expensive stadiums. I’m much more concerned about what that money is spent on: ever-higher administrative
costs and the billions the state pours into 15 different standardized tests is not money well-spent.
8) Roads & Infrastructure: The population of Collin County is exploding and our Roads, Bridges, Drainage Systems &
Infrastructure are strained and inadequate. We need to attract businesses and commercial enterprises to our area to
help relieve that tax burden on residents. What are your specific plans to address to alleviate traffic and infrastructure
deficiencies? Explosive growth comes with both huge benefits and huge problems, as cities across Texas are finding out.
While a federal infrastructure plan would be ideal and alleviate some of the burden, the city and local governments
must enact solid policy to make sure the growth is both sustainable and less of a burden on the current residents. For
example, they can raise infrastructure funds with a tax on new housing developments, which would help scale the costs
of street repairs and new roads without penalizing the residents who are already there. Better, long-term city planning is
key, rather than handing out huge tax incentives to large-scale developers who are going to build anyways.
9) RESIDENT TAX BURDEN: An important element of reducing the Tax Burden of homeowners is attracting Corporate
and Commercial Development – Do you believe that the State, County, ISD and Municipalities should collaborate on
Economic Development projects? How will you facilitate this effort? They absolutely should, to avoid the too-common
problem of the “race to the bottom” syndrome, where small municipalities bankrupt themselves trying to out-do their
neighbors. While I’m not a fan of heavy-handed regulation, some level of state- and county-level coordination is
required. Otherwise cities will compete themselves into corners where developers are essentially given huge swaths of
prime real estate tax-free, which leads to higher local taxes.
10) PROPERTY RIGHTS: What is your position statement on the following:
(A) Municipal Annexations of Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) AKA "Forced Annexation". This is a tough one
because every single municipality in Texas does things their own way regarding annexations. Some are more
aggressive than others, while some only annex open land. Unless the State of Texas wanted to introduce more
oversight into this issue (and I don’t think they do), every decision will remain on a case-by-case basis.
(B) The use of the power of Eminent Domain to institute Condemnation Proceedings against the Property
Owners to seize property. I’m generally against this, unless there is a well-defined public need and the local
government offers an above-market deal on the property (and perhaps a voucher towards the purchase of new
property somewhere within city limits).
(C) Long Term Zoning and Multifamily Housing – should zoning be changed to limit multi-family housing or other
“undesirable” property usages? No, because people of every income level should be able to live in the city
where they work. Removing low-income housing options creates artifically-inflated real estate bubbles and
skyrocketing housing prices (while pushing a significant portion of the workforce farther and farther away),
which leads to a host of problems, particularly regarding traffic, noise, and pollution. Smart city planning can
alleviate these problems by placing affordable housing near heavily commercial areas.