Show Notes
Here are key things to listen out for:
1.How Michael Carpenter got started in politics – Michael Carpenter was elected in 1978 and was also elected President of his kindergarten class; he learned servant leadership
2.Michael’s first council meeting- This first meeting inspired Michael to run for City council.
3.Property tax and areas that pay the most property taxes – What are the drivers that determine the payment of property taxes
4.The county judge is first of equals, or first among equals, and the chairman of the meetings – The powers of the county judge during voting.
5.Prevention of double spending by elected officials: Officials must work together to complete complementary tasks and avoid double spending.



===Timestamps===

[00:00:00] Intro
[00:00:28] How Michael Carpenter got started in politics
[00:01:24] Michael's lesson on servant leadership
[00:02:05] Michael's first city council meeting inspired him to run for city council
[00:03:09] Michael ran for the municipal council for the first time but was defeated by Steve Simonson
[00:03:43] What does Michael do right now, and for whom does he do it?.
[00:04:21] Michael Carpenter did a lot of campaigning
[00:04:46] recently redrawn new district, and if the districts are going to be a little more distributed at some point
[00:05:48] Districts are driven by population
[00:06:55] Area of the districts that pay the most in property tax
[00:08:18] the main way that lateral road and bridge tax dollars come back to the precinct
[00:09:16] Duties and responsibilities of the county commissioners
[00:10:35] how do elected officials continuously cooperate to accomplish complementary tasks and prevent double spending?
[00:11:01] The county judge is the first of equals, or first among equals, and the chairman of the meetings
[00:11:37] The duration of Michael Carpenter's term as mayor
[00:12:39] Michael Carpenter left the office in a good position.
[00:13:51] Special election in 2012
[00:16:29] Michael Carpenter couple of his biggest accomplishments
[00:19:19] City of Civello name change
[00:22:17] Tax abatements or 380s
[00:23:04] Additional homestead exemption tax credit and if it could happen to Guadalupe City soon
[00:27:04] Pio's position in Guadalupe County
[00:28:40] Off-the-wall questions
[00:30:39] how long Michael Carpenter has been in district three
[00:30:47] Michael’s expectations vs. reality
[00:32:39] Michael’s feeling of not being mayor after being mayor for so long
[00:35:26] the terrifying bombing incident and what happened
[00:39:32] A little bit of releasing Michael transitioning into Commissioner
[00:40:50] Different red tape and different shapes
[00:43:24] What Michael put in his head when they had meetings full of discord and anger.
[00:44:23] Michael’s thoughts on term limits
[00:45:37] the number of votes Michael got in the last election when he ran for County commissioner seat and if he had an opponent
[00:49:12]Why a largely not visible city government is a good city government
[00:49:54] The birth of the United States.
[00:53:33] John Adam's letter to Abigail
[00:55:42]Michael’s first step in campaigning for anybody else
[00:57:19]Getting your name out to the public and how to go about it especially if you are a new guy in politics, according to Michael
[1:02:17] Where Michael’s money is best spent when it comes to campaigning
[1:06:36]The relationship between Michael and his wife
[1:11:05] What Michael hopes to accomplish being a commissioner
[1:11:34] One thing that Michael thinks he could have known before starting in politics
[1:12:55] What could Michael have done more effectively before entering politics if he had received education on the things he had not yet learned about?
[1:13:17]Best advice Michael has ever received
[1:15:18] Timeframe Michael is looking at with CETA/his term limit as Commissioner
[1:15:32] The most prominent myth around being a commissioner

Notable Quotes from the Interview

●“There’s two ways to run a campaign unopposed or scared. And so you put the work in no matter what.”
●“In the rural portions, there's a lot of age exemption that's out there. In the urbanized portions, we have, as we know, a lot of retired military and a lot of those retired military are partially or fully disabled, and that that drives what they pay in property tax.”
●“I got to the mayor's chair was incredibly strong leadership, people that put their hearts and souls into making their community a better place. And so I was I was the beneficiary of all of that work that came before me.”
●“If spent more time listening, and hearing each other things can be accomplished.”
●“If the legislature funds the school districts to a higher level than what the school districts have to get from local property taxes, falls, that's a delicate balance.”
●“The fact is of the money that's required to run the state to run the school districts, the taxing authorities that have to produce at the local level and in response to the demands of the people that live there.”
●“The one salient difference between being involved in a city and a county is that a Home Rule city in the state of Texas can largely do anything that it wants to accept what the state has said they may not do.”
●“The seven years ago, I was blessed by the people of Schertz to be allowed to serve was the greatest education of my life.”
●“One of the most important things that you can do in a leadership position is not to try to act important to speculate.”
●“The capabilities of the FBI and the ATF and the Texas Rangers, the feed on the street, the frontline folks, is far better than what it's portrayed as on television. They are far more capable than we can even imagine.”
●“I feel like there is a big disconnect from the community and our local officials, when it comes to voting.”
●“The tactical execution of a campaign is mathematical and scientific."
●“The two things that need to be largest on your political signs are your name and the name of the office that you're running for’”
●“I wish that I knew more when I entered the mayor's office than I did. Because the learning curve is so extraordinary more about what the whole thing just how it works.”
●“The worst thing, and I don't want to speak in absolutes, but nearly perhaps the worst thing that a newly elected person or any put anybody in a leadership position can bring to that job is an abundance of ignorance and arrogance at once.”

People Mentioned

●Steve Simonson
●Ted Cruz
●Baldwin
●Henry Clerici.
●Rick Edwards
●Mayor Daley
●Joel Hicks
●Jim Palmer
●Jessica Cisneros
●Richard Henry Lee
●John Adams
●Oprah Winfrey
●Arnold Schwarzenegger