Q&A with 74th District candidates: Pete Gallego; The Avalanche asked incumbent state Rep. Pete Gallego of Alpine and challenger Thomas Kincaid of Fort Stockton to answer questions about the issues facing West Texans.

Two, individuals who apply for citizenship should not have to wait for 10 or 20 years for an answer. Criminals attempting to cross our border must be stopped.

Avalanche: Health care and health insurance are two national issues tied at the hip that have great importance in the presidential, congressional and U.S. Senate races. However, let’s not ignore the issues at the state level. What is the state’s role in addressing both the costs of health care and ensuring that all citizens have equal access to quality health care?

Gallego: Ensuring access to health care is another major challenge, particularly in rural areas with an aging population.

Texas leads the nation in the number of people without health insurance (only 1 in 3 Texans currently has health insurance). The cost of medical care and prescription drugs is now beyond the means of many Texans. Providing access to health care for Texans, especially our children, must be a major priority for Texas in 2009.

I have been a huge proponent of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). I propose that the program be strengthened and made available to more families. I also have and will continue to be active in pushing for various waivers and incentives to attract additional physicians to rural areas.

Avalanche: Should the La Entrada al Pacifico plan be officially scrapped by the Texas Legislature? Can the Legislature mandate that the La Entrada signs and designation be removed? Do you, indeed, favor such proposals?

Gallego: TxDOT studies have already determined that the proposed La Entrada Highway is unnecessary. However, local citizens must remain vigilant and work together to ensure that the highway is not built as proposed. I would support legislative action to remove the designation and signs.

Avalanche: Worldwide, we are in the preliminary stages of water shortages. As West Texans, we know how precious the commodity is. Further, there is much talk of the continued privatizing of water resources. How far would you go in this regard? For instance, would you favor privatizing water companies that service cities such as Alpine and Fort Stockton and Del Rio?

Gallego: I oppose the privatization of public water supplies. I also support the authority of local citizens, working through their own water conservation districts, to determine local water conservation strategies and set goals.

Avalanche: Do you foresee increased oil and gas drilling in the southwestern portion of the district, particularly Brewster, Jeff Davis and Presidio counties? What should be the monitoring role of state, county and city officials be in this three-county area, which to date has almost exclusively been the province of ranching and tourism?

Gallego: As the price of gasoline falls, the chance for increased drilling in the tri-county area diminishes. Any such drilling should be monitored to determine its environmental impact and ensure the continued safety of local water supplies.

Avalanche: Itemize specifics that you would like to see accomplished to improve the public education of kindergarten-through-grade-12 public school students. We are particularly interested in what can be done to aid the three counties in our circulation area (Brewster, Jeff Davis and Presidio), none of which have the large amounts of tax money coming into their districts from the oil industry that some counties in the district do. We would also like to hear your points of view on “teach to test,” teacher salaries (which are low in Brewster County because of our tax base).

Gallego: Texas must make every effort to prioritize learning. Teacher salaries and retirement benefits should be increased. Reliance on standardized tests should be discontinued. In addition, public schools should be guaranteed the resources necessary to enable our kids to compete in the global job market of the 21st century economy.

Avalanche: There are various proposals floating about to increase state and federal aid to so-called non-traditional schooling methods - charter schools and public school vouchers particularly. Please give us your views on whether taxpayers can afford this. What impact do you think public financing of private schools will have on public schools?

Gallego: I oppose the use of vouchers or the use of public funds to support private K-12 education. Public schools are already underfunded. Additional funding should not be diverted from the public school system.

Avalanche: Many economists and business men and women are forecasting a deep recession, if not a second depression for our nation. Several questions:

First, what’s you gut feeling on how the 74th district (or its specific parts) will weather such an event?

Second (and back to schools), if we enter a recession, how will we maintain our financing of public education - K-12 and college?

Gallego: Does the state have a role in ensuring that the recent meltdown at financial institutions does not happen again? Does the state need to have an increased regulatory role in financial institutions? What would that be?

Our part of Texas is usually the lasts part of Texas to enter a recession - but the last part to get out. Times are extraordinarily tough for all families now. They are particularly difficult for our fellow citizens who live on fixed incomes. Texans are survivors - so we will make it, but we have some challenging days ahead.

We maintain education funding because we prioritize it over other expenditures. Education must continue to be a priority even in a declining economic period. College must also be made affordable through state grant and loan programs.

Avalanche: Do you favor a border wall along the Texas border with Mexico? If so, why? If not, what are the alternatives to attack the problems that the Border Patrol and Homeland Security say make a wall necessary?

Gallego: I do not favor the construction of a wall. Each situation presents different opportunities. In Presidio, for example, newer and higher levees must be constructed. In other areas, a physical fence is impractical, but a high-tech and environmentally friendly solution such as ground sensors, radar and remote video surveillance, additional border patrol officers, and other projects to improve the flow, depth, and width of the Rio Grande would be more successful.

Avalanche: In the 50 years leading up to 1970, the incarceration rate (in the nation, but similar in Texas) was stable at 110 per 100,000 people. That figure now runs between 600 and 700 per 100,000, growing daily. That’s a trendline any businessman would find catastrophic. What would you do to bring down that trend?

How long can this continue? How many prisons and inmates are we prepared to handle?

Are there new ways to explore crime prevention? For instance, what would have happened if we had put the money we have increased for prison budgets over the past 25 years into crime prevention - more officers, more equipment, more training, etc. - would we be better off?

Gallego: Our prison system is already the largest in the nation. We must find ways to lower our crime rate and reduce recidivism. The only answer is education.

Avalanche: Please address solutions to soaring teen pregnancy rates in some of our counties. Granted, much of our district is made up of families at or near the poverty level. That said, teen pregnancy affects every income level to some degree. First, what can be done, if anything, to reduce teen pregnancy; second, what can be done to take care of the babies born under those circumstances?

Gallego: Local action by concerned teachers, parents and students is the only real answer to teen pregnancy. At the end of the day, state government options on this are limited.

Again, this is a federal issue. At the state level, programs like CHIP must be expanded to provide health insurance for as many children as possible. In addition, incentives must be provided so that physicians and other health care providers will move to.