How to Win Locally for Taxpayers – James Quintero

The object of any campaign is to get elected and make a difference. Our guest this week does the hard work to make sure citizens, elected leaders and stakeholders can effectively achieve that goal.

I hope y’all are doing well and surviving what is now the final month of the 2018 election cycle!

This week we’re talking to somebody that’s outside the campaign world but has a job that heavily influences local governments and elected leaders. If you’re wanting to work in politics, outside of lobbying, chances are, you’ll fall into one of three categories: campaigns, staff or policy research. That last category is where this week’s guest comes from.

Now, real quick, before you turn to skip to another podcast, give me a chance to explain why we’re talking about policy today. The truth is that if you chained me to a desk and made me do policy research, I’d quickly start filing paper cuts into instruments of deadly force. Campaigns are what excite me.

But even though I don’t want to be the one doing the research, I can’t overstate the value of having people like our guests and his institution doing this hard work. As a candidate, staffer or legislative official, the work that think tanks do can be critical ammunition in the battle of ideas that you fight on the campaign trail.

James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation is our guest. He leads the Think Local Liberty project at TPPF, one of America’s premier conservative think tanks.

Since joining the Foundation in 2008, James has focused exclusively on state and local government spending, taxes, debt, public pension reform, annexation and local regulations. His work has been featured from the New York Times to The Huffington Post and on Fox News. Plus lots of other places along the way.

Today we’re going to focus our conversation on local government. There are three reasons for that. First, James is an absolute expert on the ways that local governments frequently screw over their citizens and how to fix those problems. Second, if you’re running for local office, many of the topics we’ll discuss may be critical campaign issues for you to focus on. At the very least, it’s very important for you to be aware of them. Third, if you’re a local elected official, you should be working to fight back against these kinds of problems…but may not even realize that they all exist.

I guarantee you’re going to learn a lot in the interview ahead and come out more prepared to make a difference.

What You’ll Learn about James Quintero In This Episode:

[00:00] Podcast and James Quintero Intro

[04:39] What James does with TPPF

[08:35] How TPPF is making a difference in DC and across the country

[10:15] Why think tanks talk about policy but can’t talk about politics…

[15:55] How James got involved in the policy world

[20:00] Ways for people to get involved in policy research, like James

[26:05] Are the problems we’re going to talk about exclusive to Texas?

[32:40] What are some of the craziest things you’ve seen local governments do?

[40:53] What is “Local Control” and what should conservatives think about that idea?

[45:49] What are examples of times that “local control” shouldn’t be the default?

[50:37] How you can contact James Quintero

[1:00:48] Conclusion and wrap-up

Links from the Podcast:

Connect with James Quintero on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Learn more about him and show your support at www.thinklocalliberty.com.