Weir: Joel Krause running for Congress in GOP primary

Among the many contested seats coming up for a vote in the March 1^st Republican primary is the 26^th Congressional District seat held by Dr. Michael Burgess. The 7-term incumbent has 2 opponents in the current race for Congress. This week, candidate Joel Krause came over for an interview, including a video, which accompanies this article. Mr. Krause was raised and worked on a farm his father managed in Northwest Iowa where, according to his website (www.krauseforhouse.com), he obtained Midwestern values and learned the value of a dollar. “I went to Iowa State University and graduated with a degree in engineering. Hired from the college campus, Westinghouse moved me to Odessa, TX in the early 80s, where I lived and worked for a year; Westinghouse then transferred me to Dallas.

“Later, Honeywell recruited me and I was a sales engineer with them for a few years. During that period of time, with the help of the Dallas Cowboys and a good friend, I started a company that provides video software and hardware products to sports teams for teaching purposes. I have had this business for 28+ years. I have not had a career in politics, although I ran for Ames City Council during my college years. My slogan was ‘Planning for the 80s.’”

Mr. Krause talks about his background in the accompanying video, including his reasons for running for a seat in Congress. On his web page he writes: “Our national debt is at 18,611,000,000,000 dollars and counting, our borders are not secured, we have an immigration problem, innocent people are being killed all over the world, our health care costs are out of control, lobbyists and donors control congress, Democrats and Republicans are not finding ways to work together and we have politicians that do not know what the real responsibilities are of our federal government.  The worst is; we do not have any confidence it is going to change.”

In the Republican primary on March 1^st, Mr. Krause faces incumbent Dr. Michael Burgess and Micah Beebe, who was the subject of an interview a couple of weeks ago. For more info on candidates, go to the Denton County Republican Party web page at www.dentongop.org to see their video interviews.

Bob Weir is a long-time Flower Mound resident and former local newspaper editor.