Over the past year as part of my Capstone track work and mentorship, I have worked as the Deputy Field Director for Commissioner Morrison in Precinct 1 of Fort Bend County. The County Commissioner is principally charged with setting the County tax rate along with the four other members of the Commissioner's Court (four Commissioners and the County Judge), setting the County budget, County infrastructure and roads within their Precinct, emergency management, and County services ranging from the Sheriff's Office to Health and Human Services. Within States such as Texas, Counties are the most active and efficient level of government that is small enough to be dynamic but big enough to initiate large projects.
Precinct 1 of Fort Bend County is the largest and fastest growing portion of Fort Bend County, which is the fastest growing County in the United States. The Precinct is also incredibly diverse economically and ethnically, often requiring me to speak Spanish, English, and Urdu when knocking on doors with Commissioner Morrison. The diversity of our Precinct had us at the County Fair one day and the next at a local Mosque, all within our County. We have knocked on thousands of doors across our Precinct and since May have talked to over 5,000 different people at their homes, not counting the countless we have talked to at public events or at our office. The ability of the Commissioner to truly help individuals in our County facing infrastructure problems, housing issues, such as those caused by flooding, or mental health patients in our jail system is what makes working for him incredibly satisfying and rewarding every day on the job.
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In addition to working for Commissioner Morrison, I read the Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson, which is an indictment of both US domestic and foreign policy in its current state. Johnson throughout the book dissects how he sees localized attitudes as the reason for the failure of national policy. The reading largely influenced my focus on constituent relations and their influence on partisanship and gridlock in Washington.
