I'm sitting here this evening with candidate for precinct two
county commissioner.
Uh his name is Gail Frey.
Thank you, Mr.
Frayne, for joining us and uh taking the time out
to uh find out a little bit more about your
candidacy and what uh you know what motivates you.
Absolutely, thank you for having me.
All right, wonderful.
Now, precinct two covers what he commissioner
precinct two covers all of Carrollton, the colony, and for
some weird reason the district is drawn in a way
where it reaches over the waters of Lewisville Lake and
grabs Corinth.
So it's a pretty small geographically a pretty small area
of Denton County.
But it is all of Carrollton, and the largest population
density within this precinct two is going to be the
Carleton area.
I see.
And your uh opponent in this race is uh
well-known uh candidate that we're at and uh you said
that he was the is he the current mayor of
oh no, so uh Kevin Falconer was the mayor of
Carrollton for I would say almost a decade for quite
some time.
He's very well known in the area, which is why
it's pretty interesting the way that I would say they
kind of I don't know if the word jurymander is
too strong to use or not, but it is interesting
that they changed the map before Kevin's election and they
made it focus on specifically Carrollton, as I said, it's
a very geographical district.
So it's also very blue.
And I think that's why they tried to create what
would look like a democratic stronghold, but had a Republican
who was the mayor for a long time run for
that position.
Okay, so at that point when, Kevin Faulkner was the
mayor, the mayor is considered to be a nonpartisan uh
position.
So when he ran for county commissioners when he had
to choose which party and he sided with uh the
Republican Party.
Okay.
And so you have some uh positions that uh you
are advocating for strongly.
Yes, and you think that it uh uh Democrats need
to hear about them.
Yeah.
What are they?
Sure, and and this is gonna focus about the the
why the Democrats are pushing to try to flip the
Deton County Commissioner's court.
Uh the reason is because we want countywide voting on
election day.
Some people call these voting centers.
I think that probably sounds confusing.
So I'm gonna continue from this point going forward to
call it countywide voting on election day.
And what I mean by that is that right now,
during their early voting period, you can vote anywhere in
the county, anywhere within Denton County, you can vote.
This polling location go there, you can vote.
However, on election day itself, that's not the case.
On election day itself, you have to vote only at
your one registered voting location.
Right.
This confuses a lot of people because the last day
to vote is the election day.
So you have to understand, by the way, about the
number of people who vote during early voting, almost equal
amount of those people who vote in the entire early
voting period tend to show up on voting day.
So it's a very intense day with a lot of
people traffic.
Now, we have seen around 11 to 15 percent of
people getting redirected on the last day to vote on
voting day because of the fact that we don't have
countywide voting on that day.
And we've heard stories from election workers talk about how
they've been in college kids out there who say, like,
oh, I gotta get the class.
I I I I can't I can't make that.
Uh there was another story of a guy who had
to be hydraulically lifted out of his car
He's on a wheelchair on a breathing machine, goes in
to the voting location, gets told, I'm sorry, sir, you
can't vote here.
You have to go somewhere else.
So we we Democrats humbly believe that this is voter
suppression.
Because it confuses people.
And this honestly, I don't believe there's any reason for
this.
Because over a hundred other counties in Texas have countywide
voting on election day.
So unfortunately, it seems that the GOP, particularly
the Denton County Republican Party, who's led by right now
Melinda Preston, wants to go the other way.
Melinda Preston had her way, Melinda Preston, by the way,
is the uh D, I'm sorry, the RNC chair for
Denton County.
Okay.
So kind of like Delia Parker Minnesota is the county
leader for Democrats.
Um, who's the uh uh Melinda Preston is the leader
for the Republicans of Dent County.
Okay, and she on multiple occasions has shown up to
the Benton County Commissioner's court, and she's constantly advocated to
go the other way around.
If she had her way, we wouldn't have countywide voting
even during early voting.
Okay.
So that's what her party is pushing for.
So is this a uh county decision uh to have
uh countywide versus uh center voting?
Yes, so every county gets to decide its own way,
and when does that when can that decision be made?
Well, it can they meet every Tuesday at uh I
believe at 8 a.m.
every Tuesday, and uh someone can make a motion.
Any one of the commissioners can make a motion to
do so and go in that direction.
All the commissioners right now, including the county judge, are
Republican, and because they don't want to violate their own
party, I I humbly think that the Deputy County Commissioners
understand.
I I think deep
inside in their hearts, think they do know that it's
kind of crazy to not have countywide voting on election
day.
But I'm willing to bet the reason they don't go
in that direction is because they're worried about getting primaried,
since after all the head of their party is demanding
that they go the other way.
Are there uh any other positions that you're strongly advocating?
Yeah, so we also oversee the budget in Denton County
as well, uh, the commissioners do.
And there are other things I want to advocate for,
like Meals on Wheels, for example, that gives uh food
to elderly individuals who you know can't physically make it
to the grocery store themselves.
Uh there's a couple of uh other things with health
care that I would like to send money to as
well.
Meals on wheels is what one of the main ones.
Uh, should have mentioned this earlier because you're talking to
Ernest Leinberger, he's uh a chair member of that organization.
Um but there's there is that there is the fact
that we need to make sure that the opioid funding
that we've been given by the state needs to be
fully allocated.
Uh from what I understand, there's been quite a delay
with that.
So essentially the the state has given money to each
county uh to handle the opioid crisis.
And uh that needs to go to health care.
I believe that Judge Eads was pushing more to go
towards uh prevention, basically trying to uh reassign that to
I guess police force or whatever prevention is.
And you think that it needs to work?
It needs to go more towards uh towards health care
services and centers that help people with addiction.
Okay.
And um do you think you can impact that uh
on a is it a uh fully Republican core?
It is right now, but there's an opportunity for the
Democratic Party to flip the Duncan County Commissioner's court this
time.
Right.
the So each commissioner holds the term for four years
and judge does as well.
And it happens to be that two of the commissioners
and the judge are up for re-election in this upcoming
2056 midterm election.
So there's only four commissioners and one judge.
So that means three of the five positions are up
for re-election.
Okay.
So what we're advocating for as the Democratic parties.
We're trying to flip.
If we can flip all three of those positions, then
the Democrats gain control of the court, and we can
finally get our countywide voting on election day.
What is the strategy at this time to flip?
Yeah, so for precinct two uh it's basically coming out
here right now.
We're actually at the uh Carleton Democratic Club, um, sort
of making sure that people know who I am and
know what the positions are.
Right.
And it's also it's really important for me to really
kind of block walk and introduce myself to uh Carrollton
residents because I mean, for one, um the pop the
major population density is near in Carlton.
And for two, it's because let's be honest here, um
uh Mr.
Faulkner's been the mayor of Carrollton for quite some time.
So it's the struggle is gonna probably be here because
I've talked to other Democrats and they know Kevin.
My pastor at my church has met Kevin before.
Right.
Now people know this guy, and I need to tell
people who I am and what I'm running for.
I want to need to make sure that everyone understands
that I'm not gonna mudsling uh I respect the man,
I'm it's nothing personal, it's solely about the policies that
we're advocating for.
Main one being countywide voting on election day.
So now um what if because it has been the
playbook of Republicans all across the country, whether it's uh
uh national or local, that um some say some
propaganda is used.
Uh maybe some dirty politics uh uh come into play
or they change the narrative to uh not to talk
specifically about the issues, but about issues that have no
uh impact upon what your job will be.
How do you deal with that?
Yeah, sure.
So I'll be honest with you, in this particular race,
I don't think there's much of a danger for that.
I I I've I've seen Kevin speak, I've I know
a lot of people who know Kevin, and uh he's
not that kind of candidate who does that.
Uh actually most of the commissioners are are I believe
McRae said that all the commissioners, including the judge, are
are very humble.
Um there they have had mean things said to them,
and I've seen the way they handle it.
So I don't think there's in this particular race, again,
it's kind of unique, but I don't think there's much
of a danger for that in this particular race.
But when it does come up, you always have to
like throw it over your shoulder and just concentrate on
the policies.
Because I I have seen in the past uh Republicans
will try to advocate based on your feelings rather than
talking more about the policy decisions.
I would say that Republicans don't necessarily always think with
this, they think more with this, they think with their
gut, they think with their feelings.
And that's where I think that we see a lot
of this kind of rhetoric uh and and a lot
of other Republican races used, is because it's more difficult
to lift up people and it's easier to get people
agitated if they're filed up and angry.
As long as people feel the agitation in their heart,
they can get misdirected very easily.
But the way that we Democrats combat that is by
going back to the policies.
Like I said with Kevin, it's nothing personal.
It's about the policies that we're at that we as
Democrats advocate for.
You mentioned meals on wheels
Yes.
Did you say or believe that there has been a
delay in the funding of meals on wheels?
No, I just want to make sure that they continue
to get their funding.
I think if anything, we probably would maybe bump up
the amount of money that they get.
Okay.
So Meals on Wheels, for those who don't know, is
an organization that gets food out to elderly individuals who
are physically incapable of getting to the grocery store themselves.
It only costs about five dollars a meal.
And the meals are actually delivered by volunteers.
So we don't even pay for the food delivery service.
We're just paying for the meals.
And you know, like I I just believe that if
we can support, you know, all the fireworks that we
have, which are very beautiful, then we should also be
able to support our elderly individuals.
A good chunk of these individuals, by the way, are
also veterans as well.
So when I see things like the VA being underfunded
by the current administration, things like that, you know, I
believe that hurts uh a major demographic in this area.
So it's just one thing that I believe we need
to support and support more.
What about uh health care uh regarding your constituents?
What do you see is the biggest uh deficiency, uh
the biggest thing that you could help and and make
it uh more positive for individuals, health care.
Yeah, so when it comes to health care, what the
county commissioners can do is they they do oversee the
funding for the county, and so they can send some
of the uh the money towards uh organizations that help
people uh with with health care.
I personally think that when it comes to things like
mental health, that not having a very good. public transportation
system can hurt people in certain areas
I understand that we have telehealth, but telehealth can only
work so well.
My pastor was actually trying to work on this because
he knows a couple of people who were having some
mental health issues.
He's saying, like, man, like because they don't have cars,
they can't see these types of individuals who can help
them with their crises that they go through and things
like that.
Okay.
So a lot of these people feel as if they
are they're very helpless.
But there's that.
There's also, like I said, um, sending the opiate funding
to uh addiction uh centers that helps those with
addiction and and and all of that.
It's it's a very serious issue of health care because
Texas has more uninsured individuals than any other state in
the country.
And we're also the commissioners court can't do anything about
this, but I'll just plug this real quick.
Right.
Uh is the Medicaid expansion program.
It's more of a uh statewide uh issue, but we're
not part of the Medicaid expansion program.
And what that is, by the way, is a big
giant money bucket that we all spend money into through
our federal taxes.
So we Texas put money in this bucket, and money
flows from this bucket to states in the United States,
but not back here in Texas, because we're not part
of the Medicaid expansion program.
We're losing 10 billion, billion with a B dollars a
year.
That's how much we spend into this bucket.
It does not come back here.
City Texans pay for medical programs in California.
We Texas pay for medical programs in New Jersey, but
not back here at home, all because the governor hasn't
vetoed uh us joining the Medicaid expansion program.
Yeah, it's interesting.
Yeah, uh, Mr.
Dale Frey, we're talking with Mr.
Dale Frey, who is a candidate uh for the county
commissioner, uh, precinct two.
And uh, one last question, Mr
Frey, I would like to for you to uh discuss
or name the areas that you uh would represent.
And got one last question for you regarding law enforcement.
I do know that you, the county commissioner has some
say as far as law enforcement is concerned.
And what are you what is your vision regarding that
as far as your constituents?
Yeah, sure.
So to answer your first question, uh the areas for
precinct two for the commissioners is all of Carrollton, the
colony where I live, and then it reaches across the
water of Luisville Lake and grabs Corinth.
So it's it's those three areas and a little bit
of the edges around those areas as well.
Okay.
Now, when it comes to law enforcement, this has been
an interesting thing that I've been going over with some
of my colleagues about.
So with the power structure, commissioners can't really tell
the sheriff what to do or what or what not
to do.
The sheriff is elected and the sheriff has more power
in that area.
But the county commissioners can supply leverage by because they
do control the funding.
So while the sheriff does get the final say when
it comes to certain logistics, the commissioners are the ones
who will essentially be funding the sheriff and the programs
that the sheriff uh utilizes.
One last question.
This really will be the one last question.
What's the most unprecedented thing that you've seen happen in
the last two years, whether locally or nationally, so unprecedented
that you've never seen it in your lifetime?
Good question.
If I could respond with a graphic, I would come
back with that Simpsons meme.
There's a Simpsons meme where Bart says, Man, I'm having
I'm having the worst day of my life.
And Homer comes up and says, You're having the worst
day of your life so far
I respond with that because in terms of the crazy
stuff that's going on day by day, I can tell
you what it is so far.
Uh huh.
It's actually the more recent one.
We had a state house representative in the House chamber,
was told that she had to sign a paper that
would allow a DPS officer, a federal officer, to follow
her around and make sure that she shows up to
this the House the next day.
All the meanwhile, by the way, like she has to
pay for the services, by the way.
And she said, No, I'm not gonna sign that.
Right.
And they said, All right, well, we're gonna basically incarcerate
you inside of the House chamber.
This is kidnapping.
I think the legal terminology would be false imprisonment, false
imprisonment.
And it's insane to see this kind of stuff happen
to a lawmaker.
This is someone who's been elected by her constituents.
This is someone who has the power to make the
laws of the land, and she's basically being incarcerated by
the legislature.
Okay.
That is absolutely insane.
And this is where I feel like government is starting
to break down.
It's just absolutely crazy.
Because when you're doing this to lawmakers, if this is
allowed to pass as is, if this becomes normalized, I
fear for what's next.
Okay, and uh to coin a phrase, you ain't seen
nothing yet.
Uh hope that it doesn't occur that way, but uh
really want to thank you, uh, Mr.
Dale Frey, who's running for County Commissioner, Precinct 2, and
God speak to you, and I hope. you have much
success in actually advocating and putting into effect what it
is you see
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Nice to see you.
Okay.