Just don’t ask him who he’s voting for in the Presidential election
Matt Keyser
It’s not everyday you get to shadow a high ranking Dallas County official.
It’s not everyday one takes you out to lunch, either. (Thank you to all the citizens who reside in Dallas County. If it weren’t for you and your tax dollars, I may not have been treated to such a wonderful lunch. Just kidding.)
As part of National County Government Week, Dallas County Commissioner Mike Cantrell was kind enough to allow me to follow him during his daily duties.
Commissioner Cantrell was elected Dallas County commissioner for District 2 in 1994. He represents a population of more than 500,000 through the cities of Mesquite, Garland, Rowlett, Sachse, and Sunnyvale, along with the White Rock, Lakewood and Lake Highlands areas of Dallas.
Cantrell isn’t a stranger to the Dallas County Community College District, either. He attended Eastfield College from 1976-1979, beginning his studies more than a year before North Lake College opened.
While in office, Cantrell has voted on decisions affecting drug courts, child abuse claims, law enforcement in general, and juvenile offenders in particular.
Now, I’ve never really been into politics, so I was kind of nervous when I first walked into Cantrell’s office. I kept replaying a nightmare in my head: He was going to greet me and start talking a bunch of political mumbo jumbo that I wouldn’t understand. Boy, was I wrong.
Cantrell and his staff couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful.
At lunch, Cantrell spoke very openly about what he had done and what he is doing in office. (Just don’t ask him who he’s voting for, though. He shot that question down faster than I could ask it.)
Cantrell spoke with me about changes he has helped put into effect, like the Juvenile Information System. That program allows members of law enforcement, courts, and schools to access all the information on juveniles in the justice system.
Today, more than 90 agencies in Dallas County use the JIS as their main juvenile system.
What I learned throughout my day was that politics isn’t as scary as it’s made out to be. And not all politicians are corrupt, like those that sometimes make headlines as subjects of indictments.