Pointing fingers and naming names

By Joe Southern
WALLER – Sidney Johnson didn’t pull any punches as he called out people by name and accused them of dirty politics during a candidate’s forum Thursday night hosted by the Waller Area Chamber of Commerce.
Johnson, who is one of three candidates running for two at-large seats on the city council in the May 8 municipal election, let loose a barrage of accusations during his 12-minute speech.
“As some of you know, some of my signs were destroyed two weeks ago … They was run over,” he said.
Noting that police had video of the incident, he pointed to a man in the crowd and said, “Brenda Bundick’s brother did it, didn’t you David Wilson?”
He claimed that Wilson and Bundick’s husband, Ronney Bundick sabotaged the signs. No one spoke up to deny it. Brenda Bundick is an incumbent and is competing against Johnson and Rick Dalton Sr. for the two council seats.
“I just want to run a nice, clean little election … I thought I was going to be proud to be one of the first minorities to run for council,” Johnson said.
Then he turned his sights on Councilman Roger Frey.
“Roger Frey sent my tax information to the Waller County News (Citizen),” he said.
He said his tax delinquency was a private matter being litigated in court and said he didn’t feel he owed the property taxes because his grandfather, who passed away at 103, was “exempt” from paying property taxes after he turned 65. He also accused mayoral candidate Maurice Hart Jr. of snubbing him while campaigning and for giving campaign T-shirts to children who aren’t old enough to vote.
“Mr. Hart … that hurt my feelings,” he said.
Johnson said he was not looking for a fight but came prepared to defend himself.
“I will attack you if you attack me. I didn’t come up here to snowball nobody. I came up here to try to do something for Waller,” he said.
He said he was interested in seeing weeds mowed down, condemned houses torn down and everyone treated fairly.
“This town needs to grow with black folks, and white folks and Hispanics,” he said.
Johnson was the fourth of the five candidates to give his spiel at the forum. Up first were mayoral candidates Hart and Danny Marburger, followed by Brenda Bundick. Dalton was the last to go.
Maurice Hart Jr. 
 Hart has spent the last 39 years on council, the past 13 as mayor pro-tem. He is a past member of the Waller Volunteer Fire Department and a co-creator of the Waller Ambulance Service and the Waller County Sub-Regional Planning Commission. Among his accomplishments, he listed the city’s 200,000 gallon water storage tank, the expansion of the extra jurisdictional territory, creation of the 20-year comprehensive plan and the development of the Livable City Plan.
“I led the fight for the city against the Trans Texas Corridor,” he said.
He said that there were many things he wanted to do as mayor, including solving the city’s drainage problem, improving communication between city hall, city staff and citizens, working closer with other local governments, bringing light rail to Waller, and preparing for the growth that is coming from Houston.
Danny Marburger
Marburger was mayor of Waller for 32 years before taking the last term off to tend to business needs. In that time Paul Wood was elected in his place, but did not run again. Marburger said he wants to see more community involvement in city government. He proposes having citizen committees make recommendations for important projects such as drainage, parks, events and more. He wants to see more frequent trash pick-up, better collection of delinquent taxes, and better cooperation with the economic development commission to recruit new businesses to Waller.
“If I am elected mayor, the buck stops here. If I am elected, I will not take the money. I will give the $25,000 a year salary the council voted for the position and give it back to the community,” he said.
Brenda Bundick
Bundick has lived in Waller for 36 years and has worked for the city for 16 years. She said she was the city’s first tax assessor/collector, served on the WVFD, served eight years with the ambulance service, was the city’s emergency management coordinator (overseeing recovery from three disasters), helped the county with its emergency management plan, worked in the school district tax office and, in 2006, became the first woman elected to serve on the council.
“I have a lot of firsts for our city but I hope those are the stepping stones that the city will follow,” she said.
Among the things she would like to get done in office is better tree trimming and street repair, and to help decrease crime.
Rick Dalton Sr.
Dalton moved to the area in 1980 and then to Waller in 1985. He has made a career out of managing auto parts stores. He is currently the president of the Waller Volunteer Fire Department and has helped orchestrate agreements with the emergency medical service. He is a sponsor of Cub Scout Pack 195. He is a former city alderman who helped tackle issues such as the water tank, drainage problems and annexations.
He chose not to run in 2007 to focus on a change in job duties. He said that is now under control and he is once again able to serve. He talked about his experience helping run a shelter during Hurricane Ike and how proud he was at the way the city came together in a crisis. Dalton said he wants to see Waller network better with other cities and to be prepared for the growth to come.
“We need strong leadership to guide us through that transition,” he said.