Tommy Calvert Stands tall in Texas
Tommy Calvert is a Bexar County Texas Commissioner. And he doesn’t just stand out because he’s tall. He stands out because he gets things done. Not just in his home of San Antonio, Texas, but as you will hear around the world.
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Transcription
Tommy Calvert: It’s a real honor to serve it. Kind of. Everything under the sun can come under a commissioner. But I think it’s probably the most powerful political position in the state of Texas. I mean, a politician’s probably five years behind most people in the neighborhood about what needs to be done.
There are so many stories that are not told, and it’s sometimes the what’s not written or said that needs to be said. If you’re in tension in your heart, it’s not just on political gamesmanship. You can work with anybody and try to get something done. If you are a servant, leader. I didn’t think I would grow up freeing slaves.
I didn’t think I’d ever grow up starting a radio station, so I stopped over planning and just go where I needed. So I don’t know where where the future will be, but I’ll go where I think I made it.
David Martin: Welcome to the Good Government show. I’m your host, Dave Martin. Working hard is all Bexar County Commissioner Tony Calvert knows how to do. Really? And this is in San Antonio, Texas. He’s a nonstop advocate and, well, he’s tall, so he stands out. What impressed me was a campaign pledge to pick up the garbage, and he did that as soon as he got elected.
He’s done a lot and he does a lot. He established an anti-slavery group and worked on human rights in the new nation of South Sudan and in Burma. He negotiated with the U.S. Air Force and kept Randolph Air Force Base from closing, and that kept one of the county’s largest employers there. He got outside foreign investors to build a new four star hotel in San Antonio, and he started a community radio station.
He was even listed as one to watch by a local newspaper. He continues to help people get into their own homes with different housing programs. And while he used to host a lot more dinner parties, you know, because he’s a busy guy. He’s still ready to cook up some local Tex-Mex. So join me for a lively conversation with County Commissioner Tony Calvert of San Antonio, Texas, Bexar County.
Right after this.
To Good Government Show is sponsored by Naco. That’s the National Association of Counties. County government is actually the oldest form of government in the United States, and it touches more people directly. Roads. Highways. Hospitals. Schools. Recycling. Law enforcement. Water and sewers in most of the country. Those services are maintained by the county that’s county government. Naco is a nationwide organization that represents all 3069 counties across the USA.
Naco helps county government work better together through things like sharing best practices because when county government works well, well, that’s just good government.
Welcome to the good Government show. I’m Dave Martin and I’m very happy to have Tommy Calvert with me. He is a county commissioner from Bexar County, which is San Antonio, Texas. Welcome to the show. welcome to the conversation.
Tommy Calvert: It’s good to be with you from our days in Maryland, up in the capital area.
David Martin: Yes, yes, we met, a couple of conferences ago in, in Maryland at a Naco convention. And one of the reasons why I really wanted to talk to you and I wanted to include you in this was because you told me a pretty incredible story. I’m going to get to that in a minute. But first, let me just, if you would, just kind of run through.
You have a lot of jobs. You’re a district four county commissioner. what else are you doing for the county?
Tommy Calvert: Yeah. So as a precinct four commissioner, you know, every county in the United States is different, right? their systems are different in Texas. We’re in charge of homeland security and emergencies. We’re in charge of, roads and bridges and law enforcement for areas that are not in a city we call those unincorporated. I think you have that in a lot of counties around the United States.
We oversee elections, marriage, divorce, the justice system. So we oversee the budget. So probably the biggest thing that we do, the district attorney, the sheriff, the probation, juvenile probation constables, justice of the peace, county court judges, the entire system of justice and health care. So, we have the Bexar County Hospital district known as University Health in our brand name, but that’s got a huge hospital.
I’m building two new hospitals. two, $500 million hospital building.
David Martin: Two hospitals.
Tommy Calvert: Yes, those are my babies. I worked seven years on one in Selma and my precinct. we bought 41 acres of a racetrack. So. Parking lot?
David Martin: Oh, no. We’re.
Tommy Calvert: about a six story, $500 million hospital. This was kind of in response to the pandemic. I was concerned about, staffed hospital beds and ICU, and and then one by Texas A&M San Antonio in the very deep south central area. But we’re in charge of mental health care. we’re in charge of the agricultural extension service and venues and flood control.
So there’s many, many things we oversee annually in San Antonio, Bexar County, about $6 billion worth of stuff dissipated amongst a couple of different pots of funding. And it’s a real honor to serve kind of everything under the sun can come under a commissioner, but I think it’s probably the most powerful political position in the state of Texas, because for every bill a congressman can pass, I can fund and and create about 300 programs with all the work they have to do with.
David Martin: Four.
Tommy Calvert: Plus people and the president. I actually just have five other or four other commissioners that I have to get, you know, three votes. And then I’ve got what I need done. So we do a hell of a lot, very, responsibly. It’s kind of like the Senate of local government and all of us are equal four commissioners, one county judge.
But we all sit on the dais of the quote unquote, commissioners court as equal. So like the Senate, we have the ability to put things on the agenda, take things off the agenda, block things and things like that. So, it’s it’s a great position.
David Martin: And you’re also the county judge.
Tommy Calvert: I’m an interim at the moment. Our county judge was, at the Capitol testifying because unlike a city council person, I can’t create new ordinances if I want to get a new law or ordinance, I have to implement the laws of the Texas Legislature locally. So I have to get the entire Texas House and Senate and the governor to sign it.
I did with our trash program that you and I talked about, but.
David Martin: We’re going to go to in just a minute.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah, yeah, he was up in Austin testifying and he had a fall about fall where he he Torres meniscus he fractured his ankle. And you know he’s on pavement. So he transferred his power to me in the last commissioners court meeting. and so, yeah, I am doing two jobs at the moment, but enjoying it.
David Martin: Well, I guess from what I’ve read of your résumé, you have more than two jobs, but we’ll talk about that. So. So one of the things that, when we met, you know, I told you what we were doing the good government show, we’re looking for government projects. And you told me I thought was a pretty incredible story.
you ran on a campaign issue, and you kept your campaign promise on day one. So what was your promise? And what did you do?
Tommy Calvert: I promise that the day after I was elected, I’d be back on doorsteps getting to work, and I did that.
David Martin: And I always like. What was the work you did?
Tommy Calvert: Well, we went into the most crime high area in my precinct, where trash was literally stacked six feet high because the county’s the unincorporated county, you know, the most of it. One one wonders, especially a guy from Brooklyn, New York. How do you have trash piled six feet high?
David Martin: Well, we had a dirt, garbage strikes here, but that’s okay. Yeah.
Tommy Calvert: There you go. That’s one way. Yeah. the other way is the majority of the state of Texas is rural. Right. So I said I implement the laws of the Texas legislature. So most of the state of Texas doesn’t want, heavy handed government saying, you need to have a trash mandate, to clean it up. They’ll Bernardo composted.
They’ll do whatever. so we’re a big urban county. We have over 2 million people. And so we had to say legislature give us trash authority. But I went that comes later, but I went the day after, and I and I began to, again survey. And Helen and I asked people, what are your top three issues and concerns?
It was raining. I was very tired. but I need to end, you know.
David Martin: This is the day after you won your election. Your first election? Yeah.
Tommy Calvert: It was it was documented by ABC news here as well. Okay. so I can send you some some article about that for your V role if you.
David Martin: Well, I think I’ve watched it, but yeah, I said it again.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah. And, and so I’m very proud of the fact that we have been able to turn around that neighborhood because we did get.
David Martin: All right. So you slow down on the best part. You walked out. So you get elected. Probably you find out sometime after 10 or 11:00 at night. You’re the new county commissioner. What time are you on the street? The next morning.
Tommy Calvert: I think it was two.
David Martin: Two, three, I remember.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I didn’t start right away.
David Martin: Okay. That’s all right. I’ll give you a little rest.
Tommy Calvert: We had a little champagne afterwards, okay. Because, you know, maybe it was like the Triple Crown. You know, I.
David Martin: Just had.
Tommy Calvert: I had to defeat eight opponents and my, overall race, three rounds of election. So. Yeah.
David Martin: And so you picked up garbage?
Tommy Calvert: Oh, yeah. I’ve picked up garbage many, many, many times in my precinct.
David Martin: But that day, the day after you got elected, you were out there with trash bags and volunteers and picking up garbage. Is that right?
Tommy Calvert: Well, it wasn’t that exact same day that we did the garbage. What we did is we talked to neighbors. Yeah. Every resident, in in the neighborhood that had been, crime infested. And we began to get basically Intel where people could report anonymously where they saw crime, where they could talk to me about the things the community needed, whether it was, job help, or maybe there was a sex offender that they were afraid of for their kids.
I heard all I heard and saw it all. so we were there looking at where a problem spots are trying to identify. Where do we need to put, you know, cameras to stop illegal dumpers? but yeah, there was a lot of survey where we were attuning to the fact that sometimes children didn’t have beds to sleep on.
Tommy Calvert: I got the police officer’s association to give out 200 beds for the children in the neighborhood. Whatever it was we were, we were there triaging.
David Martin: And how quickly were you back in the neighborhood picking up the garbage?
Tommy Calvert: Oh, you know, this is eight years ago now, so I know my sense of time is a little bit, funny. But, you know, I did a lot of my first hundred days. I did a lot. I had the commissioner who served on my court for 34 years. and he said, you got more done in two and a half years, and your predecessor did in 16.
And so, I, I told people that I would be one of the most prepared county commissioners and that I would be the most prepared county commissioner they ever elected. And I think they found that to be true. not because I’m the best thing since sliced bread, but because I come from a community organizing standpoint. So I believe that people have the answers that politicians need to implement.
And so the reason I survey people, and then I follow through on what I ask about is because, a politician is probably five years behind most people in the neighborhood about what can be done. And so, I’m.
David Martin: Not sure I live in that neighborhood.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah, yeah. As an activist, I said, let me take that approach this board down to the neighborhood level. So even today, I do 3000 meetings a year. I do house calls, I go out on, you know, wherever. And I have a big precinct. I mean, my precinct has rural farmlands, the inner city. It has, you know, military bases and, just everything that makes up Texas in the United States is found in my precinct.
Some people think, oh, here’s a black commissioner. he has a black precinct. No, my precinct, not majority black. It’s majority Hispanic. and blacks are the third, largest demographic.
David Martin: In my case. Well, you say you’re not the greatest. You know, I think I can remember exactly what you said. That the greatest county commissioner ever. But however, you have been cited as being one to watch. One newspaper said you were at another paper said you were, wonderkid. you’re making noise. How do you what do you attribute your success to?
Tommy Calvert: I had a great foundation because my father was a solid ski organizer, and my mother was a real stickler for education and sacrificed tremendously to send me, a kid from off of Martin Luther King Boulevard to the top private school in, in San Antonio. So the combination of being, around folks who were way outside our, income strata, but also still being, on as a child, literally going down to City Hall, fighting for streets that weren’t paved or drainage where people died or banks to invest, or equality for LGBT Americans.
just having that kind of made me a Jedi of government. that that allowed me to literally from being pushed in a stroller and marches up to continuing in community service. I became a public speaker at 14 because of a speech I gave at the Martin Luther King March. And so I honed in, that oratory, and developed that as a high school student.
You know, I was asked to speak at high schools for the Black History Month program. I was speaking at churches and synagogues, even as a teenager. And so, that gave me a very large group of people in which to listen to, to learn from. And so I would say I’m a community child. there was a lot of people in the neighborhood associations, there’s a lot of older Americans who have retired.
So their wisdom, they they they imparted that to me. And so,
David Martin: That’s great education. great background.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
David Martin: All right. Okay. So you got over your shyness right away because it’s certainly gone now.
Tommy Calvert: I am a shy person by nature. I’m not going to, as my father pushed me to introduce myself in meetings.
David Martin: All right. Okay. so, you know, there’s a there seems to be a lot going on. This is something I did not know until I did a little research before we spoke. San Antonio is the seventh largest city in America.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah. That’s right, we’ve got 1.5 million people moving here in the next decade. So we’ll be a county of about 3.4 million people. We’re over 2 million as we speak.
David Martin: And you said you have your your district, your your district for what? What part of San Antonio is that?
Tommy Calvert: Yeah. So precinct four is where you come to visit the Alamo and the Riverwalk and the town. All right.
David Martin: Let’s you wait.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah. We stretch up,
David Martin: Done both of those things, by the way.
Tommy Calvert: They are. Yeah. Thank you for, putting a little coin in our coffers here. We.
David Martin: It was a while ago, but I’ve been there.
Tommy Calvert: Nice doing business with you.
David Martin: Yes. Thank you, I. Hey, listen, I want to say, oh, this is the Riverwalk, all right? Oh, these are the San Antonio missions. Go to a baseball. Oh, I like got I have a I’ve shown people I took a really beautiful picture of, the Alamo at night. with it, it just rained, so it was, like, kind of look slick.
And everybody looked at it, said, wow. When I was there, it was crowded. How do you get the picture with no people? And, you know, you stick around long enough, so you wait. There you go. Yes.
Tommy Calvert: You’re media man. You know what you’re doing?
David Martin: Yeah, I do, yeah. One of the things that I noticed about your district is. And something you had a hand in, Randolph Air Force Base, very large military facility, in San Antonio and kind of in America. What’s it like to deal with the Air Force and how did you work with them?
Tommy Calvert: It’s been a great joy. you know, there are a number one employer, and Randolph Air Force Base in particular is our sixth largest employer, the military overall as Military City, USA. One time we had five military installations here. but we’ve had some transition and closures of some. And so what I did to help say, well, let me just give you the back up.
At the time, in 1938, Randolph was way in the periphery of the city. Nobody was really out there. It’s a great place to put Air Education Training Command. The Air Force always worries about a potential plane crash and loss of life. And so they don’t want people near the runways good. The fast forward to 2015 when I got into office, someone tells me, hey, Commissioner, one of your duties that you have to chair is this joint land use study to, get consensus with the development community, the neighbors, the cities, the community at large, a military base about how do we use the land around Randolph?
And we were able to do that. We acquired about 75 acres of land and what they call the clear zones. And accident potential zones. And as a result, Randolph went from where the secretary of the Air Force told the commander, General Eisner, who I worked with to prepare to move the Air Education Command for the Air Force from San Antonio elsewhere.
And then we we were able to save it. So that’s my that is my proudest moment as a as an elected official.
David Martin: Were there any people that you had to move, relocate?
Tommy Calvert: Everyone was willing to. Yes. But everyone. It was a volunteer program. It was out of force. Eminent domain thing. People raised their hands and said, yes, I’m interested in someone purchasing. And so, we went through the process and, and it’s.
David Martin: No fun to live at the end of a landing strip. Sorry, I said it’s no fun to live at the end of a landing strip. So I’m sure they were happy to move. Right.
Tommy Calvert: You kind of sign up for that? I mean, to give you a perspective of how many airplanes fly out of Randolph. San Antonio International Airport has 14,100 flights, probably more. now, this last time I looked back then, it was like 220,000 flights coming out of Randolph. Just to give you a little perspective. So we call that that jet black blasting off the sound of freedom.
David Martin: positive speed. Very nice. is it a challenge as a county commissioner to work with another branch of the federal government, the U.S. Air Force?
Tommy Calvert: Oh, sure.
David Martin: I mean, are they good partners? I mean, how’s how’s that relationship?
Tommy Calvert: I was very fortunate that, the relationship I mean, we are Military city, USA, because we embrace and and really tell our military we know sometimes you can’t lobby for certain things or say certain things because of your, your rules. But if you want to whisper it to us somehow Little Birdie tells us, go advocate. And that’s what we did.
We we, we tried to maintain that fairness. And, I think the military has been an incredible asset, and I still have to work with them on a day to day basis. I’ve been blessed that they, gave me a position as honorary commander of Randolph and Lackland Air Force bases and have, given me some, you know, advanced education at the Air Force War College just to get a sense of all the factors that go into our armed services and the kind of the joint base, movement that has happened around the country or the integration of various branches, work together for various missions and, even get a chance to see
how our allies, through the Defense Language Institute, from around the world, integrate into, common, defense for freedom and democracy around the world. So I consider it a great honor.
David Martin: It’s a very unique challenge. I mean, not not not most county commissioners have a military base in their backyard that they deal with on a, if not daily, regular basis. So it’s.
Tommy Calvert: I’ve got to and I used to have three.
David Martin: Okay. it does that does that make it more difficult. Is it a hard thing to manage.
Tommy Calvert: I haven’t found it hard, but but maybe that’s because I, specialize in my academic background in global conflict, peace and negotiation.
David Martin: Studies, so I.
Tommy Calvert: I, I, I but yeah, there’s big challenges because, for example, the legislature got rid of, restrictions on fireworks. And so all of a sudden after they passed a bill that just let fireworks stands go up anywhere there were outside of Air Force bases, airstrip. And the Air Force was like, holy cow, man, give us a little bit of distance for your pyrotechnics.
And so I had to go back in the legislature and get some amendments and things like that. And, but but I don’t consider that hard. I mean, it’s just trying to do the right thing.
David Martin: Okay. There’s a lot of stuff that you’ve been a part of. It seems like one of the things I wanted to ask you about is the Thompson Hotel. Tell me a little bit about how that came together. And I understand there was a lot of foreign investment. That’s pretty heated stuff for a county commissioner. And, you know, one city in Texas.
Tommy Calvert: So about 1800 jobs were created because we were participants. We were very fortunate to be participants in a federal program, that I’d love other people in government to know about. It’s, the eb5 program. And what that does is it allows high net worth foreigners invest a half 1 million or $1 million in an American business or nonprofit.
They’ve got to get their return within nine years. In exchange, they get green cards. A lot of these foreign folks, invest because they want their children to go to American colleges and have the opportunity of the great education that our colleges bring. and so, we were able to on $140 million, 21 story building, we were able to get about $88 million to supplement our local ownership, which was from the San Antonio and Houston area.
and, what it also does is it pays down the debt service on that $140 million building very quickly. So you’ve almost, from the day you open, got more than half of your, of your building paid for. And so that really is amazing. And it created eight. I used to say 1300 jobs, but they gave me an update recently that it created 1800 jobs for San Antonio.
And so, what I simply did, was go to Vietnam and, China.
David Martin: What I simply did was go to Vietnam and China. Simple. Okay.
Tommy Calvert: Well, and and I and I offered the hand of friendship and I talked about our economic trajectory. so my, my background was in international relations and economics. And so I put together a marketing piece that talked about how strong our hospitality industry was and the strength of our housing economies. And I told them, basically, government’s going to get out of the way or help this project, which they need to hear, because in a lot of places, if government doesn’t like the project, then it’s going to be, not a good investment.
And San Antonio is not really on the global map. We have not played in that. You know, Houston in New York, they’re in the global map. But San Antonio was not. So I’m really proud that this was one of the largest foreign investment projects to help local business people. And I hope we do a lot more to, do projects in San Antonio for that.
I mean, look, there’s green all over the world. You might as well leverage it to your own good.
David Martin: Fair enough. Are you on radio or are you just manage the community radio station?
Tommy Calvert: I used to do the morning show, karaoke, and maybe it helped me get elected a little bit.
David Martin: You do have a little bit of a radio voice here.
Tommy Calvert: Thank you. And, and and so I don’t go on air as much. most of my background is, just as the general manager and founder of the radio station San Antonio Community Radio Care, of which stands for Restore Our Voice. But I am I am feeling the need to get back into, broadcasting and media because there are so many stories that are not told.
And it’s sometimes the what’s not written or said that needs to be said. And so, you know, I, I kind of came into my job, I think like Senator Franken when he was you know, yeah, he was on Saturday Night Live, was a media guy. He didn’t want to be on the press all the time. He just went to work and he wanted to let people know, I’m really here to work the job.
I’m not here to be, Twitter politician or whatever. Media mogul. And I did the same thing. I had a lot of relationships in media, but I really did not do a whole lot of interviews. I did not. I probably didn’t get covered as much for the things that I did. I just did the work. And so eight years later, people now know I’m a workhorse on a show horse.
Okay. And so I feel the need to go back into broadcasting, in, in whatever limited way I can, but maybe managing people to help really tell stories that are going to advance, the benefit of people’s lives.
David Martin: So, we’ve talked a lot about things you’ve done. What are the things you’re working on now? What’s what what good government are you bringing to the people currently?
Tommy Calvert: Well, I think that, our, our climate change in the environment is very serious. And so, we want to increase our tree canopy when you’re getting 1.5 million people moving into your community, there’s a lot of trees that are cut down to make room for that growth. And I think that, that is an important element. we’re also working on a rail line, between Austin and San Antonio, and seeing if we can get some options there.
The governor has a lot of power to make that happen. We’ll see in this budget in the next three months if he does. Okay. is something that would take 8 million cars off the road, and give a lot of a lot cleaner air. we’re continuing to work on affordable housing and homeownership. Our homelessness problem, continues to be something that I’m focused on permanent supportive housing, that is housing with all the wraparound mental health job training services that, someone who’s experiencing homelessness needs.
crime issues are a big right now. and we’re trying to increase law enforcement and mental health. we created a smart unit several years ago where mental health clinicians respond to certain, crimes. It’s been very successful. we may need to look at other things that we expand that for. and of course, more beds for treatment.
We’re expanding. We spend out of our American Recovery Plan Act, the largest, I think the largest pot of funding that we spent was on mental health and expansion of mental health beds and treatment beds. And so the long term, for our children, to make sure that these increases in their dropout rate don’t create a school to prison pipeline, it’s very important to me.
Our county judge is extremely wise about how we can put our county resources into helping families, not, fall into poverty and crime, because he was a children’s court judge where he saw abused and neglected children in the worst of circumstances. And so he and I are going to work together to bring the nonprofits, the faith based community, the health care and mental health care community to schools to try and figure out how do we put families and kids in the best position to be successful?
David Martin: we don’t really get into politics, but since you’re in Texas and you’re a Democrat, I just, you know, need to ask. I know that I’ve talked to other county commissioners around the country. there are places where working together and across the aisle is a problem. How are you handling that in Texas? how are you handling that with your with your board members?
Tommy Calvert: I believe very because I worked in human rights, I worked for slaves in Sudan and Burma and all over the world. And I push freedom and democracy all around the world. I will never take for granted the blessing of freedom and this democratic system that we have in America. Never, ever. So I have always had, and partly because I went to school like Saint Mary’s Hall, where everybody was Republicans.
I was one of five Democrats, right. And I was class president three times.
David Martin: So you’re used to being surrounded?
Tommy Calvert: Yeah, I am used to working with Republicans. And, I have a ton of Republican supporters. In fact, the time before last I ran, I was unopposed. I’ve been the Republican precinct chair meetings, which I don’t think any Democratic politician in the state of Texas has ever done and come out with without, you know, I’m scared.
David Martin: So let’s just say that scares.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah, I did yeah, that’s a better way to say okay. So so but my my point in saying that is if your intention in your heart is not just on political gamesmanship, you can work with anybody and try to get something done if you are a servant leader. The problem right now with the Republican Party in Texas is, fascism, is a very strong political strain in their, in their party and, gamesmanship of, squashing the woke or whatever they think they are doing, is taking away the local powers of local governments to govern themselves.
And this is going to be a very big problem. They’re making us look more and more like Russia every day. Russia was a command and control system. That’s what the governor and the legislature want to do. They want to command and control what we do. It’s funny, sometimes the far right and the far left. I mean, at the same place in politics.
And I think that for the future of government and politics in America, the two strands of energy that we have to fight are socialism and fascism. They’re both going to be where the energy of the parties go. And America has been, a, a a steady ship because it has not gone all the way, one way or the other.
It’s tried to stay, pretty well in the, in the middle. And so when we start tampering with the institution and the, the, the constitutionality of the way we play between the executive, legislative and judicial, branches of government, you you’ve got a real problem on your hands, but I’ll be there as someone who has fought against systems of, fascism, dictatorship and socialism to, give Americans a little history.
let me give you the best book you can read about this right now. Okay. The fascism is by Madeleine Albright. Her book, fascism. And the reason I say that is because, of course, Madeleine Albright was a Czech, refugee. Right, during World War two, and she lived through it. And she gives a specific wording that was used by Mussolini and Hitler that’s now being used in the Republican Party today.
She comes from a professor standpoint at Georgetown, of course, our distinguished secretary of state. So you will not find someone who has all three of those lived experiences educating you on what fascism is doing to American politics. You need to everybody needs.
David Martin: To read, Fascism by Madeleine Albright. So I see a picture of a basketball team behind you. What do you do for fun? You’re a busy guy. What do you do for fun?
Tommy Calvert: I used to play basketball when I was a little younger. I. I, I had one game with, like, Julian Castro. I was a deputy campaign manager with him. And I look like Hakeem. I mean, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I made like 17 points in the game, but that’s like a total fluke because I was a defensive player in offense, or they was just how bad the rest of my old team was.
But, yeah. So I like to travel. I used to cook a lot, but I don’t have a lot of time for. I have dinner parties and things like that, but, yeah, I like to have a good time with friends and family.
David Martin: And where do you travel to? Where have you been lately?
Tommy Calvert: Oh, so I just got back from New Mexico. Okay. I took my mother on vacation.
David Martin: All right.
Tommy Calvert: she care of my stepfather, who has dementia. And I said, mom, you need a break. And so we went to Albuquerque and Santa Fe and Chimayo, the church of Tamayo. but, you know, I tend to even go places around the world. I was in Egypt right before the pandemic, and, I traveled to many countries around the world.
I’m an international relations guy, and I love to see different cultures. So I’m hoping Greece this year. I’m sure there.
David Martin: All right, I’m walking. I’m going to Spain in October.
Tommy Calvert: Oh, I love Spain walking.
David Martin: I love walking the Camino Santiago. Not the entire park, just a little bit of it.
Tommy Calvert: So I like Madrid.
David Martin: I I’ll, I’ll be in Madrid. Over. I think I do two night, two days on the way and one out of the way out. So I promised your staff that, this would be about a half an hour conversation. We’re at a half an hour now, but now it’s time to get to the questionnaire. We have the list this is going to.
We’re going to talk about your philosophy of government. We’re going to hear we’re gonna get the inside scoop from you. so you’ve been a county commissioner? I think you said eight years. you’ve been around government for longer than that. from where you sit, define good government.
Tommy Calvert: Well, it is, servant leadership, where big money, special interests, is, not put ahead of, the majority community needs. it is, listening to, the needs of communities and prioritizing them. it is, making sure that people are empowered, not just have government do everything for them, but to empower people to petition their government to make it work for them.
so I think that it’s it’s a dichotomy. You know, for example, when I lived in France, I studied the building of the European Union in college, and I wanted to do a, book report on community service. And my, my teacher, we struggled with this term because in France there is no such thing as community service, because it’s a socialist democracy and the government does everything for you.
And so I think there’s something very powerful that unlocks in the human spirit when we can help each other. I think in many ways government should be doing more to help people. But at the same time, when we have community service organizations and NGOs that fill in those gaps, there’s something very powerful about the connectivity of of each other in humanity that there is a lot.
David Martin: So how do you judge your success in providing good government? What what do you use as your personal yardstick?
Tommy Calvert: I have used that. I follow through, did if I made promises that I did, I keep them, and I’m very proud to say I have I have kept all of my promises since being elected eight years ago. So I probably have to make a few more.
David Martin: well, I guess this isn’t a problem for you, but, the next question on our questionnaire is, if you if you’re citizens, if you’re voters, if you’re people in your district aren’t getting good government and feel like they’re not, how should they hold you accountable?
Tommy Calvert: Oh, tell me, you know. Yeah. And and I haven’t the most activist, radical kind of area. Yeah. and kind of on both sides, I have very conservative sides in my farmlands. And I have, like, you know, people like my father, who used to just take 2000 people in DC to take over the EPA or the Bankers Association, or we went to, like, the owner of America.
So, in Chevy Chase when I was a child. So I’m used to. But I do not get ripped as much as most electeds because we do try to be responsive and people know that, but, they they I absolutely, I’m happy to take a licking. If I earned it, I earned it.
David Martin: All right. So if people feel like they’re not getting good government, what should they do? What should the citizens do?
Tommy Calvert: Well, first. First, is make sure you do your homework. and what what research, can lead is sometimes people are asking the wrong level of government for that help. and they don’t know that, that they’re necessarily doing that. the once you do a little bit of, of research is try to not be a lone ranger, try to find other folks who have that similar concern and come as a, as a group to represent that you are not just speaking for yourself, but for others.
Now, smart elected will understand when, when a, when a constituent comes and they know that this affects a lot of people, but a people power makes a difference. And so working as a, as a larger group can be very effective to gaining attention because, the two, strands of political power are people, power and money power.
So if you ain’t got money, you better bring some people.
David Martin: Okay. So, you eight years county commissioner, what would you like people to know about how government works? About the inside of government?
Tommy Calvert: Oh, Lord, that’s a book.
David Martin: Should I start taking notes?
Tommy Calvert: I think government is as good as you, and we make it. It is for and by the people. And when when people don’t pay attention to what their elected officials are doing and they think they’re all the same, and the cynicism sits in, that’s not a good thing. the elected officials are only as good as you let them get away with what what’s going on?
And so it is supposed to be accountable. It is supposed to be transparent, and it is supposed to do the people’s work ahead of the powerful. so, I think that we need to really study our Constitution, know that we are very fortunate because I have traveled to many countries where you can’t speak a negative word against your leadership, where you can’t protest, and organized, like I just mentioned, with your fellow neighbors, and we have to keep that flame of liberty and democracy alive because it’s very much under threat.
And and if every one of us in a democracy, every citizen, it is it is your duty to make sure that you defend democracy wherever you are. If it’s being a precinct chair and making sure that, you know, people aren’t purged, from voting rolls or from purged as precinct chairs, which we had happen in Bexar County, and I spent about $60,000 in legal fees defending that institution, or whatever it is to make democracy remain.
It isn’t up to the next person to draw the line and stand for democracy. It’s up to you. The most powerful person in democracy is not the president. It is a citizen. You are the boss and make government work for you.
David Martin: Do you like when people show up at your town hall meetings and community meetings? Go, hey Commissioner, wait a minute and start, you know, arguing with you intelligently.
Tommy Calvert: Sir, I think that, debate is very healthy. you know, if you knew my father, you would understand, many dinner table discussions. We’re not all in the same region. Yeah, I’m. I think that is, a fine thing. And, and I look, I have the things we’ve done are because we had those conversations.
Okay? So, for example, I had a senior citizen in the southeast part of my precinct at a neighborhood meeting said, hey, Commissioner, I’ve heard you say you voted for, for tax cuts in the four years, but, you’re over the university health system, and and they haven’t given any senior property tax relief like the city or whoever.
Why why why shouldn’t we have something I said? Well, you know, that’s a really good idea. So I was being with a little bit I that.
But from there I got a $10,000 homestead exemption that expanded to a $35,000 homestead exemption for seniors. If they hadn’t said something, I couldn’t have acted. So that’s healthy.
David Martin: All right, so you’re you’re up for a good debate?
Tommy Calvert: Well, I’m a two time debate champion of Texas. I don’t really turn that still on. because it’s not nice. I’m I’m a servant. So you don’t see that side of me, but, Well, you’d like to talk. We’ll talk.
David Martin: You’re sitting down and. Oh, you’re on camera, people. I’ve met you in person. You’re a tall guy. You sort of stand out of the room. when you go out into your district and into San Antonio, are you constantly sort of like, hey, Commissioner, I want to ask you about this. I want to ask you about that. Is it hard sometimes to go to the store and get milk and bread?
Tommy Calvert: Yeah, but that’s what you sign up for. And I will go to different stores and different restaurants intentionally to check in different areas. Just. And I go to different churches. in my precinct on a, on a regular basis, just to let people know I’m still here. If you need something, we begin constituent work. Right then. yeah.
Sometimes you want to be, asked, but if you want to be turned off, stay at home and don’t go.
David Martin: Out there for friends and bring them to you.
Tommy Calvert: Know, order, order takeout or something. But, when I’m out, I circulate myself on purpose just to, make sure that the community knows I’m not hiding from them.
David Martin: Is it largely friendly? Oh, yeah.
Tommy Calvert: Okay, I know I do. I was at the grocery store. I was at the grocery store on Sunday, and I’m not trying to brag, but this is a true story, guys. He speaks Spanish. It doesn’t speak very good English. He’s not in my precinct. I’m not in a store. Am I preaching? I just happen to be in the area and stop.
And he goes, you’re doing a good job. You’re the only one.
David Martin: That’s.
Tommy Calvert: So, thank you, sir. Thank you very.
David Martin: Much. How’s your Spanish?
Tommy Calvert: Good, I did, I I’m proficient in Spanish, so I, I speak Spanish on doorsteps into constituents all the time. It’s a surprise.
David Martin: How’s your French.
Tommy Calvert: General? I’ll say, because it was very simple. As a qualm.
David Martin: I have no idea what you just said.
Tommy Calvert: Okay. Somebody out there does.
David Martin: Good.
Tommy Calvert: I know enough to get around.
David Martin: All right. Okay. All right. Oh, that’s. What other languages do you speak?
Tommy Calvert: Well, I used to speak when I was younger. I mean, I, I spoke a lot of them, but I forgotten a lot of this stuff. So I started singing in a voice choir. So we we began at a very early age, learning Latin in German and Japanese and French and, you know, all these different languages. But I’ve forgotten a lot of that stuff.
So I can, you know, remember a little bit.
David Martin: You could probably order dinner in several countries.
Tommy Calvert: I better be.
David Martin: Able to do that. So, other than your dad, obviously, who are your political heroes?
Tommy Calvert: Nelson mandela? I wish I could have met him before. he passed because he is such an inspiration to have spent 30 plus years in a prison just for trying to be treated equally. And then the way he governed to try to reconcile and turn the page on, you know, the way he he allowed Desmond Tutu to set up the truth and reconciliation, to let people air out what was done wrong, close that chapter and turn a new page.
There’s still a lot of racism in South Africa and other places, but, those barometers of speaking to our better Angels are, models for me. So, Yeah. Yeah, he would be, one of my greatest political, mentors. You know, if I ever got to be mentored by. I’m not going to read. And,
Presidential records.
David Martin: it sounds like your dad was pretty influential as well.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah. I mean, my family, I hit the jackpot when it came to parents because, you know, I had this mother who was, corporate IBM woman who was, you know, kind of. She grew up in the country of East Texas, months, 12 kids, and, had this love for education. Ended up because she cared so much about me.
She actually left. she actually left her high paying corporate job at IBM to become an adjunct professor. Took, like, $100,000 pay cut, because she didn’t want to move me to the corporate headquarters, headquarters of Bethesda, because they were asking her my sophomore year to move. and so, you know, she’s taught me a lot about listening.
she’s the Polish, right? She’s my dad is, fire and brimstone and, you know, blow up the bad boys. And then my mother is the. Okay, let’s pick constructing the new city and bring people together and, figure out how do we do this together? Well, they both were about doing things together, but, I think she balances out, my radical, the radical side.
What you need? so people don’t always know whether I’m going to be the diplomat, Tommy, or whether I’m going to be the radical right.
David Martin: All right, so you’ve lived in San Antonio or you’ve lived in Texas most of your life. obviously you said you, went to school in France. You spent a lot of time in Asia.
Tommy Calvert: Africa.
David Martin: Africa as well. I’m coming to your house, for one of your dinner parties with friends. What are you making? What are what are we having? What’s your what’s your Texas dish?
Tommy Calvert: Oh, if you’re coming, my brother, we’re not house. We’re going to have a smorgasbord. What I will do. I’ll make you some cheese enchiladas with a little chili and onions on top. I’ll make you some gallops with, sherry. Dijon orange zest. I’ll make you a nice steak. get that bad boy out of 500 degrees in the oven and, you know, put some, salt on that bad boy, flip that thing.
I’ll get you some, barbecue chicken, and ribs.
David Martin: I know I could get fish.
Tommy Calvert: I’ll have a smorgasbord, whatever you want.
David Martin: That’s where you. Where do you have a couple of go to spots in? you’re in San Antonio. Well, what? Where do you go? Out. What are you looking for?
Tommy Calvert: I’m going to give a political answer because there’s there’s there are a lot of good places. you know, if you kind of want the high end new American sushi, that’s just. You can’t go wrong. There’s a place called bliss. You will be in bliss. Okay. at that, you know, it’s it’s a little on the pricey side, but it’s not.
It’s not overboard. Pricey. Especially if you’re from, the East Coast.
David Martin: You’re probably the.
Tommy Calvert: there. You know, you might want to go to Meteora for a good, enchilada. so it just depends on what you want. We have improved our culinary scene exponentially. after we got one of the five culinary institutes of America here in San Antonio. So we are now a city of gastronomy. We owe that to Mayor Ed Garza, who.
Who just was on a trip refinancing bonds for the city of San Antonio. He walks into the Culinary Institute. He says, hey, I’m the mayor of San Antonio. I’d like to talk to you about putting a culinary institute in San Antonio because we need to improve our cuisine.
David Martin: It’s in San Antonio, sort of like ground zero for Tex-Mex.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah. Oh, man. You will not find any better in the United States. And I don’t care what San Francisco. Well, Tex-Mex is Tex-Mex. So if you’re trying to do Tex-Mex in California, good luck to you. But,
David Martin: That’s different. Yeah, yeah, but I mean, it isn’t like tamales or something. Weren’t they, like, discovered or craft?
Tommy Calvert: Yeah. Tex-Mex tamales and salad as, you know. Oh, yeah.
David Martin: It’s family queens. I mean, they work San Antonio, the square. And that was the place to go, right?
Tommy Calvert: You’re you don’t have to just go to the square. You can throw a stone and you’re going to find a good Mexican restaurant.
David Martin: So you’ve been a county commissioner for eight years. you talked about your your background in public speaking. Did you want to always go into elected office?
Tommy Calvert: not always, but I, as I.
David Martin: A president, when you were growing up.
Tommy Calvert: well, you know, I thought about it for a little bit when I. When I saw the Constitution, my dad came home from being a delegate for Jesse Jackson in 1988 and spoke to my third grade class and explained to us, you know, the process of being a delegate. And he brought back the cool hat. And I thought that was pretty cool.
but, you know, I’ve had a lot of iterations of work. I’ve, you know, run a global human rights organization. I’ve had a business in advertising and PR, I’ve done a radio station, and I’ve done business consulting. And so, you know, I’ve had a lot of thoughts about private sector and public sector things. I didn’t being a commissioner was not on my plan.
I had a I had a $9 million television show on MSNBC called slave Hunter. and I was getting ready to take the, leading role in that, show and have my book published by Simon and Schuster. But, you know, as as the good Lord would have it, there was a change. And, my predecessor decided to run for county judge, and the seat became open, and I was trying to recruit other people, and I didn’t I wasn’t planning to run for the show.
so this was not on my plan. So I learned a lot to just kind of meditate and pray and go where I’m needed. I didn’t think I would grow up freeing slaves. I didn’t think I’d ever starting a radio station. So I stopped over planning and just go where I needed. So I don’t know where where the future will be, but I’ll go where I think I made it.
David Martin: Did you want to run for county commissioner? Will you really talked into it?
Tommy Calvert: I thought I’d run for state rep first, to be honest. Okay, but, people at the time. Yes, I wanted to, but, And I was encouraged to, but I also was I was always fortunate when I was helping people in human trafficking out of those circumstances. So I thought, you know, this door because that stage of my life doing that on a full time basis had been on hiatus for maybe five or plus years.
I mean, little intermittent things I would do in the movement, but I thought, okay, I’m being called to, you know, really come back and help, this cause in a, in a in a way that will impact it in a big way. that’s where I’m needed in New York. And, the long and short of it is, I asked God for a sign.
I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you what happened. We had a lawsuit filed against our show. we’re going to be the Thanksgiving weekend special for MSNBC. And we had a lawsuit filed, like on the I think, we were going to air Saturday. We had a lawsuit filed like Wednesday or Thursday of that week. It was bogus, never amounted to anything.
It was just complete baloney. But but then at that time, the president of NBC was in his first year, and there were two other lawsuits. One was a class action on a mount Everest, reality show where people die. And there was another one. Then I was ours. So he was afraid that three lawsuits in his first year he could be.
David Martin: Outed would be his last year.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah. I had to meet with the senior VP as the chairman of the board of this nonprofit in LA that had the contract. And I had to, you know, let them know, but that that this was baloney. So I think I had that meeting on like Monday or Tuesday and the filing. So it was like December 9th was the filing deadline to run for commissioner.
And I think I had that meeting on like December 5th. And people are like, Tommy, you got to run, you got to run, you got to run. And I just didn’t think I had enough gas. I had given a lot of money to start the nonprofit radio station. You got to raise a lot of money, you know, over half $1 million to run for.
Commissioner. I just thought I was out of gas. You know, I made a lot of sacrifices. I had a car repo. I mean, I was I was really not in a financial circumstance to do it. And so I said, God, I literally was doing the morning show at like 8:00. I prayed and I said, God, if you want me to run for this position, you’re going to have to move the filming of the show past the March Democratic primary at 1:00.
My assistant, Don in New York called the same day, and she goes, well, congratulations, Tommy. The executive at NBC had decided to resume the filming of the show. I said, when she goes, they’re not exactly sure. But sometime past March, I got goosebumps. I look up to God. I didn’t want you to tell me that. That’s when I decided to run for Commissioner.
David Martin: I guess this was. That’s a pretty strong signal.
Tommy Calvert: Yeah. All right. And I now understand why I was supposed to run for commissioner.
David Martin: All right, so, we like to wrap it up on a on a positive note. Tell me some good government project that’s going on right now. You’re a part of.
Tommy Calvert: We’ve got an urban farm, a ten acre urban farm. We want a National Association of Counties award for it. We gave away 25,000 pounds of fresh vegetables and fruits during the pandemic, but we’re expanding to build a $17 million office for ag extension service, where we’ll have tons of classes, everything from how to, you know, make, all kinds of vegetables, to falconry to financial literacy, to leadership courses, you know, bee beekeeping, all that kind of stuff will be taught out at the farm.
So we are opening.
David Martin: so what are we growing on the ten acre farm?
Tommy Calvert: it depends on the season. Okay. So, of course, some seasons you’ll be growing broccoli and collards and, you know, just depends on the squash. And it just depends on your season. So pumpkins and cantaloupes. And so it’s going to be year round. and, and and it’s, it’s first phase is opening outdoor classroom in April here coming up of 2023.
And I also have a precinct for satellite office to be more responsive to constituents. It’s opening near Miss Randolph actually. So excited about both of those things.
David Martin: Well, Tammy Calvert, it has been an absolute joy talking with you. I really appreciate it. And as I said, I hope to get out to San Antonio this year and see some of the good work you’re doing, in person. And, I think what you said, some barbecue, some steak, I can’t remember anything else.
I took notes.
Tommy Calvert: okay. Depending on the day, I will have it all brought to us. I may not be able to cook it, but I’ve got a bootleg real estate tour for you when you come in town. I’ve got a. We’ll drive you around and we’ll show you around the park.
David Martin: And you said your son. Has the garbage gone away. Is that garbage problem been cleaned up for good?
Tommy Calvert: We we we we still have intermittent illegal dumping. But in terms of trash piled street upon street, six feet high, that’s those days are gone.
David Martin: Those days are gone. Well, that’s great to hear. listen, it’s been a pleasure talking with you. I look forward to meeting with you again. keep up the good work. And thank you very much.
Tommy Calvert: See you in us. And thank you. Your your show is very important. Thank you for, reminding people of this great place that we live. And, Hey, it’s up to all of us. This is an important show to keep this system of democracy and freedom growing.
David Martin: Thanks for saying that. We just wanted to show that there is good government out there somewhere. And thanks for providing that.
Tommy Calvert: There is.
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I’m a workhorse, not a show horse. Those are Tommy’s words. Great words to live by. If you’re a county elected official. And as you heard, Tommy keeps active and it’s good to see keeps his promises. Or at least he’s constantly working on that checklist, going down that list, checking out the things he’s accomplished. And that was a great conversation with someone who’s clearly working hard for the people of Bexar County, Texas.
And I really do hope to visit him. It’s just a question of which story of bringing good government to the people I’m going to tell. But I look forward to the visit and to the Tex-Mex. So join us again on The Good Government Show for another conversation with another government leader talking about what makes for good government. Join us again.
Wherever you’re hearing me now, I’m Dave Martin. Thanks for listening and.
The Good Government Show and a conversation with is produced by Valley Park Productions. Jim Ludlow, David Martin and David Snyder are the executive producers. Our editor and producer is Jason Stershic. This is a good government show. Thanks for listening.
**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.