SD30 Candidate Cody Clark Latest To Question Hagenbuch's Legitimacy
SD30 Candidate Cody Clark Latest To Question Hagenbuch's Legitimacy
Apparently, the Texas Rangers might be involved
The latest event in the SD30 saga, former police officer Cody Clark filed a criminal complaint against Hagenbuch. While people such as Jace Yarbrough and Carrie de Moor have piled on to the Democrat donor turned ex-Denton GOP Chair, Clark is the latest addition to the fray.
Since our last interview with a Senate District 30 (SD30) candidate, interest spiked in alternatives (those not either “clot shot” shills, or Democrat donors.) While we covered Yarbrough recently, another candidate is businessman and former policeman Cody Clark.
Referring to his message as “common sense in a nonsensical time,” he asked for an interview and we gladly gave it, in light of his actions against Hagenbuch.
Tell the readers about your background. Have you always been politically engaged?
I’m from Lubbock, TX. I moved to the DFW area when I was 8 and then grew up in Carrollton, TX graduating from Newman Smith High School in 2001. Immediately thereafter, I attended college at the University of North Texas and found that I had a passion for criminal justice. Needing a job, while in school, I got hired at the Denton County Sheriff’s Office as a detention officer. I joined their Special Operations Response Team in the jail and after just over a year I got hired on as a police recruit at the City of Denton Police Department at 21 years old, and became a police officer. I had my first daughter, Justice, in 2004, married my wife Shelly in 2006, and we had our youngest daughter, Liberty, in 2015. There is no third child because For-all would be a terrible name.
I haven’t been politically engaged, in terms of running for office, but I have always been engaged in political speech and opinion. I am exceedingly willing to give you my take on any issue you might want to talk about. Probably too much so.
You were a former police officer I believe. Were there any particular moments or "calls" in your career that stand out to you to this day?
As a police officer, it’s commonly said that, “you have a front row seat to the greatest show on Earth.” It's true. You get to see people at their worst much of the time, but also at their best. Additionally, there’s a level of camaraderie that just doesn’t exist in many jobs.. outside of the military I’d guess.. where your coworker has signed up to give their life for, not only you, but others, and you agree to do the same. It’s an unbelievably honorable line of work when done correctly.
Of the calls I remember, a few stick out. I hadn’t been an officer too long when a woman ran out of a house, unclothed and beaten, to a neighbor, and asked them to call the police. She had been held hostage for several days, and beaten by her boyfriend, who was a body builder, and still inside the residence. We gathered, made a plan, made entry into the house, and as we worked our way through the interior, splitting off left to right, left to right we got thinned out as the house seemed to go on endlessly. Ultimately, I ended up searching what seemed like a never-ending number of rooms alone, wildly anticipating when the body builder would jump out. Little did I know, as I made it back through the house, and joined back with my partners that he was already in handcuffs without incident. He had just been asleep on the bed on the opposite end of the house. I was 100% certain that we were going to fist fight the hulk, but it didn’t happen. I’ve been in innumerable more serious situations, but that was one of most intense due to my inexperience. I think as you do these things, along with anything in life you become accustomed to the pressure that you encounter. Another time, my partner and I were driving around the district, and I spotted an individual I had never seen before walking with a known drug dealer. As we flipped around the squad car that unknown subject took off running, ultimately taking refuge inside the closet of a crack house as we proceeded after him. We were able to place him under arrest, finding drugs, and upon checking his information he was a wanted for slitting another man’s throat, killing him, in the middle of the street. I’ve worked calls where a man was talking to his wife about food, and then shot himself because he was just diagnosed as a diabetic without warning, and ones where we had to go find others who had no one to check on them. Endless hilarious calls as well, with intoxicated subjects or individuals who were high. One subject was naked, knocking on doors, and thought he was Jesus. After we booked him in, and placed him in a cell, the individual wrapped himself up in toilet paper, and was meditating on the bunk bed. He had consumed a number of mushrooms, and couldn’t be released for days for his own personal safety. It is the greatest show on Earth.
Which moments or people in your life had the greatest influence on your political views?
I don’t know that any one thing influenced my political views. More like, I feel like I have always been keenly aware of the fact that I am personally responsible for every outcome in my life. I believe that good, personal decisions, and individual responsibility, over time, can overcome any poor hand that an individual has been dealt. So, by default, I’m a conservative. I also know what hard work looks like from my grandfathers, my father, and my step-father. Looking back on it now, I don’t even know what political affiliation my Papa was, and I was already a police officer before I learned my father was a Democrat. I was astounded at the time haha.
What makes you different from others in the SD30 race?
I have a unique collection of experience to bring to the table. Being a former police officer, meant every interaction I had with a citizen needed to be contrasted against the Constitutional rights of that individual. This would, necessarily, be tens of thousands of interactions across the lifetime of my law enforcement experience. Additionally, in my capacity as a small business owner with my wife, I ensure both the rights and needs of individuals with IDD/special needs are met. I work with the individuals, the guardians/legally authorized representatives, my staff, and the courts to ensure compliance with statutory obligations mandated upon us by the State of Texas. As our business has grown my job has turned into working extensively with our legislative officials, and their staff both locally as well as in Austin. I have doubled down on that involvement in subsequent legislative sessions, and even more so over the last year and a half. I have testified before the legislature in hearings, come down during conference committees to speak with legislative staff, attended sessions hosted by Health and Human Services, and even provided actionable plans to carve out hundreds of millions of dollars, from existing budgets, to supplement substandard appropriations for those who cannot care for themselves. This was at no loss of service to individuals and with no net cost to taxpayers.
Effectively, I believe I am already doing, as my actual job, what you might expect your State Senator to do in function. I can leverage almost two decades of law enforcement experience and my current work for individuals with IDD/special needs, to defend, and advocate for the constituents of Senate District 30. Lastly, I have the freedom to be, not only in Austin when called upon, but to also be available as needed throughout the year as I wouldn’t be distracted by operating clinics or being involved in on-going legal process.
As you've likely heard, rival candidate Brent Hagenbuch's eligibility has been questioned. Do you believe his SD30 residency is legitimate, or is he scamming voters?
I don’t see how a rational, commonsensical person could believe that Brent Hagenbuch lived in Senate District 30, based on the evidence at hand, on or before November 5th, 2023, which is what is required by our State Constitution to run. Absent absurd legal precedent, that doesn’t appear to exist, or a time machine, yes it looks like he is scamming voters.
Should you win this election, what are your plans once you get to Austin. Any issues that are top priorities?
Border and election security have to be top priorities. We have to restore confidence in our free and fair elections and stop the invasion that is coming into Texas. Additionally, an overarching goal is to promote effective and efficient governmental operations and achieve a government that actually works for the people, not a government in name only.
Anything you'd like to tell our readers?
You can do serious work while not taking yourself too seriously.
As one of only two real alternatives in the SD30, he seems like a cool guy. Hopefully, his criminal complaint against Hagenbuch (or Hagenboo, Hagenbrandon, or whatever his surname is) is successful, and a Democrat donor is reduced to a footnote in Texas political history.
All in all, we wish Clark the utmost success in this quest against Center-Left columnists like the aforementioned.
