Taliaferro asked to “be assessable” for PN-GISD voters

By Darragh Doiron
The Port Arthur News

April 18, 2008 07:01 pm

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Dr. J.D. Taliaferro, Place 7 candidate for the Port Neches-Groves Independent School District board race, said he is running because he was asked to.
“Everybody was asking. I was saying, ‘I don’t want to run. I don’t want to do this.’ I was planning on working on Civil Air Patrol,” he said.
Taliaferro, 45, is a higher education administrator for Lamar State College-Port Arthur. He and his wife, Kim, have a son, Jake. Taliaferro recently completed his doctorate degree in educational leadership from Lamar University. He said that he’d decided after he’d completed his doctorate that if enough people asked, he would run.
“I was asked for what I think are good reasons. Everybody is worried about how the board is spending money. Yes, the bond issue is part of it. As I talk to folks, it’s a bigger question. It’s not just bond money, it’s everything. There’s a perception that the PN-G school board is not approachable. I’ve been asked to be assessable and to be accountable. The board’s supposed to represent everybody and everybody’s not happy about that,” he said. “I’m not head hunting,” he said.
Taliaferro said his accounting skills are part of his qualifications.
“I have a master’s degree in accounting. I teach accounting at the college level. I was a corporate accountant for 13 years. I think that gives me the business background. I just completed my doctorate in education and I know about budgets. I think my budgeting background would be a benefit to all the stockholders,” he said.
Taliaferro is with Port Neches Rotary and is local commander of the Civil Air Patrol. He has a bachelor in economics from Lamar University, a bachelor in accounting from Lambuth University in Tennessee, a masters degree in accounting from University of Tennessee and the educational leadership doctorate from Lamar.
His opponent for Place 7 is incumbent Darren McCutcheon, who works with BASF plant operations.
Saturday, May 10, is election day. Early voting will run Monday, April 28, through Tuesday, May 6.
Contact this reporter at ddoiron@panews.com.

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