Getting top dogs in DFW business to say who they prefer for president ain’t easy. Most ran from the question when it was posed recently by D CEO magazine, but three execs bucked the trend and stood up to be counted. Jump to find out whether Jeff Morris of ALON USA, Craig Hall of Hall Financial Group and Tom Landis of PML Restaurants are supporting Barack Obama–or John McCain.
“As a conservative contrarian, McCain’s my pick,” says Landis, who owns Texadelphia and Pizza Patron restaurants. “While at the Naval Academy, he knocked out Ollie North in a boxing match. As a POW, he led fellow prisoners–and guards–in worship because he’d memorized the Book of Common Prayer.”
Hall, on the other hand, is voting for Obama.
“In 2004,” Hall says, “I supported the Democratic candidate out of concern for three areas: 1. The war in Iraq was a diversion from the real war on terrorism. More emphasis was/is needed on Afghanistan. 2. We were headed for irreresponsible deficits, which would ultimately lead to a devaluation of our currency. 3. Four more years of George Bush would undermine American liberties, and our Justice Department would be used for political purposes rather than constitutional purposes.
“All three became true,” Hall continues. “We need to refocus our efforts against terrorism, restore our constitutional American liberties and address a seriously deteriorating financial economy.”
Morris, meantime, says he’s backing McCain because of the Republican’s energy policies–specifically ones regarding nuclear power and the development of battery technology.
McCain is “strongly advocating the major expansion of nuclear energy in our country, where Sen. Obama is lukewarm,” Morris says. “I believe nuclear energy is critical to allow us to continue to grow our economy, but also to seriously address greenhouse gases.
“Secondly, I support Sen. McCain’s call for significant research in battery technology,” Morris goes on. “I believe the next-generation vehicles will be primarily based upon electricity, but we are limited in that transition due to the inefficiency of current battery systems. If/when we develop highly efficient batteries, then hybrid and plug-in vehicles become much more economical, and we can then achieve our greenhouse emission reduction targets by producing electricity via nuclear and using it in primarily electric vehicles.”
