Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series to ask local candidates seven questions as they run for office.

Ralph Hudgens, who is a Republican running for Georgia Senate District 47, said though he doesn’t have any connections with the University, students should vote for him because he’ll lower taxes and protect individual liberty. Hudgens said he wants to reduce spending and keep it in line with revenue.

Q: Why are you running for office?
A: I have been in the General Assembly for 12 years [six in the House and six in the Senate] and I feel that my experience allows me to serve the citizens of the 47th District well.

Q: Do you have any connections with the University?
A: None, other than I support it.

Q: What are your top three immediate goals?
A: 1) To reduce government spending to keep it in line with revenue

2) To fight any attempt to raise taxes due to the shortfall in receipts

3) As Chairman of the Insurance Committee, to do all I can to insure Georgians the best value for their money.

Q: Why should UGA students vote for you?
A: Because of my commitment to lower taxes, less government, increased personal responsibility, protected individual liberty and stronger families.

Q: How and why did you get involved in politics?
A: In the early 1980s, I started a small business and came to realize that to succeed, I had to fight to overcome government regulations.

Government should do all it can to enhance free enterprise, which is the backbone of our economy.

I decided that we had enough attorneys in our legislature and not enough individuals that understood business, so I decided to run for public office.

Q: What previous jobs have you held that are not in politics (that may help you identify with voters)?
A: Following my graduation from college with a degree in agriculture, I worked in related jobs for several years, at which time I went to work for Shell Chemical Company, a division of Shell Oil.

I worked for them in management and sales for 18 years. In 1986, Shell sold our division to DuPont and DuPont wanted me to move to Iowa.

I decided that I would buy my partners out of a propane gas company we had started in southwest Georgia, so I declined the DuPont offer and became an independent small business owner.

Following an unsuccessful run for political office in southwest Georgia as a Republican, I was asked to accept a political appointment in Athens as the state executive director of an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1989.

During the past 12 years of serving in the General Assembly, I have started and either own completely, or in partnership with my children, Hudgens Enterprises, Inc., an investment company; Diamond Outdoor, Inc., a billboard company; ASAP Waste Disposal, Inc., a roll-off company; and The Glenn Company, a portable toilet company.

Q: What’s your family status? Are you married? Do you have kids?
A: Suzanne and I have been married for 45 years, we have four children and 11 grandchildren.

I believe the bumper sticker that I saw, which says, “Grandchildren are your reward for not killing their parents!”

Read more about Hudgens at www.ralphhudgens.com.