Jody Petronis Former Lampasan Joe "Jody" Petronis III, a Travis County resident, plans to challenge incumbent Congressman Michael McCaul in the March 2010 Republican Party primary for the District 10 U.S. House of Representatives seat.

Petronis, a program manager for Dell, has filed paperwork to enter the race and has slightly more than a fifth of the 500 signatures he needs by the end of December to qualify for the Republican ballot.

District 10 stretches from northern Travis County to the Houston suburbs of Katy and Tomball.

Petronis, salutatorian of the 1995 Lampasas High School graduating class, said he will campaign to restore constitutional limits on the national government.

"I want to push power back down to the people, start following the Constitution and reduce our national debt," Petronis said.

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense spending and interest payments on the national debt particularly concern Petronis, as he said this year those items will account for $2 trillion in spending, or essentially all the national government's revenue.

Petronis said he is willing to vote for cuts in popular programs in order to reduce government debt.

"Very few politicians want to touch them, because they're polarizing topics," he said.

On defense matters, for example, the former Lampasan said he would identify cuts in aircraft, missile defense and naval vessels. A March 2008 report issued by the General Accounting Office found that 72 major Department of Defense projects have exceeded their budgets by a total of about $295 billion and have been an average of 21 months late in development, Petronis said.

In the report, available at www. gao.gov/new.items/d08467sp.pdf, GAO officials noted that while planned investment in new DOD systems has doubled from $790 billion in 2000 to $1.6 trillion in fiscal year 2007, total program costs have increased 26 percent from first estimates, compared with 6 percent cost increases in 2000.

Petronis said he wants a strong national defense and has several friends who have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the congressional hopeful said he will pursue more efficient defense spending.

In place of the Social Security system -- which Petronis said the U.S. Constituion does not authorize Congress to create -- the potential candidate favors letting citizens own individual accounts. Workers could invest the money themselves to fund their retirements, Petronis said.

"It's giving the ownership back to the people," he said.

Petronis, 32, expects his ideas to appeal particularly to "libertyminded" voters and young workers, as many analysts have predicted that Social Security obligations will exceed revenue within the next few decades.

"I know that when I retire I won't be able to count on that," he said of Social Security.

Health care should be a state and local issue, Petronis added, as the former Lampasan said the Constitution's enumerated powers do not mention national health spending.

Petronis' belief in term limits also has motivated him to run for the 10th District seat, as McCaul is in his third term.

Petronis is the son of Joe and Debbie Petronis of Lampasas.