Introduction
My name is Shane Stolarczyk. Many of you know me as the guy with the last name you cannot spell or pronounce. I have lived in Kendall County since 2010. I am married to the woman I shared a cubicle with at my first job after graduating law school, and we now have two children together. I am an experienced lawyer, military officer, and small business owner. I believe in God, guns, and individual liberty and want to make sure our freedoms prosper in Kendall County.
Shane’s Education
Shane is the eldest child of a former Navy Quartermaster and head of safety and environmental compliance for multiple railroads across the United States and homemaker. Along with his two siblings, he grew up on a large parcel of land where he spent his childhood hunting, dirt biking, and playing soccer and baseball. After high school, he was awarded an academic and athletic scholarship from Skidmore College, where he served as the starting shortstop for the Skidmore Thoroughbred baseball team. He was proud to be the first person in his family to attend college and ultimately graduated with a Bachelor’s of Art degree in Biology-Psychology. He went on to attend Albany Law School, where he graduated with Honors. In law school, he performed several internships for courts and earned a spot on the school’s Moot Court Advocacy Team. Although Shane’s education took him to varying cities, the love of the great outdoors never subsided, leading him to eventually choose Kendall County more than twelve years ago as the place he wanted to raise a family and, eventually, to retire.
When Shane joined the Air Force, he attended Commissioned Officer Training and then the Air Force Judge Advocate General School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. Since completing his intial military training, he continued to hone his leadership skills by attending the Squadron Officer School, where military officers are taught effective leadership skills to achieve positive outcomes in a wide range of contexts. Just recently, Shane was one of only two reserve Judge Advocate Generals in the Air Force to be selected to the highly competitive Leadership Today and Tomorrow Course for the Air Force. There, Shane learned the importance of being a transformational leader- a leader who is attentive to his followers’ needs and strives to transform followers into future leaders.
Shane’s Judicial Experience
After law school, Shane was hired as the Staff Attorney for the Chief Justice of the Texas intermediate appellate court (the Fourth Court of Appeals) overseeing the surrounding 32 counties, including Kendall County. The appellate court decides complex legal disputes by majority vote (a panel multiple appellate justices sit together on each case). Shane served as advisor to the seven elected appellate judges, working primarily for the Chief Justice, for 10 years. Ultimately, Shane advised the appellate judges on hundreds of cases involving a wide range of legal issues, including local governmental regulations, constitutional rights, property rights, commercial contractual disputes, and first-degree murder (and other criminal law) cases. Although the appellate court was made up of both Republicans and Democrats during Shane’s 10-year tenure, he was able to garner unanimous agreement among the judges on the panel on virtually every case he was assigned. His objectivity, due diligence, and faithfulness to the Rule of Law and Constitution helped make the Fourth Court of Appeals one of the most respected intermediate courts in the state and very rarely reversed by Texas’ high courts (the Supreme Court of Texas and Court of Criminal Appeals). While a Staff Attorney, Shane was employed as an Adjunct Professor (Appellate Advocacy) for Saint Mary’s University School of Law. Shane’s advocacy teams went on to win multiple national championships. As a Staff Attorney and Law Professor, Shane gained valuable experience learning how to work with people with varying backgrounds, political opinions, and priorities and, despite differences, come to resolutions that bettered everyone involved.
Shane’s Legal Practice
After ten years in the government world, Shane transitioned into private practice with his wife, Kim, building a law partnership that focuses on appellate law in Texas and across the United States. Shane has represented clients in all types of courts, ranging from justice courts to the highest court in the country, the Supreme Court of the United States. While Shane garnered much success for his clients in the courtroom, he also cultivated a skill for resolving legal disputes without the need for costly litigation, focusing on arriving at mediated solutions for the parties’ disputes. Coupling Shane’s ten years of governmental law with his eleven years in private practice, Shane holds well over 20 years of experience as a practicing attorney. Please visit Shane’s law firm’s website to learn more about his firm, Keller Stolarczyk PLLC, www.kellsto.com. Shane’s knowledge of the law and experience in the courtroom includes subject matters directly tied to the experience necessary to serve on the Commissioner’s Court. Among other cases Shane is working on, Shane currently has pending a case before Texas’ highest court relating to the personal liability of Counties, County Attorneys, County Judges, and Commissioners for acts made while serving in their elected capacities.
Shane’s Military Service
Shane comes from a long line of public servants. Like both of his grandfathers and his father, Shane joined the armed forces and continues to serve our country as a Judge Advocate General in the United States Air Force Reserves. He obtained his commission in June of 2012 and is currently a Major in the USAF-R, working as the Individual Mobilization Augmentee to the Staff Judge Advocate for the Active Duty Forces at Laughlin Air Force Base, Del Rio, Texas. Although Shane’s military accomplishments range from serving as a military prosecutor to representing injured service members, his primary responsibilities now include advising base commanders on military justice and disciplinary matters, prosecuting court-martials, representing the government in administrative separation hearings, providing legal advice to military investigative agencies, and advising on contract law and related civil law issues. Shane also acts as a liaison with federal, state, and local legal authorities.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Shane served on Active Duty for a five-month period. There, he was named to the Crisis Action Team for Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. He also served at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, protecting the rights of injured service members going through the medical disability evaluation process. Shane’s nearly decade of experience serving our country and being stationed at multiple military installations, advising numerous base commanders, and serving as lead on many critical projects has given him the boots on the ground experience that Kendall County deserves in a County Judge. Each day we are reminded that counties are one of the last beacons of freedom in this country. Kendall County residents need a County Judge who has worked on complex projects from start to finish, collaborated with some of our country’s greatest military and civilian leaders, and stood tall in the courtroom, sometimes alone if necessary, to demand that the Constitution is respected and enforced as intended by our country’s Founding Fathers.
Shane’s Small Business Experience
In addition to their appellate law practice, Shane and his wife built multiple small businesses in Wilson County, his wife’s childhood hometown. First, they renovated several rundown properties to help the current residents who were retired and/or single-mothers maintain a quality, safe place to live on a fixed budget. Shane knew that the best way to understand this new business venture was to get his hands dirty. Accordingly, he has handled all facets of the family businesses, from janitor to CEO. He knew that putting in the effort and hard work to learn every detail of the business by doing things himself would yield the kind of knowledge you cannot gain otherwise. He and his wife have built their business portfolio to also include a car wash and storage unit facility. These experiences have netted Shane valuable experience in the areas of property rights, zoning, land-use regulations, environmental concerns, construction matters, the Dodd-Frank Act, as well as the process of working with governmental entities as a business owner. Shane’s experience as a small business owner gives him a unique viewpoint, allowing him to analyze each County matter from not only the County’s side, but also the taxpayer’s side and the business owner’s side. All County decisions should be made with the understanding that they impact all of those affected today, tomorrow, and decades from now.
Shane’s Family
Shane is married with two children. He met his wife, Kim, while they shared a cubicle working as attorneys at the Fourth Court of Appeals. Kim currently serves as the Municipal Judge for the City of Fair Oaks Ranch. Their children, Quinn and Sawyer, attend classes at the Boerne Area Christian Homeschool program at the First Baptist Church in Boerne. The family enjoys spending any free time they have at the family’s ranch in Kendalia.
Their daughter, Quinn (15), is a lifelong animal lover and rescuer. Simply put, she has never met an animal she does not want to take home (even if that meant having to be vaccinated for rabies!). Quinn has spent the past year creating a White Dove/Homing Pigeon Release business. When she is not training her flock (or rescuing strays), she helps care for the family’s menagerie of alpacas, goats, chickens, ducks, dogs (4), and cats (4).
Their son, Sawyer (13), is a dedicated swimmer. When not training with his teammates in Boerne (Aqua Swift), he can be found logging extra pool time at JBSA-Fort Sam or throwing the shot put with a local track and field team. Sawyer also strives to be an entrepreneur as well, investing the money he earned from participating in the Kendall County Stock Show (poultry) to purchase a small rental property, which he manages on his own.
Shane’s Public and Organization Involvement
Shane has been a Republican Party volunteer and a volunteer for multiple community organizations, including serving as a member on Congressman Chip Roy’s TX-21 Veteran’s Advisory Council and the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the City of Fair Oaks Ranch. Shane was named to the inaugural committee created by the City of Fair Oaks Ranch to develop a Code of Conduct for candidates and elected officials. This experience led to a proposed Code to define acceptable standards of behavior of citizens serving as local elected officials. Shane has also been a volunteer for the Kendall County Livestock Show, Kendall County 4-H program (where his children showed poultry), and varying youth athletic organizations.
In 2018, Shane was the Republican nominee for Place 7 on the Fourth Court of Appeals (the appellate court where Shane worked and that governs Kendall County courts). Shane ran against the most liberal appellate justice on the court, a Democrat incumbent. Despite campaigning in what many consider “Democrat-friendly” precincts, Shane received the endorsement over his incumbent opponent from multiple local leaders and officials, including the San Antonio Police Officer’s Association, the San Antonio Express News, and the Texas Farm Bureau. Unfortunately, Democrats swept the entirety of the State Appeals Court races on the ballot that year, handing losses to every down-ballot Republican candidate in Texas, and Shane lost his race despite his widespread support in the 32-county district. Shane sees his experience in that race as a badge of honor, however, because he stayed true to his Republican principles, promising to follow the Rule of Law, honor the Constitution, and building a robust grassroots group of supporters.
Shane currently is a member of the Texas Farm Bureau, the Texas State Rifle Association, and the National Rifle Association. He has also been a campaign volunteer for several Republican candidates serving at the local, state, and federal levels since 2018. Shane believes it is important to help elect strong, conservative candidates who will not only protect and defend our constitutional rights, back law enforcement, and support parents right to be involved in their children’s education, but who will have the strength to stand up to the socialist movement spreading across our Country. Shane’s experience in the military and as a small business owner has shown him firsthand that the American Dream is possible for all who are willing to work hard and believe in personal responsibility. He would be honored to serve as your County Judge.