Will the City Fathers take the right direction?
Published Brownsville Herald, November 12, 2006
A friend, who I consider to be a real patriot, sent me the following first paragraph to a political editorial: “In January a slate of career politicians who stand against the rights of the individual, against fiscal responsibility and against any semblance of limited and responsible government will be ushered into positions of power within the federal, state and local governments.”
That political editorial was drafted well in advance of an election which took place over a decade ago. He had no doubt that it would be accurate regardless of the date of publication - so long as it ran in an even numbered year; and it would be accurate regardless of who gained or lost power in the general election. In the national elections “the folks” disappointed in the lack of success and the appearance of stagnancy with the Iraq conflict, either stayed home or voted for change. The folks also came out in a number of states and supported issues such as a marriage being “one man and one woman” and a few others described as “conservative” in nature. Mostly, I think voters were disappointed with the appearance of corruption and moral decay in their representatives; not necessarily factual, just the appearance.
Just consider the 27th Congressional Race won by Congressman Ortiz with 62,063 votes or 56.76% of the vote; Republican Wm. Vaden polled 45,562 or 38.92%. Just two years before in 2004, Congressman Ortiz polled 112,081 votes or 63.13% and Wm. Vaden polled 61,995 votes or 34.89. It seems that Mr. Vaden the Republican contender didn’t really improve his relative position nor did either candidate motivate any political base to come out and vote more aggressively. Possibly on of the most important indicators was that Libertarian Robert Powell was nominated to run for the position and promptly announced that his purpose was not to run but to provide an additional choice. This might seem a little strange if you were not aware that in every vote taken in a Libertarian meeting, one of the choices is always “none of the above”. Mr. Powell took the courageous tack of being the “none of the above” choice. Without any publicity he got 4,722 4.32% of the vote. In 2004 the Libertarian choice Mr. Clayton polled 1.97% of the vote. I suggest that though Mr. Vaden did not lose any ground from one election to another he did not gain either and was equally affected by the lack of voter turnout. The choice of “none of the above” actually increased the number of votes and the relative importance of those votes without any promotion at all other than a very brief address in Brownsville at the request of the Cameron County Libertarian party.
What I believe really happened in the meantime was a gerrymandering that did not appear to diminish his influence in the District, and claims of undue influence being exercised on Port of Brownsville leaders by one of his chief advisors and the departure of that advisor from the Congressman’s staff. This incident most likely would have just been dismissed under normal circumstances but grew legs in the political light of a recent political maneuverings during a Port Commissioner election involving questions relating to issues relating to the use of $21 million of bridge building money. In the last several years, I have had a number of occasions to speak with him and have been pleased to support him and his efforts to support international trade that has enormously benefited Brownsville and find it difficult to accept the notion that the Congressman might be complicit in such an affair. To many however, it didn’t matter that none of the assertions have been substantiated, but merely the thought that there might be smoke and if there is, there may be fire kept the stories in the area of public consideration.
In another instance closer to home is the recent replacement of County Judge Hinojosa by the very charismatic Carlos Cascos, now sporting a Republican label. In deep South Texas politics, the election of a Republican is rare indeed. In the last twelve years I watched a very aggressive and driven leader build the organization and associations necessary achieve the vast improvements in County facilities to accommodate the explosive growth in the economy, business and the population. Along the way his vision of what was needed and the methods used to accomplish the goals began to appear heavy handed and motivated by a desire to benefit his supporters at the expense of others who may be equally or even better qualified. This seems to have been aggravated by not describing his goals, methods and actions in a clear and easily understood way. Again the appearance of problems became the reality, though, I seriously doubt than any real malfeasance exists.
I wonder if the current crop of leaders will be damaged by similar situations or will they learn from the recent election and listen to their constituents and avoid the appearance of corruption. Currently, Mayor Eddie Trevino, Commissioners Eddie Hernandez, Carlos Cisneros and Edward Camarillo have colluded to rescind an increase in impact fees that others including many thousands of their constituents represented by the pastors of the twelve Catholic parishes in Brownsville and Valley Interfaith believe will seriously hurt many and especially the less fortunate of our neighbors. It is seen that this action is being taken solely to benefit their developer associates. At this stage in the situation, any resolution will still appear to be either the appearance of corruption or having been caught, the attempt at damage control.
This is one of the best illustrations that demonstrates why political institutions should never own or manage businesses and why most utilities are no longer public monopolies. Any action on the part of the public office holder for political or social reasons such as improvement of the economy at the expense of any other party, it will be rightly or wrongly perceived as a malfeasance by one faction or other. In this case the perception is on the part of the folks that can get the 8000 or so signatures needed to initiate a recall of the public officials. I believe the best possible resolution is for the city to divest P.U. B. and to reorganize it as a cooperative business, paying regular taxes in the likeness of the Magic Valley Utility. The business should be operated like a business to benefit the owners of that business, those people that use the services – which are indeed most of the folks that indirectly own it now and must depend on the politicos to act in the constituents’ best interest. To me that isn’t a very good bet!
Will the city fathers make the right decision and use this “new chance” to avoid future political losses