LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY THE LAST BASTION OF DYNASTIES

By Juan Montoya

If you thought the age of dynasties was over with the American Revolution, think again.
We in the Lower Rio Grande Valley are apparently enamoured with our own homegrown royalty. Year after year we keep returning the same old faces to the state legislature and the U.S. Congress. And year after year they keep making us the same promises.
Yet, look around. What have we gotten in return for a quarter of a century of trust and loyalty?
The region continues to lead the nation in poverty, disease, etc., and ranks in the lowest rungs of education, housing, health care, etc.
But listen to what our royalty tell us.
Let's start with our local state representative. Rene Oliveira is as nice a guy as they come. Cordial, ebullient, if you will, he is the perfect host at a wine-and-cheese tasting party. Portly and congenial, he exults confidence and complacency.
After 26 years in office, he asks us for one more term to finish the job he started more than a quarter century ago. Late bloomer, that Rene.
“I've made the decision to run again without hesitation. I offer proven experience and leadership in these tough economic times," he told Steve Taylor of the Rio Grande Valley Guardian. "My goals are to bring more representation to the Valley, continue investing properly in education, creating jobs, and keeping Texas safe.”
The new census figures will be in after 2010, just a year before the 82nd legislative session starts in Jan. 2011. Brownsville's population has grown 26 percent since the last census was taken in 2000. Oliveira is the eighth ranking member of 150 members of the Texas House.
He represents House District 37 which encompasses the majority of Brownsville, Port Isabel, Laguna Vista, Bayview, and part of northern Los Fresnos.
Doubtless, Oliveira will be re-elected, if not for his accomplishments like the foisting of the University of Texas System upon the backs of the taxpayers of the Texas Southmost College district, then for the weight carried by his last name.
Long after he's left office – and this world – our grandchildren will still be subsidizing the UTB-TSC partnership with local property taxes instead of being helped out by the oil and gas of the Permanent University Fund as are other universities in the UT System. That was part of the deal worked out by Oliveira and the Cardenas-Garcia clans to bring the prestigious UT name to Brownsville. We pay for the building, they place the UT plaque on the sucker.
As an attorney, he has been the recipient of legal referrals from insurance companies that have put a lot of money in his pocket. Do we really think that those referrals would rain down upon him if not for the fact that he carries a certain amount of influence as a longtime state legislator? Think, if you can, of one cutting-edge legal argument that Rene has made that would make him a prominent legal scholar. Can't? Neither can we.
The next one in line is Eddie Lucio Jr., a Texas State Senator whose qualifications include being named the worst senator in Texas by political journalists in Austin, including, but not limited to, the Texas Observer.
If Lucio runs for one of the new U.S. Representative spots, it is certain that his role in the $21 million that disappeared from the bridge project at the Brownsville Navigation District will be an issue. Lucio was a consultant to Dannenbaum Engineering, the company that managed that fiasco.
Former Port Director Raul Besteiro told the Brownsville Herald that it was at Lucio's urging that the port switched from Brown and Root to Dannenbaum, who we later found out, was the recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars from that firm.
Also lurking in the sidelines is Lucio's work as consultant for the companies that built the prisons in Willacy County that have resulted in indictments and convictions of local public officials after Lucio also convinced them to switch companies to build the jails.
“If I lose another 15 pounds and continue to have the energy I have today I would very seriously like to cap my political career… not so much cap my political career but I would love to address and tackle the issues that are important to us internationally, immigration, health care, water, the environment,” Lucio also told Taylor.
We are awaiting with bated breath, Eddie. Hopefully, it won't take you 25 years like it did in Austin to find your way into the pockets of lobbyists and industry giants in Washington looking for a first-rate "consultant" who won't think twice of peddling "his" public office.
If that isn't enough for us to kneel and pray for a Great Leader, guess what's waiting in the wings?
How about a caricature of Eddie Jr.? It's Something called a Eddie Lucio III now racing around in Austin jumping into the pockets of political contributors and lobbyists in need of his "services." The last we heard, he was running neck to neck for the title of top recipient of political contributions. His stiffest competition? His dad Eddie Jr., of course.
Last, but not least, we come to U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz who God in his wisdom placed above us to lead us to the Promised Land of plenty.
Now 72, Ortiz has represented the area from Corpus Christi to Brownsville for more than 25 years. During that time, he has grown wealthy off a port security company that provided port tenants the service here and in Corpus Christi as well. It wasn't until the media, especially the Corpus Christi Caller, called him out on the possible conflict of interests in that business that he disassociated himself from it.
His contributor list during his campaign is a veritable Who's Who of firms doing businesses with the ports in his district and Washington lobbyists.
This is the same man who played a key – if concealed – role in the Port of Brownsville $21-million Bridge-to-Nowhere debacle by directing plums to hand-picked Mexican contractors through his former aide Lencho Rendon. As word of the scandal grew, Ortiz distanced himself from the affair.
But official records don't lie and, alas, those of the expense account of the late Port Director Raul Besteiro clearly showed that the congressman liked to eat, drink, and live large at the expense of local taxpayers while he stayed at the Rancho Viejo Golf Resort. His favorite libation for his high-priced main dishes? Crown Royal. Fit for a king, of course.
He claims that he is for a veterans hospital in the Valley, but even with him claiming to be the "Dean of Hispanic Congressmen" in Washington, he has never been able to deliver.
"For close to three decades, I have worked to better the lives of South Texans," Ortiz said in a recet press release announcing his bid for yet another re-election. "I want to continue to work for the people — continue to be the voice of Texans in Washington, D.C."
Ortiz wants the voters of the 27th District of the U.S. House of Representatives to let him go back and "finish the job."
But wait! There's more.
Apparently, some people in his home county (Nueces) think that Ortiz may pull off a December surprise and have his son (a la Eddie Lucio Jr.) replace him on the ballot. If that happens, it is doubtful that the faithful lemmings of South Texas will be able to tell the difference.
You see, if Solomon Ortiz Jr. doesn't do anything, it would be par for the course. Nothing lost, nothing gained.