WELL, WELL, AREN'T WE TESTY TODAY SENOR CLUPPER?

By Juan Montoya
As often happens when novices enter the arena of political elections, Brownsville Independent School District Place 5 candidate Don Clupper is now complaining that a mention we made of him using his picture with his three granddaughters on a widely-distributed campaign flier and calls us racist for pointing out that they were Hispanics.
He then asks us "racist bigots" to leave his family out of this campaign from now on.
Now, the mere fact that we mentioned the obvious – that he is white and his grandchildren Hispanic – does not make us racist bigots as El Señor Donaldo El Clupper suggests. We think he is being awfully thin-skinned to begin with and bandies about the reverse discrimination card a mite too quickly.
We should also point out that among the Montoya family there are spouses and in-laws (as well as outlaws) who are Native American, South African (white), Scottish, Black, and Hispanics of various stripes (Mexico, Ecuador, and El Salvador) as well as just your average run of the mill gueros.
And we are certainly aware that some politicians change their names (or adopt their grandparents' names to sound Hispanic and court that ethnic vote). For example, it wasn't until she ran for Congress that we even knew that Denise Blanchard was a Saenz. And Jessica Bradshaw (aka Robinson) didn't use the name "Puente" until she ran, coincidentally, for the same post.
Perhaps we have become a bit jaded with the antics of some candidates who try to cash in on
their Hispanicness or their association with Hispanic culture when they seek a public office in a predominately Hispanic region such a South Texas. We suspect this won't be the first or last time the issue will come up.
If El Señor Donaldo El Clupper would check our website, he will notice that we have candidates of all stripes on the right side of the blog. There is a white lady (Nancy Mishou, a Libertarian), several Democrats Hispanic males, and even born-again Christians (Raul Lopez and Argelia Miller). We are equal opportunity offenders Donaldo. As long as their money is green they're fine with us.
He's right about the BISD having a curriculum committee, but it's limited to making recommendations as there are already plenty of curriculum specialists on board being hired for a pretty penny. Sylvia Atkinson filled that role before she was shunted off to yet another position. Before that she was in charge of Human Resources.
El Clupper says that he "deeply resents" our mentioning that as a white candidate he had his three Hispanic granddaughters pose with him to adorn the front of his campaign literature. Didn't we just state the obvious? After all, was it the writers of this blog who pasted the picture on his literature and distributed it for the whole city to see? Did we post it on his website for the whole world to see? No, Señor Clupper, it was you.
It doesn't work that way, Don. When you put out something for public consumption sometimes the feedback isn't always what one expects. Ask us about it. People will comment depending on their viewpoints, and if someone thinks that Donaldo was attempttng to endear voters to his candidacy by placing the picture of the three cuties on his campaign literature it's a valid comment, even if it's mistaken as Donaldo sourly points out. (That's the campaign folder photo on the left) But does that necessarily imply a moral or character defect on the part of the writer? We think not. You may even leave yourself open to suggestions that even that is an attempt to elicit sympathies from some voters.
And, of course, as purveyors of information based on the freedoms provided in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, we reserve the right to write about anyone who is seeking a public position and is asking the electorate to represent them. This includes all facets of the candidacy, even their campaign literature. That's the way the game is played in the big leagues.
El Donaldo just couldn't help himself to make another big leap and assumption that this "second blogsite" that is "know (sic) for selling advertisements to my opponent" Caty Presas-Garcia was being unfair to him. Donaldo, look at the right at the candidates who chose to advertise with us. Do you see an ad for Presas-Garcia there? The fact that we agree with her on a long list of issues facing the BISD like its fiscal restoration after it was gutted by the previous board majority, took on sacred cows like the former AD, doesn't go along with doing business as usual, and established the STAMP program at Veterans Memorial High School doesn't mean that we are "know (sic) for selling advertising space" to her.
In fact, if Caty is reading this, we would not mind one bit if she chose to buy an ad from us. And, if you'll notice Señor Donaldo, your other opponent on Place 5 (Butch Barbosa) has chosen to buy an ad space here. We would dearly love to toss a token Anglo mathematician in the mix. How about it Señor?