LOVES NOTES FROM THE HERALD TO OLIVEIRA, HINOJOSA

"Outlined against a blue May sky, the Two Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore their names are Debauchery and Greed. But those are aliases. Their real names are: Hinojosa and Oliveira. They formed the crest of the South Texas cyclone before which the rest of the Texas Legislature was swept over the precipice at the Capitol grounds as history peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the granite dome below."

With apologies to Grantland Rice


By Juan Montoya
The lines above about the Notre Dame team who beat Army under Knute Rockne may well have been echoed by the Brownsville's Herald's editorial writer (unnamed) as he set about to eulogize the exploits of State Rep. Rene Oliveira and Sen. Juan "Chuy " Hinojosa.
The two had been at odds over where to locate the new medical school approved by the UT System regents  for South Texas. In the end, it was Hinojosa's amendment not to allow a blue-ribbon panel to decide where it would go, but rather to divide the four-year education with the first two years in Hidalgo (McAllen) and the last two in Cameron (Harlingen).
The consolidation of the UT Pan Am and UT-Brownsville was almost an afterthought. PanAm (Edinburg) will keep the administrative jobs and the UTB will become a satellite campus much as it was before the "partnership" debacle created by legislation introduce back then by now-champion Oliveira and his sidekick Sen. Eddie Lucio.
When Hinojosa got his amendment passed, the Cameron County contingent let out howls of indignation. Hidalgo County trickery, they bawled. "We had a deal," they quacked. "I won't vote for the amended bill," said Oliveira.
Well, in steps the Brownsville Herald's anonymous editorial writer to massage the egos all around and heap praise upon these political behemoths.
Calling them "the two most powerful men in the state," it says they are "forging legislation" that will transform the Rio Grande Valley. So far, he said during the impasse, "their efforts have been masterful," and says it's time for both men to "show courage. They must dig deep within themselves and rise above the regional fray.
"The fact that both remain in office 32 years later in the no-holds barred arena of Valley politics is a testament to their fortitude, acumen and commitment to the area."
And even before a spade is put into the ground for the new med school or merger, it blandly states that "it will be one of the top two Hispanic-serving institutions in the United States..."
Heady stuff.
They must remain strong in the face of regional strife, the writer continues, because the biggest prize in economic terms is the potential access the Valley will have to the Permanent University Fund (PUF), a $13 billion corpus of money derived from growing oil and gas revenues.
"They must show the kind of leadership that a combined 64 years of public service has forged for them...(to) rise above politics, to demonstrate courage in the swell of angry constituents and to act in the interests of the region."
Then, following the Cameron County delegations' knuckling under to Hinojosa (and Hidalgo County's) sleight-of-hand, the writer noted that they "demonstrated an act of courage (when they) must endure the enmity of their constituents..."
We're in the 22nd year of the so-called TSC-UTB "partnership" that was approved so that the state would not have to fulfill its constitutional obligations to educate the predominantly Hispanic population and instead could rely on the community college's taxing district to fund construction. The Herald could live with that, and did.
Both PanAm and UTB were the only institutions in the UT System excluded from sharing in the distribution of the now-desirable PUF monies. This is the vaunted "predominantly Hispanic" population they speak glowingly about now.
Hinojosa, Oliveira, and Lucio The Elder seemed content to have their constituents, the poorest in the nation, foot the bill in exchange for having the burnished orange cow's head logo attached to the buildings on their respective campuses. When asked about the exclusion, they would answer that it would never get though the legislature and as Clayton Williams said about rape: "If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it."
When the residents of the community college district voted in trustees who told the UT System that they weren't going to lay down and roll over anymore and wanted to separate from it, the PUF suddenly became available. When they realized that President Juliet Garcia wasn't going to have the run of the TSC candy store, the task suddenly became possible.
Where were these "courageous" and masterful" public servants as the resources of the community college were siphoned off to the UT System to the tune of $1 billion over the two decades of abuse?  At the end of the separation, as these two stalwarts are lauded for their statesmanly prowess, where were they when local students had to pay the highest tuition and fee rates in the state?
And where was the Herald's 30-point bold headlines when the beleaguered TSC trustees lowered tuition rates for students at the college to the tune of $1,000 less per semester? It's small-point headline labeled it "cheaper" education.
Read behind the laurels given these mighty warriors. Peer behind the plaudits heaped upon these gladiators of the political arena.The TSC trustees gave the boys in Austin a message: It's about time the UT System brought its own money here and treated us Hispanics like they have treated other residents of the state.