MENDEZ, ROMERO, RIDICULE FEMALE HERALD REPORTER

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

The snub and ridicule heaped upon a member of the press – specifically Brownsville Herald writer Nubia Reyna – by paid city hack Felipe Romero and Mayor Trey Mendez have reverberated throughout the local political and professional scene and drawn supporters to her cause.

Numerous eyewitnesses confirm that Romero and Mendez openly ridiculed Herald reporter Nubia Reyna after a press conference where she asked whether the city would open warming shelters like the city of McAllen.

Obviously bothered by the question comparing Brownsville to its upriver rival, Romero and Mendez were heard openly laughing at her after the press conference at the central library saying that her questions were "pendejas" and ridiculed her.

Then, other sources say that Romero called her editor and requested that Reyna not be the reporter sent to other city conferences.

This has led at least three members of the city commission – Ben Neece, Nurith Galonsky and Jessica Tetreau – to join other community members including Hugh Emerson and Texas Southmost College trustee Adela Garza in disapproval of her treatment by Romero and the mayor.

Galonsky said that "it's disappointing to know that you were treated that way...Misogyny is rampant in our community and only by sticking together will we ever make progress."

Romero was hired as a Communications and Marketing Director by City Manager Noel Bernal in 2019. So far, his accomplishments have been minimal and are basically limited to the city's BTV, a little used medium. He previously served as Contract Relations Coordinator for the Austin Independent School District and promised to "serve the Brownsville community and highlight the great things happening at the city on a local and international stage."

So far, Bernal has not seen fit to discipline the city's spokesperson for publicly ridiculing a female news reporter who also just happens to be a recent immigrant or to distance the city from their employee's lack of civility and lack of professionalism.

Is this the new normal for city-press relations? If the question about comparing McAllen's response to the freeze compared to the feeble efforts of Brownsville (opening the Sports park 24 hours for one day and people could not stay overnight) made them uncomfortable, perhaps performing well might have lessened their discomfort.

Nonetheless, this level of unprofessionalism has not been seen in local government in many years. That it would come from a supposedly veteran public relations expert and who was a sports reporter in Laredo is even more surprising. That the mayor would have approved of that lack of class exhibited by his city employee is even worse.

Is Romero feeling his oats because he thinks he has the support of Mendez, the mayor? The city and its Brownsville Public utility Board – where Mendez serves in an ex oficio role – have a lot of explaining to do for their utter failure in managing the crisis. One of those failures was the provision of shelters for the poor and the homeless.

The people have a lot of questions and Reyna, as a member of the Fourth Estate, is their representative to get them answers. They have to answer them, no matter what they think of the questions or the reporter. If the public relations performance exhibited by both of these entities during this emergency is any indication of their competence, we're worse off than we thought and have a long way to go.