State Representative Pete Gallego was the guest speaker at the El Paso Young Democrats February meeting.
Introduced by El Paso Democratic favorite Joe Moody, Pete shared how he has always been ready to represent El Paso.
Pete has always been a friend to El Paso and has family ties including his pediatrician sister, who works for Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe Inc.
Elected at 28 years old, he served for 22 years in the Texas House of Representatives, serving on the most powerful and important committees in the Texas Legislature, including serving as an Appropriations Conference Committee Member, making him one of 10 people who hammer out the final details of the Texas budget.
He has been a leader in the Texas House, carrying bipartisan legislation under Governor George W. Bush, and has served in leadership roles in the Texas Mexican American Legislative Caucus, a bipartisan policy organization, and as Chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus. In addition, as he stated in the El Paso Young Democrats Meet and Greet, he has worked with both Democratic and Republican legislators from El Paso, on issues important to El Paso.
Born in Alpine, Texas he graduated from Sul Russ State University and the University of Texas School of Law, and has Chaired various committees in the Texas House of Representatives and can utilize his successful legislative career to work for West Texas and El Paso in Washington.
I had the opportunity to serve in the Texas legislature with Pete my entire 14 years serving in the Texas House. After loosing my last election, I had a heartfelt lunch with him and thanked him for all he had done for Texas and El Paso and apologized for failing to allow myself to be mentored after the illness and subsequent death of Lena Guerrero, a Latina friend, leader and mentor we both respected. My final term I witnessed Pete, an honorable and respected leader, mentor and provide leadership opportunities to former Rep. Joe Moody, giving Moody a gavel to Chair a Subcommittee and on numerous occasions deferring to his advise on certain issues. As he stated in the El Paso Young Democrats meeting, he was ready to serve and represent El Paso in 1999-2001 when redistricting plans were drawing his district into El Paso. Unfortunately, the census information did not show the increase in population needed to draw him into El Paso. However South Texas census data resulted in new seats drawn in that area.
The current maps, in District Court in San Antonio, are being redrawn to reflect the increase in Latino population in Texas per census data, which means that El Paso's congressional seat will loose some population to the 23rd Congressional District. That is one of the contentious issues on how and where the lines are to be drawn. One proposal puts a great majority of the Lower Valley from Ysleta East out of the 16th Congressional District and Places it in the 23rd Congressional District. The Lower Valley, specifically Ysleta, is considered the oldest town in Texas. According to the Texas State Historical Association: A Digital Gateway to Texas History: "By an election in 1873 Ysleta replaced San Elizario as the El Paso County seat. But the coming of the railroads in 1881 changed the population center of the County, and in 1883 a strongly disputed election made El Paso the county seat." Meaning that the communities of interest, that have been the historical point of reference for El Paso's county seat would be removed if the Lower Valley, Ysleta, Socorro, San Elizario are awarded to the 23rd Congressional District.
The current map proposals, place a great majority of his current Texas House legislative district in the US Congressional district, however he will have to face an incumbent Republican, Congressman Quico Canseco in the General election. Pete along with his wife Maria Elena and their young son Nicolas would be an excellent choice for West Texas and parts of El Paso.
I hope that the maps preserve the Lower Valley in El Paso, that Pete Gallego win the 23rd Congressional race, and that he also represent a part of El Paso. Congressman Silvestre Reyes and Pete Gallego as Congressman would make a dyno-duo pack for El Paso and the Borderlands!
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Blogging is not journalism in any form or fashion. It is an information medium that has been around for some time now used by political pundits, traditional media outlets, businesses, talk hosts, groups, organizations, and just private citizens in order to get a message or information out to the public. It is an interesting medium because all sorts of information starts pouring in to a blogger about people, their records (public and otherwise), political groups, or events that did or did not happen and so a blogger has to really sort through the information not because we are a news source but because of credibility and liability.
Today I received a “blog scoop” about behind closed door meetings that were held over the weekend between representatives of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Jose Garza representing the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) and Nina Perales representing the Mexican American Legal Defense Education Fund (MALDEF) in the Texas Redistricting Case. On Friday, judges called upon the political parties and all interested parties to come to an agreement or risk the potential of split Primaries or a delayed Primary Date beyond April 3, 2012.
According to sources, the closed meeting included some Texas “bigs” including Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office as well as Jose Garza from MALC and Nina Perales from MALDEF but excluded many other players impacted by a final ruling and or agreement. Sources have said that Rolando Rios from San Antonio representing Congressman Henry Cuellar was left out of the talks as well as attorneys representing the NAACP (who were initially invited but walked away from the table).
The “closed door” meetings that led to an agreement are said to have included awarding Maverick County to the 28th Congressional District represented by Congressman Henry Cuellar. The other “rumored” deal is the awarding of the Lower Valley area in El Paso County including Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo land holds, Socorro and East of Socorro areas to the 23rd Congressional District represented by Congressman Canseco. This proposal would make the district more Democratic and a better seat for Congressional candidate Pete Gallego, a good thing! This rumored deal between the Attorney General’s office and attorneys for MALC and MALDEF is at the expense of the 16th Congressional District represented by Congressman Silvestre Reyes.
Both MALDEF and MALC have long standing relationships with State Representative Pete Gallego, who has served as Chair of MALC and has provided 18 plus years of input to MALDEF on a wide variety of legislative issues pending in the Texas legislature and he also has served as a resource to MALDEF on other redistricting matters.
If the two groups did not consult with others, including those representing the interest of the 16th Congressional District or Congressman Reyes, or attorneys representing the interests of South Texas, it posses a breach of political protocol among Latinos in Texas.
I will keep you posted as I get more information.
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