Pena accepts the inevitable, will not run
Like my former colleague, Patricia Kilday Hart, I always found Aaron Pena to be one of the Legislature’s most interesting members. Pena had no use for the Valley Democratic establishment. Hart chronicled his alienation from the power brokers in a profile for TEXAS MONTHLY earlier this year. He was known to his constituents as a frequent blogger about the Capitol; what was less well known was that he was a reluctant Democrat who loathed the machine politicians who practice petty corruption at election time. It was hardly surprising, then, when Pena switched parties following the 2010 Republican sweep and helped found the House Hispanic Republican caucus.
Pena believed that the Democrats in the Valley were scripting their fate by continuing their old-style tactics of using politqueras — women who were paid to hustle votes — and refused to have anything to do with it; astonishingly, both the incumbent district attorney and his challenger said they would not hire politiqueras in the 2010 elections.
I had several conversations with Pena over the years, and I think he is right that in the long run, old-style politics, a la Kino Flores, in South Texas will inevitably fail, as the Valley becomes increasingly affluent. The emerging business class will have nothing to do with the corrupt politics and will increasingly abandon the Democratic party, because the old-line Democrats will never change their ways. Democrats vowed to beat him this time around, and Pena himself admitted that there was no way he or any Republican could win in his new district. It had come to the point that Pena would rather lose as a Republican than win as a Democrat. I hate to see him driven out of the Legislature, but he paid the price for being a straight-arrow.
patriotone says:
Sometimes you are off the mark. Occasionally you whiff. And then sometimes you are clueless. Aaron Pena was a self serving opportunist who could collapse a lung sucking up to the rich and powerful and whose word was almost good until he was out of sight. This is no great loss.
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Mattie Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 12:11 am
DEAD right. I know not this Pena of whom Burka speaks.
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Jackie A. Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 11:40 am
Totally! I’m shocked at how wrong Burka is about this guy. WTF?
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Capitol Veteran Reply:
November 30th, 2011 at 11:52 am
I’m with you patriotone. In fact, Burka is so “off the mark” with this lauding of Pena that it actually surpasses my enormous shock at Burka’s glowing praise of that jerky Dennis Bonnen a few years back.
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roadgeek says:
Paul. I’m thoroughly confused. You admit in your post that there is “petty corruption” in Valley elections, and that one reason Pena is retiring is that he couldn’t abide the politiqueras. Yet you’ve insisted many times in the past that there is no electoral corruption in Texas; that Voter ID is a solution in search if a problem.
What is it, Paul? Is there electoral corruption or not?
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Col. Mike Kirby Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 12:15 am
The use of politiqueras in elections has been common practice in South Texas. Their role has been questioned regarding obtaining and delivering mail-in ballots for elderly or disabled voters, which could be misled or manipulated.
please explain how voter id solves the mail in ballot fraud problem???
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anonymous Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
There is political corruption but it isn’t through voter ID
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Anonymous says:
Paul, yo are right on the mark. Pena’s most vocal criticism came from professional gadfly’s like Matt Glazer and Philip Martin of “Progress” Texas and Katherine Haneschan of BOR, people who were not only wrong but don’t know anything about South Texas. Pena was criticized for switching, but none of his oppenents would ever acknowledge the problems like corruption that forced him to switch, with Glazer calling him a coward and a liar and a bully (Glazer and Martin have built a career on being wrong) but even though Pena won’t run again, hopefully he helped shine light on how corruption.
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anonymous says:
Good riddance. Pena didn’t support Speaker Caddick out of a disdain for political corruption. He supported Carddick for his own political advancement (and not to the benefit of his constituency).
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Anonymous Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
Who are Caddick and Carddick?
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paulburka Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Everybody supports a speaker for his own political benefit.
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anita says:
Is this post some sort of April Fools joke?
Aaron Pena a victim as a “straight arrow”?
C’mon! Please post the “just kidding” follow up now.
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Garner's Bucket says:
Perhaps there is a point being missed by some posters. There are degrees of straightness to the figurative arrow by which a somewhat or even profoundly imperfect specimen looks better than the wholly corrupted.
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Robert Morrow says:
“The emerging business class will have nothing to do with the corrupt politics and will increasingly abandon the Democratic party, because the old-line Democrats will never change their ways.”
ha ha ha ha … “the emerging business class” will just redefine corrupt in another way – Forumla One, Texas Enterprise Fund, HPV Vaccine, Texas Enterprise Fund, toll roads, public private partnerships, I could name 100 more such examples.
That is just the way people and politics are.
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WUSRPH Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
After all, the motto of the modern American (particularly Texan) businessman has always been:
All I want from government is a fair advantage.
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Kenneth D. Franks says:
He didn’t lose as a Republican. He has never even run as a Republican. He didn’t get protection in a safe district from his new Republican friends so he is retiring instead of losing as a Republican.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
“The emerging business class will have nothing to do with the corrupt politics and will increasingly abandon the Democratic party, because the old-line Democrats will never change their ways.”
Never have truer words been spoken. Democrats and their love to thwart the will of the people are finished in Texas. Redistricting from the bench is just the latest example.
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anita says:
From Pena’s blog, in his own words:
“The Rio Grande Valley is too dynamic, too diverse to be dominated by a single party that lets bullies thrive and enrich themselves and their cronies.”
Funny thing is, you can replace “Rio Grande Valley” with “State of Texas” and be spot on — which is why the people of the Rio Grande Valley elected him. But he ran to the power, joined them, and left his constituents behind. There’s neither honor nor integrity in that, regardless of the self-serving rationale he now offers. If dealing with local corruption were his goal, he should run for DA.
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Big Time Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 10:11 am
Agreed — well said.
Do you know the difference between Politiqueras and vote organizers at churches and retirement homes in Houston and Dallas? ZERO — one is Hispanic and favors Democrats, and the other is Anglo and favors Republicans. Hence no action from the Legislature on this issue — Republicans can’t write a statute that doesn’t gut their own people. That’s why we have the ridiculous voter ID legislation.
Paul, to paraphrase Louie Gohmert — “You used to be so good, you’re smarter then this, Paul — you used to be so good!”
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paulburka Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
If you are saying that he shouldn’t have signed on to be a Craddick D, I agree with that. He made himself a target. The irony is, the Craddick D’s, led by Turner, said they could deliver more to their district by being with Craddick. That was true in some cases–Turner in particular, maybe Guillen, maybe Kino–but I don’t think most of the Craddick D’s got anything to speak of. Turner got a lot, especially for CHIP, but that benefited everybody.
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Kenneth D. Franks says:
Republicans have been thwarting the will of the Texas people for years. Hopefully this will soon be ending. It is past time for Texas to become more than just a one party state again.
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Anonymous says:
Pena is showing his true colors. He ran and was elected as a Democrat. Since his new GOP friends couldn’t draw a gerrymandered Republican district that would pass court muster he quit. In other words, he screwed over his constituents last session and when he couldn’t rig the game, he quit and went home. That’s the story.
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paulburka Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
I don’t think it was possible to draw a safe Republican district in Hidalgo County. Pena must have known he was dead when he switched parties.
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Pat Reply:
November 27th, 2011 at 4:43 am
Bingo.
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Anonymous Reply:
November 29th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Paul, you are wrong. From Aaron Pena on ValleyCentral.com: “I had hoped to prove in this election that I could [win as a Republican], but they took the map out from under me.” http://www.valleycentral.com/news/politics/story.aspx?id=691511#.TtU7L3MbUcs
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Carne Guisada says:
Retiring as an unelected Republican is not the same as being elected a Republican and then retiring. Pena took an arrow from his quiver and shot himself when he switched parties. An an unelected Hispanic Republican, the GOP has no use for Pena. He should listen to Lauro Garza of Somos Republicanos.
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JK says:
No court has ruled on the merits of the configuration of Pena’s district. It may well “pass muster” when the votes on the merits – by the 3-judge panels or, if necessary, the US Supreme Court – are counted.
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Another Wilco Voter says:
One cannot call a man a straight arrow who pulls a bait and switch on the voters the way he did. If he had any integrity, he would have switched parties before the 2010 election. If he had run and won as a Democrat then switched parties, an honorable man would have resigned, running as a Republican in the special.
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anonymous says:
JK, the DC court looked at the merits and found that the gerrymandering could not pass summary judgment scrutiny. The SA court also found the necessity of passing an alternative interim maps. Pena’s district is gone (unless the supreme court jumps into this political issue which is highly unlikely). The legislature could make Pena a new district next session, but the last round of gerrymandering is off the table because the legislature used only partisanship and not the Voting Right Act as its guideline, and now as a result the SA court’s interim maps are the only legal alternative on the table as the candidacy filing begins.
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Big Time says:
Pena’s fate was set when he sold out his constituents and then accepted $50,000 from Tom Craddick. Straight arrow? Give me a break!
This post explains a lot about Paul’s opinions of the Rio Grande Valley, considering his extremely poor judgment regarding the veracity of one Aaron Pena. How simplistic you are, Paul.
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paulburka Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
My opinion of the Rio Grande Valley is that it is a wonderful place with incredible potential, but until the politics gets cleaned up, that potential will never be reached.
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anita Reply:
November 27th, 2011 at 6:05 am
Funny thing is, after getting to know Perry, that’s what Americans are saying about Texas.
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Top Shelf says:
I felt that Pena used his political problems in the Valley as an excuse to switch parties and put himself in a better position in the House when he and Ritter became Republicans #100 and #101. He got the chairmanship of a hastily thrown together new committee (Technology, which had only five members). He got a seat on the Redistricting Committee and a marginally workable district for re-election, which was of course obliterated by the court. In short, he gambled that switching parties would give him more than a short-term payoff and lost.
I agree that saying Pena paid the price for being a straight arrow is simplistic and b.s. He made a political calculation and it didn’t work out for him. Oh well.
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Mean Rachel says:
Calling Aaron Pena after 2010 a “straight arrow” is like calling Ron Washington in the 7th inning “inanimate.” Pena is paying a price all right: the price of abandoning your party to be used by another one. Indeed, Pena’s loss becomes the Democratic Party’s gain as Republicans are making an example of what a party-switcher gets for his or her efforts.
Most importantly though, Texas Dems have a lot to learn from Aaron Pena’s betrayal: who caused it, why it happened and how to stop accepting — and electing — watered-down versions of what we once called Democratic candidates. Should we choose to ignore the learning lessons here, Dems will continue to remain frustrated, largely irrelevant and always, constantly on the losing team in Texas.
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Mr. Smith Reply:
November 27th, 2011 at 1:36 am
So, Rachel, what if someone truly is moderate? What if they really believe in a certain set of policies that put them in the middle of the road? Are you saying they are not welcome to run in your Democratic Party because they are not left leaning enough to provide a stark contrast to the Tea Party? It sure sounds like it. So moderates who try to join the Democratic Party are unwelcome according to you? How sad. Thats a potent recipe for permenant losing status for the Democratic Party here in Texas. And if thats the case, it won’t matter how left leaning the 49, or 52 members of the Texas House are, we’ll all debate whether they made a sound when no one was listening.
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Anonymous Reply:
November 27th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
You see, there’s the rub. You assume by me saying that we should lose the term “moderate Democrat” it means that I believe we should all be radical liberals. I’m not opposed to moderate views. I simply don’t think we need to characterize someone as moderate or otherwise because it automatically makes everyone else part of a different category (typically “crazy liberal”). We are dividing our party and it damages everyone in the process.
I am opposed to people using the label “moderate democrat” as a way of excusing a lack of conviction, unwillingness to discuss potentially career-harming topics or a paid-for opposing position on issues that are more important than dollars and cents.
In my ideal Democratic party, moderates are welcome. They just need to abide by two basic principles: one, firm, reasoned beliefs based on intrinsic values, not lobbyist dollars, and two, be proud to be called a Democrat — modifier not included.
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Mean Rachel Reply:
November 27th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Just wanted to say that the above “anonymous” comment is mine. iPhone commenting left off my name. Thanks.
Mr. Smith Reply:
November 27th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Bill White didn’t put democrat on any material he ever posted, or sent, and yet, he polled five to seven points higher than the rest of the ticket, in almost all cases. And I bet you have a core set of beliefs, including gun control, that push many otherwise Democratic voters outside the Party. Sure, moderate is acceptable, when you define what moderate is. Rachel, I think the impulse to purify and amplify the “Democratic Message”, whatever that is, is a false trail. Instead, the Democratic Party needs to start standing with the average hard working family of every race. The best example is our public school fight. Tea Party Republicans are able to get away with cutting public schools because they then message that school districts are wasteful, with bloated administrations. How do Democrats respond? “Think of the children.” This fails to gain the confidence of the average tax payer, who is pushed to the limit and doesn’t want his or her money wasted. But why do Democrats ignore the obvious? Set a pay ratio for administrators to teacher salaries? Set a teacher to administrator ratio? Prohibit entire sets of expenditures. Instead, being a strong Democratic in your vision is to fight back, saying the cuts are unexceptable and hurting children and communities. And you, the Democratic Party, and Texans will continue to lose, until you put forth a strategy to regain the confidence of Mr. Joe Six pack. Stop looking down on him, fight for his vote instead.
The Mustache That Dare Not Speak Its Name says:
Pena had a problem with cronyist politics, so he switched to the party of Perry and Craddick. Makes sense to me.
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Anonymous Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
The Party of LBJ and Daley wrote the book on crony politics.
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Admonkey Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
You have a terrible sense of history.
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Anonymous Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Not as terrible as your’s, apparentley. Ever heard of George Parr?
Anonymous Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
The State of Texas was built on crony politics. You can either embrace it or fight it, but this state will always be full of crooked politicians, regardless of party.
Admonkey Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
@Anonymous 2:06 — ever hear of “Teapot Dome”?
If you think any one party, to the exclusion of the other (in your case, Democrats are evil, Republicans saints), “wrote the book on crony politics,” then you’re a fool.
Anonymous Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
I never said Republicans were saints. Corruption is a staple of American Democracy. But LBJ and Daley were the two most crooked politicians of the 20th century, but they get a pass for supporting civil rights.
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anonymous Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Where did Nixon rank?
paulburka Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
Nobody should get extra credit for supporting civil rights. It was a moral imperative to do so.
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The Mustache That Dare Not Speak Its Name Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 7:36 pm
And yet plenty of people didn’t support civil rights. So while maybe no one should get extra credit for doing so, they should get extra demerits for not doing so. And some of the non-supporters of civil rights are still around, as are their political and cultural descendants.
True democrat says:
I believe that in a a democracy there could have been a fair map crafted by our judges. Every citizens should have been given that fairness. I think the Valley will lose from his departure. Very sad and unfortunate.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
Rep Pena wasn’t crooked enough to be a democrat so they punished him. They couldn’t do it through voting so they backstabbed him and the voters by legislating from the bench.
Thats why democrats are finished in Texas.
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Anonymous says:
I find his politics refreshing here in South Texas. He is one of the few politicos from our neck of the woods that retires without a second home, a beach house, or a cozy job leveraged from the local bank, hospital, etc.
Hate to see him go. Good luck, Rep!
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Bodhisattva Reply:
November 28th, 2011 at 10:41 am
He’s retiring so he can cash in and get the second home/beach house/cozy job. I predict he’s lobbying by this time next year.
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WUSRPH says:
I will only caution that this is NOT THE FIRST TIME Rep. Pena has said he was not running…He probably won’t…but, as they used to say around the Leg. when someone said he was not coming back….I’ll believe it after the filing deadline.
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Anonymous says:
Smart move all around. Cozy up with the R power structure and jump ship in time to make a killing as a lobbyist while said Rs remain in power. Fear not, he’ll get his beach house.
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Don't Forget Reply:
November 28th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
And don’t forget that he will also receive a nice, fat pension from the State for his years of “service” to Texas.
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anita says:
I bet that’s right — he’ll be trolling the halls of the Capitol with a ‘for rent’ sign, probably leading some ‘Hispanics for Perry’ front group. What a hack.
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Aaron Peña says:
Thanks Paul. Your right. Things are already changing for the better.
Some people just needed the acknowledgement that it is okay to be Hispanic and a conservative. I can already see the emerging generations having no qualms about expressing their conservative perspective without concern for the caustic judgement of purists who demand that the world be seen through their eyes alone. It is the nature of all men to be varied in their life experiences and have their world view be equally varied based on those experiences. I always found it sad that some demand that all minorities fit the mold of their world view exclusively. Troubling.
I’ve always wondered about the anonymous commentator, so routinely negative, angry and shallow. It’s true in every medium regardless of it’s location. Is this the true nature of man? I want to believe we are better than this. A word to the wise. Stop being angry and enjoy the blessings you have been given.
I did just that. I took ten years out of my life and did the best I could. It’s now over. I’m happy for it.
If you don’t like something, don’t just complain or resort to name calling. Find a solution or run for office and get in the arena.
Again, thanks Paul. I will continue to enjoy your commentary through the coming years.
Best wishes.
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Chavo Reply:
November 27th, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Is it too much to ask that the next representative understand the difference between “your” and “you’re”? If you look back through the blog’s archives, you’ll see this wasn’t just a typo. He’s been corrected many times, but grammar seems beyond his reach.
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Longhorn Alum Reply:
November 28th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Mr. Pena:
You are incorrect when you suggest that some people cannot accept “that it is okay to be Hispanic and a conservative.”
Do you see much criticism of conservative Latina judges Elsa Alcala or Eva Guzman for their conservatism? I haven’t noticed that either of these statewide office holders has received complaints based on their conservatism.
Moreover, on the Texas Eagle Forum’s most recent legislative score card, you received the least conservative rating of any Republican — you were measured as no more conservative than Democrats Tracy King and Chente Quintanilla.
These two facts suggest that (1) Texans will accept a conservative Hispanic and (2) you are not especially conservative when compared to Texas Republicans.
Still, I agree that you have received more criticism than others, but perhaps it is a mistake to pretend that such criticism is because you are a “conservative Hispanic” (in light of the facts that you are not so conservative and that more conservative Hispanic office holders have not drawn comparable criticism).
Perhaps the criticism is based more on the fact that you ran for office as a Democrat and asked your Democratic constituents to vote for your Democratic campaign, but then switched to become a Republican shortly after your Democratic constituents voted to elect a Democrat.
You wish to characterize the criticism directed at you as a consequence of your “conservative” beliefs. I think, instead, the criticism is more a result of the perception that your beliefs appear to be negotiable.
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Chavo Reply:
November 28th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Longhorn Alum is right on the money:
“Perhaps the criticism is based more on the fact that you ran for office as a Democrat and asked your Democratic constituents to vote for your Democratic campaign, but then switched to become a Republican shortly after your Democratic constituents voted to elect a Democrat.”
That is not the behavior of a “straight arrow.” I don’t see how Burka can claim that it is and keep a straight face.
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anonymous Reply:
November 29th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Amen!
slypig5000 says:
I understand looking for the good in everyone, but this is way too much credit for Pena. He might have been of a higher moral character than those other politicians from the valley, but I believe if this had been the case he wouldn’t have been so prone to taunting and jeering the Democrats. His behavior was juvenile and immature, most notably his back mic exchange with Mando towards the end of session, not to mention the endless tweets that showed little respect for his past party. Love the blog Mr. Burka, keep up the good work.
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Joe Blow says:
It’s reassuring to know that, at least outside of the Valley (which just happens to be predominantly Hispanic), politics in Texas is practiced in a clean, transparent, ethical and above-board fashion.
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Rotkoff says:
Aaron Pena the “reluctant Democrat?” Paul, you’re just 100% wrong, here. The guy ran for CHAIR of the Texas Democratic Party. That hardly a “reluctant” Democrat makes.
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Blue Dogs says:
Let’s face it, Pena like many other Dems who switched to the GOP saw their political fortunes fade if they had remained as Dems.
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There oughtta be a Law says:
The Legislature should pass a law that says if you run as the candidate of one political party, and get elected, and then mere weeks later you switch to the opposition political party, that there must be a special election held. Then, if you, the party-switcher win that special election, you shall have a true mandate of the voters. Otherwise, you are a fraud.
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Anonymous says:
Pena wasn’t challenged by the Republicans or the Democrats in the RGV. The valley deserves a choice in their elections!
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D Flores says:
Slypig hit the nail on the head. Had the Rep NOT spent his post-Democratic months endlessly tweeting about folks from the “professional left,” he might have realized that his ACTUAL constituents really had little respect for his party switch.
Signed,
A constituent from Linn, TX
PS : The San Manuel Country Cookoff is this weekend, Rep. Pena. Will you be there supporting your rural voting-base, or maybe…manning the Perry 2012 booth?
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Mario says:
Actual constituents??You mean you and the pigs up in San Manuel? Why was nearly half of the democratic party board ready to switch over to a Pena run if Pena did such a bad thing by trying to create oversight and a political choice in our elections? Pena was the only Rep. To say anything about Rene Ramirez taking the Democratic Party to the Texas Supreme court to get their candidate on the commission. After wasting hundreds of thousands of tax payers dollars and emberassing our region once again as the corruption capitol of the State. The only Rep. To say anything when Chuy and Rene took voting rights away from UTPA students and returning veterans in last election. The Hidalgo co. Democratic party is a illusion and nothing more than corruption and power. Pena did a great service to the people of the Valley and people on the inside know the real story.
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