Former Poteet HS governement teacher, Victor Morales, is running for the U.S. House near San Antonio.
Morales was the first political candidate I interviewed. It’s interesting to see where life takes you.
Read the Morning News story.
or…
From the Statesman:
Three vying to represent area that includes 11 counties.
By Miguel Liscano
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, February 25, 2006
SAN MARCOS — In the most contentious congressional race in Texas this spring, former allies are now bitter rivals as they re-fight a 2004 battle that was decided by by 58 votes.
The winner of the March 7 Democratic primary, which first-term U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and former four-term Rep. Ciro Rodriguez are competing for, will represent District 28, an area that includes 11 counties and stretches from Buda south through San Antonio and into Laredo. No Republican has signed up to run.
Cuellar is from Laredo, and Rodriguez from San Antonio.
Victor Morales, who gained fame by driving a white pickup across Texas in a 1996 bid to unseat then-U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, also is running.
“I passed more legislation in my first year than he did in eight years,” Cuellar said of Rodriguez.
“It’s one thing to reach out to the other side,” Rodriguez said of Cuellar’s record of working with Republicans. “It’s another thing to sell out to the other side.”
Rodriguez and Cuellar were friends when they served together in the Texas House in the 1980s and 1990s. But when Republicans realigned the state’s congressional districts in 2003 and added part of Laredo to the 230-mile-long district, Cuellar decided to challenge the popular incumbent.
Rodriguez’s 145-vote election night win was erased by 419 additional ballots discovered in two of Cuellar’s strongest counties. Cuellar beat Rodriguez by 58 votes after two recounts and four court decisions.
Now Rodriguez wants his job back. “It’s been bare-knuckle politics,” said Richard Gambitta, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. “In a large degree, I think the race is between Rodriguez and Cuellar. Victor Morales doesn’t have much of a shot.”
Cuellar had seven times more cash on hand than Rodriguez at the end of last year, according to federal filings.
Rodriguez, however, got an unexpected boost to help close the gap after a picture of President Bush happily greeting Cuellar by the cheeks at the State of the Union address circulated among left-leaning blogs last month. Rodriguez collected $272,000 in January and February, while Cuellar took in $319,000.
Cuellar says the picture only shows he works with both parties.
Morales reported $11,304 on hand in the latest filings.
The election day results results also could hinge on who energizes their bases — and their hometowns — most.
“If San Antonio turnout is very high . . . and Ciro gets an overwhelming majority in San Antonio, he can really give (Cuellar) trouble,” said Nasser Momayezi, a political science professor at Texas A&M International University in Laredo.
Rodriguez said voters didn’t think he would lose last time and didn’t vote, which he hopes will change this time. Cuellar says he’s working to win voters in San Antonio’s Bexar County. He’s also hoping for another large turnout in his native Webb County, where voters will likely go his way.
Cuellar, 50, is helped this time by the advantage of incumbency and a record that could make or break him.
He says he’s secured $850 million for local projects, such as $3 million for roads in Hays County and a $6 million grant for a library in the Harlandale school district in San Antonio, and he’s passed two bills that secured millions of dollars for law enforcement along the Texas-Mexico border.
On the campaign trail, he touts his authorship of the bill, while in the Texas House, that created the TEXAS Grant program — a $300 million state financial aid program for higher education — as proof that he’s big on education.
He voted with mostly Republicans for the Central American Free Trade Agreement last year because he thought it was good for trade. “I don’t vote blindly,” Cuellar said. “Whatever the issue is, if it’s good for my district, I will vote for it.”
Cuellar is the son of migrant workers who don’t know much English.
At a recent concert at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Seguin, Yolanda Barrientes, 59 of San Antonio, pointed to him and said, “I’ll vote for him,” after he told his parents’ story.
Rodriguez, 59, greets most people he meets on the campaign trail in Spanish first. And most answer in Spanish as they talk about how he wants his job back and he criticizes Cuellar’s congressional voting record during his first term.
He knocks Cuellar for the CAFTA vote, which he says will take away American jobs.
Rodriguez wants a prescription drug plan that’s less confusing than the new Medicare plan many seniors find tough to use. He says he voted against Bush’s Medicare reform bill in 2003 because it didn’t allow price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies.
Rodriguez, who chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus while in Congress, said he has the experience necessary to get things done in Washington.
“I’m the best qualified,” Rodriguez said. “It’s about making sure we get somebody who fights for our issues.”
The pair both criticized Morales, who they say is not a viable opponent because he doesn’t live in the district.
Morales, 56, is a high school teacher from the Dallas area. He lives more than 300 miles away from his mother’s home in Pleasanton, the address he lists to run in the district.
But he says he grew up in the district, has taught in Cotulla, and would move back if elected.
He entered the race in late December and had used a 2001 Lexus to campaign in until voters repeatedly asked, “Where’s the truck?” He resumed campaigning in the white Nissan pickup that still has two “Morales U.S. Senate ’96” bumper stickers, the ink on one nearly faded off.
If elected, he says he’ll work to secure worker pension plans and try to put more crossings along the border to expedite getting into the country legally.
Morales says he’s the best choice partly because he’s a regular guy who won’t be beholden to special interests: “I’m bucking the system.”
(i)Henry Cuellar
Age: 50
Occupation: Attorney
Education: Associate’s degree in political science, Laredo Community College; bachelor’s in foreign service, Georgetown University; master’s in international trade, Texas A&M International University in Laredo; law degree and doctorate in government, University of Texas
Experience: Texas House of Representatives, 1987-2001; Texas secretary of state 2001-02; U.S. House of Representatives, 2005-present
Worth noting: Serves on House Agricultural Committee; lost to U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, for District 23 congressional seat in 2002; beat then-U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, two years later by 58 votes for District 28 spot.
Web site: www.henrycuellar.com
Victor Morales
Age: 56
Occupation: Teacher
Education: Bachelor’s degree in secondary education, Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M-Kingsville)
Experience: U.S. Navy, yeoman 2nd class, 1970-72; Crandall City Council member, 1994-96
Worth noting: Ran two losing campaigns for U.S. Senate, in 1996 and again in 2002; lost a bid for U.S. House to Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, in 1998; known for campaigning in white pickup during his first race.
Ciro D. Rodriguez
Age: 59
Occupation: Former educator and social worker
Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science, St. Mary’s University; master’s in social work, Our Lady of the Lake University
Experience: U.S. House of Representatives, 1997-2005; Texas House of Representatives, 1987-97; Harlandale school board member, 1975-1987
Worth noting: Chairman of Congressional Hispanic Caucus, 2003-04
Web site: www.cirodrodriguez.com
