By Juan Chuy Hinojosa
Texas Insider Report: McALLEN Texas That the November 2 elections dealt a significant blow to the Democratic Party statewide there is no debate. But its important to remember that as a legislative delegation representing Hidalgo County & South Texas we were not elected statewide we were elected by our neighbors who overwhelmingly came out in support of the Democratic Party.
So while
State Representative Aaron Pea plays Hamlet contemplating whether he is or is not a Democrat he asserts a false premise when he says he is contemplating separating himself from a statewide Party lost in the wilderness (the same could have been said of the Republican Party in 2008).
The state Party has nothing to do with it. What Aaron Pea is contemplating is
betraying the local voters who elected him.
Its time for Representative Pea to own up to that fact. The voters who have stood by him time and again deserve at the very least an honest explanation not a political one.
The lack of trust in elected leaders is at the heart of the political tensions our state and country are going through. Without trust honest dialogue is impossible and without an honest dialogue progress is replaced with partisan polarization that fails to address the challenges working families face.
And when Representative Pea tells The Monitor that he is driven to this because there is no room for a Reagan Democrat" in the Party anymore it is clearly political theatre that we are watching as his comments have lost all connection with reality.
Perhaps he should read the papers more often because the forces of political purity and retribution are not on the Democratic side these days. Republican incumbents who dont toe the line with the no-compromise anti-immigration anti-social services ideological stances of the far right are guaranteed to face primary opposition.
The reality is no one is ousting or pressuring Pea out of the Democratic Party. In fact the state Party hasnt even commented.
Some have questioned their failure to do so. But it shouldnt come as any surprise. As elected officials were given the freedom to represent our districts and any failure to do so is not enforced by the Party but by the
voters.
And thats the way it should be.
So if Pea does decide to leave the Party he doesnt need to send a letter to headquarters in Austin. The explanation he owes is to the Hidalgo County Democratic Party to the Hidalgo County Democratic Women to the Hidalgo County Young Democrats to the Hidalgo County Stonewall Democrats as well as to teachers firefighters County employees and the thousands of Democratic activists and working families of Hidalgo County.
Because these are the neighbors who gave their time money and energy to turn out a record Democratic vote in Hidalgo County this year that allowed Pea the honor of serving once again. And these are the neighbors who understand what Republican plans mean for the economy and the families of Hidalgo County from the devastating effects of opting-out of Medicaid to cutting the roles of CHIP again to failing to provide the funds necessary to keeping the doors of The University of Texas-Pan American open to all.
And in his letter to these grassroots Hidalgo County leaders Aaron Pea should follow the lead of a former elected official who trail blazed the path Pea is about to take Phil Gramm. As a conservative Democratic Congressman Gramm put the ultimate authority in the hands of his constituents when he switched parties by resigning and running in a special election as Republican. The same honorable path was taken by Chuck Hopson Peas colleague in East Texas.
If Pea has any concern for protecting the trust of the voters who elected him he too will put the ultimate decision in the hands of the voters. If not its hard to see his Hamlet act as anything but political opportunism.
Juan Chuy" Hinojosa is a Texas state Senator for District 20. A Democrat he resides in McAllen Texas.
