Rio Grande Valley Veteran's Alliance Forum...Hey, watch where you point that tank...

A tank at the entrance of the Catholic War Veterans Hall echoes seriousness. Most dance halls around the Rio Grande Valley choose a more serene mode of decor, a fountain perhaps. But this dance hall is no ordinary dance hall. It is home to The Rio Grande Valley Veteran's Alliance, and they take their posts more seriously than weddings, quinceaneras, or high school graduation dances. The Veterans are in the business of making things happen. To get action you need to take action. What has been on Valley Veteran's minds a lot lately, is the issue of creating the Valley's first Veteran's Hospital. An issue that has been tied up in "one step closer" limbo for a very long time. These Veteran's need help, and it is no big secret that they need 'political' help if they ever hope to make the Veteran's Hospital a reality. This is the reason why on Saturday afternoon, members of the Alliance met with local political candidates in a forum that brought not so much a question of "Why should we vote for you?", but rather "What can you do to help our cause?". Unfortunately, more than half of the candidates that showed up for the forum were candidates whose offices were more administrative than legislative. Take for instance the candidates for County Clerk. When Joseph Campos took the floor he reiterated what Jesse Contreras, candidate for County Court at Law No. 1, had said minutes before in assuring an open-door policy for every veteran who felt they needed assistance. At the conclusion of his presentation, he was asked by current County Clerk Office Manager, a relative of County Judge Candidate J.D. Salinas, about making 'idle campaign promises' and what Mr. Campos could realistically bring to the office. He replied by saying that he would "take a leadership role, and establish dialogue between employees and employer". Apparently this seems to be a problem with the current office administration in some form or another, as this is not the first time Mr. Campos has expressed the idea of increasing employee morale. Arturo Guajardo Jr., ever present with his 'experience matters' platform informed the audience that he has been a part of the County Clerk's Office since July of 1999, and that he has spearheaded every award winning policy that has been put in place, including the removal of public records dedicated to Veteran's. This, he touted, was to prevent a rash of identity theft that had taken place and was reported by some of the Veteran's. I sat there wondering, "if he's been in charge of everything that has taken place in the office since 1999, what in the world has J.D. Salinas been doing all these years since his resignation from the office did not occur until 2005?". The office, Mr. Guajardo went on to say, was in charge of six to seven hundred records per day, and every budget or financial issue was based on his final decision. He concluded his speech with reiterating that he is "the only candidate without a criminal record", which garnered him a round of laughter and applause as he whisked himself away to the men's restroom. He forgot to turn the light off as he left. Apparently, Mr. Guajardo's idea of budget management is only an issue when the numbers are in the hundreds of thousands. "Less ego, more results." That's "Reason #5" on J.D. Salinas' campaign flyer. He also said that he wanted to bring the best County Judge and County Commissioner coalition the county has ever seen. He could do this, because he said all four County Commissioners back him for County Judge. RED FLAG! RED FLAG! One has to ask himself, why would all four current County Commissioners be so distraught over the current County Judge, as to want someone else to run for the position? If the county is in the "best shape it has ever been in", as Ramon Garcia claims, why would the County Commissioners want to change that? Who are they looking out for? When Mr. Garcia claims the county is "in the best shape it has ever been in", he's not talking about money in his pockets, hell, the man donates part if not all of his salary to charity. He's talking about the county in terms of us, the voters and citizens. Judging by some of the comments to RGV Politics, many of you don't have to search too far for THAT answer. Ramon Garcia also went on to state that he would continue to do what is in his power to do to make sure the Veteran's of the Rio Grande Valley get the medical attention that they need through a Veteran's Hospital. On a disappointing note, I just have to say that being there among so many proud Veteran's, it's hard not to feel the disrespect from local media outlets. Except for the local Univision affiliate that showed up at the beginning of the forum, there was no one from any other media outlet to cover a topic that deserves much needed research and exposure. I guess our Veteran's don't deserve that attention unless they're involved in a DWI, or other criminal scandal. If any of you want to find links to these media outlets, you'll have to use a different search tool, because after yesterday's disappointing turn out, the media links on this web site have been removed until they do a better job of reporting what's in the best interest of our citizen's.