I'm asking myself those questions not because I dislike or have anything against Congressman Vela as a person but because I'm trying to figure out why I don't have much information about him, his candidacy and his views on industry leading up to this VERY crucial moment in time as I continue to read about his enthusiasm and zeal to stack our Port of Brownsville with as many polluting LNG plants as can be permitted. I like to think of myself as a well informed person on things that are happening around the community, but I don't recall him saying anything out of the ordinary.
To be quite honest, I don't even remember if I voted for him or his opponent, whoever he was. Pretty lame for a person who clams to be well-versed in important stuff. And as much as I'd like to point the finger at the media for not spoon-feeding me information to prepare me for Congressman Vela's courtship of LNG refineries, the blame is squarely on me, for not going beyond the TV ads and the political bromides and the sound bites on the news. To think that I might have voted for him because (1) he was the son of a judge... so give him a chance and (2) he looked like a nice enough young man who wasn't going to mess things up too bad for his hometown disappoints me deeply. There were no great expectations. If he gets us a bone like a Toyota manufacturing plant, then he's Congressman for life. What Filemon Vela is doing today is way beyond my wildest expectations. It has also exposed me once again as a superficial voter without the awareness to understand the impact that a person (thrust upon by a selection committee of a political party) and elected by us can have on our personal health, the air we breathe, our environment, the beaches we take our families on picnics and the bays and estuaries where rich and poor enjoy fishing, sailing, and the fresh gulf breeze. Excuse my stupidity, but I just took it for granted that any reasonable thinking person would turn down any offers, however tempting they appeared, to turn paradise into a toxic swamp. How can someone not want to protect the very resources that give life to our motto: "on the border by the sea" and not "on the violent border by the polluted sea?"
Reminder to myself for next election: be more informed. I'd hate to have to knock myself on the head again for voting for someone who thinks like Congressman Filemon Vela
Babs Boudreaux
Congressman Vela did hold a campaign launching party here in Brownsville during that election cycle at Cobbleheads. There was nothing about his campaign that provided insight that he would support this Goliath invading our region at our expense. He spoke mostly of job creation. That he would be focused on tackling that very important issue for our region. Who could have known it would be this toxic industry. No one was talking about LNG back then nor did the public know about that industry revving up.
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