More for the series ,
these have been done before
we have covered these candidates/potential candidates
Ugh, this is going to be a tough one, in a good way.
Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke,
and just so we get this out of the way for the right wing gringos out there…. in Spanish any name ending in "...berto" like Roberto, Alberto, etc we nickname Beto. No appropriation or pandering there. My dad, in a way to assimilate as an immigrant started calling himself William/Bill , the English version of our shared ancestral family name, until today my family calls me Willy, even though my name is Guillermo and that's what most of people and Starbucks calls me… and "Mito" came from my first Boyfriend's mom taking the Spanish diminutive GuillerMITO, making it my known nickname among my close friends ( ¡sorpresa! for those who didn't know the origin story of my Dkos nickname)
As most might know, he is a born and bred 4th generation El Pasoan Texan; GeneXer(46), Libra (September 26th), Irish/Welsh, right-handed (can't be perfect like my left-handed Obama), politician from El Paso. Habla Castellano casi como idioma natal.
His mother Melissa O'Rourke, second husband of his father, worked for and owned Charlotte's Furniture, a business started by his grandmother in 1950. He has an intellectually impaired sister called Erin and nicknamed "Bear", that lives in a special community out of state. Being that she is included in family activities and decisions as was observed during Bet's senatorial campaign
He's had politics in his blood, his father Pat, served as El Paso county commissioner and then county judge in the 1980s and also being politically active in the democratic party participating in other politician campaigns. Another indirect source of attack for that Beto he might receive, This same dem activist changed parties in 90s to the Republican Party. Beto never entertained the idea of switching parties.
Driving O’Rourke’s Toyota Tacoma pickup with the candidate and two aides to the next event, Stevens said he got his answer.
“His phone rang and I saw it was Erin [one of O’Rourke’s sisters] and he immediately picked up ... and said, ‘Hi Bear!’ — a family nickname,” Stevens recalled.
Erin O’Rourke, 38, lives in a community of intellectually impaired adults in another state. Some longtime El Pasoans credit O’Rourke’s family with always proudly including Erin in all activities.
Stevens said O’Rourke has instructed aides that “unless he’s in an interview,” he will stop what he is doing to take Erin’s calls, which are frequent.
“Hearing him talk to Erin — I’m still tearing up at the thought,” Stevens said, choking with emotion. “I said to myself, ‘He’s good. He hasn’t changed. This is the stuff that matters. This is the guy I know.’”
While I was playing with my Commodore 64 and geeking around BBSs and Gopher, He was a 90s nerdy "hacktivist" In 1999, O'Rourke founded an El Paso Internet company called Stanton Street Technology with some friends. Half his secondary schools was spent at El Paso High School hi finished at an all-male boarding school in Virginia ( some guys have all the fun), but before graduating this happened
Interning for Ronald D. Coleman 6 term congressman for the 16th Texas congressional district.
He attended Columbia University, rowing crew and majoring in English Literature. After which he came back home to sing, be an entrepreneur, and start his political life.
David Guinn, CC ’94, was involved in the arts scene with O’Rourke and lived with him after graduation. According to Guinn, O’Rourke’s moral compass, not his political ambitions, remains his defining trait.
His Musical stint was brief but , I think, shows an inner rebel that I find has motivated his life to do things he finds are correct even if they may not be mainstream. If you're interested in the group Foss, here is there wiki page; high level, they toured the US and Canada, The group released a self-titled "The El Paso Pussycats".
Business life; He never was sure what to do with his career. He worked as a caretaker, in an ISP, and as a proofreader. 1998 he wanted to tackle "brain drain" and co-founded the company Stanton Street Technology Group, an internet services and software company hinting his interest in Net Neutrality
"O'Rourke said, "I worked for Internet service providers. Specifically, those kinds of companies that would be restricted by a net neutrality law or ruling from the FCC. So, I've had some background working in the IT industry over the last 15 or so years."
The company is currently runned by his wife.
The politics came in, starting with city council. In an interview with Texas Monthly what inspired or made him tick was unveiled. He mentions great inspiration besides his political engaged father, Ray Caballero, Mayor of El Paso who ran in the revitalization that Beto and his friends were yearning for the city. Caballero pledged to revitalize downtown, create more robust public transportation and city infrastructure, fight against cheaply built sprawl, and de-emphasize industrial production. The mayor failed on most of his promises but planted the seed in Beto and his group of politically active friends ;Susie Byrd, and Steve Ortega. In mid-2005, O'Rourke ran for the El Paso City Council, together with his mini group of young like minded friends on a platform of downtown development and border reform.
O'Rourke, Byrd, and Ortega all won their campaigns. They came to be referred to as "The Progressives." From those days he was known to be anti "war on drugs"on fro the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana. The city council passed a very progressive ordinance that was vetoed by the mayor.
"You have 10,000 people killed in the most brutal fashion in Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) in the last 10 years, without a single word from the congressman about what we can do to change the dynamic and stop the bloodshed," O'Rourke said. Marijuana is "the cornerstone of the cartel economy."
in 2012 he decided to tackle 8 term Representative Silvestre Reyes (who was very anti marijuana legalization), also he is the one who unearthed all those past indiscretions of Beto that were later used by Cruz and will probably be reused again. This is a Latino-Majority district.
This was actually found/used by Congressman Silvestre Reyes whom Beto primaried and beat later on went on to beat.
O'Rourke recently told the El Paso Times that he was driving an intoxicated friend home in the fall of 1998 when he was arrested for DWI. According to police records, he completed a diversion program and the charge was dismissed.
"Character and judgment matters," the Reyes campaign said in an email Tuesday night. "As someone who has lost loved ones to drunk driving, this issue is very personal to me."
Also according to police records, O'Rourke was arrested for an unspecified misdemeanor in 1995. About eight months later, prosecutors declined to pursue the case.
The charge was burglary of a University of Texas at El Paso building, according to a 2005 El Paso Times story detailing arrests of El Paso City Council candidates.
He won by very narrow majority, avoiding a run-off. Also, he shook the common political talk of the district and city, voicing strong LGBT support and drug liberalization. He had called marriage equality a core civil rights issue which his opponent disagreed.
On the El Paso City Council, O’Rourke led a fight for domestic partner benefits and after a referendum to overturn those benefits passed, he led a successful fight to overturn the domestic partnership ban.
Reyes, he said, took a centrist position. Reyes hedged on abortion and LGBT rights hiding behind his Catholic faith, O’Rourke said.
O’Rourke said he’s Catholic as well but believes in a woman’s right to choose and believes that marriage equality is a basic civil right and a federal issue. Those stands in the primary and general election helped him, he believes.
“What’s remarkable is how tolerant El Paso is at its core,” he said.
he went on to win his GOP opponent, Barbara Carrasco, in the general election with 65 percent of the vote.
Congress
1st term
- First "awkward" moment for him as a freshman was that as a non-latino he was not allowed to be member of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, an group of members of congress from latin/hispanic heritage formed in 1976, even though the district is 80% Latino. This created a debate among lartin leaders, what was the purpose of the caucus and it's membership. Is it to promote the heritage of people being elected or od those being represented. They cited the example the Asian/Pacific-Islander Caucus which has non ethnic members. Even the Texano-Mexican Caucus in Texas only asks that the representative comes from a district whose voting age population is greater than 50% Latino. Well, this was never resolved. Food for thought, personally I am in the middle position and see points on both sides. Having said that I do consider him an Honorary Latino Politician, hence will be republished in LatinoKos.
- Border Enforcement Accountability, Oversight, and Community Engagement Act, did not pass. This law would create an Ombudsman and oversight over border crossing, actions, and people ( sounds familiar?) didn't pass. Link in tweet is broken.
- Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, which was enacted in 2014
2nd Term
- Re-elected with 67% of the vote.
- Here we find a real call for debate within us :). He opposed Obama's executive order for DAPA
- He also went to Israel, where he opposed funding the "Iron Dome".
O'Rourke said that he was not against the Iron Dome, but that he could not support sending $225 million to Israel without any debate or discussion. The funding was approved by the House on a 395-8 vote after the Senate approved earlier legislation.
At the meeting, O'Rourke spoke of the fear described by Jews he met who lived at ground zero of the rocket and terrorist tunnel attacks.
"I was looking at the border wall as though I was in Chihuahuita looking at Mexico and talking to people who lived in that village and what they experienced this last summer and learning from them how they literally watched rockets arching over their heads, northbound," O'Rourke said. "And not too long after, they would see missiles and fire coming right in the other direction over their heads."
An audience member asked O'Rourke that having now visited Israel if he would have voted different on the Iron Dome funding last year.
O'Rourke, who has backed the Iron Dome in other votes, responded that funding should be questioned before being approved by Congress. "I think our unequivocal support at times has been damaging to Israel," he said.
3rd Term
- Endorsed Hillary in the Democratic Primary
- American Families United Act: along with Steve Pearce of New Mexico and Eric Swalwell of California. Promoted the concept that US citizens have the right to sponsor their spouses for legal immigration.
This is the end of the 1st part…. we will go into his Senate run and current endeavors up to his announcement in Part 2
I can't leave out the moment I hear him and thought " There is something here"