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| Dr. Laura Cisneros |
The 52 year old Cisneros, running for the U.S. House of Representatives in District 34, is a medical doctor, practicing oncology for the last 21 years, lives in Brownsville with an 18 year son enrolled in a high school in B.I.S.D.
During our conversation, Cisneros mentioned several concerns she has for our local district.
Cisneros is concerned about medical care for those who do not qualify for government assistance, yet do not make enough to provide medical coverage for their families.
While she realizes many families purchases bottled water, Dr. Cisneros wants water standards upgraded with fewer contaminants and carcinogens.
She accepts "no excuses" for our area's poor flood control.
Dr. Cisneros' primary opponent will be District 15 representative, McAllen resident Vicente Gonzalez.
A reader explains Gonzalez' rationale for transferring his candidacy from District 15 to District 34:
Yes. they deliberately drew his home out of CD 15 by drawing a narrow line west from the actual Western CD 34 boundary (Veterans Blvd) and went across two Pharr pcts to get to the corner of the Precinct where his house is situated in his McAllen pct - only including just the 1/4 corner of that precinct in the redrawn CD 34 map.
They just wanted to grab his house and get him moved to a theoretically easier District in which to run.
He wanted to move to running in the east because, with Cameron, it had a stronger DEM rating after redistricting (Packing) vs the 'Dem Plus 1' of District 15.
He said that it would be too hard and that he wanted to move to CD 34 as it would be easier.
Additionally, 81,000 REGISTERED voters (NOT voters who actually VOTED) East of US 281 in Hidalgo were moved from CD 15 to join Cameron as CD 34.
Simultaneously, he GAINED all the Dems in Western Hidalgo (CD 15) - those which used to be Henry Cisneros' voters - and who are Solid Dem voters - it was an even switch on the two edges of Hidalgo - gained the West and lost the East - even swap and even partisanship - but the greatest part is that he abandoned or left 200,000 thousand voters in the center of Hidalgo county that he has represented for his 6 years in Congress - the people who actually elected him.
He has never run in Cameron - they were not his constituents. FYI - congressional members do not have to live in their District.
Of course, it will be up to voters to decide between an actual Brownsville resident or one who's simply tried to move where "the grass seems greener" for his candidacy.
But, if a project or funding is up for grabs between Brownsville and McAllen, which of these two candidates would likely favor Brownsville~the Brownsville resident or the McAllen transfer?
She can work the rest of her life and never have the campaign money Vela and Vicente have combined for this race. Competition is good, but if this is all she has she is going nowhere.
ReplyDeleteJim, thanks for all of your information.
ReplyDelete