Juan Montoya of the El Rrun Rrun  blog called it back in October, then refined his comments earlier this month on the City and Port of Brownsville's planned compadre system shuffle, with the Brownsville Police Chief, City Manager and Port Director swapping jobs.  Oh, the two entities would go through the facade of a candidate search and qualification process but the three local good ol' boys would not step down from one high-paying job without the absolute certainty of the bird in the hand of another equally high-paying position.  The first domino to fall was Brownsville Police Chief Carlos Garcia relinquishing the police chief position, then fortuitously landing the plum job of Chief of Security at the Port of Brownsville.  Other candidates interviewed at the Port of Brownsville unaware the job was likely already filled.   Now, it is rumored that City Manager Charlie Cabler, will step down as City Manager, only to survive a rudimentary selection process and be named Brownsville Police Chief with the Port of Brownsville's Eddie Campirano eventually named City Manager with the job's salary bumped up to match that of the Port Director position he relinquished. 

     Who decided in the first place that an ex-police chief was the best man or woman in the country to manage the economic development, grant writing, public policy and labor relations for a quasi-challenged city approaching a population of 200,000?  The appointment is simply illustrative of the City of Brownsville being firmly stuck in the compadre system box.
      What if the City Commission simply ignored the shadowy powers that be from United Brownsville or worried not about hurt feelings and simply found the best candidate for City Manager?  What if the mayor and city commission insisted on credentials consistent with other cities of Brownsville's stature and size?  Those basic credentials could include:  a masters degree in public administration,  experience in grant writing, public policy and non-profit management and labor relations, prior experience as a management analyst.
     What if the city was able to choose from candidates with successful city management experience in slightly smaller, progressive cities in Texas or other states?  These qualified applicants could be sorted out oblivious to their ethnicity or cultural background or current geographical location.  Cultural or geographical inbreeding tends to weaken the governmental genetic pool, not strengthen it.  New or fresh ideas may be unsettling initially, taking us out of our comfort zone or accustomed way of doing things, but a fresh look may be just what we need.


     A compadre system is a calabaza-driven system, not in the sense of an endorsed traceable cashiers check, but in the sense of rewarding those already in the system with the employment opportunities within the system.  That method of operation excludes the better qualified, better educated, but not connected applicants.  So, our city gets inferior performance at an inflated cost, maintaining the status quo.  Our city stays stagnant, nonprogressive but the good ol' boys get taken care of handsomely.
     Brownsville suffers.