Election Day
And, Statewide Attention Fastens onto the Val Verde County Sheriff's Race
Good morning, friends,
We’ve debated whether or not to publish today, Election Day. Surely no one is in any doubt how the Dispatch is likely to vote, or how we’re likely to recommend other people vote.
After three years of trying to highlight what’s been happening in the face of the near constant gaslighting, it’s been hard to maintain any semblance of impartiality.
On one side of the equation, you have a collection of individuals who seem determined to import a new slave class to the United States— one guaranteed to depress the value of labor in the United States.
This effort has been buttressed and smoke-screened by all manner of faux humanitarian concern, we believe, to conceal the naked greed and sheer effort employed to bring them here, using our own tax dollars to fund the UN and the various NGOs that have turned Panama into a superhighway for illegal immigration and enriched the Mexican cartels by literal billions of dollars.
According to some sources, migrant trafficking income is actually even more attractive to the cartels, since the “product” pays multiple times, unlike narcotics.
And on the other side of the equation, you have another collection of individuals who seem to see all of this clearly, to varying degrees, struggling to say anything at all, without being unfairly blasted by claims of racism or worse.
In the middle you have people of all stripes who may see only a humanitarian crisis. Or rising crime. Or any number of other myriad issues that are associated with this mess. One of the things some of the most liberal analysts of border issues love to point out, is that border issues and immigration issues are frequently used by conservatives to stir up votes— or drum up funding— or that some of the biggest profiters of low paid labor are traditionally big business political donors, who shower money down on both sides of the aisle.
This speaks to the sticky nature of what’s happening— multiple things can be pointed at, all be true— without changing the basic fact that this *is* a slow-motion car crash of a disaster. One that we have all been watching— and the primary fault for it lies with the Biden White House and various international efforts to flood the United States with transplants.
All elections seem to be the “most important ever,” these days— this one, perhaps, might actually live up to the hype.
Let’s take a quick peek at the Secretary of State’s website:
Early Voting numbers are in for Kinney County, 1109 people voted here. The county population is only about 3300, with 2,175 registered voters. That’s more than 50-percent.
Similar percentages have been posted all over the state, with the State’s most populated counties hovering mostly in the middle 40s, with Tarrant County leading that pack at 50-percent.
Jim Hogg County, Frio County, Lamb County, and some others surprised us with percentages in the upper 20s and low 30s at the other end of the list.
This brings us to something we’ve gone back and forth on— something we would’ve liked more time to find better or more perfect words for— but it’s become a matter of say something now or be pretty much overtaken by events.
The folks at Pro Publica, a non-profit organization that’s been covering the border crisis for a while, dropped a mini documentary this week, that argues the Sheriff’s race in Val Verde County has become a referendum on Immigration.
We think that’s a bit of a stretch, but still plausible.
The documentary itself is well shot, well edited, and boasts what seems like unparalleled access to Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez’s campaign and family.
It’s a good watch. And it is apparent that the folks at Pro Publica have made some effort to be relatively impartial, even though the piece appears to be heavily weighted in favor of the Joe Frank Martinez campaign.
We’ll be honest readers— our expectations for Pro Publica on the matter of the border crisis and Operation Lone Star are somewhat low when it comes to bias. Like many non-profit news organizations, they employ many individuals, some of whom have made their biases repeatedly clear.
But, again, in this particular documentary, their usual bias is hard to find. If it’s there, it is mostly buried under a lot of simple and now undeniable statements of fact about the crisis.
Indeed, the staff behind the documentary must surely feel proud of their work, and they absolutely should.
We highly doubt they could’ve anticipated the criticism or interpretation that others have relayed to us, that we are about to pass along now.
We recommend watching the whole piece, since some of what we’re about to say will not make a whole lot of sense, without viewing it first.
Okay. One of the central pillars of the piece, is an attempt to answer vague rightward criticism of efforts in Val Verde County, suggesting that the Sheriff and his brother, David— the County Attorney— have been ‘soft’ and perhaps lackluster in their participation in Operation Lone Star. Indeed, in promoting the piece, Editors and headline writers at Pro Publica wring their hands, suggesting that Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez reached out to both parties as the crisis went on, only to get painted as ‘soft on immigration.’
We remember the sequence of events very well. National Democrats pretty much ghosted Val Verde County, as piles and piles and piles of Haitian illegals stacked up underneath the port of entry.
It was the State of Texas, and Governor Greg Abbott that came forward— paired with a courageous decision by then Mayor Bruno Lozano, to shut down the port of entry and force all cross-border traffic to go elsewhere, that actually came to the rescue of Del Rio. Mayor Lozano did so in the face of extreme local, state, and federal pressure to do otherwise. It is no exaggeration to call it a moment of real political courage.
This support from the state is something that the Sheriff goes to some great pains to personally acknowledge in the documentary— even as the piece tries to paint a picture of how these poor little counties out here shouldn’t be trying to intervene— that it’s a federal matter— and the State of Texas shouldn’t either— because once again, it’s a federal matter.
They express this more subtly in the documentary than we do here, relying on statements mostly made by the Val Verde County Attorney, David Martinez, but they are consistent with viewpoints we encountered frequently with reporters from the Texas Tribune, Pro Publica, and various activist attorneys as Operation Lone Star has progressed.
Now, the meat of the criticism being levied in the wake of this documentary— is that Val Verde County has been happy to take all manner of monies from the state— monies taken from other Counties and other taxpayers elsewhere, while shrugging their shoulders about how it’s a federal issue and they can’t do much.
The criticism may be unfair. Voters will have to decide for themselves. It bears noting that Val Verde County hosts *the* processing center for Operation Lone Star arrests in the region— and their participation in that facet of the operation has been invaluable to all of the surrounding Counties—like Kinney— that are getting swamped.
It is also worth noting however, that Val Verde County ranchers in the Western reaches of the County have long complained that they’ve been hung out to dry— saying that they’ve been told that they are not a priority and that the Sheriff’s Office would not be responding to immigrant related calls on their property.
Matters were so dire— the Sheriff in the neighboring county, offered to help cover them during the crisis. Notable, since Terrell County has a pittance of the manpower Val Verde County does. We’ve not personally heard any statement of policy about this from the Val Verde Sheriff’s Office, but we reckon Terrell County would not have made the offer were it not so.
In the end, all of this may not matter. Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez has a lot of history in Del Rio— as the documentary makes clear. He’s a likeable figure. Very relatable. He’s been very good about spreading the word about the crisis on a national and statewide level and speaking honestly about the impact of it on his community.
We’ve personally sat in on one meeting he’s had with out-of-town VIPs who were wanting to hear directly from him, just what was going on down here. The Sheriff was accurate, concise, and didn’t fudge or hedge, even while offering graphic descriptions of what Deputies can encounter when they find dead and dying migrants well past the point of rescue.
We do not know his opponent, Rogelio Hernandez, who has had an uphill battle to fight, given accusations that he’s almost a carpetbagger, without the same kind of ongoing and deep local ties. But folks shouldn’t discount or sleep on the appeal of someone with bigger city experience— modernization and improvements sometimes rely on the input and influence of folks who’ve moved away and then returned, and some voters will be attracted to that.
Ultimately, we suspect the race will end in Sheriff Martinez’s favor. But it may be much closer than it would normally, impacted by folks deciding to vote Republican all the way down the line. And sometimes that’s what you want— a bit of a scare— and notice that some things need to be changed or adjusted for.
Careful readers may wonder, if the folks who’ve approached us with criticisms about this documentary are associated with the Hernandez campaign, or the organization “Project Red Texas.” which supports Candidate Hernandez.
To our knowledge, they are not.
In all honestly, we’ve never heard of “Project Red Texas” prior to this documentary.
After about five minutes of research, they appear to be yet another effort by long-time political operatives to control or channel grass-roots enthusiasm, which is a bit like herding cats— and why many professional political operatives tend to want to just live in the comfortable bubble where they deal only with the big money people, and the grass roots stay placid and glassy eyed, like cattle chewing their cuds.
The group is led by a man named Wayne Hamilton.
One could probably call Hamilton an ‘old-guard’ member of the Texas Republican party, one of the former longest-serving executive directors of the State GOP. A little time spent with google, and one can see he is frequently quoted in all kinds of places, including the New York Times.
That should do it for right now— we’ll probably be back with a quick blurb once election results are in, though we do hesitate, since everyone and their mother’s mothers will be fighting for your attention, and who are we to elbow into that kind of a scrum?
Deep breaths everyone— no matter what happens— Abraham Lincoln's “perfect words” remain suited for every occasion: “This too, shall pass.”
Have a great morning— we’ll see you again soon.
As always, this newsletter should not be mistaken for any kind of official communication by Kinney County. It is produced separately, and without oversight. Any errors, misdeeds, or other issues are entirely our own.
Thank you Matt. You always inform & keep this old lady thinking.
Wanda E
One fair sized error that needs correction: An early version of this post referenced Edwards County as being West of Val Verde County. Obviously, we had our wires crossed this morning and meant Terrell County. Apologies for any confusion.