Beto O’Rourke: Running Up That Hill
By: Tanya Flores
Photos provided by: The Beto O’Rourke for Congress Committee
On September 15, former city Representative Beto O’Rourke officially announced that he is seeking the Democratic party nomination for United States Representative of the 16th District of Texas. Many believe that O’Rourke is the first true challenge for the seat which has been held by eight-term incumbent Silvestre Reyes since 1996 . The buzz about their stark differences, and the whether or not El Pasoan’s are ready for a fresh take on Washington is growing to a loud peak.
To Read Our April 2011 Story Click Here: The End of an Era with Beto O’Rourke
O’Rourke has only been out of office since June but says he’s ready for the next big thing.
The Stanton Magazine once again sits down with Beto to discuss El Paso’s bright future, his run for our border issues, and what is in store for El Paso’s economy if he is elected to represent Texas’s 16th Congressional District.
The Stanton Magazine: What is your biggest El Paso issue that you will bring to Washington if elected to Congress?
Beto O’Rourke: There are many issues and they all fall under the category of leadership. The motivating concern for me to run for Congress is that we don’t have real and true leadership on the issues that affect us most in El Paso. The number one issue is jobs and the economy. We are seeing no leadership from Washington D.C. and specifically from Congressman Reyes on issues that tens of thousands of El Paso jobs depend on, and probably tens of thousands more can be created if we solve some of these problems.
“You are probably aware of the de facto posture on the border in D.C., right now it is that it is to be feared, locked down and “secured”. We need to change that.”
You are probably aware of the de facto posture on the border in D.C., right now it is that it is to be feared, locked down and “secured”. We need to change that so that the border is looked at as an asset, so that the rest of the country understands that the economy in Illinois or Michigan or Ohio is dependent on the free flow of trade and people in a secure, effective, and efficient manner here in the U.S. border.
It’s an everyday jobs issue for people here, its jobs.
Lack of leadership and taking what I’ve been able to do for the last six years (as city rep); my mantra was “Lead, Follow, or Get out of the way”, so when an issue came through that City Council took a position after deliberating and talking to our constituents, we would lead on that issue. I think that kind of leadership and being independent and being bold and standing up for things even when they’re not comfortable is very much needed in Washington D.C.
TSM: Congressman Reyes has long backed the PORTS Act (Putting Our Recourses Toward Security), what kind of border issues will you take to the Hill?
O’Rourke: The problem with the PORTS Act is that it hasn’t gone anywhere and it isn’t going anywhere, it’s not enough for this to be one in a handful of bills that he’s filed over the last 16 years if you can’t get it passed. He may talk about his seniority, having been there for 16 years, and his close relationship with Nancy Pelosi but, all that is meaningless if it doesn’t turn into jobs or it doesn’t help our economy here. Specifically in terms of that bill, its focus is on bringing additional Customs and Border Protection officers to the border , which I think is a decent short-term fix, but we really need to do is find a far more effective way to get goods and people through our ports-of-entry in a secure and quick way. I think we need to focus on technology, everything from bio-metrics, to ensuring that our goods and people are crossing over have been pre-cleared, to creating better infra-structures and process improvements that gets people, cars, and cargo vehicles through our ports as quickly as possible.
TSM: More and more young El Pasoans are staying here and realizing the city’s potential for growth, in your kick-off speech you called it “a new spirit of enterprise and risk taking,” how will you foster this spirit of development?
O’Rourke: Young people are especially sensitive to the signals that cities send out about opportunity, quality of life, and reward for making an investment there, and El Paso has failed miserably in this regard in the past. From 1990 to 2000 more young people left El Paso more than any other city in the United States. One of the missions that I saw for this city is how do we offer people, especially young people, who are the ones that will start businesses, raise their families, and buy homes and create not just economic life but cultural life and energy, how do we make this a city that they want to be in that for them has real hope and opportunity? El Paso doesn’t already have had to achieve all of the things it wants to be, but it has to show people that it’s moving in the right direction. Downtown for example, it was a critical place to invest and focus because for many people, especially young people, a vibrant downtown is a clear marker of a successful city. Neighborhoods, not just build faceless subdivisions that extend in the horizon but have true neighborhoods with parks, sidewalks, bike lanes, a coffee shop that you can walk to; those kinds of small quality of life amenities that you take for granted in Austin, San Diego, or even in downtown Albuquerque. Those are signals and things that people are looking for. That’s the whole game, its talent. That was the spirit that was behind some of the decisions that were made in City Council.
I think having that mindset and acting upon it, trying to show change, and anecdotally I hear good things from people, people that have made the decision to move back here because they like the direction the city is going and they want to be part of that change. That’s where I place myself, I don’t think El Paso is where I and my family want it to be, but we see it moving more aggressively than ever.
TSM: What do you have to offer that Silvestre Reyes doesn’t?
O’Rourke: I’m willing to confront uncomfortable truths, to stand up and do the right thing when I know it’s the best thing for El Paso.
I’m not interested in staying in office for 16 years, in fact, I would sign on to a Constitutional Amendment limiting House terms to 3 terms. I think I bring an energy and drive and passion to public service that we don’t have today, and that is something El Paso desperately needs because we have it at the local level like the cultural, civic and business community, but it’s missing from Washington D.C.
I can’t tell you what Silvestre Reyes stands for. You could ask 10 people and get either 10 different answers or they may all just say I don’t know; but you ask 10 people about me and they’re going to have a definite opinion about me and they’re going to associate me with definite issues. What you’ll get with me that is missing (in El Paso) today is leadership. So, we should demand it and expect it and that’s a platform that I am going to run on.
TSM: Anything else you’d like to say to our readers and to the public?
O’Rourke: I want to encourage them if they’re interested in this campaign and want to get involved, and if they’re interested in this unique once in a 16-year opportunity and want to know more about me and the issues that I stand for, I encourage them to visit our website Betoforcongress.com. For us to be able to discuss federal issues is really exciting for this community. I know that there are a lot of people in El Paso who are really excited for this campaign, so I would like to offer them the opportunity if they’d like to.
The Texas Democratic Primary will be in March.
To get involved, volunteer, or want to know more about Beto O’Rourke visit: betoforcongress.com
