Message from the Party Chair, Carla Vela

Carla Vela (Photo)

By Carla Vela

This campaign season, it seems that the politics of getting things accomplished and of serving the people are getting lost in the shuffle. Public service should be about the people being served,­ not the servant. It should be about serving the constituents.

Where has that idea gone? Apparently it has been out-sourced to Austin. At an alarming rate, some Democratic candidates are paying consultants in Travis County to work their election campaigns.

Instead of hiring local agencies or consultants in their own communities, they are hiring consultants in other cities that have no interest in whether they win or lose.

Our local Democratic candidates should be supporting the local businesses that have contributed money, and effort (free, I might add), not only to their individual campaigns, but to their local Party as well.

Instead, this small group of candidates has chosen to support businesses and people to whom they must introduce themselves.This is happening on both sides of the fence.

The Republicans and Democrats are both guilty. Yet, many candidates seem to have forgotten the regrets of their predecessors for hiring consultants and agencies that don't know a thing about the people of Bexar County.

They don't live, work, or raise their families in our communities. They're out of town, and out of touch.This isn't about quality of work. We have award-winning consultants and agencies here in San Antonio.

We have political strategists, and media production, and king-makers, as well. We have the highest quality printers, mailing houses, poll- takers,and photographers, too.

This isn't about money. In fact, most consultants and agencies in Travis County are more expensive than what is offered here. But, some candidates love the good ole boy mentality, and buy into gimmicky sales tactics -especially in media advertising.

But, that's the way cookie-cutter ads are. Nothing creative or individualistic will distinguish the candidates as they ask for the vote in the ads. How, as a candidate, can you expect to stand out as a leader when you look so much like everyone else?

Its just another sign that even the most intelligent people sometimes have the least common sense.The thing is, our people know us better than someone from Austin.

We know the issues in Bexar County because we deal with them just as much as our friends and families. We know how the people think because we're among them, talking and listening to people at church, in the mall, in our neighborhoods, and our schools.

We're in touch. And we vote,too. I also wonder if these officials ever thought about the fact that Travis County vendors can't vote for them. Neither can the people within their sphere of influence ­ clients, employees, friends, or family.

There's an indisputable cache of votes totally discarded. Where, oh where, is the logic? So, here we are, watching our politicians scramble around fending for themselves. They wonder out loud why voter apathy is at an all time high.

They look at the chosen few officials who are endeared in the hearts of Bexar County and ask ­ why? What did they do? And while it must be said that Bexar County does have leaders who stand for something greater than mere politics, those leaders understand that we in Bexar County are the best means of connecting to the disconnected.

Statistics don't lie. Politics as usual is running out of votes. Have we forgotten that all politics are local? It's politics for politics sake. Election time brings out the worst.

A select group of our public officials have become co-conspirators, and have left us, their local, year-round supporters, uttering the same words used by Julius Caesar when his trusted friends stabbed him in the back, "Et tu Brute."

I once read on a poster, "Leaders are like eagles. They don't flock, you find them only one at a time." Every now and then ­ which would be just about now - that's what I see in Bexar County.