Few individuals exterior of south Texas, and even fewer exterior the state, have heard of US consultant Henry Cuellar, although he is likely one of the state’s most fascinating elected officers. However now the nation could know him as yet one more member of Congress tied to a federal investigation. A latest FBI raid at this nine-term Democratic congressman’s residence and marketing campaign headquarters in Laredo, on the US-Mexico border, has probably vital implications for Washington politics: it offers one other blow to the artwork of compromise, a once-essential legislative software, and one which Cuellar has mastered in his lengthy political profession.
The FBI raid on January 19 is a part of an investigation of a number of individuals with ties to the previous Soviet nation of Azerbaijan. I've no direct information of the character of the federal investigation – and Cuellar has not been charged with something – however permitting an FBI raid weeks earlier than his hotly contested 1 March main suggests the very best ranges of the justice division signed off on this motion.
Though he calls himself a reasonable, Cuellar is a conservative Democrat who displays a distinct period of Texas and US politics. Many progressive Democrats in Texas and past view that as seditious to the occasion, prompting a nationwide progressive Democratic effort to purge him from workplace. This contains assist from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, in addition to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all of whom have endorsed Cuellar’s two-time challenger, Jessica Cisneros, who as soon as interned for him.
Cisneros, who got here inside 4 factors of defeating Cuellar in 2020, has seen her fortunes dramatically enhance this yr because of the FBI. However there may be concern that she is likely to be too progressive for this border district, and a main victory by her might bolster the probabilities of Republicans capturing that seat.
I first met Cuellar within the Nineties when he had served within the Texas Home of Representatives for practically a decade. Because the eldest of eight kids to migrant farmworker dad and mom, Cuellar pursued post-secondary schooling with vigour and has extra levels than most members of Congress. He earned an affiliate diploma from Laredo Neighborhood School after which went to Georgetown College in Washington, DC for a bachelor’s diploma earlier than returning to Texas to get a grasp’s diploma at Texas A&M Worldwide College in Laredo. He then secured a doctorate and regulation diploma from the College of Texas at Austin. Alongside the best way, he additionally secured a black belt in karate.
All the time gregarious and down-to-earth pleasant, Cuellar had already developed the politician’s veneer and gave the impression to be working for workplace even whereas in regulation college, a classmate of his as soon as informed me.
Few individuals know that one of many first main political forces in Texas to publicly name on then governor George W Bush to run for president was the highly effective Democratic lieutenant governor Bob Bullock. Cuellar was within the state’s decrease chamber when Bullock, the top of the higher chamber, made that endorsement. And Cuellar appears to have realized what made Bullock so efficient and highly effective as a statewide elected official – bipartisanship. When Bush lastly received the White Home and stepped down as Texas governor, Republican Rick Perry, who succeeded Bullock, was elevated to the state’s high workplace and appointed Cuellar secretary of state, essentially the most seen appointment a Texas governor could make. It confirmed a spirit of bipartisanship that Texas lawmakers then boasted about in distinction to the bitter partisan divisions that had already beset Washington.
Nevertheless it additionally put a pall on Cuellar within the eyes of Democrats, lots of whom misplaced belief in him. That sense of betrayal dissipated as Cuellar left state politics and received a seat in Congress in 2004 by a 58-vote margin in opposition to former buddy and incumbent consultant Ciro Rodriguez.
In his 17 years in Congress, Cuellar has developed a status as both a politician who's wily sufficient to succeed in throughout the aisle or a vendido, Spanish for sellout. He has acquired a number of A grades from the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation and opposes abortion rights.
From my vantage level, his willingness to play effectively with Republicans and his skill to compromise has made Cuellar arguably the best and highly effective of the 13 Texas Democrats in Congress.
Nothing is extra emblematic of the duelling opinions about Cuellar than the congressional battle over funding Trump’s border wall. As a member of the Home appropriations committee and its subcommittee on homeland safety, Cuellar was within the thick of the battle over border wall funding through the Trump administration. His congressional district is large, extending from Laredo north-east to San Antonio and south to Mission within the Rio Grande Valley, the place early plans for the border wall raised numerous issues.
As the one member of Congress on the border to be a part of a negotiating crew to fund the wall, Cuellar was in a position to carve out vital exceptions to the place the wall might be constructed. This included La Lomita Mission, positioned on the banks of the Rio Grande, which is the namesake for town of Mission; the Santa Ana nationwide wildlife refuge, which sits on the juncture of two main chicken migratory routes and is the house of greater than 400 chicken species; the Nationwide Butterfly Centre, a 100-acre protect; and even the launchpad for Elon Musk’s SpaceX – all of which have been threatened by development of a wall and adjoining safety zone for US Border Patrol brokers to drive.
Then to the consternation of those that opposed the wall, Cuellar voted twice to fund development for practically 100 miles of wall in south Texas, the second vote serving to to avert a authorities shutdown. Debate continues over whether or not Cuellar was in a position to save among the most environmentally and traditionally delicate property in south Texas or whether or not he bought out his constituents.
His actions recommend he was acceding to political compromise, a conventional mainstay of the legislative course of that's changing into extra of a legal responsibility in our take-no-prisoners political panorama. The actions of the FBI, simply weeks earlier than the 14 February begin of early voting within the Texas main elections, recommend Cuellar’s political sacrifice is the brand new price of enterprise in Washington.
Carlos Sanchez is director of public affairs for Hidalgo county, Texas. He was a journalist for 37 years and has labored on the Washington Put up and Texas Month-to-month journal, in addition to eight different newsrooms. He will be reached at borderscribe@gmail.com
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