And Awayyyy We Gooooo!

Happy New Year, Lizardistas!

Crawling around our windshield right now are a few newly elected officials, a new waiting game in Washington, a new session of the legislature and, our favorite, a bunch of rumors.

So we’re going to start working through them and do our best to find the truth, no matter how stupid it is.

Two new members of Webb County Commissioner’s Court…  Pct. 1 Commissioner Mike Montemayor and Pct. 3 Commissioner John Galo.  We think the voters will come out ahead on both of these.  Galo will help the rest of the court keep their collective eye on the ball, and Montemayor will probably not be getting serviced in his office each week.  So no matter what else he does, we come out with a leg up on the past.

New District Court Judge.  Becky Palomo.  She’ll be there as long as she wants to.  Not likely to mess up the court or the job.

City Council?  New face in Roque Vela, Jr.  Bright young guy ought to bring energy to Council.  Sadly, it won’t be enough to overshadow the buffoon at the head of the table, Mayor Raul Salinas.  But that’s something that just might be changing.

Latest word is that the merry-go-round of candidates who have mentioned to someone (or been overheard by someone) that they would run for an open Congressional seat, once Congressman Henry Cuellar is promoted by the President (THAT’S A BIG IF, BUT MAKES LOTS OF SENSE), now include Mayor Chubby Cheeks as well as Silvero Martinez, who hardly earned a mandate, having to run a  runoff  to finally win County Democratic Chair last year.  There’s also talk of a Republican or two from as far away as San Antonio.

Though he hasn’t said anything about this, you’d figure our next Congressman would be Rep. Richard Raymond.  He’s patiently awaited his turn to run for higher office and would be the odd-on favorite if he did.  But then again, crazier stuff has happened.  For all we know, this could be another Batalla Campal between worn out old luchadores like Louis Bruni and CY Benavides.  Throw Salinas into the mix or maybe even someone like Mercurio Martinez.  There are whispers about Gene Belmares sneaking back into the spotlight, but those whispers are more about a County Commissioner’s seat next time around.

Meanwhile, Raymond is back at work in Austin, alongside our other representative Tracy King and Sen. Judith Zaffirini.  Whatever happens in this drama won’t unfold for at least a month.   President Obama has a lot on his plate before appointing a new ambassador to Mexico.  And you never know what’s going to happen when Cong. Cuellar visits Mexican President Nieto.

Again, don’t be surprised by anything!  After all, this is Laredo!  Ain’t that the truth!