John Wood Should Reconsider His Exile
One of the first things I do when I wake up in the morning is peruse the local blogs. My daily routine starts with visits to The McHale Report, The Brownsville Observer, and El Rrun Rrun.
On a side note, I'm glad to see Jim Barton is feeling better and publishing articles regularly. I wish him good health and I hope he's doing well.
One fine morning, I saw a picture of Brownsville Navigation District Commissioner John Wood on The McHale Report. Underneath was a caption that asked if Wood was considering another run for a term as a port commissioner.
In all my infinite wisdom, my addled brain conjured up a half-formed thought, and I took to Facebook to post a quick, witty quip. Wasn't John Wood the city commissioner who once referred to Brownsville taxis as "taco wagons?"
I was quickly set straight by a friend who messaged me privately. John Wood wasn't the commissioner who made the disparaging remark. It was Brownsville's original Donald Trump, the sexist, misogynist, racist, anti-Semite Bud Richards who made the comment in an article published by The Brownsville Herald in 1997.
Among some of Richards' gems, including statements saying women shouldn't hold elected office, making anti-Semitic comments against City Manager Carlos Rubenstein, and comparing the Brownsville Police Department to the Gestapo (Nazi Germany's secret police), Richards had this to say about Brownsville taxis:
"You go and look at some of the taco wagons that are going around out there and they look like something off the cover of Herb Alpert's album 'Tijuana Taxi.'"
His comments prompted one Brownsville taxi driver to wonder if Richards had a distaste for Mexicans.
Richards was often times at the center of controversial and inappropriate comments. Throughout the late 1990's into 2000, Bill Hudson led the charge behind the effort to recall Richards. The editorial pages would often times call for Richards' resignation. Richards was defiant and refused to resign, although his political career suffered irreparable damage much like Joe McCarthy did once his colleagues chastised him for accusing top army generals of being members of the Communist Party.
"Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness...Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough, Have you no sense of decency?"
After realizing my mistake, I retracted my comment and apologized, to which Jerry McHale responded, saying Richards and Wood were on two completely different sides of the spectrum.
Feeling like the jackass I am, I dove into researching John Wood's political career, and it reads like a distinguished resumé.
Wood is a licensed real-estate broker who served on the Brownsville city commission for seven years in the late 90's and early 2000's. He served while Blanca Sanchez Vela (US Judge Filemon Vela's wife and US Representative Filemon Vela, Jr's mother) was mayor of Brownsville.
Wood then decided to try his hand at county politics and ran for Precinct 2 Cameron County Commissioner. He would serve as county commissioner from 2003 until 2010 when he decided to run for county judge. In 2010, he defeated Eddie Treviño in the Democratic Primary and faced off against Republican Carlos Cascos. He narrowly lost to Cascos in the general election — the margin of victory was a razor-thin 80 votes.
Politicians and candidates were cut from a different cloth a decade ago. Cascos would eventually be appointed Secretary of State for the Great State of Texas.
After Napoleon's Russian campaign ended in bitter defeat, he was exiled to the Island of Elba. He would keep the title of emperor, only this time he would reign over a few thousand residents of the Mediterranean rather than the tens of millions of subjects he once ruled.
In similar fashion, Wood would retain his title of commissioner. Only it wouldn't be city or county commissioner, it would be as commissioner of the Brownsville Navigation District. Since 2014, Wood has served the Port of Brownsville as a capable and efficient administrator.
Under his auspices, the port has undertaken projects to deepen the port by ten feet, and business has expanded. Keppel AmFELS is ramping up and is currently the only manufacturer of its kind along the Texas Gulf Coast. LNG plants are currently waiting for federal approval to get their projects chugging, and if a city commissioner hadn't botched a land deal, a multi-billion dollar rolled steel plant would have been well underway near the port. There's no doubt the Port of Brownsville is doing well and thriving economically.
Wood should consider ending his exile and bringing his talents back to city government. Instead of considering running for reelection out at the port, he should consider coming back to city hall and help take Brownsville in a positive direction.
John Wood for City Commissioner? John Wood for Mayor? If a trainwreck like Pat Ahumada can try and get reelected, one of Brownsville's statesmen shouldn't hesitate to throw his hat in the ring once again.
One thing's for certain, Brownsville could use a little more John Wood and a whole lot less Jessica Tetreau.
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