Votes matter

For many people the Port of Brownsville was scarcely a thought until recent years, when scandal erupted regarding more than $20 million in taxpayers' money that was thrown away, ostensibly to build a truck and rail bridge into Mexico.

The lion's share of that money has been tracked to Dannenbaum Engineering Co. of Houston, an active contributor in Valley political races. The money is said to have gone for studies and designs for the bridge, although no such work has ever been handed over to port officials, if they were done at all.

Millions more were sent to even more questionable recipients, including offshore bank accounts and Mexican currency exchange houses.

Two men were elected four years ago to the Brownsville Navigation District Board of Commissioners on the promise of getting to the bottom of the "bridge to nowhere," and one of them did his best to fulfill that promise. Unfortunately, resistance from fellow board members and others surrounding the matter made things difficult. Two legal investigations, three civil lawsuits and one sealed indictment later, the story regarding the loss of so much money still hasn't been fully disclosed.

It's possible that port officials have been so reticent in making their affairs public - even though they are elected and bound by the Texas Public Information Law - because until the bridge debacle, public interest in the port was cursory at best. Many if not most area residents didn't appear to have much knowledge, or interest, in operations of the port, even though their taxes supported its operations. Perhaps as a result, some previous administrations were known to enjoy frequent junkets around the world that never brought any business for the port. In fact, some of their trips were to cities that didn't even have ports of their own, and thus would never send ships our way.

The public's general lack of knowledge itself is a problem. The port provides endless opportunities for industrial growth, both through the trade it makes possible and the industry it can harbor. It's obvious that the port has been mismanaged for a long time - only recently has it been revealed that the BND had imposed a ban on the establishment of certain kinds of business, in order to protect existing tenants that didn't want the competition. Such moratoriums might help those tenants, but stifles overall growth at the port and opportunities for economic benefits, both for the port and the local economy in general.

Voters have a chance to address issues at the port by casting ballots Saturday for two of the five elected positions on the board. People should take the time to learn about the candidates - and those seeking election to the Texas Southmost College board as well - and choose people they believe will do the best job of managing our tax dollars while promoting their respective entities.

Uninformed choices can hurt us individually in lost taxes, as well as collectively with blown opportunities to move our economy, and our children's education, forward.

We encourage all registered voters to take the time to vote on Saturday. More importantly, however, is taking time beforehand to learn as much as possible about the candidates whose election will give them the power to spend our tax money.