Oliveira pitching for even dozen

Longtime state Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, has announced he will seek re-election to the District 27 seat.

In a prepared statement released this week, Oliveira said he intends to secure the Democratic nomination in the March 2008 primary election. The district includes Brownsville, Port Isabel, Laguna Vista, Bayview and part of Los Fresnos.

Oliveira, 52, and a partner in the law firm of Roerig, Oliveira and Fisher, is serving his 12th term in the Texas Legislature.

“I still have that fire in the belly to serve,” he said.

He listed several reasons for running again, including “unfinished business, new problems and new things that are developing.”

Among his major accomplishments include working to create a partnership between the University of Texas System and Texas Southmost College to form UTB-TSC, sponsoring anti-colonia legislation, secure highway funding and comprehensive workforce reform legislation.

Oliveira counts among his greatest accomplishments a piece of child support legislation that he estimates has generated more than $8 billion for Texas children.

“That’s the one that probably gives me the most gratification,” he said.

During the last legislative session, Oliveira underwent a successful bypass heart surgery and “I’m doing great,” he said.

“I probably haven’t been in (such good shape) in 15 years. I certainly wouldn’t consider running if my health would be in jeopardy or if I couldn’t do the job,” he said.

Oliveira is a graduate of Brownsville High School, the University of Texas and the University Of Texas School of Law. He is a father of two college students.

“Anybody who wants to run (against me), they’d better put their running shoes on because I am running hard,” he said. “I’ve got my Nikes.”