| Random fact, Pena (without the ~) means embarrassment in Spanish.
Sad fact, Peña is acting like an embarrassment. Not because of party politics, but he is continuing to give Texas and South Texas a bad name.
Nearly a week ago, political activist and social media guru, Mean Rachel Farris organized and launched, Call Out Aaron day. The Friday was spent encouraging Democrats, moderates and progressives to unfollow Aaron Peña on Facebook and Twitter. The idea, as Farris told press (links to KLRD), was to use the traditional Friday call to action on social networks, "Follow Friday", in reverse.
In the article, Peña mentions that there was no backlash in his district, well, it's a lie.
On son, Aron Peña's facebook page (After he friended me to debate on facebook but before he unfriended me), voters in HD40 had some strong words on Peña's party switch.
Veronica N Mikayla Perez: I agree Adam. Abandoning a party you have been supposedly loyal to for a very long time. A party
that got you re-elected is something that I do not see as acceptable! Staying and helping fix the "broken" is what shows true character.
[...]
Adam Nieto: But it is not the Democratic party's fault its Hidalgo County. This as you know includes the Republican party. So your arguments on validity are wrong. Blame the people who have done wrong not the party.
Of course, the conversation went on, but the proof is there, residents of Hidalgo County aren't pleased.
Peña is right though, he has been embraced with open arms... from the Republican Party. The Rio Grande Gaurdian describes the fact the Hidalgo County GOP is "thrilled" to count Peña among their ranks.
One of those he shook hands with was Tom Haughey, executive director of the Hidalgo County Republican Party.
"I told Aaron it was a pleasure to shake the hands of the Winston Churchill of the Valley," Haughey told the Guardian, immediately after the encounter. "Winston Churchill changed parties. He did it as a matter of conviction because of what he saw. He took unpopular positions and he came out smelling like a rose. He basically saved the British Empire."
More spin but the facts simply don't support it.
Peña and his son have both been under siege on Facebook and Twitter from people in House District 40. Democrats and Republicans have asked Peña to follow Phil Gramm's precedent by resigning and allowing the district to vote to validate or repudiate Peña's claim the district supports his decision to abandon the Democratic Party for political gain.
The feeling has been so strong, voters in his district have begun circulating flyers calling him a traitor and going as far as to call him Benedict Peña.
Peña has had one thing to tout as unhidden proof that people support him and his choice to switch to the GOP - Twitter.
The Republican from the Valley boasts having nearly 2,000 followers on Twitter now and claims to have had the largest single day surge in followers during Call Out Aaron day. What the Republican fails to mention in his lies, is that he is padding his numbers by following Republican groups and individuals across the county in a ploy to lure them into following him.
When planning started on Call Out Aaron Peña day, the Democrat was following 1,388 people and had 1,879 followers. As of writing this, Peña is now following 1,826 people and has 1,998 followers. That is a 31% increase in the amount of people Peña is following but only a 6% increase in followers. Of that, few live inside his district or potential district. In fact, many live outside of Texas.
Peña of course is a opportunistic politician, Greg Whythe speculates we could have Peña around again in either the State House or Congress depending on how maps are drawn. He presents two options worth looking at here (state) and here (federal).
This solidifies why he doesn't want his 70% Democratic district to have a chance to vote before he can gerrymander, DeLay style, a district that is Republican and suppresses Hispanic turnout numbers.
Former Democratic Party Executive Director, and close friend to BOR for obvious reasons, Ed Martin, talked to Peggy Fikac at the Houston Chronicle about why Peña's party switch is troubling to the Democrats who elected him and his current constituents.
"The violation of principle is the same for both, but the impact of the Republican agenda on Peña's constituents is much harsher - on their educational and economic opportunity, health care, and even their rights to fully and freely participate in a country generations of Hispanics have fought to protect and defend. An overwhelming majority of his constituents felt that way and voted that way, and he turned his back on them," said Democratic strategist Ed Martin.
The tragedy here is Peña refuses to discuss with any party officials or voters why he switched to the GOP beyond using the Republican talking points Rick Perry and David Dewhurst handed him in Austin.
Peña has resorted to personal attacks and directly ignoring any person who is not a Republican or ongoing supporter. Peña is showing, he represents his friends and nobody else. So the thousands and thousands of people who aren't of Peña's like mind, are left out in the cold, hoping that Peña won't sell them out to the special interests and lobbyist that dominate the Republican Party of Texas.
Maybe that is why we are already hearing of multiple challengers on both the right and left of Peña.
Read Mean Rachel's piece on HuffPost for her wrap up.
If you're on twitter, you should also enjoy the satircal stylings of Fake Aaron Peña (@AaronForAaron) Who, during the Call Out Aaron campaign, was able to get to 108 followers while only following 300 people. Better growth numbers than the real, Republican Aaron Peña. |
