Richard Urbie is up for re-election, but this past year has caused quite a stir. There have been many changes to the City of Harlingen government landscape.
Most recently, longtime Mayor Boswell was upended by a historical event. Now Commissioner Uribe is set to have a run-off election for District 1.
The problem may be the ability or inability to explain public decisions by Uribe. The concern may also result in identifying, which as already occurred, his source of disinformation/misinformation.
Uribe put on a showing to remove prior City Manager Daniel Serna and now we find out the information used may have been disinformation/misinformation. We find out the source of these “findings,” was long time City of Harlingen employee John David Osborne. For such a “seasoned,” law enforcement officer, the information shared, and the manner it was shared, seems to be less than anything routine. Not to mention, it was claimed that Osborne “retired,” from the Harlingen Police Department then was “hired,” by the Valley International Airport (VIA). The same VIA that is under possession and control of the City of Harlingen.
The community found out Osborne ended up getting terminated from VIA as the Police Chief, and in doing so, two trespass warnings were provided to Osborne, courtesy of Uribe. Talk about an interesting turn of events.
In any case, Osborne will have to show everyone he had “good faith,” when he presented information to Uribe. Uribe will probably have to explain why he believed the information was valid. He may have to explain these decisions to voters.
But it does not stop with the information provided by Osborne to Uribe. Uribe also partook in serving the City of Harlingen Jail tacos. He did so because current City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez said there was a legal opinion on the matter. Gonzales is the guy that took over for Serna on Uribe’s display of information. Then, once the City of Harlingen was unable to find the “legal opinion,” Uribe backtracked on “Taco Tuesday.”
Is Uribe taking a government representatives word for decisions he makes, without fact-checking? Is he acting in good faith? There seems to be a lot of disinformation/misinformation spread around, and it all seems to have a public explanation to a lawsuit filed by a prior VIA Police Chief.
In any case, Uribe may be able to explain the decisions he has made, and the sources of the information he used to make those decisions. If he does explain it well enough, what does that mean for the lawsuit filed on VIA for suspected retaliatory actions?
This process is anything more than a routine, or a usual election. There is a lot more which can surface based upon how this run-off plays out.
