McALLEN — Two very different races are shaping up for the upcoming South Texas College Board of Trustees election.
Those differences were on display Thursday for the second time in as many weeks at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce and McAllen Citizens Leagues candidate forum, moderated by Davis Rankin.
On the one hand, the race for District 4 is tepid, almost — at the surface, at least — dull.
That doesn’t mean the three candidates in that race aren’t energetic; they spent a good deal of time Thursday buzzing around the room at the McAllen chamber building shaking hands and making introductions, and their supporters occasionally whooped and hollered during the forum.
Controversial policy differences, though, haven’t so far been much of a factor in the race, which features three fairly well-known locals running for the undefended seat Gary Gurwitz held for a quarter of a century before deciding not to run this year.
Those candidates Thursday set the tempo of their race as very much a competition based on qualifications and character rather than controversial problems or solutions.
Opinions on issues in that race largely varied by slight degrees rather than gulfs. Candidates talked about a variety of fairly conventional priorities for their prospective terms, usually spending the bulk of their time describing STC’s importance to the community and their own abilities in leveraging that importance.
“At the end of the day, it’s really about trust,” candidate Michael Fallek said. “Who is it that you trust to fulfill the South Texas vision?”
Fallek, an attorney, says he’s the candidate for the job. He frequently highlighted his business acumen and financial experience, saying that experience could be applied to building up a foundation with an endowment that would grow to support the college.
He’s also got name recognition: readers will remember Fallek placing third in the race for McAllen mayor last year with some 23% of the vote.
Despite that, Fallek is not facing a field of unknowns.
Dalinda Alcantar, one of his competitors, ran for a spot on the McAllen school board seven years ago, also finishing third with some 24% of the vote.
Since then she’s become the head of the McAllen Boys & Girls Club, a fairly visible post that she says gives her an education-focused resume.
“It’s important to have experience,” she said. “I’m in the business of education. It’s a lifestyle for me; it’s why I wake up, it’s purpose.”
The third candidate for District 4, Veronica “Ronnie” Lyzette Ontiveros, likely has the least name recognition and political experience out of the three. Still, Ontiveros said her business experience as CEO of MED-CARE shows her leadership skills and demonstrates a resume for a candidate who can promote workforce readiness at STC.
“I want to make sure that our community is well served for the demand of jobs that we know are out there and that we know we need,” she said. The race for District 3, meanwhile, has a more bitter flavor to it.
That race features former Valley View ISD trustee Priscilliano Treviño running against incumbent Paul R. Rodriguez, who’s held his seat for a dozen years.
Lorena Saucedo Singh, the third candidate for that seat, did not take part in Thursday’s forum or last week’s debate.
The tempo of that race is fairly straightforward. Trevino’s approach is to criticize what he describes as a variety of shortcomings in STC’s direction, and proposes a bevy of drastic changes: the college, he says, should take a more active stance toward athletics by joining the National Junior College Athletic Association, a more aggressive stance toward rural education and also improve its special education programming.
Notably, Treviño said Thursday that he’d like to see STC stop levying taxes in the next two decades.
“I think I see STC giving us a self-sustaining college where we’re going to sustain it with tuition and other programs…” he said. “Because when it first started, it started as legislation to start STC, but it was supposed to be — at the end of the day — it was supposed to be enrollment based, so I’m hoping in 20 years some of us aren’t going to be taxed anymore.”
Treviño says he’s the man to enact those changes.
“District 3 needs someone with vision and fresh, new, bold ideas,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez is saying the college has done well and is continuing to do so. He defended that argument glibly throughout the forum, citing facts and figures and programs he says are important and illustrate the college’s growth.
“In 2015 we were able to pass…the issuance of $159 million in bonds,” he said. “That particular program enabled us to do important capital improvements to all of our campuses, including opening up our newest facility in the city of Pharr where we have our public law enforcement agency service development campus.”
Rodriguez largely plugged his own experience steering the college through its successes, saying his professional relationships and financial knowledge will help guide STC through a pivotal chapter in the college’s transition to a post-pandemic learning environment.
“I’ve been able to participate in those partnerships, I’ve developed relationships with a number of key individuals throughout that spectrum, and I hope to continue to do that,” he said. “My financial background has enabled me to maintain the financial integrity of STC and its viability, which has been critical. I think that we have been able to get lots of things done, we’ve been able to minimize the tax burden for our taxpayers and voters.”
Election day is Saturday, May 7. Early voting begins April 25.
