Of Course Not

The headline in The Monitor's latest story on politiqueras asks, "They say reform ... but do they mean it?"

Of course they mean it -- for the other candidates. Look how they try to weasel out when reporter James Osborne asks politicians about their own politiquera history:

Questions are referred to campaign treasurers or quickly cut off with something along the lines of, "I don’t really want to get into that," as former McAllen mayor and recent candidate Othal Brand recently replied.

The politiqueras themselves are pissed because Democratic Party chairman Juan Maldonado openly acknowledges the dirty little secret and is calling for a little reform.

"We were like, ‘How come he has to bring this all up in public? He can call us privately,’" said Rosa Peña, a politiquera from San Juan.

Right, how dare he try to put the brakes on this gravy train of looted ballots, intimidated voters and stolen elections? I guess politiqueras do have a sense of shame, if they don't like public scrutiny of their dishonest tactics.

Of course, Maldonado isn't too thrilled that these electioneering mercenaries might increase their price:

"Sooner or later it’s not going to be $1,500. It’s going to be $10,000 or $20,000," he said.

At least once the election's over, state investigators and citizen watchdog groups can pore over the campaign finance reports and voting records to catch some of the sloppier election thieves.