Land Commissioner candidate Hector Uribe spoke at a campaign event in McAllen on Thursday evening. (Photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)

McALLEN, Aug. 20 - A former Rio Grande Valley state senator says if the voters of Texas elect him Land Commissioner in November he will work with local legislators to secure a veterans hospital for the region.

Attorney Hector Uribe spoke to veterans in Mercedes about his ideas on Thursday and later the same day explained at a campaign event in McAllen what the Veterans Land Board (VLB) would do under his watch.

“I told them (the Mercedes veterans) the Veterans Land Board already issues bonds to build nursing homes. I said, why don’t we just extend the authority of the Veterans Land Board to issue bonds so that we can either build or purchase an existing hospital right here in the Rio Grande Valley so that we can finally have our veterans’ hospital that has been so long in the making,” Uribe said to loud applause at a campaign event in the Alhambra club in McAllen on Thursday evening..

The Texas Land Commissioner chairs the VLB. The current commissioner is Jerry Patterson, a Republican and Vietnam War veteran.

In an interview with the Guardian after giving his campaign speech, Uribe said legislation would be required to expand the authority of the VLB so that it can issue bonds for the construction or purchase of hospitals.

“The Veterans Land Board does not have the authority right now for this specific purpose. I would like to work with the Valley delegation to expand the authority of Veterans Land Board so it can issue bonds for the purpose of either purchasing a current hospital or building a new hospital and to invite the Veterans Administration to come operate,” Uribe said.

“We are still going to have to work hand in glove with the federal government. We build it they will come, ‘we’ being the state of Texas and ‘they’ being the VA,” Uribe said. 

In his speech at the Alhambra club in downtown McAllen, Uribe said Valley veterans have been waiting far too long for a hospital dedicated to their needs. Currently, many have to travel to San Antonio for inpatient care and complicated surgery.

“We have not done the job we could have done. Of course, we are going to have to continue to partner up with the federal government because they have got to provide the services and rightfully so because these are the veterans who gave their best, came back injured, came back disabled, they came back hurt, and we have not treated them the way we should treat our courageous veterans,” Uribe said.

Asked by the Guardian what the veterans at the American Legion Post in Mercedes thought of his proposal, Uribe said: “They loved it. They don’t care where or how they just know it is overdue.”

The Veterans Alliance of the Rio Grande Valley has been waging a high profile campaign for years to secure a veterans’ hospital in the region. Local congressmen file bills in Congress for such a facility but the bills never make it out of committee. On the campaign trail in 2008, Barack Obama said the Valley deserved a VA hospital but Valley veterans say he has done nothing of substance while in the White House to get the VA to build one.

The VA has expanded its clinics in the VA and is in the process of creating a new regional authority based in Harlingen. However, the VA has steadfastly refused to build a hospital in the Valley. Instead it has partnered with local private hospitals to provide inpatient care.

Cities like La Feria have offered to build a hospital if the VA would operate it. The City of Harlingen has offered land for such a hospital. Most Valley cities and counties have passed resolutions proposed by the Veterans Alliance in support of a VA hospital for the region.

Write Steve Taylor

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