Aaron Pena Jumping the Fence?

Rep. Aaron Pena: Political genius or self-serving career whore?

That's the question a lot of Democrats are asking this morning after the Edinburg Democrat announced that he's considering switching parties to become a Republican.

If Pena does go, it means the Democrats will go down to 50 seats in the Texas House of Representatives. In a statement, Pena said that he was not prepared to wait a decade for Democrats to recover from the drubbing it received in the November election.

After dropping this millstone in the political millpond, Pena decided to go off the grid, leave the state and take a brief vacation. On his Twitter feed this morning, Pena posted

Good morning. Looking forward to a two day weekend with Monica. Hard not to notice the stir back in Texas. Change is always difficult. #rgv

Of course, let's not forget that Pena has always been extremely friendly with some bits of the GOP that have made Democrats (and quite a few other Republicans) nauseous. Pena was one of the original Craddick Ds, and his campaign got $50,0000 out of the Texas Jobs PAC – money that was linked directly to former Republican speaker "Smilin'" Tom Craddick, R-Midland.

The most recent trigger for Pena's threatened party flip seems to be an interview with the Rio Grande Guardian (reposted on his blog), in which Pena wrote:

Party members need to stop taking orders from a handful of people in Dallas and start thinking and doing things for themselves. They are the solution they have been waiting for. Washington and Austin Democrats are not the voices of South Texas. South Texans are.

And here's where the logic starts to fall down. If Pena had been serious about trying to reform the Democrats and give South Texas a stronger voice, he might have started with his legislative neighbor and convicted felon, Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview.

Actually, considering that Flores has been happily adding the #TCOT (Top conservatives on Twitter) hashtag to his Tweets for months, he's been setting the seeds of this since well before the election. Which, of course, raises the question, if he had these problems with the party for months, why not sack up and run as a GOP candidate?

Pena pretty much admitted in his non-announcement announcement that this is nothing to do with principle. This is about access. After the Guardian interview, and a follow-up blog by Paul Burka over at Texas Monthly, Pena said that he received about 50 phone calls.

Many of the calls from Republicans, including lawmakers, were that our community can still have a seat at the table now. Why wait a decade when you can have opportunities now?

And everyone thought that it was blatant political maneuvering when Jacksonville state rep Chuck Hopson jumped from D to R last year. It's also a long way from the 2007 decision by Grand Prairie Rep. Kirk England to quit the majority party and join the Democratic minority. England may have paid for that in this last election cycle when he lost his seat to Republican Rodney Anderson.