NOT THE BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE

¡Poncho! Livin' too large

By Scott Henson

Grits for Breakfast
November 21, 2019

It would be easy to take shots at Texas state Rep. Poncho Nevarez, a front runner among Texas Monthly's list of Worst Legislators of 2019, after he dropped four packets of cocaine in an envelope with his name printed on it while leaving the Austin airport and was charged with a 3rd degree felony. So let's do that now.

First, who transports cocaine in their personalized stationary? I suppose it's a tad more secure than lugging it through the airport in a satchel stamped with, "THIS IS WHERE I KEEP MY COCAINE." One imagines the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee chairman getting to his final destination and consuming the product using a monogrammed crack pipe.

When captured on video dropping the cocaine, Nevarez was getting into a black SUV owned by his chief of staff in a special section of the airport used by state officials, having flown into Austin on a private plane owned by his solo-practitioner law firm. When you think about it, that's awfully convenient for government officials who want to smuggle drugs or anything else. No long line through a phalanx of drug dogs sniffing your stuff, no X-ray machine or questions from nosy TSA agents who might open your bags. Must be nice.

Still, an envelope with a Texas legislator's name on it isn't a diplomatic pouch. So when airport staff found the envelope, they opened it, found Poncho's blow, and we're off to the races.

In a way, the chairman is still getting the benefit of the doubt. Normally, cops might assume the guy in the fancy suit and flashy watch who brings drugs from the border in user-level packaging via private aircraft through an insecure part of the airport before being picked up by a driver in a black SUV might be a drug dealer. Maybe there was more cocaine in other envelopes, they might have surmised, and a flurry of search warrants, ancillary investigations, and even asset-forfeiture claims might ensue.

In Austin, though, everyone seems comfortable the dope was all for him. Two grams sounds like just a travel-size amount of nose candy for a guy living that large.

Nevarez said that, in a "weird" way, he was "grateful" he was caught. I feel the same.

As a policy matter, Grits believes Texas should reduce the penalty for possession of that quantity of cocaine to a misdemeanor charge and addicts should receive treatment, not incarceration. But I've little sympathy for a lawmaker who never lifted a finger to help with that agenda, attempts to thwart #cjreform bills that come before him, then is outed as a hypocrite.

Plus, Nevarez operated the Homeland Security committee with the demeanor of a snide frat boy. Texas Monthly's assessment of his performance was that he "sorely needed less testosterone and more humility."

Grits wishes him no special ill, but neither does he deserve special treatment. And I'm relieved he won't return to the capitol in 2021.

Poncho Nevarez is the kind of Democrat who would make bipartisan #cjreform efforts necessary even if the whole Legislature turned blue. Maybe Eagle Pass Dems can find a #cjreform proponent to replace him.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I agree with Henson about this jerk, but I disagree with him about changing possession of coke to a misdemeanor. Such a move would not discourage the use of cocaine.