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TARA RIOS YBARRA NOT UPSET ABOUT BEING LEFT OFF CANDIDATE LIST
Candidate for State Representative District 43 seat remains calm among the turmoil
HARLINGEN, TX (January, 3, 2008) - Tara Rios Ybarra is surprisingly calm after recent reports failed to mention her name as an official candidate for the State Representative, district 43 post.
“I read today’s Valley Morning Star and was surprised to see that my opponent’s name was mentioned as seeking re-election but mine was not,” said the candidate. “As I read through the article (see “Candidates file for March primary”, Valley Morning Star, January 3, 2008), I noticed that both the incumbents and challengers were listed for the various county and state offices, but when it came to mentioning my name as a candidate for State Representative for District 43, it just wasn’t there. A great number of supporters called me immediately that morning wondering if I had dropped out of the race or not; some were very upset. However, I want to assure all the voters of this district that I am a valid candidate; I have officially filed my application as a democrat in the upcoming democratic primary to be held in March of this year, and I will be on the ballot”, Rios Ybarra added.
The article leads off with the statement: “Cameron County voters now know who will be candidates in the March primaries.”
Dr. Tara Rios Ybarra, a dentist from South Padre Island is vying to unseat incumbent state Rep. Juan Escobar, saying she is “not inspired by his leadership, or rather his lack of leadership in the Texas House.”
“My opponent has cited his experience as a deciding factor in this race,” explains Rios Ybarra. “Well, so do I; let me ask you this: just what has he done for South Texas and the people of District 43 in particular? I’ve traveled this district from South Padre Island to the southern tip of Corpus and everywhere in between and I keep getting the same response from the voters; they want someone to represent them and their needs. I’ve checked my opponent’s record and there’s must not much there; he has not been effective, he just hasn’t accomplished much for the district,” Rios Ybarra went on to add. “I have a plan, and that plan includes hitting the ground running if I’m elected,” says Ybarra.
Just because Tara is calm about being left off the list of candidates by the newspaper, that doesn’t mean she isn’t prepared to fight for the district and for what’s right.
“This will encourage me to campaign even harder,” says a determined Rios Ybarra.
House District 43 includes Willacy, Kenedy, Kleberg, Jim Hogg and Brooks Counties, and the northern part of Cameron County, including Harlingen.
Ybarra Campaigns for Food Bank of The Valley
HARLINGEN (December 14, 2007)
While Tara Rios Ybarra is campaigning hard for the State Representative seat for District 43, she hasn’t forgotten the spirit of the season.
When Tara announced the grand opening and open house of her new campaign headquarters in Harlingen Friday, she invited all her supporters to show up with canned goods to help support The Food Bank of The Rio Grande Valley.
This invitation didn’t go unnoticed or ignored! People crowded the headquarters in support of Tara with canned goods for the Food Bank in hand. The end result? Tara’s staff had to bring out additional containers just to store all the food donated that day.
“I was extremely pleased to see that kind of support we received for both my campaign and The Food Bank”, exclaimed Tara. It makes me proud of the people of this district.”
A steady flow of people attended the “Open House” to meet Tara and show their support. ”I was so impressed with the donations that I have planned another food drive later this month”, added Tara.
Check with her campaign headquarters at 956/440-TARA (8272) or log on to www.votetara.com for more details.
House District 43 includes Willacy, Kenedy, Kleberg, Jim Hogg and Brooks Counties, and the northern part of Cameron County, including Harlingen.
Construction is complete and the Tara Rios Ybarra Campaign Central is now open and operating full blast!
If you’re driving through Harlingen, be sure and keep an eye out for our new campaign headquarters.
If you need some yard signs, bumper stickers, want to make a donation to Tara’s campaign or just want updated campaign information, stop by.
If Tara is not on the road campaigning then chances are she will be at Campaign Central; so please ask for her and say hi.
Campaign Central; 1906 Pease Street, Harlingen.
Rios-Ybarra practices denistry and politics
By Harry “Skip” Dancey
Port Isabel-South Padre PRESS; July 12-15, 2007 – Vol. 59 No. 55
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND -From the pleasant and friendly sound of her voice, I could tell at once that Island Alderman, Tara Rios-Ybarra is a cheerful person. And after spending a delightful hour getting to know her, I can assure you she is also very positive, very optimistic and very spiritual.
Tara has always been involved in public service. She was taught from an early age to live a life of service. It is very important to her family. As a child she worked in food banks. When she got older she began working at women’s shelters and family violence centers like the Harlingen Family Crisis Center. This involvement in family violence issues led her into forensic dentistry. Tara is a dentist and she explained to me that forensic dentistry is the relationship of dentistry to the criminal justice system.
“Forensics?” I asked her incredulously. “You mean, like dead bodies?” “There are live forensics and dead forensics,” she continued teaching me. “Live forensics can be taking DNA samples in rape cases, for example. And dead forensics is working with cadavers to make what are called Dental ID’s to help with identification.
When I look at this young, beautiful, bright woman I can’t imagine her digging around in body bags, as she herself describes it. “I truly admire people like you,” I tell her. “I know you are so necessary in our world today. But,” I confess, “I could never do what you do. I studied Arts.” “Ah,” she says, “but art is what gets us through. Art is food for the soul. Science can only teach you so much.”
Her experience in forensic dentistry led her to New York City as a volunteer to help identify victims in the tragic aftermath of 9/11. A life of service.
I admire the giant abstract paintings that decorate almost all the walls of her beautiful home. “My husband paints these for fun,” she says. They are magnificent works of art with big, bold brush strokes of passionate colors, purples, yellows, reds, greens.
And then she relates the fascinating story of her husband, Dr. Richard Joe Ybarra. “Joe grew up in East L.A. and was a member of a gang. His first artistic creations were painting graffiti on highway walls. But then he moved to Houston and found a church and he got out of the gang. Then he started to paint on canvas. He’d paint on the walls if I let him,” she laughs. Joe also writes poetry and publishes his poems for himself and for gifts. “He was inspired by Dr. Zhivago, who was a doctor and poet,” she explains. Apart from being a painter and poet, Joe Ybarra is also an ER physician. What a life.
Tara is originally from Corpus Christi and has lived here for ten years. She attended the University of Texas at Austin. “I still have season tickets to the UT football games. I’m very proud of that. I’ve been a season ticket holder for fifteen years.” She went to Dental School at The UT Health Science Center in San Antonio. I confess to her how much I am enjoying writing this column because I’m getting out and meeting such interesting people.
“I did the same thing when I campaigned for Alderman,” she says. “I talked to people and they inspire me.”
When she first came to the Island she used to meet people by going to restaurants and taking a book. “I like the Island because the class structure is broken down. In bigger towns if you were in business, your best friend wouldn’t be a mechanic. It’s not that way on the Island. Here you’re judged more on the quality of your character and not how much money you have or don’t have.
She and Joe met at Coconuts. “The Island’s small and we’d heard about each other.” They’ve been married for seven years and have two precious daughters, five-year-old Isabella Sky (“I was pregnant with her when the bridge went down.”) and two-year-old Anastasia, who was named for her great-great-great grandmother. “I think names are important,” she reflects. “They are very symbolic and help create histories for children and society. They help us remember where we’ve come from and where we’re going.”
Tara was reelected for a second term last May. She decided to run the first time when Port Isabel annexed on the Island. “I always knew I wanted to get involved,” she explains. “But I thought I’d wait until my children were grown up. But then I realized the time is now.”
People often ask her how she can find the time. “I don’t know how you don’t have time for things of value. If I help make the Island better, I’m making a better place for my daughters.”
She is proud of the past two years and the Board’s support for a litter-free Island. She’s very happy with the new relationship among the Island, the County, Port Isabel and Laguna Vista. They held their first tri-city meeting a few months ago. “It was very positive. There was good dialogue and a feeling of cooperation. We all share a renewed passion for the environment.”
The Island will be celebrating its First Annual Sea Life Day on Saturday, July 28 on the beach in front of the Raddison Hotel. There will be big tents with different booths where we can learn things, like what to do if you find an injured mammal or a sea turtle and other aspects of plant and fish life that populate our seas. Let’s all turn out to support this eco-tourism event.
In discussing the Island’s future, Tara says the Board has set up a Comprehensive Plan Committee. “We need consensus. As an elected official, I’ll do what’s best for the common good. Some things will be good for development and some things will be good for the residents. It’s a compromise. We are looking at beach renourishment, infrastructure improvements like sidewalks, access to services like sewer and waste as the Island continues to grow. We have got to be prepared.”
If there is a downside to serving as Alderman, Tara says its negativism. “I’m a very positive person,” she says. “I’m a realist with optimism.”
I really don’t want this insightful conversation to end. Before I leave I tell her a little about being a caregiver for Mom. I tell her my concern about Mom’s occasional disorientation especially when she first wakes up in the morning, “She always wants to go home,” I tell her. Tara tells me, “It’s both ends of the spectrum. My five-year-old sometimes tells me the same thing when she wakes up here. She wants to go home too. Hasty, what you are doing is a privilege for you. A privilege.”
She’s right, of course. And it was a privilege to speak with and get to know this young, dynamic Alderman, Tara Rios-Ybarra.
Outdoor Billboard Campaign Goes Up!
The Tara Rios Ybarra for State Representative District 43 campaign is officially underway. With locations throughout District 43, especially within the major cities, the new outdoor campaign has officially gone public. Keep your eye out as new locations near you come available and the Tara Rios Ybarra distinctive logo and timely message become a part of the scenery.
If you haven’t yet seen one of the many yard signs for Tara and would like one in your yard or business, just contact us and we’ll get one to you ASAP!
Rios Ybarra, Escobar to battle for House District 43
BY ELIZABETH PIERSON HERNANDEZ
AUSTIN — A dentist from South Padre Island is trying to unseat incumbent state Rep. Juan M. Escobar, saying she is “not currently inspired” by the retired Border Patrol agent’s leadership in the Texas House.
Tara Rios Ybarra, 35, has started raising money and plans to run against Escobar in the March Democratic primary, she said.
Rios Ybarra has a dental practice in Brownsville and lives on South Padre Island, where she is serving her second term as an alderman.
She said she would work closely with local elected officials to forward their agendas in Austin. She said she is a fiscal conservative who wants spur job growth, improve health care, combat beach erosion and bring more money to the district for higher education.
She said Escobar did not personally work closely enough with local officials when the town’s lobbying firm was pushing for a bill at the Legislature that would protect dredging companies against lawsuits from workers in some cases.
Read the full Press Release at the Brownsville Herald