WP: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes: From El Paso to the Shadow World of Spies

The Chairman's Turf
It's a Long Way From Border Country to the Shadow World of Spies
By David Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 4, 2007; C01

EL PASO - Silvestre Reyes is straight out of Border Country, that place of lawmen and bandits, pluck and luck.

Grows up on a cotton farm along the Rio Grande, oldest of 10, struggling with English as a kid. Helicopter gunner in Vietnam, some college, marries his high school sweetheart (honeymoon at the Mesa Motel), lands a solid government job -- Border Patrol. He works like hell for 26 years, gets shot at by Mexican train robbers, rises from agent to bridge inspector to chief for West Texas and Arizona.

"Outdoor work," he calls it, for someone with "a flair for a little danger" -- but unexpected work for the boy who used to warn undocumented farm workers when la migra came around.

Next, a grateful citizenry sends its tough but soft-spoken lawman to Congress, reelects him five times, the first Latino to represent his 80 percent Hispanic district.

Reyes is, in short, that most cherished of political properties, the real guy, a man of the people, not just someone who pretends to be....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010301904_pf.html

Not "Heartland" like a brand name like "Homeland", but the unheard people, out in the heart of our land.