Ugarte Charges Grandma Fees to Feed Thanksgiving Meals

So here we have State Rep. Mary González, County Commissioner Jackie Butler, and Sheriff Oscar Ugarte - three elected officials with titles long enough to sound important, but apparently with skin thinner than a gas station tortilla.

Why?

Because longtime Montana Vista activist Tina Silva didn’t support their political campaigns.

And like mature, dignified public servants, what did they do?

That’s right — they decided to hold a competing turkey giveaway targeted at the exact same families, in the exact same community, on the exact same day, at the exact same time as Silva’s 27-year tradition.

That’s not coincidence.

That’s not community spirit.

That’s political chingaderas straight out of a middle-school playbook.

This wasn’t about feeding people. This was about ego and payback.

Meanwhile, the Real Activist Is Just Trying to Feed Her People

Let’s talk about Tina.

For 27 years — TWENTY-SEVEN — she has opened her home to feed Montana Vista families. Not an office. Not a fire station. Not a PR-friendly government building.

Her home.

For days, food fills every room. Volunteers file in and out. She sacrifices her comfort, her space, her time, and her energy. She cooks for the people helping her, sometimes its nopales and pollo, sometimes its colitas de Pavo, rice and beans. She starts with prayer — the old-school, deep-from-the-soul kind only the elders know how to deliver, the kind that makes even the most hardened vatos stop, do the sign of the cross and say “amén.”

This is hands-on, street-level, grassroots activism. No press releases. No media tours. No self-promotion.

She doesn’t poverty pimp the community. She feeds the community.

But guess who DOES send out press releases and invite cameras so they can get likes on Facebook?

You already know. Ugarte, Butler, and González.

Using Public Resources for a Petty Vendetta

Their competing turkey giveaway is at the Montana Vista Fire Station, a tax-payer funded facility - complete with media invitations and perfectly curated “look at us helping the poor” moments.

Because nothing says “service” like turning hunger into a campaign commercial. But thats how the north-of-Montana crowd rolls in Polvos.

JK, everyone knows Polvos is south of Montana…Butler should stop trading on that cred.

But what really exposes the ugliness of this whole situation is what came next.

For the First Time Ever - the Sheriff Charges Tina for Traffic Control

For decades, either the sheriff’s office or the constables have provided traffic control for Tina’s giveaway. Every year. Zero cost. Zero drama.

Until now.

Until after the competing political turkey giveaway got called out for what it was.

Suddenly, Sheriff Ugarte decides he wants to charge Tina:

$150. (Sidebar - is a $150 a lot of money for all of you? Probably not. But if you live in Montana Vista, on a fixed income, and have to buy groceries, cover medical expenses, and pay your bills - a $150 is a lot more than you think).

Not $150 for actual sheriff’s deputies - because they’re not even the ones doing it. Constable Javier García’s office is handling traffic control.

So what exactly is the Sheriff charging for? A participation trophy? A hostile tax on grandma kindness? His wounded political pride?

Let’s keep it real: This wasn’t about safety. This was retaliation wrapped in official letterhead - and some cheap-ass flowers State Rep Mary Gonzalez sent Tina Silva yesterday thinking it would make up for the proverbial knife Gonzalez inserted into Silva’s back. 

Seriously, if she thought sending flowers (thats been her go-to move with Tina Silva for at least a decade) was going to make the community forget what she did, she really miscalculated. 

Also, when you send flowers - don’t send sad, dead ones with brown petals. Its a bad look. 

But we all know what’s coming next - the “It’s Policy” argument. The weakest cop-out in the County

Predictably, some folks will try to blame “county policy.”

No.

The policy does not mandate a fee. There are multiple options in the policy to waive it. And for 27 years those options have been used.

But suddenly - magically - after elected officials get publicly criticized, the fee appears.

Qué casualidad, eh?

And you know what’s the most gacho? (Quick, someone tell her what that means) Commissioner Jackie Butler recently supported a county initiative related to food insecurity … and then turned around and supported charging a grandmother for feeding people in one of the most underserved parts of the county.

That’s not hypocrisy. That’s full-on political theater.

But since we are talking about theater - there should be a hero. There should be someone who rides in on a white horse to save the day. 

Enter - of all people - Constable Javier Garcia. 

Like I said earlier, his office is doing crowd control - not the sheriff’s office. 

He won’t tell anyone - but I will - he paid the $150 that Ugarte was charging Silva. 

And now here is what distinguishes the Javier Garcias from the Oscar Ugartes….

Silva didn’t support Javier Garcia’s campaign either. 

But the Constable has been doing this event for as long as I can remember. He was an actual adult about it - didn’t insert his ego - and didn’t care that Silva didn’t support him. 

Why? Well simple. For every media hound superficial elected official hungry for the validation of likes - there are the genuine good fucking vatos like Javier Garcia, who care more about the community than himself. 

The reality is no one reading this would ever know that Garcia paid the fee - because he’s not going to call a press conference to congratulate himself like the Three Amigos. 

Its about giving back to people - especially during a time when affordability is such a problem, when federal workers were out of work for so long - and when snap was withheld from people. 

This Isn’t About Policy - It’s About Character

I’ve seen plenty of petty pendejadas in my day, lol remember the cash giveaways at Chente’s pachangas? Local politics is basically an Olympic sport of pettiness.

But never - NEVER - have I seen elected officials so dead-set on undermining a 70-something-year-old woman just for handing out turkeys.

This is about the character of Mary González, Jackie Butler, and Oscar Ugarte. Period.

And the picture they’re painting of themselves?

Small.

Vindictive.

Self-serving.

Unworthy of the offices they hold.

In the End…

This is about who really serves Montana Vista.

It’s about who opens their home versus who opens a press conference. 

Who feeds families versus who feeds their own ambition and egos.

Who shows up with heart versus who shows up with a camera crew.

Tina Silva has been feeding her community longer than some of these officials have been in public service. She does it without credit, without ego, and without asking for a damn thing in return.

And as the great Dolores Huerta said:

“Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.”

Tina lives that.

The others just quote it when there’s a microphone around.