Monty Marion/Star feature photo
	OFFICIAL WORK: Vanessa Valdez, criminal justice alumna, organizes piles of papers at her desk Friday in the Sam Houston building next to the Capital in Austin as part of the Luna Legislative Scholars and Fellows Program

By Patrick Ygnacio
The University Star
 

Vanessa Valdez had never stepped foot inside the state Capitol prior to 2006. But since the 2007 Texas legislative session began in January, the Texas State alumna has worked in the Capitol on a weekly basis. Valdez works in the senate committee office of Texas Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. For Valdez, criminal justice graduate, the experience has been a speedy crash course in the legislative process.

Valdez is one of 16 Hispanics from the state chosen to participate in The Senator Gregory Luna Legislative Scholars and Fellows program. For each legislative session, the Texas Senate Hispanic Research Council selects college students to serve as full-time aides.

When Valdez began the program, she was responsible for answering phones and receiving mail. Her current responsibilities in committee hearings are more extensive and were appointed to her just three weeks ago. Within a matter of days, Valdez became acquainted with the process of committee hearing preparations and the legislature as a whole.

“I’m a very organized person to begin with so that helped out tremendously, but the hardest part was just getting access to everything and learning everything within a matter of two or three days because it’s not like the process can just stop,” Valdez said.

Her workweek usually consists of 10 to 15 hour days during which she is responsible for many clerical preparations for senate committee hearings.

Before each hearing, Valdez and others in her office accumulate supplemental materials relevant to the bills to be heard. This material is compiled into individual books and packets and then distributed to each of the seven members of the criminal justice senate committee and their staff.

When hearings for the committee are in session, Valdez is responsible for recording minutes and preparing them to be posted online for the public. Following hearings, Valdez forwards important material such as witness lists and testimonies to the offices of committee members. This session, the criminal justice senate committee office is working as part of the Texas Youth Commission House-Senate joint committee.

The committee began a public hearing at 1 p.m. and did not adjourn until 11 p.m. Wednesday. Valdez was on hand to document the minutes.

In addition to her clerical duties, Valdez said her office receives many phone calls on a regular basis from citizens and inmates wanting to voice their opinions and inquiries into legislative issues. Valdez routinely assists those callers in directing their concerns to the appropriate legislative office. She often takes time to listen to a caller even at times when she is not directly involved in addressing the problem.

“Some of the calls, I’ll sit here for like 30, 45 minutes just trying to help them or just listening to their story,” Valdez said, “because that’s the biggest thing; they haven’t been able to tell their story to somebody, so, if you just sit there and listen, they appreciate it so much more. Sometimes they understand that you can’t help them from the beginning, but they just want to let somebody know this is going on.”

Valdez said the most rewarding aspect of working in the committee office is learning about current laws related to criminal justice and becoming more educated on legislation that has failed.

“Eventually I want to become a part of administration or something along that line to create better criminal justice policy within an organization or throughout Texas,” Valdez said.

Michael Supancic, criminal justice assistant professor, was the first to educate Valdez on the Luna program. Acknowledging her leadership skills and consistent participation in programs related to criminal justice, Supancic said he thought the Luna Scholars program would offer her a great opportunity to continue her professional pursuits.

“Coupled with her solid leadership and organizational abilities, I felt she would be an exceptional candidate,” Supancic said in an e-mail. “Overall, she is a hard working, diligent and impressive young scholar who genuinely reflects the leadership, integrity, loyalty, perseverance and commitment expected of a Luna participant.”

Larance Coleman, policy director for the criminal justice committee, works closely with Valdez on a daily basis. He said her work in the committee office provides an important service to his staff and to the entire legislative system.

“Since the world revolves around documenting what happened, she has an extremely important role with us in documenting the occurrences at committee hearings,” Coleman said.

He said the Luna Scholars program and others like it promote the development of future leaders in different levels of government. The political and legislative experience gained through the program is significant to potential future leaders, Coleman said.

“You see the political plus the democratic process,” he said. “The democratic process is always not that pretty but it’s important to participate.”

Recently, Valdez participated in a program inviting high school students to tour the Capitol to educate on the legislative process through mock committee hearings and senate sessions. Valdez attends weekly meetings with other Luna participants to discuss and develop other volunteer opportunities.

Valdez said she is happy with the programs encouraging Hispanic students to become more involved in the political and legislative process, but said there is always a need for more opportunities to gain experience.

“It’s exciting that we were chosen and that such a program exists because if it wasn’t for this program, I wouldn’t be here, but at the same time you always want to see more,” Valdez said.

Participating in the Luna Scholar Program, Valdez said, has given her unique opportunities to bond with other students eager to learn about what happens at the Capitol.

She said working and meeting with members of the Hispanic community who are actively involved in the legislative process has further inspired her to continue pursuits in public service.
 
She is currently in the process of choosing a graduate school, has been accepted to the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and to the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Both schools have offered her scholarships.