Monday, May 23, 2016

AS LAST DAY TO VOTE NEARS, CANDIDATES FEEL THE ANGST

By Juan Montoya
As the last day of voting in the 2016 primaries approaches on Tuesday (for both Democrats and Republicans), the gastric juices flow and last-minute anxiety creeps in.
Have I done all that I could have?
Did I miss getting in touch with someone that I should have?
Did we knock on enough doors?
Did I do enough block walking?
Were my newspaper (and mass media ads and mailouts) aggressive enough?
Should I have gone negative?
Most candidates and their supporters know the election isn't over until the last voter emerges from the election day voting precincts and the election judges turn in their results to the central voting site with the Election Administration Officer.
Then it's a matter of time until the early and mail-in votes are counted prior to the tallyiing of the election day boxes.
In most cases, the early voting turnout determined the outcome because more than 60 percent of the votes are already in before the voting on election day.
But in runoff races, the difference may be negligible and the outcome may well be decided by last-minute voters on election day.
In some races, the candidates have been running for more than a year, announcing their intentions in late 2014 or early 2015 to discourage others from stepping in. The person-to-person approach and knocking on doors is preferred by some while other count on mass and social media to catch voters' interest. Others prefer a combination. But what is the right mix to win?
That, as they say, is the $64,000 question.
The recent Brownsville Navigation District and Texas Southmost College races showed that money alone will not win you an election. In the port race, particularly, car sales magnate Mike Hernandez threw money in the direction of Ed Rivera and Raul Villanueva with meager results. Both lost handily to incumbents Tito Lopez and Ralph Cowen.
Still, some have decided that once you commit to a race, spending in the runoff is a must if you want to overcome your opponent.
Take, for example, the race between Sheila Garcia Bence and former county court at law judge Dan Robles for Cameron County Court-at-Law #5.
Garcia-Bence beat Robles by 1,760 votes (9,614 to 7,854) in the primary where two other candidates (Rene Gomez and Carlos Monarrez) wer ealso in the race.
Still, Garcia-Bence has not been content to rest on her laurels and during the period from February to May, she has reported $70, 225 in expenditures while taking in $59,855 in contributions.
At least $49,400 were pledged to her by her husband Travis – also an attorney – between April 15 and May 9.
If you're gonna be a bear, don't be a teddy bear, be a grizzly, the saying goes.
In contrast, Robles reported that he had received $1,900 in contributions and reported spending $3,330. Will his former experience as county court-at-law judge carry Robles over Garcia-Bence in the runoff? Or will the combination of spending and political alliances carry her over the former judge?
Garcia-Bence has also featured the endorsement of the two other candidates who were in the race, Gomez and Monarrez prominently. Will that – in addition to the spending – be enough o stave off the pugnacious Robles?
To their credit, both have abstained from mudslinging in this campaign, with the only things that Garcia-Bence might consider objectionable was Robles' judicial scorecard where he says his experience on the bench makes him a better cnadidate, tame charges as charges go.
Garcia-Bence, on the other hand, has stayed away from any mention of Robles' past association with law firm partner Jim Solis and the whole Abel Limas, Marc Rosenthal judicial corruption scandal.
To many attorneys in the county, either one would make a competent jurist.
When the dust settles on this one on election day, both can say that they ran on their merits without the smokescreen of scandalous gossip.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Early voting is the sham, you fucking idiot! Write about how early-voting opens the process up to cheating. God Damn You!

Anonymous said...

Dan Robles is an idiot. He was a terrible judge when he was on the bench and he hasn't improved. He just wants a state pension...to be on the state dole, probably means he can't survive economically as a regular lawyer. Most lawyers who run for office like the regular taxpayers check. Beats working for a living.

Anonymous said...

Sheila Bence isn't that great either! Shes basing it on the fact that she's married to a well liked attorney, Travis Bence. And BTW she was NEVER endorsed by Mr. Rene Gomez, I know Mr. Gomez personally and asked him, he stated he NEVER endorsed her, that she always called him, left messages, sent FB messages and he never responded because he did not want to get involved in that race. He only found out about her saying he had endorsed her when he saw the newspaper. Mr. Gomez is not one to argue about things so he just let it go. So let's see she started off already by lying to her voters that both of her opponents had endorsed her....starting off on the wrong foot there huh? And Dan Robles, well he was expecting for Dan Sanchez to help him out as much as he could and in the end Dan Sanchez did nothing for Dan Robles, but stand back and watch him get his butt kicked. I didn't vote for anyone in this race.

rita