TONY “BATTLIN” TORRES, FINDS NO CHALLENGERS

By Juan Montoya
With a scant six months left before the 2010 Democratic primary, no one has filed to take on Pct. 2, Pl. 2 Justice of the Peace Tony Torres.
The longtime JP (more than 20 years since 1985) at first thought that a few candidates were out there gunning for him. But as time passes by, it is becoming clear that no one may yet trudge down to the Democratic chairman or the Cameron County Elections Office to file for the position.
“I really don’t look forward to having an opponent,” Torres said when we ran into him at a fundraiser held for him at Raymond Hinojosa’s crib off Central Blvd. “No one does. You spend a lot of money and you spend a lot of energy. I feel I’ve treated people right.”
Some of those rumored to have envisioned themselves in a black judge’s robes included Brownsville Police Department Chief Carlos Garcia and Brownsville Independent School District board member Minerva Peña. In both cases, associates have said neither will sign to contend for the position. One rumor even had it that Peña would serve as her own treasurer.
“Carlos already told me he thought about it already but had decided against it,” said an elected law enforcement official with the county. “He is the biggest law enforcement officer in the city and he’s got his hands full.”
Call it the “thin blue line,” but police officers don’t relish crossing swords with other officers. In this case, Torres was a member of the PD for 11 years and still has many friends and supporters in the department.
At one time, the feds made noises about trying Torres for allegations made against him by a convicted felon who was their informant. But when push came to shove, the accuser absconded never to be seen again. And a complaint made against him with the judicial ethics commission garnered him a slap on the hand.
"It's never too old to learn," Torres said. "Being a judge is a learning experience."
As far as Peña at BISD, with the issues facing the board, it would not be seemly for her to leave the board scarcely a year into her term to run for a paid position.
Her fellow board member, Catalina Presas-Garcia, said she had talked to Minerva about it and that Peña had assured her she wouldn’t leave the board.
“She said that even in her present position as a member of the BISD board, which is an unpaid position, she was getting loads of pressure,” Presas-Garcia said. “She asked me to imagine what the pressure would be like if she was getting paid.”
Moreover, said the BISD board member, with the 4-3 majority on the board now, it was unlikely that Peña would desert her fellow members on the minority.
“She wants to clean up some of the issues at BISD before she takes on something else,” Presas-Garcia said. “She’s already retired from one job (as a Texas Department of Public Safety officer) and doesn’t need to retire from another one. You can take that to the bank.”
Although Torres hasn’t announced yet, he’s already named his campaign treasurer and has filed as a candidate with the elections office. After those many years in office - plus a five-year stint as a probation officer and a member of the bail bonds board - there’s very little of the law enforcement and judiciary process in the county he hasn’t seen.
“Nowadays what we’re seeing in this office is evictions and foreclosures,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking to see all those people losing their homes and having to start all over. I bend over backwards to help them in every way I can. But the economic situation has affected many people who eventually end up before me. I can only hope this improves soon.”