HINOJOSA'S FINAL STAKE THROUGH THE HEART?

By Juan Montoya

We have left numerous queries for Tony Martinez to find out when he's filing for the chairmanship of the Cameron County Democratic Party.

Apparently, the scuttlebutt is that it's not whether he'll run, but rather when he will file.

Many think he would be a shoo-in to take out former county judge Gilbert Hinojosa after his slipshod and shoddy performance during last year's Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama battle for the party's presidential nomination.

Many local Democrats were incensed when Hinojosa, a Clinton partisan, played a Grinch with the funds sent to Cameron County to help Obama.

"The Obama supporters basically had to fund the campaign effort themselves," said a disgruntled Democrat. "They weren't given access to the party headquarters and didn't receive any help from the county party officials. We hope Tony runs against Gilbert. What he did was awful."

Hinojosa's fortunes have taken a tumble after he was defeated for Cameron County judge by Carlos Cascos, a Republican. Cascos has only been the second Republican to hold the post since Reconstruction. Now, with two Hinojosa candidates in the running for the Democratic nomination for the position – John Wood and Eddie Treviño – it appears for all purposes that Hinojosa is hedging his bets to control the court from behind the scenes.

"I talked to Gilbert and asked him which way we should go on the county judge's race and he said he couldn't take sides since he was the chairman," said a party loyalist. "Then it dawned on me that he had nothing to lose either way. With (Ofie) Benavides there, and if one of his candidates wins the precinct 2 race, it will make no difference if Treviño or Wood wins. He's got a majority."

Hinojosa was picked to replace David Sanchez as party chairman by the precinct chairmen. Many are reminded of another former county judge who was also picked to run against Tony Garza after Jack Goolsby died in office.

The precinct chairmen cast aside the candidacy of Rene Oliveira in favor of Ray Ramon. As a result, Ramon, who had just lost a close election – with a difference of 6 votes – to Lucino Rosenbaum for commissioner of Precinct 1, lost to Garza.

"Many Democrats thought Ramon had manipulated the process to get the nomination and went with Republican Tony Garza instead," remembered a politiquero. "I even voted for Garza."

The Garza victory extended to two terms for the charismatic Brownsville politician who would eventually become the U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Hinojosa's dreams of higher office were effectively put on hold while Garza remained in office. Now, by supporting the losing Clinton against Obama, his luck has taken another turn for the worse.

Hinojosa ran for county judge after he learned that Garza would not run for county judge and would take a job with the George W. Bush administration in Austin. Cameron County Democrats had already supported former county treasurer Michael Puckett to run against Garza. Hinojosa knew he couldn't beat Garza and waited until the last moment to file when he knew the former judge was leaving Cameron County.

The Puckett supporters were dumbfounded. Nonetheless, Hinojosa ran and won against Oscar Garcia.

"He's still up to his tricks," said a former supporter. "I know that the Obama people know what the local chairman has done. They play hardball up there. If Tony runs, he might get help form unexpected quarters."