RUBEN PENA FOILED ON HIS TRY TO GET A JUMP IN PCT. 2 RACE

By JUAN MONTOYA

No sooner had workers for Ruben Peña's campaign for Cameron County Commissioner, Pct. 2, put up a 4x4' political campaign sign on the corner of Polk and Seventh streets than supporters for the other seven candidates flood the city with calls that he was trying to cheat.

The lines to the office of city building inspector Evaristo Gamez were jammed with callers denouncing the dastardly deed.

By law, candidates cannot put up yard signs until 60 days before the March 2 primary election. That means that everyone has to wait until January 2 before they can post their yard signs.

However, as Gamez has stated before, commercial signs are not subject to that restriction, and neither are political signs tacked on to vehicles that can be moved.

Even then, the vehicles (trucks, cars, etc.) must be moved every 72 hours.

Supporters of other candidates were ready to pounce on Peña after they spotted his sign along Seventh Street.

"You have a couple of ministers in the race, a physician, a retired USDA employee, three former city commissioners, and two attorneys, and all of them except one respected the rules," said a supporter of one of the candidates. "And of all of them, the only one who should know better is the one who tried to get a jump on the rest of us."

Rather than remove the offending sign and then come back to put it up again 10 days later, Peña's workers instead draped the sign with a thick black square of heavy plastic and secured it with tie-downs. About the only thing that can be seen is the lettering saying "Precinct 2" when the wind blows the plastic away.

Meanwhile, the candidates for the position have all been trying to make their mark that will set them apart from the pack.

On Tuesday, Sylvia Perez, an Ernie Hernandez supporter, held a class reunion at Joe Kinney's Cobbleheads and invited Ernie to attend as her guest. To show how the eight-candidate race has split the loyalties of even family members, her husband Rudy is a staunch De Leon supporter.

Both think their candidate will win, of course.

Also on hand at the eclectic watering hole was Cameron County Treasurer candidate Tad Hasse, who traded technical bits of info with Hernandez tech wiz Rodrigo Moreno. Hasse has to be the most enigmatic candidate in that race with his promise to abolish the office if he is elected.

He said that the rumor mill has it that different people put him up to running against current treasurer David Betancourt.

"Some say Carlos Cascos put me in the race, and others say that I'm Judge Ben Neece's candidate," laughed Hasse. "Now I hear that people are saying that Sergio Zarate is behind my candidacy. There are so many people being named, that if they all vote for me, I'm a shoo-in."

For the record, Hasse says he nobody's "Si" man and that he alone decided to enter the race.

The talk moved on to the possible candidacy of Tony Martinez in the race for Cameron County Democratic Party chairman now held by former county judge Gilberto Hinojosa.

Perez said she believed that Martinez had too many commitments pending for him to run, but said she and others believed Gilbert needed a challenger.

"A lot of people think that someone else should run for chairman," she said. "Why not you?" she asked those present.

Who will take up the challenge? We'll have to wait until January 2 to find out.