REPORT CONFIRMS TORRE'S "PROPOSITION" TO ARAMBULA

By Juan Montoya

As originally reported on Dr. G.F. McHale-Scully's El Rocinante, we have received confirmation of the "proposition" made by adult-day care mogul Juan Carlos Torre to Brownsville Navigation District commissioner Martin Arambula.

According to a witness, Arambula, who's up for re-election, was approached by Torre with the proposal that if the comish would give him $10,000, he would talk to his potential challenger for the BND board come the May election into not running.
One name that came up was that of Luis Melendez, a warehousing and forwarding expert who's made noises about running for Arambula's spot before.
However, unlike the ER version, Torre did not intend to keep the entire amount himself. Rather, he meant to split the 10K between himself and the potential challenger.
Arambula, known to hang on to a dollar as well as the next man and who has been in the thick of political campaigns before, didn't bite. In fact, he thought Juan Carlos' "proposition" ludicrous, the witness said.
The rationale for a candidate taking up the offer was that he stood to save himself a lot of moolah by not having an opponent and not having to spend money on campaign expenditures like signage, newspaper ads, politiqueras, campaign headquarters, workers, etc.
Juan Carlos, a swarthy, tall husky man who is often seen at political gatherings brooding darkly with a drink cradled in his hand, likes to make people think he can swing any election by allowing his elderly charges to be bussed or vanned to early voting sites. During the past early voting for the March 2 election, Carino Adult Day Care vans were busy ferrying these captive voters to the voting sites, in particular to the Central Library where political activists (politiqueras) herded them into the booths and assisted them to vote.
How effective are these methods in getting people elected?
The answer is up in the air because more than one candidate who placed his trust (and money) on these methods, has often come up n the short end of the stick when the votes are tallied.
"You can't rely on one man to swing an election for you," said an elected official. "Juan Carlos likes to sit at a gathering with a candidate and have people stop by to say hello. It makes the candidate think that Juan Carlos controls a lot of people. But really, people are just being courteous. Nothing is going to replace hard work."
No one has asked Melendez, who hangs out with the boys at Shennenigan's, whether he was party to the scheme or whether Torre was just putting the shakedown attempt on his own. But then again, no self-respecting candidate would admit to the ruse.
However, we do know that Melendez has approached a few local consultants and has not returned when they mentioned a fee for their services. At that rate, perhaps a $5,000 payday for not running doesn't sound that bad after all.