KIKO'S SWEARING-IN TURNS UTB-TSC WORLD UPSIDE DOWN

By Juan Montoya

Heart surgeons, professors, barrio leaders, babies, and even a few politiqueras thrown in for good measure rubbed shoulders with the well-heeled scions of Brownsville society Wednesday night during the wearing-in of new Texas Southmost College trustee Kiko Rendon.

The gala event tuned family affair was held at the glamorous Arts Center Auditorium complete with five chandeliers that looked like huge electric fireworks in suspended animation ihanging in mid-air over the crowd.

Kiko showed up with wife Krista and three children in tow. The kids, blissfully unaware of the political undercurrents that swirled beneath the surface as UTB-TSC president Juliet Garcia for the first time in her stint as chief manipulator at the hybrid institution faced a majority not of her choosing, did as kids will. They hugged their mom and dad and looked out at the auditorium crowd curiously as their father took the oath.

TSC chairman David Oliveira mentioned that this event was "historical" several times during the presentation of the new trustee, but failed to tell the crowd the nature of the historical event.

Might it have been the first time that Garcia hadn't controlled the outcome of the elections? Or perhaps it was that it was the first time that someone had dared challenge the assumptions upon which the "partnership" was built - and the voters in the district had agreed?

Nonetheless, the swearing-in went off smoothly with 444th District Judge David Sanchez administered the oath to Rendon. Afterwards, the party retired to the foyer for some fancy snacks.

Losing candidate for Cameron County Commissioner for Precinct 2 Ruben Pena eyed Herminia Becerra warily as she made the rounds visiting with many of the elected officials there, many of them of whom she had helped to their positions with her mail-in ballots. Commissioner Melissa Zamora - in her little black dress - took a break from the fray at City Hall and answered questions graciously, pleased to forget for one night at least her ongoing catfight with commissioner Charlie Atkinson.

Self-styled "political activist" Rosie Melendez shared some of the fancy eats with fellow politiqueras as officials and invitees strolled by.

"Isn't this funny-looking cheese delicious?" asked a well-known barrio mover. "I hope I don't get sick. I'm only used to eating government cheese."

We all broke up at that one.

One of the women remarked that she had never seen that many people at any swearing-in before.

"You had never seen this many regular people at these things," she was corrected. "Most of the time it was basically limited to those within Juliet's inner circle. That has changed."

However, the fact that Sanchez was chosen to administer the oath to Rendon had very deep and underlying consequences that extended far beyond the chandelier-studded auditorium.

It turns out that his wife Melba, a former TSC business office employee, is the person who was under pressure (harassment, some say) from Juliet's assistant Wayne Moore to move funds from some accounts to cover an estimated $1.5 million in cost over-runs on campus construction.

That item is one issue that Kiko will have to deal with and it doesn't bode well for Juliet or for Moore.

Whatever may be the final page in that episode, it has become quite clear to Juliet and her minions that, as the British found out after they lost to the rabble of American revolutionaries, "The World Upside Down" may have been the perfect tune for Wednesday night's affair.