MANDO PLEADS: LET'S BARGAIN AN AGREEMENT

By Juan Montoya

Suddenly, the man who refused to plea bargain with attorneys to the point where they filed suit in court alleging he had placed them on a no-plea-bargain blacklist, is hoping to sit down with the Cameron County commissioners court to, well, work out a deal.

District Attorney Armando Villalobos, who is seeing a rehearing before the Texas 13th Court of Appeals after they turned down flat his interpretation of Texas law when he tried to take over the legal division of the Cameron County Commissioners Court, wants to see if they can work something out.

Preferably, he wants to deal with the commissioners before the end of their budget process. He hopes the problem can be worked out before the rehearing before the appeals court is scheduled.

In fact, Villalobos told the local daily he wants to meet with them as soon as this week.

Why is it not surprising to local lawyers that the DA is suddenly in such a hurry to deal with the commissioners court?

Could it be, they ask, because the appeals court handed the commissioners a homerun when the judges found that Villalobos showed no constitutional or statutory provision to support his case for exclusive control over the legal division he wanted to take over?

Or, because, in buttressing the commissioners' case, they went further and stated that Villalobos’ office “never had the exclusive right to represent Cameron County in civil matters in the first place?”

The DA had until last Friday to file the appeal for a rehearing, and the DA's office said one had been filed by the preceding Thursday.

Now, apparently, the DA – as local attorneys representing some of their clients do in their respective cases – realizes that he has little chance of overturning such an overwhelming decision in favor of the commissioners court and is seeking a way to safe face with the body that has the final say over his budget.

"Let's just hope that (Cameron County Judge Carlos) Cascos and the other commissioners don't have a blacklist of their own with difficult DAs," said a wag at the judicial section of the courthouse. "Hopefully, by now Mando realizes that sometimes bargaining has its merits."