BULLETIN! LUCERO, MEXICAN CONSUL, SOLOMON ORTIZ ENDORSE MIKE GARZA FOR MAYOR?

By Juan Montoya

We didn't know how much clout newcomer politician and candidate for Brownsville mayor Mike Garza carried until we surfed on his campaign website and noticed the photos that included such political and celebrity heavyweights as Mexican star

Lucerito, the Mexican consul in Brownsville, congressman Ruben Hinojosa, and even defeated congressman Solomon Ortiz.

Now, we assume that since Mike included the photos of the pols and celebs in his campaign site that they are endorsing him for his bid against Pat Ahumada, Eduardo Camarillo, Tony Martinez, Viro Cardenas, et al.
However, Ortiz lives in Corpus Christi and wouldn't be able to vote in our city election unless he pulls of a trick out of Duval County. After all, Ahumada did run against him once,
so voting against him would probably be a nice touch of payback. But we are told he is in a funk following his defeat
at the hands of Republican Blake Farenthold and is refusing to answer any reporter's questions.

(Esos reporteros son como los chinos," he is said to have shouted at his aide, a chinese national. "Estan muertos de hambre y son un chingos.")
Likewise, Lucero, who isn't a registered voter (or a citizen) in the United States, much less the City of Brownsville, didn't return any phone calls from this lowly cyber organ. Given the precarious situation in Mexico and the number of celebrities and artists threatened for getting involved in politics, we can't say we blame her.
The consul is kind of hard to get hold of since the diplomatic corps comes in to work at 10 a.m., leave at 10:30 for lunch, come back at 3:30 p.m., leave at 4 p.m., and return God knows when.
Others in the photos we could identify refused comment.
Chief Municipal Judge Ben Neece wondered whether Mike had mistakenly placed the group photos where he is included by mistake in the site where people are endorsing him.
"This is Mike's first race and he probably didn't realize that sometimes people look at a campaign site and think the people there are endorsing the candidate," he said. "Thanks for the heads up."
We want to believe that all this was just a simple mistake on Mike's part, and not some political scheme to make people believe that they were endorsing him. Still, with the number of people in Matamoros who are U.S. citizens and eligible to vote in local elections, as the old saying goes, any publicity is good publicity.
So this May 14 when you go to your precinct to vote, keep your eyes peeled for Lucero (if you're lucky) and Solomon (if you're not).