JESSICA'S IN: JUDGE DENIES CHARLIE'S PLEA TO STOP HER SWEARING-IN TONIGHT. MARTINEZ TO BE ANOINTED

By Juan Montoya
After an hour – and with neither of the principals present – visiting judge Manuel Bañales denied a petition Tuesday by losing candidate Charlie Atkinson for a Temporary Restraining Order that the swearing in of challenger (and eventual write-in winner ) Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa be stopped tonight.
That means that Tetreau-Kalifa will be sworn in as District 2 commissioner at the same time that mayor-elect Tony Martinez takes over the helm of the city from outgoing Mayor Pat Ahumada who placed a distant third in a five-candidate contest last May 14.
Atkinson, though attorney Bruce Phillips, argued that they could prove that his challenger had lived outside District 2 at the time she filed as a write-in candidate against Atkinson.
In that election, 897 voters cast their ballots for the write-in candidate and 658 voted for Atkinson. It was the first time in city history that a write-in candidate had won an election against an incumbent.
Phillips told the court that they were not contesting the validity of the election through their petition, but rather her right to run for office in District 2 because she had not met the requirements of the Texas election Code that she live at least six months within the district where she was running for office.
They also said that ample evidence – including police reports, Facebook postings, and a marriage license – indicated that she lived with her husband at a San Marcelo address in District 3.
Bañales asked Phillips why his client had not challenged her candidacy based on her residency before the election. Phillips replied that he had not been retained by Atkinson before the election.
In fact, Atkinson did mention during the campaign that he had the proof Phillips presented to the court before the May 14 election but chose not to challenger her candidacy. In a post weeks before the contest, he wrote that "My opponent wasn't even thinking about running until Zeke Silva was told for the eighth time that he couldn't. Craig Grove and Chris Davis have teamed up to push this candidate who clearly does not live in District 2. Davis doesn't even live in Brownsville, but he insists on trying to control Brownsville. Grove is my opponent's campaign manager who just a month ago told her that she lived in Commissioner's Zamora's district. He was Zeke's campaign manager and now turned to my opponent as a last-ditch attempt to try to get his father-in-law Jim Goza back in office at the city."

Nonetheless, Mark Sossi representing the City of Brownsville said that Atkinson had the opportunity to challenge her candidacy but chose not to.
"Mr. Atkinson had the remedy before hte election but chose not to use the remedy. If he has been irreparably harmed it was because of his choices."
Trey Garza, representing the absent Tetreau-Kalifa, said he could show that her driver's license, her voting registration card, and her mail all indicated that she lived at Heather Lane, inside District 2.
In denying Atkinson the TRO he was seeking to stop her swearing-in, Bañales left Phillips the option of pursuing injunctive relief after she had taken office. If he could prevail in a hearing, it is possible that she could be removed from office and that another special election be held where Atkinson could file as a candidate for the same position.
He set a hearing for next Tuesday should Atkinson consider continuing his challenge to the election results.


(Despite the judge's decision, it is clear to those of us who have surveyed the evidence of Tetreau-Kalifa's residency that serious questions remain about the legitimacy of her candidacy for that position. It really doesn't matter whether we like or dislike either one or the other. A fair-minded person interested in legitimate representative government might do well to consider that the residents of District 2 might well be suspicious of a candidate with a suspect right to hold the office that represents their interests. But life goes on.)