IS DAN SANCHEZ USING HIS POSITION AS CAMERON COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF PCT. 4 TO SETTLE POLITICAL SCORES?

By Juan Montoya
Nearly two years ago, on December 2009, Cameron County Commissioners Court voted to eliminate the Justice of the Peace, Precinct 7, Place 2 position, held at the time by Justice of the Peace and practicing attorney Dan Sanchez.
At the time, Cameron County Judge Carlos H. Cascos placed the item on the agenda because he – along with commissioners Edna Tamayo and David Garza – believed the county had too many justices of the peace as compared to other counties.
They cited neighboring Hidalgo County which has 45 percent more people residing there, but only nine justices of the peace compared to Cameron County’s 11.
Cascos said then that the number of cases filed at the Justices of the Peace offices in La Feria didn't warrant a need for two sitting judges and said a review of all justices of the peace office revealed that Sanchez’s office was producing the least number of cases.
"Those are numbers that are black and white," Cascos said at the time.
Accordingly, the majority on the court eliminated the position.
Sanchez, of course, disagreed, saying that he felt Cascso had had it out for him.
"It seems like Judge Cascos has an agenda..." Sanchez said.
Nonetheless, after the court did away with the position, Sanchez rebounded and won the election for Tamayo's position as Pct. 3 commissioner.
Now, some Pct. 4 residents say, he is using his position on the court to try to settle the score with those he feels are his political opponents in his precinct including some J.P.s and even some constables.
They point specifically to his plans to do away with Pct. 4 J.P. Manuel Flores and Pct. 7 Constable Cesar Diaz. Sanchez has made no secret that he wouldn't mind these two political foes disappearing by waving the magic three-vote wand on the commissioners court.
"He wants them bad," said a Pct. 3 resident. "They have wrecked his plans to consolidate his power."
Flores, in particular, has drawn the commissioner's ire after he defeated Pct. 4 J.P. Rolando Muñiz. Muñiz, Sanchez's candidate, lost and Sanchez made him his Pct. 3 County Supervisor after his defeat, in effect his administrative assistant.
Likewise, when Pct. 7 Constable Cesar Diaz took office, he terminated deputy constables Clemente Cantu and Jacob Borjas. Sanchez created warrant server positions for the men but could not justify the positions for long because of the small amount of processes that the precinct generated.
Stymied in his efforts to pick the winners in those positions, observers say that Sanchez is now trying to use his vote on the county court to convince his fellow commissioners to do away with both positions.
Cascos, for one, when asked about the rising rumors about Sanchez's motives for the elimination of the positions said he had voted to eliminate the other offices for the sake of efficiency and fiscal responsibility.
"It has to be done for the right reasons," he said. "In some of these jurisdictions the politics are nasty. People sometimes eat each other babies."
Cascos, when asked, said he was unaware of the complaints that have been gathering against Sanchez.
But Pct. 3 residents say that one hint of Sanchez's designs surfaced when he raised the issue discussed during the court's last meeting that sought to amend the county's policy on tinted windows on county cars and requiring specific markings identifying them as official vehicles.
Why would Sanchez suddenly take such interest in such mundane issues as window tints and markings on county cars?
"It's not about uniformity of policy," said a law enforcement source. "It's about getting even with those who run against this candidates. He's using his position to get even."

The court opted to table the window-tint car-marking item after some discussion to get more input from law enforcement who have made no secret that they have a need to use unmarked cars to fight crime in the rural areas and window tint as a methods of concealment when doing surveillance of potential criminals.

"He may think we're acting like secret agents," said one, "but these are effective tools in our line of work. Instead of trying to get back at his political enemies he should just concentrate on serving the people in his precinct."