ERNIE GETS CAUGHT WITH HAND IN CIVIL SERVICE COOKIE JAR: JUDGES BEWARE OF MEDDLING IN POLITICS

By Juan Montoya

Only eight months into his first paid elected position as Cameron County Precinct 2 commissioner, Ernie Hernandez has gotten his hands caught in the cookie jar getting a proxy to take the Civil Service test for a no-account brother-in-law to land him a job as a security guard at the Veterans Memorial Bridge at Los Tomates.

The result was that Cameron County Human Resources officer Robert Lopez, who apparently engineered the maneuver to have an office employee take the test for Robert Cadriel – the brother of Ernie's wife, Norma – resigned his position rather than face disgrace on the same day Cadriel flew the coop.

Lopez was indebted to Hernandez in his unsuccessful run for city commissioner in the last elections, drawing a disparate number of write-in votes, Norma Hernandez's specialty.

Robert Cadiel is said to have been unemployed since Ferbruary and had numerous domestic troubles that included getting himself kicked out of his live-in mate's apartment. He has tried his hand at different professions, including mortuary science, but it turned out not to have been his cup of tea.

Ernie told the Brownsville Herald's Emma Perez-Treviño that he looked high and low for a position suited to Robert's eclectic skills.

"Hernandez said he had contacted the health department and had looked into a job for his relative at the animal shelter, but it had not been a job that had suited his qualifications," she wrote.

County Judge Carlos Cascos has told the daily that an investigation into the matter had been launched to determine if any administrative or criminal offenses had been committed. He told her Emma that it appeared that an HR employee had been instructed to take the test for the intellectually-challenged Cadriel.

Brownsville residents have borne the Hernandez political legacy – if it can be called that – for the better part of 20 years.

Hernandez was first elected to public office as city commissioner in 1991 and resigned with one year left in his term to run for mayor. He lost to Henry Gonzalez for the unexpired term left by Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr., who had resigned to run for county judge.
He returned to the Brownsville City Commission in 1995 and won re-election in 1999. But Hernandez, whose uncle Emilio A. Hernandez was mayor from 1979 to 1987, launched two more unsuccessful campaigns for the mayor’s seat in 2003 and 2007.

Meanwhile, as the scandal unfolds, the candidacy of Erin Hernandez, Ernie's daughter, for Justice of the Peace now appears to be in jeapordy. Erin Hernandez, a lawyer, has announced that she will seek the office left vacant when Tony Torres died before finishing his term. The commissioners appointed Kip Van Hodge to serve his remaining term.

Elections are scheduled for next year.

But now there might be a fly in the ointment, a legal fly in the ointment.

No one has raised the issue of the propriety (or potential illegality) of Erin, a municipal judge for the City of Primera, serving as the treasurer for Brownsville city commissioner John Villarreal during his campaign, an apparent violation of judicial neutrality.

She also administered the oath of office for Villarreal when he was sworn into office.

Will anyone be so bothered by the Hernandez connection to Villarreal and the attempted subterfuge to land Robert Cadriel a job with the county to derail her bid for Cameron County J.P. by filing a complaint with the Texas Judicial Commission?

And speaking of judges meddling in political races, what's the story behind Disrict Judge Leonel Alejandro making calls to political supporters in favor of DA Democratic candidate Maria DeFord?

We all know that DeFord has been touted by outgoing DA Mando Villalobos to be elected as the Democratic nominee for the 2012 election. But the law frowns upon sitting judges actively campaigning for candidates.

"He is brazen in his telephone calls in support of Maria," said a lawyer who received a call. "Where's the judicial impartiality he is supposed to respect? This influence peddling is reching epidemic proportions in Cameron County."