GOP SHERIFF CANDIDATE JOE CISNEROS CANNED AT COUNTY: A BOW TO OMAR WITH MORE TO COME?

By Juan Montoya
It's a cruel world out there.
If Republican Cameron County Sheriff candidate Joe Cisneros didn't know it before, he knows it now.
Cisneros, fired from his bailiff position at the judicial wing of the county courthouse, is making a run for his party's primary this March. If successful, he might be facing his former boss, Sheriff Omar Lucio next November in the general election.

Bailiff supervisor Constable Pete Avila told the local daily he had terminated Cisneros for cause, although the normally loose-lipped law enforcement official would only say that he couldn't discuss personnel matters in public. Cisneros was a probationary employee and therefore did not qualify for Civil Service protection.

However, in the article appearing in the local daily, the issue of politics involved in the firing reared its ugly head. There had been reports of Cisneros campaigning and handing out cards at the courthouse and apparently this played a part in it.

The courthouses bailiffs were recently placed under Avila's supervision after the county commissioners rejected Lucio's demand that they all be placed under his command to move and replace as he saw fit. The various judges have their favorites placed as bailiffs in their courts and they decided that they should continue exercising their right to choose their court bailiffs.

However, everyone wondered what would happen to those bailiffs who were stationed as security at the entrance and as rovers in the hallways of the three-story courthouse. One of those rovers was Cisneros.

There were, aside from the politicking, other issues at work here. While some of us have been handed cards by Cisneros while we visited the courthouse, it was never an overt type of politicking like some candidates who work for the county are wont to do. There were also some rumors of a "borrowed" CD, for example, that were never mentioned. What is known is that Cisneros did sign the complaint form acknowledging that he had been given a written form when he was interviewed by Avila.

Still, the fact that both Avila and Lucio are up for re-election may have played a part in Cisnero's firing.

In the cards that Cisneros handed out, his message was directly aimed at the Lucio administration.

His campaign card must have read like an indictment against the Lucio administration with its slogan of "A new sheriff for the people (in contrast with an old sheriff for the people?)."

Among some of the other objectives he promises to fulfill are:

"Bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community."

"Establish safety educational and gang intervention programs."

"Protect out children from predators and drugs."

And, the kicker: "To provide a secure working environment and advocate for better training, wages, and equipment for Cameron County employees."

"Provide necessary treatment & protection for all Cameron County inmates," and "Improve relations with local and federal agencies to curtail activities and border violence in our county."

Now we hear that Cisneros may not be the only one whose head is on the block among the  courthouse bailiffs. Everyone is still waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's ironic that this happened as the deputies and bailiffs campaign for collective bargaining with the voters in the constitutional proposition elections now being held until Nov. 8.

It is unknown what the former state trooper will do for a living while he campaign for his party's primary, but this latest unkindest cut of all could just fuel his energy to run against his former boss even more.