SUDDENLY, VERYBODY WANTS TO BE OUR CONGRESSMAN(WOMAN)

By Juan Montoya
We just happened to attend political gathering at La Cantera Thursday night and ran into the usual pre-Demoprimary campaign crowd.
We half expect to see former Cameron County Judge Gilbert Hinojosa, current Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernadez, Erin in tow, Yolanda Begum and Bebe, Appeals Court Judge Roy Valdez, Cameron County Treasurer David Betancourt, former BISD trustee Rick (I'm not running for anything) Zayas, DA candidate and BND commissioner Carlos Masso, among others.
We may have arrived too late to hook up with rumored congressional (new District 34) Hector Uribe, but we have found a "Draft Hector" website that is trying, apparently without too much of a protest on his part, to get him to run for the position.
That makes how many candidates for the as-yet-unapproved district now? Let's count them:
1. Armando Villalobos (Mando is being coy about announcing although he does have an exploring committee and at least three of his staff are said to be seeking his throne including Maria DeFord, Luis Saenz, and Chuck Mattingly). However, he is the one name that keeps coming up among faithful Demos. His boyish good looks, manicured appearance and well-massaged patina is still attractive to his followers. If all goes well and he mages to dosge the Abel Limas bullet, he is seen as the most likely Democrat to take the nomination in March.

2. Solomon Ortiz and/or Denise Blanchard, his former field rep in Brownsville. Word has it that Denise will withdraw if her former boss decides to run for the position he was kicked out of by Blake Farenthold. Denise has made no secret that she thinks she wold make a good replacement for her boss. After all, who actually did the heavy lifting here anyway? Right. Denise?

3. Anthony Troiani has also made the political rounds. The one-time City of Brownsville commissioner has sent out fillers to see if anyone will bite. He is counting on Mando getting smeared (indicted?) as the Abel Lima's racketeering, bribery and corruption investigation grows even wider. The logic is: Would you vote for someone who may be indicted? Will it sell? Apparently, Troiani and his cadre are counting on it.

 4. Republican Rusty Faulk has also thrown his sombrero (and beard) in the ring for his party's nomination. Although Rusty has never held an elective position (aside from county GOP chairman), he feels he's executive material. The fact that he was there when County Judge Carlos Cascos needed him in the recount may make think that he has earned the eternal gratitude of the party faithful. However, the cachet of a white, male, attorney running for that position is deceiving. And more than one former client has compalined of his legal maneuvers that seemed to benefit the firm more than them. We've heard that he has touched base in several counties in the northern part of the new district and has been rebuffed by some of the GOP loyalists who apparently have another candidate in mind. Which brings us to Adela.

5. Adela Garza, the field rep for the Rio Grande Valley for Farenthold and a Texas Southmost College trustee with roots in Los Fresnos is not out of the running. After her stellar performance in the mano-a-mano with the UT System (and Juliet Garcai-Michael Putegnat, etc.) this Hispanic conservative woman is considered an attractive candidate. She already has the support of her boss and his well-oiled-machine would not have to shift gears to kick-start get her campaign once she announces.

6. And, out in left field, Brownsville native Don De Leon thinks that running as an Independent will do the trick in this race. He will buttonhole anyone within his considerable reach. His only problem is his reputation for losing races locally and his lack of cash. Other than that, he could be off and running.

If we've left someone out of the list, please e-mail us and let us know. Cascos once talked of running, but after surveying in whose hands the county would end up in (Ernie's?), he decided not to leave us helpless to the whims and wiles of Cameron County Democrats.