DID PRO-NELSON PAC BREAK THE LAW DIVULGING CHALLENGER FARIAS' EXPUNGED RECORD?

By Juan Montoya

One of the liveliest race in Cameron County has t be the one between incumbent 138th District Judge Arturo Nelson and challenger Veronica Farias.

In a series of ads running the last two weeks, a Political Action Committee named Citizens for a Better Judiciary, has run a series of ads calling Farias a "troubled attorney" and listing details of previous charges against her.

This was preceded by an ad run by Farias taking Nelson to task questioning Nelson's judicial performance in the case of a child molester that she claimed the judge allowed to go free on probation only to have the defendant engage in sexual abusive criminal cond

uct with a minor.

This drew the heated response of Nelson's supporters such as former district judge Robert Garza and others who defended their colleague and accused Farias of misstating the record.

But it was the PAC – Citizens for a Better Judiciary – that listed at least two previous charges filed against Farias in 2008 and 2011 in newspaper ads and listed the specifics of the cases.

There was only one problem, however.

According to Farias, both charges listed prominently in the PAC's ads were expunged from her record by a court order last July. The order prohibits anyone (whether a PAC, law enforcement official, or any individual) from opening the files or the expunged records of the arrests and are "not open for inspect6ion by anyone..."

When Farias approached the Brownsville Herald, which ran the PAC's ads, the editors there went back to their files and made a notation tat the charges arising from the police reports had been expunged from the public records by a court.

But there is more.

Apparently, the principals in the PAC (and the search is on to find out who it is) may not only have viola

ted the court order, but also broken the law contained in Title I, Chapter 55 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. And what's more, not only did the PAC apparently break the law, but in not clearing its ads with Nelson may have violated yet another criminal statute.

The law states that: "the release, maintenance, dissemination, or use of the expunged records and files for any purpose is prohibited..

"A person who acquires knowledge of an arrest while an officer or employee of the state or any agency or other entity of the state or any political subdivision of the state and who knows of an order expunging the records and files relating to that arrest commits and offense if he knowingly releases, disseminates or otherwise uses the records or files...

"An offense under this article is a Class B misdemeanor."

This comes into play, according to Farias supporters, because the PAC lists its address as 855 W. Price Rd., the same building that houses the offices of Roreig, Oliveira and Fisher, principals with State Rep. Rene Oliveira in the law firm.

It is also the same address listed for the Cameron County Bar Association. Should the investigation reveal that Oliveira or his law firm were involved in the preparation of the ads and the dissemination of the expunged files, it could result in sanctions applied to whoever is found to have been involved. Oliveria falls under the definition of an officer or employee of the state.

So far, the Brownsville Police Dept. has looked into the complaint and has forwarded the evidence it uncovered to the Cameron County District Attorney's Office.

But Farias is not stopping there. She says she will to journey to Austin to speak personally to officials with the State Ethics Commission and file a complaint against the PAC, and Nelson, if necessary.

"I will be there eat 8 a.m.at the doors of the Ethic Commission," she said.

Farias said that under the Texas Election Code, all candidates must follow the Code of Fair Campaign Practices that states that: "I will not permit the use of character defamation, whispering campaigns, libel, slander, or scurrilous attacks on any candidate or the candidate's personal life....

"I will not use campaign material of any sort that misrepresents, distorts, or otherwise falsifies the facts, nor will I sue malicious or unfounded accusations that aim at creating or exploiting doubts without justification, as to the personal integrity or patriotism of any opponent...

The code that every candidate signs with the state also states that a candidate "will immediately and publicly repudiate methods and tactics that may come from others that I have pledged not to use or condone. I shall take firm actions against any subordinate who violates any provision of this code..."

Now the question becomes: Did Judge Nelson authorize the ads using expunged records and files? And if he did not, will he disavow the ads? Farias said that all candidates' who have signed the code have their pledges on file with the Ethics Commission.

"If Judge Nelson didn't sign the code of fair campaign practices, why didn't he?" she asked. "He may just try to wash his hands of responsibility by saying it was a committee that did it, but that is not very credible. The Ethics Commission requires any "committee" acting on a candidate's behalf to get the candidate's authorization for an ad."

With election day coming on Tuesday and word spreads of the Farias-Nelson controversy, there's no telling whether the result will be a backlash against the PAC's tactics in support of the incumbent.