VELA HOPING TO CASH IN ON VILLALOBOS' WOES: WILL TRY TO BUY CONGRESSIONAL SEAT

By Juan Montoya

His wife Rose is running as a Republican against a Democratic candidate.

He is named as treasurer for Republican State Representative from Corpus Christi.

And Democratic Party operatives say he has personally recruited candidates to run against other Democrats.

To top it all off, the political chameleon par excellence is none other than Filemon Vela, Jr., who is not shy about evoking the memory of his dead father – federal judge Filemon Vela Sr. – or piggy-backing on the name of his mother, Blanca Vela, a former mayor of the City of Brownsville.

And now that Armando Villalobos – one of his main opponents in the District 35 Congressional seat – has been wounded by a federal indictment unsealed a week before the start of the early vote in the primary, Fil Jr. smells blood.

"Even before the indictment was unsealed, Fil was spreading the rumor, as was (Anthony) Troiani, that Mando would be indicted," said a longtime Democratic Party faithful. "The man's ambition knows no bounds."

In fact, the insatiable hunger for recognition by the Velas, through Fil Jr., has been well documented by the local daily. Way back in 2005, the Brownsville Herald's tenacious reporter Emma Perez-Treviño documented the family's campaign to have the same recognition extended to Reynaldo Garza, the first Mexican-American federal judge appointed by President John F. Kennedy, to Vela, who was nominated much later by President Jimmy Carter.

The Velas, and Fil Jr., basically showered former congressman Solomon Ortiz with money and trips to achieve their goal. In the end, the names of both men are not borne on the facade of the federal courthouse.

It took the hapless Ortiz seven long years but he finally got it right even if Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson had to step in and pinch hit for Solomon, who had struck out each time he tried to hit the long ball. The following is a synopsis by Emma of the family's campaign to gain recognition for Filemon Sr.
"In June 2005, a long-fought quest by Ortiz paid off: The federal courthouse in Brownsville was in part named after Filemon B. Vela Jr.’s late father, U.S. District Judge Filemon B. Vela.
The bill naming the courthouse the Reynaldo G. Garza–Filemon B. Vela United States Courthouse was signed into law by President George W. Bush on June 29, 2005. Ortiz introduced the legislation to name the courthouse in April 1998 and pursued it through ensuing congresses until he finally succeeded in 2005.
"The central issue on the timing of the legislation was the passing of both great judges (in 2004), a stipulation before a name is attached to federal infrastructure," an Ortiz spokesmen said back then in a written statement.
Also in 2005, Vela Jr.’s law office paid for a "fact-finding" trip to China for Ortiz and his assistant Lencho Rendon. Travel dates were Aug.1-14, and the cost was $22,200. According to travel disclosure forms filed by both Ortiz and Rendon, they personally paid for four days – Aug. 10-13 – of the 14-day trip. Their out-of-pocket costs are not known.
Ortiz in 2005 told the Herald that he was among several Corpus Christi leaders working to bring jobs to South Texas from Asia, and that the trip was meant to help facilitate deals.
"The timing of events never occurred to me, but I do understand how two events out of context could beg the question," Ortiz said.
Vela Jr. and his wife accompanied Ortiz and Rendon on that trip. According to an article by the Herald in November 2005, a statement from Ortiz’s office says that Vela Jr. said he went primarily for leisure and some business, and that he invited Ortiz and Rendon because his wife had a fear of the unknown and Ortiz and Rendon had traveled extensively in Asia.
According to U.S. House rules, a trip sponsored by a special-interest group has to be connected to a legislator’s official duties Vela Jr. has made a number of contributions to Ortiz’s campaigns.
In 1994, he contributed $500.
-- The amount doubled to $1,000 in 1996.
-- There was another $1,000 from Vela Jr. to Ortiz in 1998.
-- The amount doubled again in October 2004 to $2,000.
-- There was another $2,000 contribution on June 27, 2005, two days before the president signed the bill naming the courthouse after Filemon B. Vela.
Vela Jr. did not respond to Emma's request for comment on his buying the recognition for his father.

Now, as he seeks the Democrats' backing for congress, it is interesting to note that:Rose Vela, his wife, first was elected to the bench in 1998, to the 148th District Court as a Democrat. But in 2006 she declared herself a Republican candidate for the 13th Court of Appeals.

Even though Fil Jr. comes from a family of prominent Rio Grande Valley Democrats, Rose Vela is running against Democrat Roy Valdez for reelection as Chief Justice of the 13th Court of Appeals. Rose Vela first was elected to the bench in 1998, to the 148th District Court as a Democrat. She was elected to the 13th Court of Appeals in 2006 as a Republican.

Fil Jr., who is listed as treasurer for Connie Scott, a Republican state Rep. seeking re-election for 2012 in Nueces County, is running as a Democrat. He is reported to have contributed thousands of dollars to the Republican cause and recruited GOP candidate Tom Greenwell to run for Place 2 on the 13th Court of Appeals against Democrat Nora Longoria.
Other Vela hand-picked GOP candidates include Jaime Tijerina to run against Democrat Nelda Rodriguez for Place 4 on the 13th Court of Appeals and Doug Norman to challenge Gina Benavides, the Democratic candidate for Place 5 on the Appeals Court.

Used as he is to having the imprimatur of a famous ancestor, we have no doubt that Fil Jr. will again try to use his family's name not only to try to win the congressional nomination, but to defeat the candidates of the Democratic Party under whose banner he is running.