DESPITE GARY LONG'S CORTEZ BIAS, SANCHEZ PREVAILS

By Juan Montoya

Remember when the Brownsville Herald's Gary Long tried to run interference for Brownsville Independent School District trustee Ruben Cortez and the old majority as they fought for their political life after gutting the district's finances and placing their relatives and friends in plum jobs while jettisoning capable administrators because they didn't cave in to their whims?

If you read the story Long wrote on the runoff for the Texas State Board of Education District 2 between Cortez, a high school graduate (or is it GED) and Celeste Zarate Sanchez,an assistant superintendent of the San Benito ISD and city commissioner, you'd never guess that Long never bothered to contact Sanchez, but paid Cortez fawning homage who said his election would be a "historic opportunity to bring this level of representation to Brownsville."

Never known for his modesty, Cortez also took the soapbox Long provided him to say that his election would be a "unique opportunity for us..."

Cortez, since being rejected by the voters of the BISD, has been able to parlay the political and patronage network he nurtured during his tenure as trustee to get himself elected to the Region One board before his notoriety preceded him. At the time, no one was aware that he had been instrumental in bringing down the BISD from a high of being chosen as the recipient of the nationally-prestigious Board Award for making the most academic progress and receiving the Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) award for having the best board and administration to gutting the district's reserve fund from $171 to $68 million in two short years.

Along the way, he politicked his way into the Region One board and onto the CUBE board itself.

Behind him lay a trail of vendor soliciting for political contributions, change-order galore for contractors and architects and a pattern of self-serving promotions of friends and relatives.

His efforts to get himself elected to the statewide board include, we have learned, a Internet search for any dirt that he may be able to bring up against Sanchez. Internet search detectors indicate that "someone" has been searching the police and crime records of Celeste Sanchez since both became the candidates in the runoff this July 31.

"This man's ambition knows no bounds," said a Sanchez supporter from Brownsville. "Who else would go about searching the web for dirt on their opponent? If the voters didn't know Cortez before, they're going to know him for what he is now. We're going to make sure of that."

The Herald's Long is apparently a willing tool for the Cortez machine of deceit.

Sanchez said she had tried to call Long to giver him her cell phone number and left messages on his recorder, all to no avail.

Instead, Long interviewed Cortez and gave him his due while only cutting and pasting from the Sanchez website.

Despite the intrigue and guile, we have learned that Larry Garza, the Kingsville pharmacist who trailed both Cortez and Sanchez in the three-way race, is backing the San Benito city commissioner over Cortez for the runoff.

"We had agreed even before the primary election that we would support each other in case either one of us lost," Sanchez recalls. "Mr. Garza is an honorable man and he ran an honorable race. At no time did anyone in his campaign undertake any searches like the Cortez people are doing now. I've never seen anyone do that before."

Now, as the disparity in qualifications between political climber Cortez and career educator Sanchez become obvious and Cortez's shortcoming stand out in sharp contrast to Sanchez's lifetime dedication to public education, will the Texas State Teachers Association and the Brownsville Association of Educators see the light and endorse Sanchez instead of Cortez as they did for the primary election?

"These organizations have show that they have become thoroughly politicized," said a Brownsville teacher. "Cortez running on a slogan of removing politics from the classroom is so hypocritical given his records a trustee at the BISD. The voters – and the teachers – didn't fall for it in the primary and won't follow the endorsement of the TSTA or the BAOE in the runoff either."