After having lost to Republican Carlos Cascos for Cameron County Judge, presiding over the Democratic Party in the county and seeing Cascos again defeat John Wood, his party's nominee for judge, Gilbert Hinojosa now thinks he is eminently qualified to hold the chairmanship of the Texas Democratic party.
Never mind the fact that two years ago, for the first time in 28 years, Republican Blake Farenthold became the first GOP congressman in District 27 that includes the state's southernmost tip, a traditional Democratic seat held by his bud Solomon Ortiz.
What are the Democratic Party leaders in the state thinking?
With primary runoffs nearly two months away, the Democrats will be picking a new leader to take charge of a party that hasn't w
on a statewide office since 1994."If you're running for the Democratic Party chairman's race, you're running to build a party from scratch," Matt Glazer, executive director of progressive advocacy group Progress Texas, told Austin newsmen.
Glazer pointed to the sweeping defeats of Democratic candidates in 2010 that have exacerbated many Texas Democrats' frustrations.
Enter Hinojosa, who left a badly-polarized party in Cameron County but who, surprisingly, is considered by the insiders' to be the pick to assume the party's helm during this weekend's convention in Houston.
"I think what the Republicans have done has been devastating to the future of this state," Hinojosa told news writers from KVUE. "The massive cuts in public education this last session have hurt us, have hurt us not in the present only, but for the future and have put us in a situation where it's going to be very, very difficult for us to structurally make the changes necessary to put us back on track towards developing the talent that this state needs to become a strong, economically vibrant state."
If elected, Hionojosa will take over a party whose fortunes have reversed int he past 20 years. During the recent May 29 primary election, more than 11 percent of voters turned out, but only 4.5 percent, about 600,000, of those voted for Democrats.
"The turnout numbers in the State of Texas are abysmal," said Glazer, who lays part of the blame on Republican-led redistricting and voter identification efforts that have both wound up in federal court. "We rank 50th out of 50, and the only thing we can do right now is start getting people to show up."
"I believe that the numbers are there," said Hinojosa. "I believe that if you look at the demographics in this state, the people that fall within the natural constituency of the Democratic Party far exceeds those that would fall within the natural constituency of the Republican Party. Our problem as a Democratic Party is that we've been so fractured for so long, and there's something of a self-fulfilling prophecy out there that we've not been able to get out of this funk that we've been in for the last 20 years."
In border counties with typically low voter turnout, Hinojosa says it will take time and patience to reverse the trend.
"Right now, they don't believe that it makes a difference in their lives," said Hinojosa. "They don't believe that people listen to them, they are scared of the process many of them. They don't think that it's something that is going to be beneficial to them, it's not a priority for them. If you change that mentality, if you change that culture Of not voting to a culture of voting, and you don't have to do it by a lot, it changes the whole scenario of electoral politics in the state of Texas."
So there you have it. Will the Democrats turn a blind eye to the work Hinojosa has done at the county level and pick him to run the party's efforts despite his record? Or will cooler heads prevail and guide them to make a better choice for their party?
We're sure the eyes of the Republicans in the state are cheering Gilbert on.
13 comments:
since the late 1980's and early 1990's gilberto and juan magallanes have been part of the democRAT party, puro asadon verda gilberto? no mas para aca?
If the Democrats want division and are happy losing elections....then they should choose Hinojosa; he will surely destroy the start party as he did locally. With Gilberto, his first move will be to re-name Austin....to Crystal City.
What a shame for the Democrats of the State of Texas. Best thing that ever happened to the Republican Party in Cameron County was David Sanchez and then Gilberto Hinojosa's miserable leadership of the Local Drmocrats!! Now, Gilberto wants to take his "leadership" abilities and control the State of Texas. What a shame !!
(....then they should choose Hinojosa; he will surely destroy the start party as he did locally.)
I really can't believe that this idiot was not involved in the Limas scandal.
It is miraculous that this guy is not in prison yet. His assent to state chair for the Democratic party is a horror show in slow motion.
limas scandal is not over i am sure gilberto will get his part in due time puras calabacitas baby
Ballot Re-counter Claims Being Forced to Change Votes
Channel 23 News transcript
"Gilbert Hinojosa interfered and stopped us, called Roger Ortiz. Roger Ortiz said no, that's a Wood vote."
That’s what Christina Chambers claims happened all day long as she re-counted hundreds of ballots. The re-count took place last Friday and Saturday at the Central Jury Room inside the Cameron Courthouse.
"What were you told? What were the directions for everyone recounting the votes? Just to count the ballots and if any ballot had two markings bubbled in for Carlos and Wood was a spoiled ballot."
But she says those directions were thrown out the window once she started counting.
"We had seen on some ballots where the voter had bubbled in democrat and put an X over democrat, even though he bubbled it and voted down the whole ticket and then when we got to Cascos and Wood but put an X over Cascos so we couldn't tell the intent of the voter because they did the same over democrat and did the same thing over Carlos Cascos. It was counted for Wood because he voted democrat."
Under Section 65.007 of the Texas Election Code, it states, “If a ballot indicates a straight party vote and a vote for an opponent of one or more of that party's nominees, a vote shall be counted for the opponent and for each of the party's other nominees whether or not any of those nominees have received individual votes.”
"They tell us in the beginning, they told us the rules. They said, you can't, you don't know the intent of the voter automatically. They can vote straight democrat, republican. They can still vote for liberal, green, or you know? And they still counted them for Wood."
Something that confused her tremendously because she says she was told one thing earlier in the day, yet the election's administrator told her something different once Hinojosa questioned her counting.
"If Gilbert Hinojosa argued about it, Roger Ortiz would say it's for Wood. If we found a ballot that was bubbled in for Cascos and Wood, we put them to the side because to me, that was a spoiled ballot and everybody else at the table. If I saw a ballot that was spoiled, I would put it to the side and question it, they'd give it to Wood, John Wood."
This is the first time Chambers ever volunteered to re-count ballots. As a voter herself, she says this experience has left many scars and now doubts if she'll ever go out to the polls again.
"I don't want to vote. I don't. I don't see a point in supporting someone if it's not going to be done right."
The canvassing of the recount votes was supposed to be held tomorrow afternoon, but due to an error in the wording on the agenda, the canvassing has been rescheduled for Monday.
See video and comments:
http://www.kveo.com/news/ballot-re-counter-claims-being-forced-to-change-votes
(Of course the Republicans are cheering Gilbert Hinojosa on. Cameron county hispanics are leaving the Democrat party on account of him:)
"Its nights like this that remind me why I left the Democrat Party"
November 14th, 2010 |
By Priscilla Rodriguez
I can’t sleep.
I was a recount poll watcher for Cameron County Judge Race, as were some of my friends. Early tonight, it was announced that Judge Cascos won by 50 votes. I had been surprised that John Wood picked up 27 votes since normal recounts only turn up 3-5. As of yesterday, John Wood had only picked up about 4-6 additional votes from Election Day. Early voting results had already been through a review board. Our job today was to recount, as per instructions of elections administrator and not “interpret” or dispute votes since all votes had already been through a ballot review board. So I thought the 27 vote pick up was already strange. Add to that the fact that BISD ballot boxes were brought in and we were told to look for General Election ballots there. Weird that these weren’t noticed before. Where did these ballots come from? Why weren’t they noticed when BISD votes were canvassed? And were these ballots included in the original count or canvassing?
Then around midnight, an election worker “found” a tally or votes that had not been “counted.”. Conveniently, 55 votes mysteriously turned up to put John Wood up by 5. The weird part is that all the Democrats knew & were celebrating outside. Roger Ortiz, the elections admin swears he only called Judge Cascos. Uh huh. Right. I was one of 3 Republicans told at 3 am. Hours after the Democrats had been celebrating, even though election office workers swear they didn’t tell anyone. Really? Am I in Florida? No wait, this is South Texas & there is a reason why I left the Democrat Party. Stuff like this is why. The party will continue to lose young people like me until stuff like this stops and even true Democrat victories will always be tainted because of the reputation of South Texas corruption.
As someone who was there and who had a significant other that was there…Not enough Cascos votes were overturned nor were there enough Wood votes being gained at the tables to have results like this. The fact that Roger Ortiz’ election worker couldn’t look anyone in the eye doesn’t bode well either. Add to that the fact the Gilbert Hinojosa was made a Cascos election worker cry and was there to intimidate people doesn’t make matters better. Add to that other irregularities, and well….
Whether you supported Judge Cascos or not, I seriously doubt people should be celebrating when the integrity of the entire process is put into question.
Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
"Limas scandal"
I'm wondering if the good judge was ever circumcised? Gawd, I just can't seem to get that thought out of my mind, now at 3am. LOL!
/D-PM
(due time puras calabacitas baby)
LOL! You know, I literally believe you are more than right. I hope you are, anyways. Cause I'm on my way to Cobbleheads saloon to start betting on it. Good day to ya!
Who in their right mind would have voted for GILBERT??? what kind of MORON!!!
Democrats like those idiot bimbos who date serial killers online, cause they are too cheap /dumb to invest in a $30 background check
so gilberto won big deal republlicans will continure to win in this state, tired of the ole dog democrats who only want to control, and what i mean by control is the top dog money that comes your way during the presidential and governors races, big huge money, ask joe rivera and aurora de la garza, very few know the money that comes down the turn pike during election time for the workers but the workers on get migas. ask gilberto, juan magallens even joe rivera and aurora have gotten that money and now wiht gilberto at the main office, the limas scandal was migajas compared to what gilberto hwill have in his hands now, viva el democRAT party. this is like the fox guarding the henhouse people adios
gilberto needs money to buy cokes
Post a Comment