IN THE TRENCHES: BEGUM IS ASSAILED BY NORMA, ERIN AND HER MINIONS AT THE HIGH-RISE

By Juan Montoya
When Justice of the Peace Pct. 2-2 candidate Yolanda Begum got a call from directors at the Villa del Sol at 700 E. St. Charles St., asking if she could donate a meat meal with the elderly residents at noon Monday because no one had come forward, she readily agreed.
The 14-story building houses 200 residents.
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development-funded facility run by the Brownsville Housing Authority houses many elderly residents at the high-rise who can benefit from the food donations of local residents."When I said I'd gladly do it, they asked me to come by so they could thank me personally and I could address the residents on where I stood on the issues," she said. "I got some of my volunteer supporters and went to the high rise to see the people."
To her surprise, her opponent Erin Hernandez Garcia and her mother Norma were already there with a handful of campaign workers handing out campaign literature to the elderly residents. Their contribution to the nutritional needs of the residents?
"They had brought a little cake," said one of Begums' volunteers. "They were going to every table handing out campaign cards to the residents."
But that wasn't the half of it. As soon as Norma and Erin saw Begum and her volunteers walk in the room, they and their campaign workers assailed her and her supporters taking pictures of them in an apparent act of intimidation.
"I think they wanted us to feel as if we were doing something wrong," said a college student helping Begum. "They ran out into the middle fo the floor and started taking pictures of Yolanda in the middle of the room and when she was talking to the facility's director.
"Yolanda turned to Erin and asked her if she wanted her to pose so she could take her picture and Erin turned around and said 'I already did,'" said the worker. "What Norma and Erin did in front of all those poor people to Yolanda was the most impolite and churlish thing I have ever seen."
When the director was asked why the Hernandez were there at the same time that staff members had called Begum to ask her to contribute to the elderly residents' meal, she told them that it was a public facility and that there was nothing she could do about it.
"After the spectacle put on by Norma and Erin and her workers, Yolanda chose to leave rather than lend herself to those types of tactics," said the volunteer. "These people have no scruples."
An Internet commenter even went as far as to say that a photo purporting to show Begum filling out mail-in applications had appeared on the Cheezmeh Facebook page, an assertion denied by her campaign  later in the day.
"All we were doing was handing out pushcards and asking for their support," she said. "I wouldn't doubt that they would doctor photos to try to make it appear that way. I don't put anything past these people."
Other Begum supporters said Norma Hernandez used the same tactics during a rally for Ruben Cortez, a candidate for the State Board of education District 2. At that meeting, Norma and Erin also assailed her and other Begum supporters and took their pictures.She said that Norma also offered to pay a barrio activist who was present $1,000 if he would switch sides and help Erin.
"He told her he had given Ms. Begum his word and couldn't go back on it," she said. "The weren't happy."