AND THEY BELITTLED BEGUM FOR HAVING AN ACCENT?

By Juan Montoya

Despite the fact that Erin Hernandez Garcia and her camp of followers backed off the xenophobic criticisms of her opponent Yolanda Begum for having a Spanish accent (who doesn't?) their mantra of belittling her for the fact that she doesn't have a law degree continues.
Regardless of the fact that it has been pointed out elsewhere that out of 9 Justice of the Peace positions in the county eight are filled by non-lawyers, this, apparently, is the slim hook that Erin and her daddy Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Ernie Hernandez are counting on to help her overcome her 500-vote deficit in the July 31 runoff election against businesswoman and community activist Begum.

However, as the countoff to the election approaches (early voting starts July 23), we have taken a closer look (and  listen) to the Erin Hernandez pitch and were appalled at her total lack of skills and langugae presentation when she tries to speak in Spanish to potential voters.

Erin starts off endearing herself to the listeners talking about her native roots, her eight-year marriage, her attending law school, etc., and promises them that she will "bounce around in English and Spanish" in her presentation.

Well, bounce around she does, albeit embrarassing herself before her listeners and thoroughly mangling her articles and nouns in the process. It makes one wonder whether she ever took Spanish classes in school or has ever lived among local speakers.

As she gears up the rhetoric about where we are headed as a community and a state and needing to raise the bar, she says "we need to elect people to positions that they are qualified for."

She is, of course, referring to her law degree and her claim that it takes a lawyer to fill the position because, "anyway you look at it a Justice of the Peace court is a courtroom and it is s problem. It is a place where people come...al corte, cuando tienen...una problema legal."

"No es necesario ser abogado pare esa posicion porque el estado no lo necesita," she struggles on. "El razon es que..."

A charitable translation of what Erin is apparently trying to say is that she while she considers her opponent unqualified for JP, she acknowledges that the State of Texas does not require candidates or JPs to possess a law degree. But she lays out her rationale in terms of if your car breaks down you take it to a mechanic, if your child gets sick to seek a pediatrist, if your pet is ill you take it to a vet, etc."

Actually, a longtime Houston JP disagrees with Erin and her supporters. Quoted in a local blog, she said that:

"Being a lawyer actually is a hindrance. It creates a conflict of interest. Let's say a woman comes into your court as a victim of domestic abuse. You might say privately, as a lawyer, 'I can help you.' But as a JP we're not allowed to give legal advice. We offer rulings, settle disputes, but we don't give legal advice. Maybe fatherly or motherly advice, from our life experience, but not legal advice. About the only place being a lawyer might help would be in evicting people from their homes, but those rules are not difficult to learn."

That message would probably be lost on the Hernandez crowd, but what was not lost on the Spanish listeners who heard Erin make her pitch in their predominant language were phrases like: "Si la persona presentan a su causo....solucionar la problema...el posicion...los calificaciones..., ad nauseum..." 

We had mentioned before that out of nine JPs in the county, eight are non-lawyers. Bennie Ochoa, Linda Salazar, Julian Sanchez, David Garza, Manuel Flores, Sally Gonzalez, Juan Mendoza, and Adam Gonzalez – all sitting JPs – are not lawyers. And, unlike Erin, they all speak intelligible Spanish to serve their predominantly Spanish-speaking populations.

Would Erin and her supporters tell them that they are not qualified and that voters need to "raise the bar" and be replaced with lawyers?

On the other hand, former 404th District Court Judge Abel Limas (convicted), Jim Solis (convicted), Ray Marchan (convicted), Joe Valle (convicted) DA Armando Villalobos (indicted), Mark Rosenthal (indicted), are lawyers.

This is not even taking into consideration all those lawyers who were implicated with Limas in his corruption case (State Rep. Rene Oliveira, Charles Willette, Michael Young, Joe De la Fuente, former Brownsville Mayor Eddie Treviño, etc.).

So does simply having a law degree insure us that they raised the bar to the heights that Erin and her supporters would have the voters of JP 2-2 district do?