TAKE WEST NILE VIRUS SERIOUSLY: A CASE FROM 2002

By Juan Montoya
The discovery of a mosquito infected with the West Nile virus at the Galaxia Subdivision near the Rio Grande just west of Las Prietas this week brought back memories of my first encounter with the disease back in 2002.
I was working for a small newspaper in Worthington, Minnesota, a typical Midwestern town that had seen an influx of minorities from all over hte word – including a sizable population of Hispanics from the Southwest, the West, and even from far off places like Guatemala and El Salvador.

The first indication that the West Nile virus was being carried by mosquitoes was first indicated when people saw dead birds on the ground or struggling to walk on the ground as if they had been poisoned. Birds, you see, are carriers of the virus. When mosquitoes bite a bird, they transmit the disease wherever they fly. When a mosquito bites another animal, they inturn carry the virus into the animal's bloodstream.

In that little town in southwest Minnesota, some of the first victims were animals like horses, that had to be shot or treated by local vets when they began to display the symptoms of having been bitten by the disease-carrying mosquitoes.

The horses of the local sheriff – a dour, rural lawman who made money housing undocumented immigrants who arrived to work at the local hog slaughterhouse and got into trouble in town – were some of the first animal casualties. They were fine-looking animals but had to be quarantined after they showed the first symptoms of the disease. The vaccines, though hard to get, were made available and they eventually survived.

As alarming as this was, I asked local health authorities if there were any local human victims reported locally who might have been bitten by disease-carrying mosquitoes and they got me in touch with 83-year-old Lucille Tryon. She was the first known human case of the disease in the state.

Like many elderly rural women, Lucille loved her garden. There was hardly a place on her back yard that wasn't blossoming or blooming. The porch around her home was filled with flower pots bursting with color from the flowers she  grew.

In her back yard, local varieties of flowers formed a colorful natural fence. 

 But there was also something else growing there. Mosquitoes, swarms of them. And among them, apparently, were some that had been infected by the virus.

 "I had dizzy spells and was feeling just awful and I had a lump on the back of my neck and my neck was sore," she said.  "I had West Nile."

The woman, who had never relied on anyone to get around, had to spend the better part of a month hospitalized to recover from the virus. But for a while, it was touch and go and doctors gave her a slim chance of survival.

"I had a cane and a walker but I hated to have people see that lady out there with a walker," she told another reporter who did a story on her survival a year later.

She says she never paid attention to the mosquitoes while she spent hours with her flowers.

 "I don't know that I'm recovered yet!" she said.

In South Texas, where many retired elderly or housewives delight in spending their time cultivating their matas, the danger is very real that they might come in contact with an infected mosquito. Like many locals, I myself have two parents who after they raised their kids, dogs, grandkids, etc., like to spend their time cultivating their gardens where they raise – besides flowers – other plants and vegetables such as piquines or tomatoes.

We must communicate to them that this exotic virus is very real and very dangerous, especially to the elderly with lower immunity. There is no cause for alarming them, of course. But precaution of this new danger in the air is something we should communicate with them.

ZAYAS FROM HARLINGEN NOW? CONFLICT? WHAT CONFLICT? NOT TO BROWNSVILLE HERALD OR NEWSHOUND GARY LONG

By Juan Montoya
From the very beginning of the story written by Rick Zayas-Ruben Cortez megaphone Gary Long of the Brownsville Herald, readers who are unaware of the byzantine world of intrigue within the Brownsville Independent School District were led down a deceptive path designed to obscure some obvious facts.

The first was that Zayas, the attorney representing former Athletic Director Joe Rodriguez and Tom Chavez was his successor – since reassigned as Rivera High School football coach – is from Harlingen.
Now, those of us who pass by his law office at his dad's Joe Zayas' former office on 14th Street still see him doing business out of there. And as far as we now, his wife still works at the federal courthouse with the probation office in Brownsville.

Until recently – when he was arrested for trying to drive away from a Brownsville Police officer – he still listed his home in Brownsville. Unless he has moved lock-stock-and-barrel recently and didn't tell anybody, as far as anyone knows Rick is from Browntown.

Another fact obscured in both the article and the lawsuit itself, is that trustee Catalina Presas-Garcia is not a defendant in this case.Rather, it's forensic auditor Danny Defenbaugh and Associates, who performed the audit on several departments in the BISD.

And, of course, the timing of this lawsuit is another glaring red flag conveniently ignored by the Zayas-Cortez hero-worshiper Long. The results of the forensic audit by Defenbaugh were issued way back in February. Why the lawsuit now, more than six months after it was issued and only two months before the November elections when Presas-Garcia is up for reelection?

Another pertinent fact is that Zayas cannot possibly represent these men for the simple reason that he was a sitting trustee during the time that some of the actions alleged in the lawsuit took place. Moreover, he was one of the trustees in the majority composed of himself, Ruben Cortez, Joe Colunga, and Rolando Aguilar who buried the Rodriguez scholarship foundation audit report and tried to prevent the public from having access to it. That was the basis of the first Rodriguez lawsuit against Presas-Garcia with Big Joe claiming that her handing of the two incriminating audits to the local district attorney was part of a vendetta she had against him. If we remember correctly, the board – with Zayas himself as a trustee – paid attorneys to fight the Texas Attorney General's decision that the contents of the audit were public documents and should be released to the private citizen who requested them and to the local daily who filed a Freedom of Information request to get them.

Someone who has been so intimately involved in the process from which the lawsuit originated cannot possibly represent a litigant who indirectly is basing his lawsuit on some of his own decisions. We're not lawyers here, of course, but there does appear to be some teeny-weeny bit of a conflict of interest, don't you think?

Presas-Garcia's admonition to both men, and specially to Rodriguez, to "let it go..he's got too much in the closet..." should be heeded.

For example, not too many people knew that as part of his negotiations with Brett Springsteen for his separation from the BISD, Rodriguez got the district to agree to his condition that he be allowed to select his replacement, the next BISD athletic director.

That, of course, was Tom Chavez. Chavez, Springsteen and Zayas knew, had no management training to take over the position. He was soon reassigned to coach a football team, his true calling in life.

Another concession by the district was to give him a nice $90,000 send-off to exit stage right and make no fuss.

Instead, Rodriguez got into the sports-equipment vendor business and worked a nice deal from Chavez for the purchase of sports uniforms to Valley Memorial High School and Manzano Middle School from the company he now represented, BNS.

The investigation by forensic auditor Defenbaugh and Associates cites the following in the report made to the BISD board:

"Investigation and analysis subsequently revealed that a substantial amount of payments of uniforms and equipment totaling $497,117 in fiscal year 2010-2011 was completed compared to the previous fiscal years (2009-2010) total of $175,715; an increase of 283 percent...

"Although Chavez denied giving preferential treatment to BNS and/or Joe Rodriguez in the purchasing process for both schools, Chavez never gave any due consideration to at least three other approved vendors sports distributors."

In other words, the customary (and mandated) bidding process seems to have been circumvented in this case.

For that Rodriguez and Chavez say they want another $1 million to compensate them for damages and mental anguish.

Observers are unanimous in the conclusion that the lawsuit may never see a courtroom and – like the Rodriguez lawsuit against Presas-Garcia for releasing audits of his scholarship foundation – will die an ignominious death.

But it isn't really the lawsuit they want, is it?

With barely two months left before the November election, they hope that having Megaphone Long blast their allegations far and wide without any critical analysis of their merits they can poison the political atmosphere and get Caty out of their way so they can get a pliant board elected like they had when the former majority with their attorney Zayas in control gave them everything they wanted.

BROWNSVILLE SAFEST DRIVING CITY IN TEXAS... REALLY?

(You're coming up to an intersection with a  side street on International Blvd. and you can just tell that the car with yellow Tamaulipas license plates does not want to stop and may well dart out in front of you hoping you will fear a collision and stop and let him go first even though you have the right-of-way. You have grown tired of the game and play chicken and he bumps you lightly, hardly enough to make a dent. Both of you get out, He tries to place the blame on you. You argue you had the derecho de transito and he shrugs and hands you a $50 bill and says you're even. He has no insurance so he has to fork out something to keep from getting a $375 traffic citation. He probably has no license, another $150. He cannot afford any trouble that will keep him from his daily hustle on the U.S. side. You don't have the time to haggle in the midday heat and take the bill. Both go your merry ways. No report. No mess. No statistic. This scene is played out almost daily on Brownsville streets. What what does Allstate know?)

Brownsville once again tops the list as the safest driving city in Texas, according to the eighth annual “Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report” released by Allstate Insurance Company. The report, based on Allstate claims data, ranks America’s 200 largest cities in terms of car collision frequency to identify which cities have the safest drivers.
Brownsville ranked 25th nationwide, coming in ahead of last year’s top city in Texas, Laredo, which maintained its position at 28. Prior to 2011, Brownsville held the top spot for four straight years.
According to the report, the average driver in Brownsville will experience an auto collision every 11.4 years, compared to a national average of 10.0 years. Other Texas cities beating the national average include Laredo, McAllen, Amarillo and Lubbock.
This year’s top honor of “America’s Safest Driving City” is Sioux Falls, S.D., the fifth time in the history of the report that the city has held the top spot. According to the report, the average driver in Sioux Falls will experience an auto collision every 13.8 years, which is 27.6 percent less likely than the national average of 10 years.
Car crash fatalities are at the lowest level they’ve been since 1949, but still average more than 32,000 every year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
For the past eight years, Allstate actuaries have conducted an in-depth analysis of company claims data to determine the likelihood drivers in America’s 200 largest cities will experience a vehicle collision compared to the national average. Internal property damage reported claims were analyzed over a two-year period (from January 2009 to December 2010) to ensure the findings would not be impacted by external influences such as weather or road construction.
A weighted average of the two-year numbers determined the annual percentages. The report defines an auto crash as any collision resulting in a property damage claim. Allstate’s auto policies represent about 10 percent of all U.S. auto policies, making this report a realistic snapshot of what’s happening on America’s roadways.
Texas cities that appear in the report are ranked as follows:

City & Overall Country Ranking	Collision Likelihood Compared to National Average	Average Years Between Collisions
25.  Brownsville	12.1% less likely	11.4
28.  Laredo	11.5% less likely	11.3
34.  McAllen	9.8% less likely	11.3
52.  Amarillo	2.1% less likely	10.2
61.  Lubbock	0.6% less likely	10.1
64.  Corpus Christi	0.5% more likely	10.0
84.  El Paso	3.7% more likely	9.6
93.  Waco	6.1% more likely	9.4
125.  Pasadena	14.5% more likely	8.7
130.  McKinney	15.7% more likely	8.6
132.  Killeen	16.0% more likely	8.6
138.  Fort Worth	17.7% more likely	8.5
141.  San Antonio	20.4% more likely	8.3
149.  Austin	23.9% more likely	8.1

POLITICS OF GREED AND MEAN: JROD, CHAVEZ (jrod jr.) AND ZAYAS TARGET CATY (WE MEAN FORENSIC AUDITOR DEFENBAUGH); SAY THEY WANT $1 MILLION, TOO

By Juan Montoya

Not content that he was let off the hook and allowed to walk away from two lawsuits in which he was a defendant and which cost the Brownsville Independent School District some $2 million to settle, former trustee Rick Zayas has filed a lawsuit on behalf of former athletic directors Joe Rodriguez and Tom Chavez against forensic auditor Defenbaugh and Associates of Dallas.
While the giving is good, they want the district to pay them $1 million in "exemplary" damages"

However, although the lawsuit ostensibly names Defenbaugh as the defendant, the "facts" of the case are built entirely around the presumed illegal relationship between trustee Catalina Presas-Garcia and the forensic investigators and her attorney John Barr – and there there is more reaching – and HealthSmart, the former third-party administrator for the BISD.

The tangled tale starts in 2008 after Presas-Garcia was elected to the BISD board. Rodriguez and Chavez allege that an found discrepancies in the administration of the Center, specifically, that Presas-Garcia had deposited an unspecified "large sum of cash" of the district's funds in her personal account and that $7,000 were unaccounted for while she worked there, although the lawsuit stops short of charging she took the money.

Rodriguez said the BISD adminsitration "tried to cover up the findings" and that Presas-Garcia "began a campaign to smear" him. Rodriguez further charges that she "abused her authority and acted as dictator" who spoke for the board in her "relentless public attacks" on him.

From there on, Rodriguez and Chavez' convoluted tale veers off to the alleged relationship between HealthSmart and its employees and charges she kept in touch with "a flim flam" man by the name of Carlos Quintanilla who they charge "was hired" by HealthSmart CEO Ted Parker to discredit any board members that voted against the renewal of the firm's contract with BISD. They allege – without acknowledging that BISD's lawsuit was settled against HealthSmart – that the savings the company claimed "was intentionally misrepresented.

The lawsuit then veers off further to a lawsuit filed in 2007 by the City of Lubbock against HealthSmart and to its legal representative John Barr. Barr used Defenbaugh and Associates as experts to analyze the audit used by the city to sue HealthSmart. Defenbaugh and Associates found the city audit to be "biased reporting" and eventually both parties agreed to settle the lawsuit.

In October, the pair continues, Rodriguez filed a lawsuit against Presas-Garcia for handing two audit reports performed by the district before she had even come on board as trustee that found evidence of wrongdoing and potential criminal acts by a foundation operated by Rodriguez with little or no accountability or oversight by the district. She said at the time that she was acting within her fiduciary duty and handed them to the Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos who did not act on the matter.

The former majority on the board – including the defendants' attorney Zayas, Ruben Cortez, Joe Colunga and Rolando Aguilar – instructed the administration not to release the reports. A private citizen and the Brownsville Herald appealed the withholding of the documents and the BISD sued the Texas Attorney General when he ruled the reports could be released to the public. Some reports put the legal cost to the district at around $60,000.

Eventually, the reports made their way into the public domain and the majority stopped their efforts stop their release. Rodriguez was never called to answer for the findings in the reports and issued a general denial of the findings.

Rodriguez eventually also non-suited Presas-Garcia for handing the reports to the D.A. Presas-Garcia had hired – and the BISD had paid – attorney John Barr to defend her in the lawsuit.

The school board in July 2011– under a new board majority made up of Presas-Garcia, Lucy Longoria, Enrique Escobedo and Christina Saavedra – authorized a forensic audit of several departments in the BISD. After a request for proposals from different firms, the majority hired Defenbaugh and Associates at $250,000 to perform it.

The men – through Zayas – charge that "somehow, certain departments and individuals that were not 'political allies' of Presas-Garcia were audited" with the intent to commit public humiliations.

They say that the forensic report found that Chavez – though his close relationship with Rodriguez – allowed their friendship to "interfere with what should have been a business decision causing a potential loss of revenue to be sustained with the district."

The lawsuit refers to the findings by Defenbaugh that state:

"Initial allegations that Joe Rodriguez was using undue influence and coercive tactics to pressure BISD coaches, athletic coordinators, and athletic personnel to purchaser sports uniforms and equipment from a company, BNS Sports, after Rordriguez became a sales representative for them after he left BISD in Dec. 31, 2009.

In addition, Rodriguez in a telephone call made to Margarita Pizano-Flores in Sept. 2011 threatened to sue BISD because the Purchasing Department had changed and improved the Catalog/Co-op procurement process.

Investigation and analysis subsequently revealed that a substantial amount of payments of uniforms and equipment totaling $497,117 in fiscal year 2010-2011 was completed compared to the previous fiscal years (2009-2010) total of $175,715; an increase of 283 percent...

"Although Chavez denied giving preferential treatment to BNS and/or Joe Rodriguez in the purchasing process for both schools, Chavez never gave any due consideration to at least three other approved vendors sports distributors."

What the lawsuit does not state is that as part of the negotiations with BISD before he left the district, Rodriguez was granted the option of choosing the next district AD, and chose Chavez. Further, there is no mention that Rodriguez was also given a "golden parachute" of $90,000 to go quietly.

Chavez took over Rodriguez's sppot at a cool $98,000 a year. He is now a coach at a high school.

Both men  – through Zayas – ask that they be paid for "loss of earnings in the past," loss of earnings in the future," mental anguish in the past and future, and presumed damages as well as the cool $1 million in exemplary damages.

"These men think they own the district," said a friend of Presas-Garcia. "They are not content to well good enough alone after all they've done to the BISD. Is it any surprise that this lawsuit comes only two months before the BISD election? If they think for a moment that Caty, Barr or the forensic auditor are going to take this lying down they're in for a rough surprise."

MAYOR SHOWS TRUE COLORS: FIRM DEFENDS HERNANDEZ'S CAMP VOTER FRAUD IN YOLANDA BEGUM'S LAWSUIT

By Juan Montoya
While Hizzoner and self-declared King of Brownsville Tony Martinez has set out to reconstruct Browntown as we know it, he has allowed his law firm to engage the camp of JP 2-2 declared winner Erin Hernandez Garcia in defending them from allegation of voter fraud and abuse stemming from the July 31 runoff election.
Martinez, who has called in the experts with plans to purify our city and provide us with Better Block and in making our city safe and healthy for our pedestrian and cycling population aged from 8 to 80, apparently thinks that having the likes of Cameron County Commissioner Ernie Hernandez, daughter Erin, and his wife Norma and her politiqueras manipulate the sanctity of the democratic vote is a good thing.
Why else would he allow his partner Horacio Barrera – and his firm by extension – to become entangled with this bunch?

Now, no one begrudges a lawyer for defending a paying client, but in light of the brazen voter abuse and mail-in fraud ascribed to the Hernandez camp, it would appear that a professional firm the likes of the Martinez, Barrera y Martinez, LLP would distance itself from an outfit that's has been associated with manipulating the voting in Cameron County and the City of Brownsville for as long as anyone can remember.

In fact, one of the politiqueros named in the lawuit filed on behalf of Erin's opponent Yolanda Begum is Amadeo Rodriguez Jr., who Martinez thanked profusely in public after he won the election for mayor of the City of Brownsville.

The date of the trial has not been set, but as far as we know, Barrera and Martinez expect to get paid for their services. Will it be from the vending contract that the Hernandez's have with Cameron County in apparent violation of conflict-of-issue statutes? Or perhaps its from the income of the Cadriel Firing Range, Norma's brother Aroldo's business where the road was obligingly coated with county caliche by Ernie even though there were no residences within the range of gunfire? But then again, he's saddled with debt for the defense of his murder charge.

Or perhaps they will get paid by Erin's non-existent large client base?

In light of Emma Perez-Treviño's report today in the The Brownsville Herald that the Internal Revenue Service has filed a federal tax lien against Ernie and Norma Hernandez for the nonpayment of $821,206 in taxes, Martinez might want to advise his partner that he better ask for the money up front before the Hernandez try to duck the government and declare bankruptcy.

"We hired some attorneys to look into this and we hopefully will get it settled in the next couple of months, but it may take up to a year,” Hernandez told the daily.

So Tony and Horacio, you better get it up front before you have to stand in line, don't you think?

In terms of the cost in your political stock, it is doubtful that Ernie – who has thrown more than one gullible supporter under the bus – will be able to make it up after you get through defending him and his camp followers.

IT TOOK OUTSIDERS TO SET BROWNTOWN STRAIGHT

"A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house."
Matthew 13:57

By Juan Montoya
That admonishment by Jesus to his disciples comes to mind after reading the account of the visit to our fair city by 8-80 Cities Executive Director Guillermo Peñalosa when he pointed out that Brownsville was, well, unfair to pedestrians and cyclists.

At the top of his list to encourage "vibrant cities" was Peñalosa's plan to people to "walk, bike and use public transportation as well as enjoy parks and other public spaces."

He said his initial impressions were that “there has not been respect for the pedestrian.”

This is news to us?

How many times have we pointed out the shameful way that the elderly and children have to wait in 95-plus degree heat to wait for the infrequent buses for transportation? The reason people walk down the side of the roads and street ways – even without sidewalks – is because they have no income to buy and maintain a car or even to pay for the bus fares.

And in the case of bicycles, it's like taking your life into your hands to traverse the city. Bike lanes are basically restricted to the newer roadways in more affluent neighborhoods. Don't try to ride downtown or in the Southmost barrio on a bike. We've heard about Suicide By Cop. This would be Suicide by Chisca.

“There are very few sidewalks that are in good condition,” Peñalosa told a group yesterday. “I saw in many residential areas there are not even sidewalks, which is shameful.”

The local daily reported that in comments to its reporters last week, Peñalosa said he supported Mayor Tony Martinez's efforts to entice the UT System to locate its UTB main campus downtown.

“I think one of the most important decisions in Brownsville would be to convince the university to set up headquarters downtown,” he said. “The city should try to put all of the pressure that they can to make it happen...Being a public university – whatever they settle – it has huge implications that go way beyond the cash flow of the university,” he said. “So, they need to be good citizens.”

For starters, they can stop trying to coerce the community college (TSC) to sell its real estate at cut-rate prices to the third-wealthiest university system in the United States, wean itself off from the $50 million in "contractual transfers" it gets from the local district and taxpayers each year, and – at the very least – pay the college the $12 to $15 million in rental arrears it owes it.

He probably hasn't heard of the effort by the UTB and its president Juliet Garcia to gobble up more than $250 million in community college assets that included all its real estate, buildings and bank deposits as a "gift" while leaving them the bond indebtedness that helped fuel the building boom on the "partnership" campus.

And if he did, we're sure that Martinez and his UTB-favored United Brownsville would have dissuaded him of making any statements on the matter.

How long have there been local cycling and public transportation advocates asking that there be more sidewalks built, more bus shelters to protect local bus riders from the elements, and more pedestrian walkways built for those local residents who wish to exercise?

Why did it have to take an expert from Canada by way of Colombia to drive home the message and get front-page coverage from the local daily?

But for now, anyway, an expert from the "outside" has echoed the repeated complaints that local citizens have voiced against the city and the university. Since these complaints from the locals seem to have fallen on deaf ears of city and university officials, will they listen to the outside "prophet" now?

DYNASTY POLITICS IS THE SCOURGE OF SOUTH TEXAS

By Juan Montoya
For 28 years, U.S, Congressman Solomon Ortiz cloaked himself with the mantle of the District 27 Congressional office (now District 34).
It seemed almost a given that his son, Solomon Jr., a member of the Texas House of Representatives, would follow in his father's footsteps and inherit the scepter of power.
But alas, it was not to be.
Now, it is apparent that there is another dynasty in the making. We speak , of course, of the Eddie Lucio Dynasty headed by patriarch State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. Lucio who was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1986 and stayed there four years before being elected to the Texas Senate in 1991, where he has maintained a stranglehold on the reins of power.
As a result of scandals associated with the $21 million boondoggle at the Port of Brownsville where he turned out to be a lobbyist for Dannenbaum Engineering at a hefty salary after he "introduced" the firm to the district commissioners, we found out he had pocketed respectable amounts of cash for consulting work with the company.
Ditto for the companies building correctional facilities in Willacy County where several county commissioners were convicted of accepting bribes from the builders in return for their voting them juicy contracts. We found out that Eddie Sr. was also receiving thousands from the prison contractors and was listed as a "consultant." Most of us took it with a grain of salt when he lists his profession as an "advertising executive."
Now he has installed his son Eddie Lucio III (derisively called The Turd by his detractors), in the Texas House of Representatives District 38 seat in 2006, the year following his graduation from UT law school.
He has since been re-elected twice in 2008 and 2010. District 38 is composed of the southwest region of Cameron County.
Now he is in his making his fourth run at the District 38 seat.
Here is South Texas politicians have a way of holding on to power until they pry their dead cold fingers from the throttle. County Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre, for example, has been in the same position for 24 years and wants four more, presumably to take case of unfinished business he didn't have the time to get to in the two dozen years he's been there.
Likewise, State Rep. Rene Oliveira has been there for 28 years as well and shows no sign of stepping down and let someone else represent the district.
Ask them what their accomplishments and they will basically point to the same things : bringing UT to TSC, the Regional Allied Health Center, the improvement of the lives of the people in South Texas, protecting insurance companies by passing tort reform, and taking care of the Political Action Committees (PACS) that contribute thousands to their re-election campaigns.
From July 1 through Dec. 31, 2011, Democrat Eddie Lucio III of Brownsville raised $70,060, according to the statement of campaign contributions and expenditures that he filed with the Texas Ethics Commission this month.In 2010, Lucio III raised $188,154. All in all since he first campaigned for state representative in late 2005, Lucio III has raised $943,292.
And in the period from January 1 through June 30 of this year, Lucio III reported receiving contributions of $63,900 and spent $59,000.
His Republican challenger, Alejandro “Alex” Torres of Harlingen, reported no contributions for the period covering Sept. 6, 2011, through Jan. 14 this year. In his latest report covering January through June, Torres did only slightly better, reporting receiving $943 in contributions and spending $2,910

Houston magnate and Republican booster Bob J. Perry, was the top donor to Lucio III’s campaign in 2011 giving him $35,000 from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2011. He also gave III $21,500 to Lucio III in 2010. This year – from January to June – Perry kicked in an extra $10,000 in two contributions.
Other Republican contributors to Lucio III’s campaign include Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which donated $5,000 the last part of 2011. They also kicked in an extra $5,000 in the first part of 2012.
The list of Political Action Committees goes on and on, some listing addresses as far away as Georgia, Illinois and other Texas towns outside District 38.
This year, aside from the Republican candidate, Lucio III also faces Libertarian candidate Nancy Mishou . If anything, perhaps the candidates will question Little Eddie III on just what these Big-Money Boys get back in return for their largess besides just his "open door" policy.
On the other hand, he may pull a Marie Antoinette and suggest they let him eat his cake.

VOTING ABUSE OF HAULED-IN ELDERLY DONE IN PLAIN SIGHT

By Juan Montoya
For at least five days of the week preceding the July 31 runoff elections, anyone going by the early-voting sites at main courthouse, the Cristo Rey Catholic Church and the Cameron Park Centro Cultural would see vans like the one in the picture on the right stop at the entrances.
Then, in plain sight, the voting judge at these places would ask the driver and the political representative of the candidate he was supporting how many ballots he required.
Inside the van were perhaps a dozen elderly or mentally-incapacitateded voters who could have walked and voted themselves, had their handlers allowed them out of the vehicle.
However, the heelers prevented them from alighting the vans and instead had them vote in the vans.
Before getting there, the politiqueros and politiqueras had provided the elderly voters with pre-marked sample ballots showing who they were to vote for. In at least one case, a police report indicates that partisans of the candidacy of Erin Garcia Hernandez (including her mother Norma and politiquero Amadeo Rodriguez Jr.), had tried to take people to vote from day care centers even when they had been told before hand that it was private property.
In the instance above, a passerby used his iPhone to capture the moment that the election judge handed the ballots to the people inside the van. He later said that he heard the politiqueros and the driver instructing them to vte for the candidates already listed on the pre-marked sample ballots.
And yet, in spite of the hauling in of the elderly and mentally-incapacitated voters by the Hernandez campaign, she only won the walk-in early vote by some 85 votes over a five-day period. It was in the mail-in vote that she amassed a 177-vote lead that was insurmountable, even though her opponent Yolanda Begum beat her on election day.
Cameron County Elections Administrator Roger Ortiz claims that he never saw any of the above-described voter fraud happen. And yet, this picture was taken in the front door of the elections office on Harrison Street, virtually under his nose.
The woman with her back to the camera is a poll watcher for Begum whose protests were ignored, but whose written affidavit will probably be included in the evidence to be submitted in the upcoming lawsuit Begum filed against Hernandez and the county.
Will the court and the county officials do the right thing?
"You can lead a horse to water...."    

BANALES NIXES DE LEON'S INDEPENDENT CONGRESSIONAL BID

By Juan Montoya
Most observers of the local political scene would not have given Independent Don De Leon a chance of winning the election to the newly-created Congressional District 34 over Democrat Filemon Vela Jr. and Republican Jessica Puente Bradshaw.
But most voters would have been willing to allow him the right to cure his petition in time of this name to appear on the November ballot.
Instead, it now appears that unless De Leon and his supporters can raise the 500 signatures by 5 p.m. today, he will have to sit on the sidelines as the Democrat and Republican fight it out to represent the district. A Libertarian is also running in November.
Visiting Judge J. Manuel Bañales, of the 105th state District Court in Corpus Christi, said Monday that De Leon was given time to cure petition where he left out “District 34” on the space that indicate the ofice he was seeking.
Instead, he wrote in “House of Representatives” when he collected about 800 signatures, 300 more than were necessary.
So he filed suit against Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade on Aug. 17, and represented himself in the hearing.
Bañales stated that Andrade correctly rejected the petitions with signatures of voters that independent candidates must submit because the petitions had not noted “District 34” on the line for the office sought.
De Leon countered that it was obvious to the people who signed his petition that he was running for District 34 because it is the only district in Cameron County and when he was campaigning and distributed his cards, he informed the voters that he was running for District 34.
However, Bañales sided with Keith Ingram, director of elections for the Secretary of State’s office, who testified in the 103rd District Court that he advised De Leon on Aug. 10 that he had to recollect the 500 signatures with “District 34” added to the candidate’s place section, instead of “House of Representatives,” at the top of every page of the petition.
"You just didn't do it," Bañales told De Leon.
In the past, De Leon has run for commissioner of the Port of Brownsville. His father Ernesto de Leon, is a former city commissioner who made a run for Cameron County commissioner two years ago.
By far, the candidate spending the most money has been Vela, trailed a far second by Bradshaw. According to Ballotpedia, he has listed some $412,785.77 in contributions and $404,588.49 in expenditures since April to win the Democratic nomination in a runoff July 31 against Denise Saenz-Blanchard.
Like Blanchard and Bradshaw, De Leon insisted he would run a "grassroots" campaign and relying on word-of-mouth to win the contest.
Also on the ballot besides Vela and Bradshaw is Libertarian Steven Shanklin.

LOOSE CANNON MINERVA PENA IMPLODES, PANDERS FOR SUPPORT

By Juan Montoya
With characteristic bombast and fluster, Brownsville Independent School District trustee Minerva Peña is doing her best impression of a bull running amok in a china shop.
Her recent acts have left her fellow trustees bewildered and not a bit upset at her antics.

Her behavior at the recent picking of a financial consultant is but one example.

BISD's Chief Financial Officer Ismael Garcia had recommended that the first pick for that lucrative position be awarded to a San Antonio company and placed it be fore the board at their last meeting.

When it time to cast the vote, three trustees voted to follow his recommendations, only to have Peña vacillate and say that she didn't feel she could vote and wanted to abstain because she didn't have "enough information."

When the board couldn't muster the majority needed to pick the consultant, Garcia suggested that they consider the second choice, Estrada and Hinojosa, the existing consultants.

To the rest of her fellow trustee's surprise, Peña raised her hand in support of Estrada and Hinojosa.

"You should have seen the stunned look in the other trustees' faces when Peña voted," said a a BISD administrator. "They asked her how she could say she didn't have enough information to vote for the CFO's first pick and then voted for Estrade and Hinojosa just a short moment later."
You remember that bunch. In BISD's forensic audit, it was discovered they were primarily responsible for convincing the trustees and the admnistration to issue $25.9 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB) under the federal Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA)in 2010 .
Board members and even former Superintendent Brett Springston were told at the time that the state would consider the entire debt service with federal tax credits which would make the bond "free money."
The board authorized the issuance Dec. 7, 2010...and the bonds were sold Dec. 22. A little over two weeks later, on Jan. 6, 2011, Estrada Hinojosa & Company were contacted by the Texas Education Agency and they were told the debt service schedules submitted with the four  applications were incorrect because they did not deduct the federal subsidy from the debt service requirement on the bonds.
So, instead of a minimal payment, or none at all as they had been promised, the board members were told that the district's local share will be approximately $507,068 a year which over the 18-year term of the bonds will cost the district $9,127,216 to retire.
The net profit for the "consultants" for that slight-of-hand? Close to $3.5 million. So knowing that, why did Peña suddenly change her mind on the selection of consultants for the 2012-2013 school year?
The suspicion among district observers is that Peña – now seeking reelection – thought the consultants might not forget her largess when they make their political donations for the election in November.

"It smelled as if she was padding her nest for a contribution with that vote," said a member of the public who attended the meeting. "That really reeked."

Still another act by the flighty trustee was the attendance of the local bus driver' union at a pep rally held for returning students.

According to union sources, Peña suggested that they confront BISD superintendent Carl Montoya at Sam's Stadium when he appeared for that event. Now, if you have followed BISD tradition, the pep rally for students, parents, BISD teachers and staff and the trustees is not a forum for labor disputes.

Yet, some driver have said that intrepid Peña advised them to talk to Montoya about their demands in front of the crowd assembled to cheer in the new school year.

"She is flighty at best and possibly nuts at worse," said a BISD administrator. "Sometimes you want to think that she doesn't know what she's doing, but at other times you wonder whether she was also looking for the drivers' political support by suggesting they confront the super with their demands at the rally."

    

UTB'S LEECHING OFF TSC STOPS IN 2015, LEAN TIMES PREDICTED FOR JULIET

By Juan Montoya
While the University of Texas System regents continue to hem and haw about where exactly in the Brownsville area they will place their "21st Century Educational Institution," "Educational Village," or "knowledge community" within their “ Framework for Advancing Excellence,” the oil-and-gas wealthy institution continues to suck the lifeblood of the local community college district.
The upcoming 2012-2013 Texas Southmost College budget that will in all likelihood be approved by the trustees this coming week will include a "transfer of some $51.427 million from the district to the UT System.

In last year's budget, this contractual "transfer" amounted to $52.194 million.

However, even though this may seem like a steep price to pay for the burn orange cow skull logo, it does not include the financial aid monies received by TSC students, and that amount adds additional millions more to its coffers at the expense of local residents.

"With the steep tuition and student fees at the "partnership" ranked as the highest in the state, it makes it almost impossible for local students to enroll here, " said a student's parent. 

This annual "transfer" allowed for UTB President Juliet Garcia to get a "merit" award of $32,272 in 2011 in addition to her $304,179 salary.

"Imagine Juliet going up to Austin and asking for more funds from a legislator who is probably an attorney making maybe $100,000 or so a year," said a TSC instructor. "The median income for a family in Cameron County is  $$26,155. To have someone receive a bonus of more than that amount is almost criminal."

Under a new adopted by the UT System incentive plan, campus administrators will be evaluated on certain goals set by the Board of Regents. They would be graded on a system based on the percentage of growth or savings they meet which would be stacked up against their performance goals for the calculation of their payout.

Under this system, short-term goals that could be considered under the new plan include evidence of system-wide cost savings, growth in research and philanthropic funding. Unfortunately for Juliet, the long-term performance goal would be four-year graduation rates, and that goal is weighted more heavily.

"Less than 17 percent of the students while Juliet was president of the UTB-TSC partnership graduated over six years," said the same TSC instructor. "Unless Garcia has a sudden infusion of geniuses, the fat times could be over for her."

There is no denying that the cutbacks anticipated by the UTB-TSC separation will result in a downsizing of salaries for some, but in the past, a candidate for trustee said the board must look out for the greater good.

"A professor can get a $80,000 teaching job elsewhere," he said. "But a poor student may lose the only opportunity to get a trade or a certification. I was elected to look out for the greater good."

MEXICAN CONSUL IN BROWNSVILLE FACES HARSH CRITICISM

By Juan Montoya
The ruling by a federal magistrate in the southern U.S. Southern District federal court that the family of Juan Pablo Perez Santillan – the Matamoros man who was gunned down by agents firing from across the Rio Grande – could choose the legal representative they wanted without interference form the Mexican Consul in Brownsville Rodolfo Quilantán Arenas, has renewed criticism of the Mexican official.
News reports from Matamoros indicate that the family has secured an order from a sate judge ordering Quilantán and Brownsville attorney Ed Stapleton not to approach the family of the slain man.
Both Quilantán and Stapleton have stated that there was nothing illegal or immoral in their efforts to secure the wife an relatives for the dead man. Quilantán, thought a consulate spokesman, said he had acted "in good faith" to refer the family to Stapleton, a seasoned attorney from Brownsville.
Quilantán's denial that his actions were inappropriate and that he didn't try to pressure the family to hire Stapleton to get some form of compensation from the U.S. government and not to pursue criminal charges against were buttressed by a statement from the Mexican Consulate in Mexico City.
 "We deny the accusations," said Ricardo Alday González, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy of Mexico in the United States told the media. “There was no pressure, what communication there was was meant to inform the family so they would know that the person they were contracting to represent them if facing various federal charges."

In a previous missive, the embassy refers to Austin Attorney Marc G. Rosenthal by saying that "In their exercise of their right to chose their legal representation, the family of (Juan Pablo) Pérez Santillán elected to contract Rosenthal, even after (Quilantán) told them that Rosenthal was facing federal charges."

However, various Mexican media such as Grupo Reforma have said the charge by the family against Quilantán indicates that the consul wanted them to hire Stapleton even though he counseled them against seeking criminal charges against the agents who are alleged to have killed their son and instead to settle for some sort of compensation.

The women – the mother and wife of the slain man – also allege that Quilantán made an effort to prevent them from changing their lawyer.

On Aug. 2, they presented a complaint before the Fiscalía de Partes, where they ask the Ministerio Público to order Quilantán and Stapleton or any other employee of the consulate from contacting them.

Through his spokesman, Quilantán said his duty as consul is to be familiar with any investigation occurring in the United States and to "facilitate" communication with Mexican federal agencies in case they require assistance.

(To add fuel to the fire, on Aug. 18, Quilantán refused to be interviewed by a reporter in Matamoros and crushed his digital audio recorder by raising his car's electric windows and broke it when the newsman tried to question him on the riding number of deported Mexican nationals crowding northern Mexico cities.)

Quilantán's actions have fueled a fresh spate of harsh criticism from the Mexican media who charge that he has been uncommunicative on what actions he is taking to assist the rising tide of Mexican citizens deported to Mexico by the U.S. government and who end up on the northern Mexican border cities such as Matamoros and Reynosa, often without any resources at their disposal.

His role in the Stapleton-Rosenthal spat incurred the wrath of local representatives of Gerardo Acevedo Danache, vice-president for International Affairs of the Mexican Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism in Matamoros (CANACO). Acevedo Danache condemned Quilantán's interference in the matter and said he had no business pressuring the family to choose one attorney over another.

"This heightens suspicions of special treatment in legal matters which affect Mexican citizens in the United States," he added.

CANACO representatives in Matamoros have gone as far as to invite Quilantán to meet with them to discuss diverse matters, going as far as trying to arrange a meeting with him at the midway point between the international bridge which the consul did not attend. 

WHY BISD SETTLED: WHY THROW GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD?

By Juan Montoya
Ruben Cortez, one of the former trustees who were the main reason for the current majority on the board of the Brownwville Independent School District to settle two major lawsuits and cut its losses, is trying to make it seem like settling them was the last thing he wanted.
But BISD board attorney Arturo Michel's statements explaining the decision offer some clues to why the $1.5 million settlement was necessary for the district.
The reasoning is going to take several steps.
First, the district might have won or lost the lawsuits filed by former Superintendent Hector Gonzales and Juarez, but if the plaintiffs won, it could have cost much more than the settlement.
As it was, Gonzales got $800,000 and an deputy superintendent's job including attorneys fees for the better part of three years. Ditto for Juarez, with $700,000, a job and attorney's fees.

Both me were targeted by the former majority after they refused tom join the conspiracy by Cortez, Joe Colunga, Rick Zayas and Rolando Aguilar to steer the multimillion Stop-Loss contract to the firm represented by the late Johnny Cavazos, a prominent political and financial contributor to their campaigns.

In the end, Juarez refused and went to the FBI with evidence – including tape recordings – of the p[lan to fire him and Gonzales unless they toed the majority's line.

Federal judge Andrew Hanen agreed that the evidence presented by Juarez's attorneys indicated that there was a factual basis for the lawsuit and he refused to grant qualified immunity to the four trustees. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals not only upheld his order, but refused to rehear the appeal filed by the district's attorneys.

But there is more.

The lawsuit insurance the district carries is paying part of the settlement. But it would not pay anything if the district went to trial and lost the lawsuits. That increases the monetary difference the district would pay – much much more – if it took a chance on the lawsuits and lost.

So why wouldn't the insurance pay?

This is the interesting part. Because the insurance doesn't cover the district when school board members break the law, or act outside the duties of the job. It doesn't cover the district when the likes of Cortez, Zayas, Colunga, Aguilar, and even former trustee Otis Powers are found to have conspired to manipulate the school district into firing its superintendent and financial officer.

These actions alone have already cost the district taxpayers at least a million dollars on this when you consider the cost of firing Gonzales added in.
Of course, the last thing that Cortez wants now is a settlement that will point out his role in the costly fiasco he generated by trying to protect his benefactor Cavazos now that he is in the running against a Republican in the race for the District 2 position in the Texas State School Board of Education. 

But is it any wonder the settlement was the best way out to limit the district's losses before the legal costs and damage penalties that would have affected the BISD's bottom line necessary to operate the district?

ROSENTHAL APPEALS LOPEZ'S "DEATH PENALTY" ORDER IN RAILROAD CASE, DEMANDS SHE RECUSE HERSELF AND ANOTHER JUDGE BE APPOINTED

By Juan Montoya

Reiterating that Judge District Judge Migdalia Lopez retaliated against him and his clients by imposing a "death penalty" on their negligent-death case against the Union Pacific Railroad and train engineer Ernesto Obregon, Austin attorney Marc Rosenthal charges in his new motion to have Lopez recuse herself from the case because she is no longer fit to sit on the case.
This is Rosenthal's second motion to have Lopez recuse herself. The first motion was based on what Rosenthal called an inappropriate appeal by Lopez for a $2,500 political contribution during a meeting she called to meet with him and convicted 404th District Judge Abel Limas at the Four Corners Restaurant in Brownsville in 2010.
"It seems apparent that the impartiality of Judge Lopez is reasonably questionable in this case, and/or that she has a personal bias and prejudice in this case against plaintiffs’ undersigned counsel of record," Rosenthal states in his motion. "In either event, under traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice, and in order that justice may be done, Judge Lopez should be recused in order that a fair and impartial judge, free of bias and prejudice, may preside over this ease."
The act of retaliation to which Rosenthal refers to is the order Lopez signed on June 20, that imposes “death penalty” sanctions with respect to the entire case, resulting in the dismissal of all of the plaintiffs’ claims which he charges constitutes an "unquestíonable violation" of their constitutional due process rights. The only grounds for the death penalty sanctions set forth in the order cconcerns Rosenthal's alleged misconduct.

The order, he states, is clearly not based on any alleged misconduct or wrongdoing on the part of the plaintiffs. In other words, he states that the order is patently illegal inasmuch as it imposes death penalty sanctions, depriving Viviana Sosa and her husband – who he says are undísputably innocent of any wrongdoing – of their day in court because of the alleged misconduct.

"The act of Judge Lopez in imposing such an order "unfairly resulted in the dismissal of the claims of an innocent mother and father whose baby was killed in a train-car collision allegedly caused by the railroad.

This is a Wrongful death suit resulting from the death of an innocent baby girl who was unborn at the time Union Paciñc’s locomotive collided into the oar in which the baby’s innocent mother was a passenger, causing the baby to suffer a severe brain injury which resulted in her death just days before she was born. One of the primary alleged causes of the train-car collision was the fact as corroborated by the sworn testimony of several eyewitnesses whose depositions have been taken in this case was that Union PaciÍic’s train engineer illegally failed to sound the horn of the locomotive the train approached the highway-rail crossing, thereby failing to warn the driver of the car in which the pregnant mother was a passenger that the train was approaching the crossing.

The railroad crossing was not guarded by cross-arms at the time and the weather was semi-dark and rainy that day.

"As any reasonable person would expect," Rosenthal writes, "given the eyewitness accounts of the train engineer’s failure to sound the horn, (I) naturally became suspicious of defendants’ primary defense to the negligence allegation in this case against Union Pacific regarding the failure of its engineer to sound the horn; that is, Union Pacific's contention that the event recorder on board its locomotive recorded data which shows that the horn was sounded in advance of the highway-rail crossing as required by law."

Moreover, Rosenthal charges that he suspected of skulduggery by Union Pacific in regard to manipulation of the event recorder data, and discovery fraud by the railroad in connection with the event recorder data, which he says has been supported by "Union PaciÍic’s resistance to producing documents and tangible items which have been requested of Union Pacific in the instant case, and which Lopez has unreasonably failed to require Union Pacific to produce to plaintiffs through the discovery process in this case." 

His motion states that as the plaintiffs’ attorney became closer to completely uncovering the railroad’s "fraudulent scheme" which involved manipulation of the event recorder data by the railroad to make it appear that the locomotive horn had been sounded immediately prior to the railroad crossing where the crash occurred – which included revealing toLopez and the railroad’s attorneys what Rosenthal's railroad/event recorder expert suspected about such fraud on the part of the railroad – the railroad’s attorneys filed the motion for sanctions which resulted in the "spacious" order dismissing the lawsuit. 

"This  act by Judge Lopez unfairly resulted in the dismissal of the claims of an innocent mother and father whose baby was killed in a train-car collision allegedly caused by the railroad," Rosenthal charges.

 ln fact, he states that Lopez, after conducting a hearing on the defendants’ motion for sanctions, capriciously signed the order, which was wholly drafted and given to her (as a “Wish List”) by the railroad’s attorneys.

"The order," he said, "unquestionably contains certain 'findings' of fact and conclusions of law which are patently unsupported by any evidence and/or which are contrary to the evidence produced by both sides in the case."

These “flndings” in the order are simply exaggerated and frivolous allegations that the railroad’s attorneys wrote up against Rosenthal and asked Lopez to in essence close her eyes and sign.

"Amazingly, he charges, "in a breach of the trust which the voters of Cameron and Willacy Counties placed in Judge Lopez, the Judge apparently succumbed to the pressure of her friends and supporters – the Railroad and the attorneys who represent the Railroad in this case – and simply signed the order that the railroad’s attorneys put in front of her to sign."

The defendants in the case are represented by the law firm known as Colvin, Chaney, Saenz & Rodriguez, L.L.P. Attorney Mitchell C. Chaney is one of the named partners of that law firm.The original case was filed on January 14, 2009.

Rosenthal says that on or about February 15, 2010, while the case was pending, Lopez contacted him through an intermediary (Limas) who was of counsel to Rosenthal’s law at that time. He says Lopez made it known to Rosenthal that she wished to meet him for lunch in Brownsville the next day at the Four Corners Restaurant because she had something important to discuss with him. During this lunch meeting, Rosenthal sayst that Lopez brought up the fact that Chaney (who represents the defendants in the railroad death case) previously gave her a $1,000 campaign contribution, and stated that Chaney’s law firm is a firm where she may practice law one day.

Lopez is then said to have explained to Rosenthal that she liked Chaney’s law firm and one of its clients –  Union Pacific Railroad – because of what they had the potential to do to help her in her "continued political endeavors."

Rosenthal says that Lopez then asked him to give her a $2,500 political contribution and made him feel that "like he would not be treated fairly in her court if he failed to make such a campaign contribution."

Lopez told Rosenthal not to mention anything to anyone about what they had discussed at that lunch meeting, and indicated to Rosenthal that something had could happen to his clients’ case if he told anyone about their conversation.

Rosenthal told Limas – who was sitting at the same table with Lopez and him – that he was contemplating the tiling of a complaint against Judge Lopez with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Limas reportedly replied that Lopez would certainly find "a way to damage his clients’ case if he mentioned anything to anyone."

"In the event that Judge Lopez fails to immediately recuse herself," Rosenthal pleads, "plaintiffs hereby request that Judge Lopez immediately request of the presiding judge of the administrative judicial district that he assign a judge to preside over a hearing on the motion" to have her recuse herself."

BOIL BOIL, TOIL AND TROUBLE AT ELECTION TIME

"Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble..."
from Macbeth, William Shakespeare


By Juan Montoya

And so the Wicked Sisters have pulled off another slight-of-hand and snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat for Erin Hernandez Garcia in her runoff race with political innocent Yolanda Begum.
Begum, who at first thought elections were contests where the electorate would freely choose their candidates just like in the movies, instead came face to face with a dollar-greased political machine with operators such as Norma Hernandez, her opponent's mother, who along with politiqueras (ward heelers, political activists, etc., pick one) who stopped at nothing to achieve their ends.

In a well-rehearsed scenario, they descended upon gullible elderly in local day care centers and hauled them off packed in rental vans like rolling campaign buses where they were coerced into voting for their ticket. Inside the vans, they were kept outside the polling places within sight of election judges who obligingly passed the drivers and their aides a handful of ballots to be filled in at their leisure.

In one instance, Norma, who wields the influence of being the wife of a county commissioner like a bludgeon, browbeat Cameron County elections Administrator Roger Ortiz within earshot of other candidates and their assistants. Meek little Ortiz stood there and took it like an obedient little clerk and got a public dressing down for having the unmitigated gall to stand up to Ernie's wife.

How dare he even think of standing in her way when the vans filled with the elderly, the mentally-disabled and the illiterate were hauled in with promises of a chicken plate in return for marking their ballots the way she wanted them to?

Next thing they will think is that they are actually able exercise their free will and select a candidate of their choice. Can you imagine that?

Across the poor barrios of Cameron Park and Southmost, the elderly voters are hunted down and dispossessed of their ballots, thinking that by sealing them they will actually be mailed by the politiqueras who pick them up and obligingly tell them they they will do them the favor of putting on the stamps and dropping them off at the post office gratis.

On more than one occasion, those ballots never make it to the post office until they have been steamed opened and the votes changed to suit the politiqueras who picked them up. Then they are mailed to be counted by the elections office and the wishes of the electorate are negated in favor of the cheater.

On other occasions, illiterate voters actually cast mail-in votes after scribbling what looks like their name on the applications for mail-in votes and later on the outside of the ballot envelopes when the politiqueras come and pick them up from them.

Cameron Park is Margarita Ozuna's territory. She know where every elderly registered voter lives. Come election time, she, along with cohorts Ana Perales, Juanita Garcia, Facunda and daughter Beatriz Garcia, descend upon their homes and retrieve the ballots which they receive in the mail. After all, they know where the ballots will come, having "assisted" the targets in their respective adult day care center. In some cases, the voters are led to believe that they are somehow connected to the elections office and what they are doing is perfectly moral and legal.
But don't look for her name on any of the documents associated with the ballot or the mail-in envelopes. You won't find it. Instead, the envelopes will bear the name of someone else (usually one Juan Rodriguez or another male name) to hide her role in illegally harvesting that vote.

But that's not all. Across the panorama of the city's southeast side (La Southmost, La 421, La Doce), one can find her trail into the humble homes of the elderly. 

"Vino la señora Dora a levantar las boletas," they say using one of her many aliases.

The Las Prietas (West Side) neighborhood is Herminia Becerra's turf. Entire blocks vote by mail from her Ground Zero home on Western Blvd.

She will tell you that the people seek her out and that she helps them out with their legal problems with the sheriff, the constables, the justices of the peace, the cops, etc. Their vote, she says, is a kind of quid pro quo for all the favors she performs at no cost.

"Yo no quiero dinero, le digo a los candidatos," she says. "A mi no me des dinero. Yo domas les pido material para distribuir."

But if anyone has made the mail-in vote and walk-in early vote an industry, it is Norma Hernandez. In fact, she is so adept at controlling that vote that she feels she is entitled to it because of her investment in time to nurture the trust and confidence of the voters.

Between these three (and another dozen operatives), they have been able to rule the political roost and thumb their noses at a supposedly democratic system of political representation. The sad part about it is that the very people who are supposed to keep the playing field level are themselves elected though this process and feel hog-tied and helpless to right this wrong.

Law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and court clerks all use the system to stay in office. And where are the federal knights in shining armor who claim they are here to ferret out corruption at every level of civilian life?

Until someone does something, the Wicked Sisters will continue to give us toil and trouble at the elections cauldron.