ERNIE'S PRINTS ALL OVER THURSDAY'S COUNTY'S AGENDA

By Juan Montoya
Now that the furor over the massive voter fraud-tainted runoff election that catapulted his daughter Erin Garcia Hernandez to the Democratic spot in November 6 general elections for JP 2 seems to have died down a bit, Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Ernie Hernandez is making his move.
Not only does it appear that he has ditched his longtime friend John Wood –a former Democratic candidate for county judge against Carlos Cascos – and gotten him off the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority, but agenda items placed on his behalf indicate a plan is afoot to move the Justice of the Peace offices to the current Elections Offices and perhaps put a district court at the Carrizales-Rucker Corrections Center in Olmito.
That agenda item, interestingly, does not even mention Wood, but states instead that it's an item for consideration and action to reappoint Mark Esparza to the CCRMA and to appoint Brownsville attorney Horacio Barrera in Wood's place. Barrera, as you will remember, was the attorney who defended his daughter Erin Hernandez Garcia from the voter fraud lawsuit
And, to make your head spin some more, he is also calling for action by the court to authorize him to begin plans to rebuild the county's animal shelter, and perhaps raid the $1.4 million fellow Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides got approved to build a gym at the Pete Benavides/Browne Avenue Multi-Service County Park.
The meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Oscar Dancy Building on Madison Street in Brownsville.
It is apparent to many county political watchers that in exchange for throwing his longtime political ally John Wood under the CCRMA bus, Ernie may have garnered the necessary votes to take some of Benavides' bond money to pacify the animal-rights crowd he has courted for the better part of a year.
"I have never seen s county politician so driven by personal ambition that he would have cut a deal to remove  Wood from the CCRMA in return for a vote," said a county worker. "The more I see this guy in action, the more surprised I am at how ruthless he has become."
Those who remember when Wood's Adm. Asst. – and former city commissioner – Carlos Cisneros left the county under a cloud when he was arrested in South Padre Island after a domestic altercation with his wife. Hernandez, who had been elected as Pct. 2 commissioner, was hired by Wood to replace Cisneros bfore his term began, a move that allowed Ernie to get his teeth into county finances. He hasn't let go yet.
Now, with his other proposals to move the JP offices from the judicial wing of the courthouse into the Elections Office and to move a district court to the county lockup in Olmito, this has to be Ernie's master stroke.
"If he can get all these things past the full court, his pieces will all be in place, for whatever ends he might have in mind." continued the county source. "He wouldn't place these items on the agenda if he didn't have any hopes of having the necessary votes to pass them."
Has Hernandez cut a deal with other commissioners – or even Carlos Cascos – to get some of Sofia's money for the gymnasium to provide air-conditioned comfort to stray animals?
"How do you figure he treats his friend like a dog and want to give precinct 1's money meant for the kids of the barrios to the animals?" quipped the county source.