POLITIQUERO-LED PAC ATTACKS CATY PRESAS GARCIA

By Juan Montoya
Fliers being distributed around Brownsville have singled out Brownsville Independent School District trustee Catalina Presas Garcia as the target for a shadowy Political Action Committee named SAVE BISD.
In the flier, the writer blames Presas-Garcia for singlehandedly taking things at BISD to hell in a hand basket.
A public information request from the BISD indicates that one Jose A. Garza Jr. is the treasurer of the specific-purpose PAC. Its purpose, according to the filed appointment of Garza as treasurer, states that it is to oppose candidate Catalina Presas-Garcia.
Garza was appointed treasurer by Kimberly Nicole Dale on March 8. The latest report October 8 for 30 days prior to an election lists its total political contributions at $600. All are said to have been under $50, therefore the PAC was not required to list the names of the contributors.
Dale, as some of you will remember, was the secretary for Martin Sarkis, who ran unsuccessfully for city commissioner the last go-round. The PAC's address, 325 W. Jackson, is her home off Resaca Drive, a rather unassuming abode in one of the city's lower-middle income neighborhoods on the other side of the tracks before they were relocated.
Obviously, the resident of that home would not seem to have the wherewithal to bankroll and anti-incumbent campaign.
Garza, listed as treasurer, lives at 147 W. Levee, #10. That address has a large uninhabited white home surrounded around the fence line by small, concrete one-room pillbox apartments. Again, for the treasurer of the PAC to live at this address indicates that it is not him who is the financial backer of this PAC.
And just who is Garza?
Asking around, we understand that his name and address has come up repeatedly in the Citizens Against Voter Abuse lists of politiqueros who signed off on mail-in ballots during the last runoff in the Democratic primary. In fact, Garza signed his name (under various aliases) and with at least a dozen different addresses.
Interviews with some of the voters whose envelopes bear his name indicate that they have never heard of him or even know who he is. In other words, he mailed the envelopes but he did not pick them up from the homes or was even authorized to collect them and mail them.
"Nobody by that name picked up my ballot," said a man in a Precinct 9 barrio. "I don't know who he could be. If he said he picked up my poll tax he is lying. Margarita (Ozuna) picked mine up."
In fact, Garza's name is found on mail-in envelopes in precincts (like precinct 11) where, for example,  only 13 mail-in votes were cast. Of the 13 votes, all went to JP 2-2 candidate Erin Hernandez Garcia. It stands to reason that the vote that Garza mailed in was in her favor.
"His signature is on mail-in envelopes all over the city," said a CAVA volunteer. "But the suspicious thing is that none of the people we interviewed have ever seen him or heard of him."
An example of that is the vote allegedly cast by one Manuel Muñiz, 79, with an address of 310 Horizon Lane, #1119. That shows Garza's signature as having assisted Muñiz to fill out his application and asks that the ballot be mailed to his home at 147 W. Levee. On the form, he states that he is asking that the ballot be sent to his address because he is the son of the voter (Muñiz). However, on the same form, he lists his relationship to the applicant as "friend/neighbor."
Checking the SAVE BISD PAC report, it is evident that the signature of Jose A. Garza Jr. listed as treasurer  of the SAVE BISD PAC and the mail-in assistant is one and the same.
There's only one little catch. Neighbors of Muñiz say that the man has not lived there for at least a year when he moved. No one knows where Muñz is now, although it is plain it is not at 147 W. Levee, #10.
Garza was also one of those politiqueros who drove and accompanied elderly and mentally-impaired voters to the polls during the early voting period in the July 31 runoff.
He, along with his fellow politiquero Amadeo Rodriguez Jr. signed off as assisting these voters who they picked up at day cares and adult homes and then took in a van where they assisted them to vote. Both were known to be working for the Erin Hernandez Garcia campaign.
A cursory search through Facebook and Internet blogs indicates that Garza indeed was a paid employee of the Hernandez camp. In one photo, he poses with the candidate while in another he is dealing cards in a casino-night fundraiser for Hernandez-Garcia.
Now, is Garza a rogue politiquero for the BISD race? Or is he acting under the direction of the Hernandez political votes-harvesting machine?
There's another clue in the PAC filing papers from BISD. The notary public that certified the PAC's October 8 contribution report  is none other than Darrell Otis Powers, brother of former trustee and current Place 3 BISD board candidate Herman Otis Powers.
Now, if you'll remember, Presas-Garcia beat Otis in 2008 and had said he wanted to run against her in 2012, only to have Catalina change to Place 5 at the last minute, depriving Otis of his lust for revenge.
A reasonable person would assume that a politiquero known to be aligned with the Hernandez camp is using Otis Powers' brother to notarize his campaign reports, that there might be a secret deal under the table to target Presas-Garcia. Could it mean that there is a Butch Barbosa, Otis Powers and maybe even Jose Hector Chirinos slate working the votes this November 6?
Chirinos, if you remember, was the head of the BISD transportation department and left under a cloud of criticism for his approving huge amounts of unjustified overtime totalling some $2.1 million dollars in the five years he was there. He enjoys widespread support from the Choferes Unidos union who enjoyed his largess when he was head of the department.
He was later transferred as an interim principal to Veterans Memorial High School and then on to the central office. Insiders say he carries a deep resentment against Superintendent Carl Montoya and the board majority for hastening his departure from the BISD.
"Chirinos wants to get even," said a BISD administrator. "In fact, so does Powers. If Chirinos and Powers get in and team up with either Minerva Peña or Enrique Escobedo, Montoya might be in his last legs. Somehow getting even doesn't seem to be a worthy motive for running as a school board member."
During a recent incident at the New York Deli, Peña was trying to remove a Presas-Garcia campaign sign and to replace it with one of hers and one of candidate Barbosa, who is running against incumbent Presas-Garcia. Has the ticket grown to include Peña?
In the case of Powers, the bad blood goes even deeper than with Chirinos. He was taped trying to get former CFO Tony Juarez to file a grievance against former Superintendent Hector Gonzales. Now both men have gotten settlements in their lawsuits against the district. If Powers wins and becomes part of a majority he will be over them making decisions on their employment and working environment.
We might be reading too much into the PAC and its relationship to the BISD board members and the board candidates, but something tells us we may not be off by much. Expect the PAC to be miraculously funded to a greater degree as it will surely be used to buy campaign newspaper ads and other propaganda to use against Presas-Garcia. Judging by their latest report, we may never know what interests are behind the anti-Caty PAC.