WIGHTMAN, SAENZ DENY MOLE-IN-DA'S-OFFICE CLAIM

By Juan Montoya
When you work in newspapers and get to know the sources on the beat, it is not surprising that you get inside information that is not made available to other sources.
After a time, the scuttlebutt in the newsroom is that you have a "mole" on the beat your're working.

That's not a bad thing in itself. Editors used to encourage reporters to cultivate their sources so that – especially in competitive news towns – they wouldn't get caught with their pants down by a rival news organizations and they could rub their nose in the dirt.
In the case of the local eight-liner story, not only did blogger Robert Wightman get the regular press release, but he also bragged (correctly, it turns out) that he had more info coming, including photos from inside the arcades and during the raids made available to no one else. He also learned that Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector Yzaguirre's (former?) son-in-law Rigoberto Gonzalez was among those arrested. In short, his sources provided Wightman with detail and other facts that only someone on the inside with contacts on the task force could have known.
As is usually the case, some of these cases will probably be plea bargained and some lesser charge (and penalty) will be assessed. But according to the blogger, everyone in Cameron County is on notice that there are no sacred cows with Saenz at the helm of the DA's office.
Well, we'll take that with a grain of salt. Unless the DA is willing to shut down all the eight-liners and sweepstakes arcades operating legally within the law, there is really not much more that they can do except discourage the public's participation in games of chance.
The fact that the raid was the result of more than 18 months of an investigation headed by the Department U.S. Homeland Security leads some to belief that there was more than just illegal gambling by blue-haired old ladies involved here.
Nonetheless, Luis Saenz is in charge of prosecuting the cases and he announced he would.
We hadn't seen Wightman so effusive in praise of Saenz in a long time. And apparently, the DA's office probably appreciates being in Wightman's good graces and provided all the goodies to the blogger.
We guess that the current residents at the DA's office would rather have Wightman singing  praises of their office and not repeating what he has said about their boss.
Remember this?
"A TIT ON A BOAR HOG HAS MORE VALUE THAN LUIS SAENZ" Jan. 21, 2013.

" Luis Saenz went to the Herald with a propaganda news release stating his office would be contacting victims within 2 days. All lies - pure lies plain and simple...His office has yet to contact the victim. But it gets worse - his office had the man indicted but the indictment has the wrong name of the victim. Not only did his office not care enough to get the victim's name right, the grand jury foreman before signing the indictment did not care enough to insure the the information was correct. This type incompetence and neglect is how criminals walk..."
And,
"Good luck Brownsville, a tit on a boar hog has more value than DA Saenz.
My next move is to find an advocacy group for woman outside Cameron County to speak for this victim. It is cler Luis Saenz has no use for woman who are victims of domestic abuse."

Then, a few choice brickbats:

"SLOPPINESS DEFINES LUIS SAENZ" March 18, 2013

LUIS SAENZ OFFICIALLY CAMERON COUNTY'S NEW SCUMBAG" January 12, 2013
"LANCE ARMSTRONG STEALS SCUM OF THE YEAR AWARD FROM DA LUIS SAENZ" January 14, 2013

May 14, 2012
"Hi, my name is Luis Saenz. I paid a convict to run propaganda for me in my bid to be your DA. But, I am not like indicted Armando Villalobos. The ACLU hates me because of prosecutorial misconduct. If you elect me I promise to abuse my office and will not be intimidated by the ACLU or the law.
If you really want to read all of the nasty things being said about my conduct as a prosecutor you can read the claims before the Court of Criminal Appeals."

If the changed attitude on the part of our illustrious blogger indicates a change of heart as a quid pro quo for inside  information, then he might start rethinking his blog's slogan as the "unbought voice of the community."
Everything, even access to inside information, has its price, doesn't it?
(After we published the post above we were contacted by DA Saenz who said he had been accosted by Wightman after the press conference and after a lengthy session where they cleared the air of previous misunderstandings, left on friendly terms with the blogger. Saenz said Wightman obtained the material for his post from his office. We stand corrected.)