WHO ARE THE "VERY RELIABLE SOURCES" ON GRAND JURY?

By Juan Montoya
The pretentious purveyor of journalism non-scoops at Brownsville Voice claimed when he wrote the non-story that the grand jury would not indict Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Ernie Hernandez could not help himself when he gloated that he had learned the decision of the secret grand jury proceedings and had been assured by "very reliable sources."
There followed a cyvberdialogue between him and his three readers where he just about confirmed that his "very reliable sources" was someone working for Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz.
Some of the intricacies of journalism escape this blogger. On of the basic tenets of the craft dictates that if you have a confidential source, it stays that way, confidential. To reveal that Saenz would "be the only one shocked to learn who spilled the beans" to him just about confirms that someone in that office is the source of his information.
When another reader asked if it could possibly be Melissa Zamora, the DA's Public Information Officer, the blogger quickly shifts ground and defends her by comparing her to another DA employee who – as far as we know – had no involvement in the leak, community outreach part-time employee Zeke Silva.
Even we (El Rrun-Rrun) got dragged into this morass by this Tar Baby.
How this blogger – a disbarred lawyer from Dallas – has wormed his way into the inner sanctum of the Cameron County DA's Office boggles the mind.
Yet, there he is stirring the pot in his quest for relevancy and credibility alleging he is privy to the secret proceedings of the grand jury deliberations through leaks by a DA employee. This is sure to lead that office to conduct an inquiry into the identity of the alleged leaker that gave the blogger the non-information, a negative, in fact. Saenz would be within his right to subpoena the would-be reporter and bring him in front of a grand jury to find out. But, of course, that is probably the attention this blogger is seeking.
He not only drags in Silva, but also PIO Zamora, who as far as we know, also had nothing to do with the issue.
How did we get to this point?
County employees on Friday morning saw sheriff deputies lead Raul Salazar in handcuffs through the Dancy Building and hauled him off to jail and the account spread through county ranks like wildfire and soon reached the ears of this blog. We had reported before that Ernie Hernandez had been testifying before the grand jury in a previous post, and, since we received that from a "reliable source" not in the employ of Cameron County and confirmed by multiple other sources in law enforcement and the courts, we ran with it.
If push comes to shove and a court asks us to reveal who it was, we would only be too glad to ask the person if she would release us from the bond of confidentiality we promised her when she gave us that information. Until then, we will stick by our pledge. There will probably be no need for that since Hernandez himself told the local daily that he had been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Bobby WC should closely consider what he wishes when he says he would "love an investigation" because his wish may come true. Until then, perhaps a reading of Journalism 101 might be in order.