CAMERON COUNTY DEMOCRATS: BUSINESS AS USUAL

By Juan Montoya
With about 20 people present – about half of them candidates for political positions – the Cameron County Democratic Party set the course for the 2014 elections at their Saturday morning meeting.
We had wondered who would replace chairperson Sylvia Garza-Perez once she announces for Cameron County judge and we have our answer. With about eight precinct chairs present, Ms. Garza-Perez herself nominated current Port of Brownsville commissioner and former District Attorney candidate Carlos Masso to replace her when she makes her announcement before the January 1 deadline.
Those present at the meeting said the Masso appointment was a done deal because even before he got there, Garza-Perez had nominated him but the item was tabled until he arrived. He replaces vice-chair Doroteo Garcia, JP Erin Garcia Hernandez's husband, who also was not present but whose resignation was announced by Garza-Perez.
When Masso arrived, the item was revisited and the voting was going to take place when someone asked whether Masso shouldn't say that he accepted the nomination before the vote. He did and he was duly voted in.
The appointment of Masso means that he will become the party's county chairman and that he will direct that party's activities once Sylvia is gone. More importantly, he will become a member of the county's elections committee representing the Democratic Party on decisions affecting countywide elections and candidates.
At least one other candidate, port commissioner Martin Arambula, has already announced that he will also run for county judge. We have also heard that there are others waiting in the wings to throw in their hats for the same position.
The selection of Masso has led some people to assert that the Democrats have no qualms about following the grand traditions of the past. Masso, if you'll remember, ran in tandem with Erin Garcia Hernandez and Abel Gomez during the 2012 primaries and runoff.
All three were the recipients of the majority of mail-in votes during that election, currently the subject of a joint Texas Attorney General's Office and US Attorney investigation. At least one person said to have cast five mail-in votes from one address has already been indicted and is awaiting trial.
Gomez topped the list with 415 mail-in votes followed by Texas Board of Education candidate and eventual winner Ruben Cortez (son of JP Linda Salazar) with 407, Masso received 345 and Erin Garcia Hernandez (daughter of Commissioner Ernie Hernandez)  followed with 319.
Garcia and Gomez (running in smaller precincts) went on to win the election based mostly on the difference of the mail-in votes.
In Masso's case, the mail-in votes harvested by well-known politiqueras were not enough to overcome the turnout in the northern part of the county and Luis Saenz, the current DA, beat him in the totals with a mere 351 votes (8,064 to 7,715) in that runoff.
Masso later defended politiquera Maggie Ozuna on a pro bono basis when the well-known vote harvester was indicted by a grand jury for her activities involving mail-in votes back in 2010 during the runoff election between Ruben Peña and Ernie Hernandez.
Ozuna pleaded no contest and was assessed a fine and a year's probation with the condition that she stay away from political activities during that time.
Masso, like Sylvia Perez-Garza, apparently sees nothing wrong with the activities surrounding the vote harvesting through mail-in ballots or hauling in the elderly from compliant day care centers in vans during elections. When party chair Garza-Perez makes her announcement to run for the county judge seat, Masso will probably try to steer the Good Ship Cameron County Democratic Party on the same course as she did.