WIGHTMAN-HERNANDEZ: LIE WITH DOGS AND CATCH FLEAS

By Juan Montoya

Last October 10 Justice of the Peace 2-2 Erin Garcia-Hernandez showed up at a divorce hearing representing her brother, Ernie Hernandez III.
She is – and has constantly reminded us of it – a licensed attorney.

The initial petition for divorce had been filed by the disaffected spouse against Ernie Jr. on September 27, only some five months after a fantasy Las Vegas wedding.
The court's register of actions shows that Ernie III. was served Sept. 27 with a summons to attend the hearing October 10.

Divorce proceedings are, by their nature, brutal affairs. There is hurt, resentment, and feelings of betrayal when you face off against someone you vowed "to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part."

But observers at the hearing October 10 say that Ernie III never appeared and that sister Erin announced that she would be there in his stead.
Ernie Hernandez III is Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner's son. Erin Garcia-Hernandez is his daughter.
The fireworks began when Luis Sorola, the disaffected wife's attorney, questioned Ernie III's absence because he had been served and was under court order to appear. There were a few questions he wanted to ask Ernie III, he told the court.

From there on, it was open warfare.
When Erin Garcia-Hernandez made a pitch for the couple's belongings be declared community property to be split down the middle, Sorola produced receipts and documents that showed the bride had paid for the couple's furniture, their vehicle and just about all the wedding expenses with Ernie III bringing only the house – which he led his new wife to believe was his – to the marriage.

This set off Erin who argued that it was not so and that her brother – despite the wife's documents –had paid for some of the items.

In the end, Euresti ordered the two parties to reach an agreement and prepare orders for the court's approval. 

We don't know the specifics of the agreement, but if eyewitnesses to the proceedings are correct, Ernie III has now ceased all claims to ownership of the couple's goods including the furnishings that were purchased before the wedding. This included a $60,000 luxury pickup truck purchased from a new car dealer in the wife's name, allegedly because Ernie III convinced her that her credit would get them a better deal.

A court employee reports that following the hearing where Ernie III's reputation took the hit, his sister flew off in a diatribe against attorney Sorola that made gossip-hardened men blush. She railed at her soon-to-be former sister-in-law's counsel for the better part of a half hour before storming out the door in a huff.

That was in the morning of Oct. 10.

Then, less than five days later, Solora's sentimental partner and legal assistant Mary Esther Garcia received notice from the Texas Ethics Commission that one "Bobby Wightman-Cervantes" had filed a complaint against her with the Texas Ethics Commission. Mary Esther is a candidate for the newly-created JP 2-3 position with Cameron County.
By sheer coincidence (we're sure) the date when the vexatious complaintant completed the paperwork and had it notarized was...guess when...the afternoon of October 10, the same day of the contentious divorce hearing!

The nature of the complaint?

Wightman had combed the campaign literature and Internet pages of Esther Garcia's Justice of the Peace candidate platform and found (on October 10 he told the TEC, of course) that in one obscure FaceBook announcement for a loteria fundraiser and a logo, someone had overlooked the fact that the word "for" should have been included between the candidate and the position. In other words, Mary Esther Garcia "for" Justice of the Peace.

This indicates, claimed the blogger, that Garcia deliberately "mislead" (sic) her readers and left out the word "for."

Blogosphere readers have commented that lately Wightman has been blatantly supportive of the Hernandez political machine even in the face of an ongoing joint-federal-State of Texas investigation into mail-voting fraud involving politiqueros and politiqueras associated with Norma Hernandez, the matriarch of the vote-harvesting clan.
To date, the blogger had denied showing any favoritism toward Ernie or Erin. But this knee-jerk attack of the mate of Erin's legal adversary on the same day of the divorce proceedings against her brother is just too neat to have been a coincidence.

It's obvious that in the heat of the moment, Wigthman was sicced on Esther Garcia in revenge for her mate's able representation of his client. This is not the first time that Wigthman has gone after a perceived enemy of the family, or allies of his perceived enemies. 

He also filed a complaint against Mary Ester's mnother, Pct.1 commissioner Sofie Benavides, after the Cameron County Elections Office did not turn over the complete campaign contribution and expenditure report to the state. 

Before that, the victim was now-BISD president Enrique Escobedo (who was running against Ernie in the race for commissioner in the 2010 primary), and just before Esther Garcia, he also filed a complaint against Alex Dominguez, who coincidentally (that word, again!) has filed to run against Ernie Hernandez, Erin's father, in the upcoming 2014 primary.
Wightman likes to decorate his blog with the trophies of his TEC complaints. Benavides, Luis Saenz, Escobedo, and even convicted former DA Armando Villalobos are displayed there as one would deer heads. The only one that is missing is Catalina Presad-Garcia's, and he's busy working that one. He'd doubtless want to have Dominguez's there as well.

Wightman has often proudly described himself as different than a "pit bull" because he says that once he takes a bite – unlike a pit bull – he doesn't let go. But this time, people in the know say he may have showed his hand way too soon and bitten off more than he can chew. 

Regardless, experience has shown us that his bark is worse than his bite. However, courthouse observers say that this dogfight is not over by a long shot.