IS SALAZAR FALLING ON THE SWORD FOR ERNIE, NORMA?

By Juan Montoya
Cameron County Pct. 2 Administrative Asst. Raul Salazar going to trial over charges stemming from the illegal hiring of his boss' brother-in-law Roberto Cadriel on Tuesday. Salazar's boss is commissioner Ernie Hernandez.
Formally, Salazar is charged with two counts of tampering with a government document having to do with Cadriel taking the civil service exam. Cadriel is the brother of Norma Hernandez, the wife of the commissioner.
It just so happens that Cadriel took the civil service examination twice and flunked it with scores in the 30s. He took it a third time and passed it with a a score in the mid 90s.
Then it came to be that someone let it be known that an employee in the Cameron County Human Resources office had taken the last test for him. The interim director of the HR, Robert Lopez, resigned immediately after the story leaked. Cadiel resigned after only one day on the job.
Ernie Hernandez told the Brownsville Herald that the first time he had heard about his brother-in-law getting a job with the county was after he had read an online story about his resignation.
If that's the case, then Ernie and Raul want us to believe that:
1. Raul took it upon himself to encourage Cadriel to apply for the job with the county without his boss' knowledge or approval.
2. Raul also got Lopez (the interim head of Human Resources) to order one of his assistants to take the test for Cadriel, also without letting Ernie know.
3. Raul also talked County Administrator Pete Sepulveda and Asst. administrator David Garcia to assign Cadiel to a non-commissioned job with the Veterans Memorial Bridge and Ernie had no knowledge.
4. Raul was responsible for forcing Lopez to resign from his interim HR administrator position after the gig was up and Cadriel had to resign when the heat got too bad and people were beginning to suspect his brother-in-law had something to do with his hiring.
Now, unless Salazar worked behind his back and acted on his own without regards to his superior's orders, this is all  a bit much.
People who are friends of the Salazar say that they have tried to reach out to Raul to tell him that – although admirable – sometimes loyalty to an Hernandez will cause you grief. They have told him that with a felony conviction under his belt, there will be little that the Hernandez's can, or will, do to help him when the verdict is handed down.
He now knows, for example, that Cadriel has made a deal with the DA for his testimony. If you'll remember, Cadriel did not testify during the first rounds of the grand jury inquiry into his hiring because he could not be found. Months later, when the DA investigators found out he was reporting to a county probation officer, they had him called in and he cut a deal in return for his testimony.
It does not bode well for Ernie or for his wife Norma. You see, Roberto was one of five beneficiaries named in the will of his (and Norma's) late father Joe Cadriel Sr. Joe Cadriel Jr. was named as the executor. One of the beneficiaries was to be Cadriel Sr.'s last wife after his first wife died and he remarried. The woman was the nanny to Cadriel Sr.'s kids (Robert and Norma and their two other brothers).
To make the long story short, the estate was never divided into five equal parts and Roberto thinks he got a raw deal. In the end, the house ended in Ernie Hernandez's name and Roberto and the woman were left out of sharing any part of the estate. Some say that the bridge job was a sop handed to Roberto to appease his hurt feelings.
There are also some reports that Robert Lopez was also offered a deal for his testimony that he had one of his employees take the test the third time for Roberto Cadriel. After his brusque resignation as interim HR director, Lopez ran a construction and weatherization company that was given contracts totaling in the $100,000s to perform work on county buildings. That, also, apparently stopped after people got wind of it.
Now, as the trial looms ahead, Raul has to be wondering what awaits him if he continues in his obstinacy in falling down on the sword for Ernie.
Lopez, his HR assistant, Cadriel, Ernie Hernandez and wife Norma, have all been subpoenaed to testify in theSalazar trial.
It will all come out in the wash in court starting tomorrow.