AFTER A CAREER OF DODGING BULLETS, ERNIE WANTS ANOTHER CHANCE

" I am asking everyone to trust me once again."
Indicted Pct. 2 Commissioner Ernie Hernandez

By Juan Montoya
Well, you really have t hand it to Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez for sheer nerve.
In the wake of being indicted on eight counts that include two counts of official oppression, one count of misuse of official information, two counts of witness tampering, one count of tampering with a government record, one count of obstruction or retaliation, and one count of coercion by a public official, Ernie is asking the voters to disregard the actions of the grand jury members who voted to issue true bills after they were presented with evidence witnesses testimony by the District Attorney's Office.
Hernandez's plaintive plea for trust and understanding appeared in cyberspace over the weekend. If we are to believe Hernandez, there are hundreds of people out there who support his actions as an elected representative and calls the "timing" of the indictment suspect.
Let's see.
We have testimony from the Raul Salazar trial that Ernie had a first-hand knowledge that his brother-in-law had applied for a job with the county and instructed his administrative assistant to give him a hand. He also knew that Cadriel  could neither read nor write, was a convicted felon, and was the relative of a county commissioner. That should have been enough to keep him off the county payroll or from even taking the Civil Service exam..
 Cadriel told the jury that Ernie told him that his administrative assistant Salazar would be getting in touch with him. A day or two later (June 20, 2011), he was told to go to the Pct. 2 office and talk to Salazar and that he would help him.
"He (Ernie) told me to go to his office in the courthouse," he answered.
"Did you go talk to Raul Salazar before you took the test?" Garza asked Cadriel.
Salazar not only talked to him in the Pct. 2 office, but he also led him to the Human Resources office where he introduced him to director Robert Lopez, who Salazar said would help him with the application process.
His brother-in-law Robert Cadriel was hired Cadriel was hired on July 28, 2011 and lasted less than a week on the job as a noncommissioned security guard. before he resigned because of the controversy that someone who could neither read nor write, was a convicted felon, and was the relative of a county commissioner that had been hired illegally.
When the heat started to get too much to bear politically, Cadriel said that he had to resign.
Why?, asked prosecutor Garza.
"I was told by Norma that I had to quit...My sister and Ernie told me to leave town."
Five days after he was hired, Cadriel signed a letter of resignation for David Silva, his supervisor.
How did he write it?, he was asked.
"He (Silva) wrote it and I signed it," Cadriel answered.
But before he left town, an investigator went to look for him at Fiesta Graphics and talked to him outside. When he left, he said Ernie and Norma told him not to talk to investigators anymore.
"I was told at the store (Fiesta Graphics) not to not to cooperate with him anymore," Cadriel said.
This was more than two years ago.
Former DA Armando Villalobos sat on the case worked by the Cameron County Sheriff's Department investigators and Villalobos soon left office under cloud himself. He is scheduled to be sentenced for his role in the judicial and prosecutorial corruption that was unearthed in the course of the federal investigation into the local judiciary.
When current DA Luis Saenz came into office, sheriff department investigators came to him and asked him whether he would prosecute that and other cases. Saenz said yes and the case work was brought in.
So how much longer did Hernandez want the DA to wait before clearing the case from the criminal docket?
Another year, two, three? Or should he just wait? If he did, would the public regain trust in the DA's office?
"The trust from the community has been my biggest reward," Hernandez boasts.
"I am asking everyone to trust me once again. The timing is very suspect with the primary less than forty days away. I am totally innocent of all these allegations and I will my have my day to clear myself in court...We move forward!"
So even after two and a half years of the Cadriel case gathering dust on the shelves, what would Hernandez have the DA do? What, to him, would be a better time? Never?
For once we agree with Hernandez, it's time to move forward and clear this up now.