ERIN'S NEW SIGNS REMOVE "LEGAL EXPERIENCE" PITCH

By Juan Montoya
Remember the catchy slogan that then-JP 2-2 candidate Erin H. Garcia used in her run for that office during

the primary and subsequent runoff in 2012?
Apparently, the Hernandez clan thought that her having a law degree placed her in a dominant position as a candidate for the office.
Never mind that under Texas law, a candidate does not need a law license to hold that office, and that it is not a court of record, the slogan was meant to impress the uninitiated to hold her degree – regardless of where she attained it – in high esteem.
"You Deserve Legal Experience" stated the signs right at the top.
Well, now that Erin is running again and this time – aside from runoff opponent Yolanda Begum – she also has another opponent, Jonathan Gracia, who has a degree as well. For what it's worth, however, his is from the UT Law School in Austin, a ranked school unlike hers which is from the Texas Southern University, a traditional black school in downtown Houston isn't even ranked.
That fact may have been behind the alteration (defacement?) of her new campaign signs. Someone took  boxcutters to them and removed the "You Deserve Legal Experience" slogan from the sings and they are now appearing (sans the slogan) all over town.
We were able to fish one of her old signs and you can readily see the difference between this year's pitch and the one two years ago.
That makes sense, though, if you think about it.

Even before she took office Erin demonstrated her unerring keen legal mind when she helped her parents – Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez and vote-harvester extraordinaire Norma – evade the conflict-of-interest problems of doing business with the county through their vending company.
You remember. First Ernie owned the company, then, when he was elected, he shifted the company to Erin, and then to Norma when Erin was elected. Now, the former DA Armando Villalobos didn't really want to mess with the fact that anyone with such close relationship to the elected official is not supposed to be able to do business with the governmental entity they serve.
Ah, well, that's the old Ernie we know and love.
And she also defended her dad's use of the politiqueras in his race against Ruben Peña four years ago in court.
The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree because her own runoff race against Begum has become the object of scrutiny by a joint state-federal task force that is looking at that race and which has resulted in at least one indictment of a politiquera aligned with the Hernandez vote-harvesting machine. That investigation is ongoing.
She put her impressive legal talents to work again when she interpreted Texas law to include justice of the peace courts to sell and issue waivers to the 72-hour state-mandated waiting period between the issuance of a marriage license and the performance of the ceremony.
Why let a sucker go when you can sell the the waiver and the charge them the $250 a pop for performing the wedding nuptials?
That made some people whether Cameron County could afford the kind of "legal experience" that Erin and the Hernandezes are offering. It's little wonder then, that Erin removed the slogan from her new-old signs to play down her law degree. With them, it has become a license to steal, if not money, then elections.