CITY CANDIDATES FILE; DIRTY TRICKSTERS SWING INTO ACTION

By Juan Montoya
No sooner had the City of Brownsville interim secretary announced that 15 candidates have announced for the four positions coming up in May – three commissioner seats and the mayor – than the first vandalism of campaign signs was reported.
The first case of vandalism was reported at what candidates consider the "hot corner" for political signs, the corner of the freeway frontage road and FM 802 (or Ruben Torres Blvd.). There, the 4' x 8' sign of At-Large A commissioner candidate Cesar de Leon was torn off the metal stakes and left thrown on the ground. The iron stakes were nowhere to be found, he said.
Now, we happen to know that this corner is covered by numerous traffic surveillance cameras that cover the entire intersection and the nearby right-of-ways adjacent to the Exxon station, so investigating the perpetrator might not be as difficult as it may seem to some.
De Leon, a first-time candidate to public office, was at a loss to explain why only his sign was vandalized and not the others next to his.
Some on his supporters ( we think) sent us these photos of the sign and the candidate examining the scene of the crime.

He is running for the at-large position left vacant when Estela Chavez-Vasquez moved out of the city to Los Fresnos and abruptly abandoned her position.
His opponents are Gerardo Martinez, David Belleperche and Robert Euresti.
Dirty tricks are nothing new in the city. Numerous other candidates file reports with the city police after they discover their signs torn or cut in pieces. As far as we can remember, there has never been a successful prosecution of anyone for the vandalism, even though sometimes it can be vicious, as in the case of former JP 2-2 candidate Yolanda Begum whose signs were sliced to pieces with box cutters.
Anyway, it seems awful early for this type of activity to occur in this race. If and when de Leon files a police report, an examination of the Texas Dept. of Transportation tapes from their traffic surveillance cameras or from the nearby businesses might shed some light on the perpetrators.
Until then, replace the signs and don't look back.
Below is a full list of candidates, in no particular order, who have filed for a place on the ballot. The names with an asterisk have been qualified.

Mayor

Antonio O. Martinez

Patricio M. Ahumada

Robert Sanchez

Brenda Joyas

*William Garza

*Erasmo Castro

At-Large A

Cesar de Leon

Gerardo Martinez

David Belleperche

*Robert Euresti

District 1

Michael Gonzalez

*Ricardo Longoria

*Roman Perez

District 2

*Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa

*Sergio Zarate

The city election is Saturday, May 9, 2015.