It has been said before that City of Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez is the quintessential Stealth mayor.Like most lawyers, Martinez likes to operate away from the public eye and emerge after he is sure that he has a deal in hand that he can live with.
He did it in the purchase of downtown real-estate, in spending funds below the $35,000 limit before he has to go before the entire city commission, and in encumbering the ratepayers of the city's Public utility Board with a $325 million debt to build a power plant.
Before that could be accomplished, he rammed through the pliant city commission steep hikes in utility rates that will see soar for years. (see graphic)
To add insult to injury, there was not one "no" vote when those increases were passed during a joint city-PUB meeting.When Martinez came into office, he portrayed an image of a good Catholic whose picture was plastered on the front page of the city' daily as he took communion in his private chapel at his home on Palm Bouelvard.
The communion was administered by his son, the late J.T. Martinez, a Jesuit priest.
Da Mayor has assiduously nurtured that righteous image by his sponsorship of the Catholic Guadalupe Middle School. When his son died in Houston from stomach cancer, the entire city mourned his passing.
Recently, during a mayoral debate sponsored by the Republican Club, some people were annoyed that candidate Robert Sanchez questioned the fact that Martinez was not there to answer the voters' questions. He was roundly criticized when – after two candidates had given their opening remarks – the moderator informed the audience that Martinez's absence was due to his attending a memorial for his late son. J.T. Martinez who died last November 28, 2014. Was it a preemptive five-month memorial after his death?
Yet, given the lapdog that the local daily has become on municipal matters, Sanchez echoed a growing disillusionment of the city's population with Da Mayor's tight-lipped ways when it comes to the public's business.
No one wants to intrude on the pain of a family mourning a son. But there are serious questions that Martinez and the city administration have not given the public about its business. When will Da Mayor take time to answer them? Or will it require the public paying $50 to hear his state of the city message at the City's Event Center?
Martinez is adapt at using public money to further his candidacy. The state of the city address made at the Events Center is being made available to all through the city's website. There is no room to question, no room to suggest, no room to dissent.
The next mayoral and commissioners forum will be held at the Chamber of Commerce, a sympathetic Martinez venue where United Brownsville adherents will probably throw softballs at Da Mayor so he has an opportunity to repeat the drivel in his state of the city address.
The forum, by the way, will be held Tuesday, April 21, at the Holiday Inn, 3777 N. Expressway, and attendees are required to RSVP ( Répondez S'il Vous Plaît) to the Chamber if they wish to attend. And just to make sure that the exclusivity of the event remains just that way, the commission candidates are scheduled to speak at 8 a.m. and the mayoral candidates at 10 a.m.
The other candidates in the mayor's race are:
Pat Ahumada
Brenda Joyas
Erasmo Castro
Robert “Bob” Sanchez
William A. Garza.
6 comments:
So at 4:30 p.m. yesterday Robert Sanchez fed you for a positive call out. You are both losers.
Pay attention you are being followed.
Tony Martinez "dodged" the first gathering of candidates and it looks like his strategy is to lay low and let the other candidates demonstrate their weaknesses. These guys don't debate and avoid real issues as they lambast each other. Tony will lay low and try, by being absent from these events, and try to ride into the election on his white horse as a "better choice" candidate. Tony is an elitist and tries to avoid us "common folk"; and an autocrat who wants to do things his way without public input.
Tony Martinez ducks the issues. Why did he give Galonsky 1.3 million dollars of tax payers money ?
We thought Capt. Boobs had sailed off to Valhalla in a shrimp boat .
It is a little ridiculous that the forums are held during working hours. Your average working stiff will not be given the time off to attend. This is clearly an attempt to make sure the riff-raff won't be showing up.
By Devine anointment, Tony Tormenta for mayor .
Post a Comment