There will be five final candidates who want to occupy the position of Cameron County Elections Administrator.
The five are interim EA Remi Garza, Webb County current EA Oscar Villarreal, Arturo Farias, Maria Rodriguez, and Fred Garza. Interviews of the five begin Monday.
Remi Garza was named interim EA after Chris Davis resigned the office to leave for a similar position in Williamson County last March.
Farias now runs something called Professional Certified Coach and Cultural Transformation Consultant and the Traveling Photo Booth and BankonCoaching. Before that he lists holding positions at IBC Bank, Lone Star National Bank and Falcon International Bank.He lists no experience as an elections administrator.
There is scant information on Maria Rodriguez, but we have been unable to determine whether she lists any election office experience. Fred Garza currently works at that office.
Oscar Villarreal, however, lists more than 27 years as Webb County's (Laredo) EA and the office's website indicates that in 2012, 49,816 of Webb County's 110,572 voters turned out for the general election, or about 45.12 percent. Cameron County's voter turnout is generally much lower.
By contrast, Remi Garza does not have any comparable amount of experience, but does have the political clout among the Democratic Party bigwigs like Texas Democratic Party chairman Gilbert Hinojosa, his former boss when he was county judge. The county was in a bind following Davis' resignation since the City of Brownsville elections were just around the corner in May.
Sources say that the appointment was offered to former elections administrator Roger Ortiz, but that Ortiz declined. Garza was Hinojosa's assistant administrator whose parents yielded considerable political clout in San Benito.
His late father Raul, was a doctor, and his mother Yolanda, an attorney who once ran for district judge.
When Hinojosa lost his election to Republican Carlos Cascos in 2006, he tailored a position for Remi within the county administration, only to have Cascos abolish the post. He had been promised the county administrator position now held by Pete Sepulveda.
Remi Garza was then placed in charge of documenting county properties, but resigned the post a short time later.
With so many Hinojosa underlings and Democratic Party supporters reemerging in the wake of Cascos' departure for his new position as Texas Secretary of State, will it be only a matter of time before Gilberto himself appears on the scene to manipulate the political goings on in the county?
He has already been named city attorney for the City of Port Isabel and took Remi Garza's business partner Jared Hockema as interim city manager there.
There is nothing more that Hinojosa would like to have than a loyal fan in the elections office. Will Villarreal's proven experience fall by the wayside if the county commissioners do his bidding and place his boy Remi at the helm as EA?
11 comments:
Experience? Is that a requirement? Chris Davis had NO experience when he was named Elections Administrator, he was the acceptable Republican that had always supported Carlos Cascos and praised Cascos on a blog he operated for a long time. Politics? Who knows, but he is now up in Williamson County close to Cascos. Does the party continue up there, only without the waterboy, Valadez?
We will see how Pete Sepulveda votes on this matter. Is he going to do the right thing and vote to hire the best candidate, or is he going to do what Gilberto Hinojosa tells him to do and hire Remi Garza? We are looking at you Mr. Sepulveda.
Remi is the shoo in why waste time on interviews gilberto is pulling the strings so we all know where this is head to.
At one time, when Ed Stapleton was a Dumbokratic figure, his secretary was selected to be the Cameron County Elections Administrator; a job which proved to be far beyond her poor abilities. She was selected over far more qualified candidates. So, the chances are that the person with the support of the Cameron County Dumbokratic Party will be selected.
Wasn't well know Davis was Cascos bitch?
La movida
It is well known that Remi is Gilberto's bitch. Gilberto has Sophie in his pocket, she will influence for Remi. Syvia Garza Perez has already made up her mind and will vote for Remi. we will see what Tony Yzaguirre does....probably go along with Gilbert also.
This is my first time writing…I am a little concern on the lack of the professionalism that the County Human Resource department displays…I had applied for the position on March 25, 2015. I then called on or about May 2 and spoke to a Mr. Lopez to see if I am still a viable candidate. He stated that he would need to get with the HR Director, who is very busy; however, he would get back to me. Well, a friend told me to look at your Blog today (Jun 3), and I noticed that apparently, the County is looking at other individuals for the position. What an innovated way for the County HR Department to notify me that I am not a viable candidate for the position. I looked at your article and I think my credentials stack up to their; I am a 26 year Military Veteran; 10 years experience as a Nation Builder in Afghanistan working for the United States Department of Defense; a Masters Degree in Education Administration, and I am a Harvard Kennedy School alumni (completed the Senior Executive Fellows Program). Nevertheless, I did not meet even the basic qualification for the job. I guess, it is who you know, and if you have political influence. It is frustrating for a military veteran coming back home and cannot get a job!
Welcome to Cameron County Joe, where dirty politics are a must. People in this county ranked 250th. as one of the poorest, they don't only support dirty politics they demand it.
The position held by Sofia Benavides, was the position held by her husband. She was appointed after he passed on. She has been there ever since. Speaking of someone with limited schooling, she is the perfect example. Puros burros, toda la vola de sonsos.
I don't know much about the other candidates, but I do know Mr. Garza.....Fred Garza that is. He has been there close to 14 years. He has seen just about everything that can happen. I have known Fred for over 30 years. If this county needs someone to trust and bring justice to elections, it's Fred. Just the fact that he's been in that office, he knows what to do. Do the right thing Cameron!!!
Lets see the great competition.
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