SEPULVEDA PAEAN ANNOUNCEMENT TO RUN FOR JUDGE

 By Juan Montoya
If you read Sunday's letter section in the Brownsville Herald you probably came across the long-winded song of praise to all that's near and dear to the voters of Cameron County.
That was the letter by Cameron County Judge Pete Sepulveda where he sings the praises of all the state legislators for doing the heavy lifting there on our behalf.
He thanked state senators Eddie Lucio Jr. and Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, Reps. Rene O. Oliveira, Eddie Lucio III and Oscar Longoria , and Terry Canales, Sergio Muñoz Jr., Armando “Mando” Martinez and Ryan Guillen.
Let's see. Did we leave out anybody? How about their brothers?
If we were cynics, we would probably think that this amounted to an announcement that Sepulveda is going to go back on his word and run for county judge next year. After all, he was appointed by the county commissioners with the pledge that he wouldn't run for the position. But things have a way of changing.
That is probably making a certain commissioner from Precinct 4 very uneasy. After all, Dan Sanchez was engineering a "Draft Dan" movement that didn't quite materialize. If non-Moustache Pete decided to thrown in his hat in the ring, word is that he will be joined by the likes of David Garza, Alex Dominguez, and even – we hear – State Rep. Oliveira. Rene is being seen more frequently in his old haunts with a buxom babe or two in tow. More than one of our sources have told us that Rene is actually considering making a run for county judge.
Some people are born plain lucky. Take Pete, for example.
Did you know that he doesn't get paid one red penny by county taxpayers?
According to legal counsel, Pete gets paid his full $225,000 salary – more than the other four commissioners put together – for his position as chief executive officer of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority. Well, the CCRMA gets a $10 fee from every car registered in the county, so in a roundabout way you do sign his check. But why quibble over such a paltry sum?
That arrangement has always rankled more than one county official since in reality no one can pull on his chain or bring him to heel. In some places it's called accountability.
So we have someone who we didn't elect getting paid an outrageous salary with no one to answer to singing the praises of legislation (and legislators) for passing bills after all is said and done are going to take money from your pocket. That's a pretty pickle, ain't it?
In his long letter, Sepulveda glows about "ensuring that the foundation is in place for a better tomorrow," and "better navigate our future with the least amount of financial resistance and to be as accountable as possible to our taxpaying citizens."
Did you get all that?
There are, of course, some hidden costs to this.
Sepulveda says that the delegation was able to "shepherd legislation that potentially creates a healthcare district for Cameron County. Senate Bill 2034 was signed into law and takes effect immediately, and if a petition is received by the voters for the creation of a healthcare district the proposition will be on the ballot in 2016."
In other words, someone has to pay for it. The Texas legislature did not vote to fund a medical school and university from the goodness of their hearts. They need your participation in the form of tax dollars.
Like a good politician, Sepulveda steal the thunder of other people to make himself look good. Our three readers know we are not huge fans of commissioner Sanchez, but it was he, after all, who tacked on Cameron County to the "innovative bill (SB 1964)" to raise fees to pay for new construction, expansion or improvements to our county courthouse.
"With the support of Rep. Martinez we were able to get this bill to the governor’s desk. Because of this our county and district courts will be able to generate additional fees for the next 15 years, which will in turn enable us to leverage funds for a future project."
In fact, Sepulveda had nothing to do with this. It was serendipity and an astute move by Danny On The Spot that got our county included in that bill. He also states that this session "Rep. Lucio assisted us in passing House Bill 1062, which will enable us to collect a fee at the county for records technology and infrastructure."
"The money collected will be used to help assist the county to integrate the software needs of all the county’s offices into one centralized computer software system. The costs associated with a task of this magnitude are unknown at this point, but having a revenue stream available will help lessen the financial burden on county budgets and ultimately the taxpayers."
This guy – whom we took to be an unassuming overpaid underachiever as county administrator, is suddenly on a first-name basis with just about everyone in Texas, Washington and the European Union.
"Last year, during the interim and on his tour through South Texas, I had an opportunity to discuss solutions on how to adequately fund transportation with Sen. Robert Nichols, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. He stated back then, as he stated when the bill passed recently in the Senate, that “transportation is a core function of government.”
"Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who was also a big proponent of this transportation legislation, was in Brownsville three days after the legislative session ended and I was able to share our support and thank him for making additional revenue available.
Finally, our delegation led efforts to take the opportunity to craft legislation (SB 1463) that will enable the state to identify resources and collaborative opportunities that may be used by the new School of Medicine at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide quality healthcare services to residents of the Rio Grande Valley."
Coming next week from Pete: a cure for cancer, for a slight fee, of course.