WHERE IS THE LOVE? RUNOFF NUMBERS HOLDING STEADY

"Where is the love
You said you'd give to me
Soon as you were free
Will it ever be
Where is the love.."

By Juan Montoya
 Before the May 9 city elections, the five challengers of Mayor Tony Martinez pledged that they would support each other if one of them got in a runoff with Da Mayor.
The results showed that between the five of them, they carried 57 percent of the vote. Martinez, despite the slick campaign waged by his high-priced Austin-MAP-led campaign failed to garner the requisite 50 percent plus 1 vote to win without a runoff.
Former mayor and modern Brownsville's equivalent of Juan Cortina, Pat Ahumada came in a distant second at 1,467 votes, about 17.83 percent."
One of the leading complainers about the gentlepersons' agreement of the endorsements was none other than Willy Garza. Garza garnered 760 votes, a scant 9.74 percent of the 8,227, second to the bottom from Brenda Joyas' 439 (5.34 percent).
"Pat is the only one who hasn't agreed to do that," Garza would complain.
The rationale behind the low-vote candidates was that they had run because they were not in agreement with the direction Martinez and his lapdog commission were taking the city. Giving away assets to the UT System, the giveaway of Lincoln Park, and the #325 debt of the Tenaska power plant were a few of the issues. And, of course, the $2.3 million Casa Del Nylon gorilla in the room that Martinez steered toward his buddy Abraham Galonsky.
About the only one that stepped up to the mariscos plate and honored his word was Capt. Bob Sanchez, owner of Capt. Bob's restaurant and a former chairman of the Public Utilities Board. Sanchez got 812 votes, or about 9.87 percent.
Another losing candidate who always complained about Ahumada was Erasmo Castro, the self-styled "Main Cheez," of the Cheezmeh Facebook page.
Castro garnered 1,211 votes, or about 14.72 percentage of the vote.
Nary a word has been heard from Le Gran Fromage since the election one way or the other.
But those we have heard from their appearance with Da Mayor have been Joyas an Garza. Both appeared with Martinez in a Sunday Herald advertisement where they applauded him as the greatest thing since tortillas de harina con mantequilla and baloney sandwiches in sliced bread.
Forgotten were their criticisms of Martinez such as the one Joyas made that: "The mayor is a smart business man, but cities are not businesses and hence cannot be run as one. The mayor is out of touch with the people of Brownsville. His administration seems to cater to a certain few instead of the entire community."
Well, apparently Da Mayor reached out and touched one of Joyas' buttons and flipped her.
Garza, too, criticized Martinez before his Fall , but bent over backwards (as he is wont to do) to say he is better than Ahumada. Garza's backhanded endorsement of Martinez reads as follows: "Though I question the purchase of Casa Nylon, United Brownsville and the lack of transparency from Tony, I feel Brownsville is about to experience an economic Boom and we don't need a divisive and uncooperative person like Pat as our Mayor..."And then a touch of the maudlin William has always had: "Since his son died recently, I believe he's a changed man, lets give him another chance..."
(That's Willy with indicted mail-vote fraud politiquero Joey Garza engaging in high-flown political rhetoric at right.)
So, did Martinez promise Joyas a spot on a city feel-good technical enhancement committee and Garza a position on the Conventions and Visitors Bureau so that he can draw more "heads in beds" toward his employers, the owners of numerous motels in the city?
Garza has always had a streak of the panderer in him and relished the days when he was city commissioner. Like Jessica Tetreau and BISD's Minerva Peña, he likes to wave the pom-poms and will be a nice fit with cheerleader Mariano "Bean" Ayala at the BVCB. The only drawback there is that both will want to take credit for the number of tourists who come here.
There is, however, a silver lining in the mayor's runoff race. The early voting totals are keeping up with the early vote May 9, indicating that people are coming to vote in the two races. In fact, if you compare the first four days of early voting, there has only been a 552-vote difference between the 2,793 cast on May 9 and the 2,241 cast in the first four days of early voting in the runoff. (Friday's total for the runoff are not available yet. Click on graphics to enlarge.)
Ahumada may be right. Every vote counts in this one. We're smack in the middle of the early vote when more than two-thirds of the total votes are cast.  Make your count, too.