After being allowed by the Cameron County Commissioners Court to use a little over $8,000 in lapsed salaries in her budget to try to address a backlog of some 20,000 cases, JP 2-1 Linda Salazar has found a new scapegoat.
She has been heard running around the second floor of the county judicial wing saying that the reason she is falling behind is because new JP 2-2 Jonathan Gracia is too busy lawyering and she has to take up the slack for him.But in fact, it was Gracia's request to the court the week before that prompted Salazar to make her own request to use her lapsed salaries to pay her staff.
The Cameron County Precinct 2-2 justice of the peace said he discovered boxes of unpaid tickets after taking office in January.
“About 13,000 outstanding citations,” Gracia said. “You’re talking over a million dollars.”
And last Thursday, when commissioners questioned her on the backlog, she blamed the late Tony Torres for leaving her to take up that slack when he died in April 2011.
That's over four years ago, though, and Gracia has only been in office eighty months.
That's the least of her problems. Apparently, she told commissioners that there were some 3,000 warrants outstanding and that she needed the $8,000 to pay her staff to update her files and issue the warrants necessary to collect the dough. But how effective that will be depends on the constables and sheriff department deputies serving the warrants and bringing in the scofflaws"There's still the small matter of whether the statute of limitations has run out on some of these cases," said a defense attorney. "You really don't know how far back these go or if they can no longer be processed."
Gracia took over the JP 2-2 court from Erin Garcia Hernandez, who did not make the runoff for the Democratic Party primary in 2014. He took over in January. But even before Garcia had taken over, there was a already a large backlog of cases that had languished in both the JP 2-1 and JP 2-2 courts.
Now, with county commissioners scrambling to make up some revenue, the backlogs in uncollected fines and cases languishing in the dockets is being seen as a potential downfall.
"I know the sheriff has already said that he is going to start serving warrants," said a lawyer. "I don't know what good that is going to do."
A printout prepared by the Cameron County Auditor's Office in response to a query by an administrator indicates that there is potentially $12 million in uncollected fines from the county's JP offices. By far,the largest number of uncollected fines were generated by the Brownsville JP 2-1 and 2-2 offices, although the other JP offices in Harlingen and San Benito aren't lagging too far behind.
Depending on how much progress the Brownsville courts make (JP 2-3 Mary Esther Garcia-Sorola says she is current on her fines. She also took office January 2014 in a brand new court).
Some commissioners have said that the time that Salazar spends performing weddings (she leads all the JPs in that category) could better be spent addressing the case backlog. However, JPs are allowed to keep the payments they get for wedding ceremonies, which range anywhere from $150 to $250 or more if performed outside the office. Salazar has racked up an average of some 600 yearly, making more than $100,000 not including her salary.
"If I was making that much from weddings, I probably wouldn't pay that much attention to a $75 ticket that I wasn't going to keep for myself," chuckled a county employee.
Commissioners told both JPs that they wanted a report on the progress they made on the backlog once the lapsed-salary money ran out.
“About 13,000 outstanding citations,” Gracia said. “You’re talking over a million dollars.”
And last Thursday, when commissioners questioned her on the backlog, she blamed the late Tony Torres for leaving her to take up that slack when he died in April 2011.
That's over four years ago, though, and Gracia has only been in office eighty months.
That's the least of her problems. Apparently, she told commissioners that there were some 3,000 warrants outstanding and that she needed the $8,000 to pay her staff to update her files and issue the warrants necessary to collect the dough. But how effective that will be depends on the constables and sheriff department deputies serving the warrants and bringing in the scofflaws"There's still the small matter of whether the statute of limitations has run out on some of these cases," said a defense attorney. "You really don't know how far back these go or if they can no longer be processed."
Gracia took over the JP 2-2 court from Erin Garcia Hernandez, who did not make the runoff for the Democratic Party primary in 2014. He took over in January. But even before Garcia had taken over, there was a already a large backlog of cases that had languished in both the JP 2-1 and JP 2-2 courts.
Now, with county commissioners scrambling to make up some revenue, the backlogs in uncollected fines and cases languishing in the dockets is being seen as a potential downfall.
"I know the sheriff has already said that he is going to start serving warrants," said a lawyer. "I don't know what good that is going to do."
A printout prepared by the Cameron County Auditor's Office in response to a query by an administrator indicates that there is potentially $12 million in uncollected fines from the county's JP offices. By far,the largest number of uncollected fines were generated by the Brownsville JP 2-1 and 2-2 offices, although the other JP offices in Harlingen and San Benito aren't lagging too far behind.Depending on how much progress the Brownsville courts make (JP 2-3 Mary Esther Garcia-Sorola says she is current on her fines. She also took office January 2014 in a brand new court).
Some commissioners have said that the time that Salazar spends performing weddings (she leads all the JPs in that category) could better be spent addressing the case backlog. However, JPs are allowed to keep the payments they get for wedding ceremonies, which range anywhere from $150 to $250 or more if performed outside the office. Salazar has racked up an average of some 600 yearly, making more than $100,000 not including her salary.
"If I was making that much from weddings, I probably wouldn't pay that much attention to a $75 ticket that I wasn't going to keep for myself," chuckled a county employee.
Commissioners told both JPs that they wanted a report on the progress they made on the backlog once the lapsed-salary money ran out.
8 comments:
Salazar is a total dumbass!
Ahhh poor Linda has to actually fuckin work now. But she does have a point, Jonathan is never fucking there. Ask anyone at the courthouse.
Linda esta bien Pendeja...su hijo Ruben tambien...bola de idiotas.
We need a good barrida in the courthouse. These disgraceful crooks on JP benches have got to go. Come on FBI these pigs are ripe for a take down.
(These disgraceful crooks on JP benches have got to go.)
Probly need a team of Coke vending machine movers to haul her away. And all of their heavy load equipment. Oh, that purple caddy station wagon she drives must be well equipped. To haul her around in.
lol.
JM, let me tell you something. That fucking puto/joto Jonathan Gracia "pledged" to be donating 50k. When is that shit gonna start. He's a fucking MAMON. That fucker is never in court, NEVER. He is always running around the courthouse doing his own personal cases. he said he was donating 50k. Let's see it Jonathan. Over the span of four years that's a little over 1k a month. Where has he donated to? Not one fucking red cent.
Good point on Jonathan Gracia. At least Erin showed up to work.
Why do these people continue to be re elected? We need new and more ethical jp's.
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