GHOST CANDIDATES SPOOK WOULD-BE OFFICE HOLDERS

By Juan Montoya
The filing period for the March 1 primaries had hardly begun when we started hearing rumblings from the hinterlands that candidates from outside the mainstream might jump in the fray.
With the public announcement Nov. 10 by Pct. 4 Cameron County commissioner Dan Sanchez that he will leave his seat to run for county judge, everyone is on tenterhooks to see who Cameron County Judge Pete Sepulveda (himself an appointee) will put in his place. For the meantime, Sanchez is attending meetings and voting on issues that will impair future courts' options. When Sepulveda will appoint a replacement is anyone's guess.
But now we hear rumblings from little La Feria that there will be another candidate for the county judge's race to join Sanchez, former Brownsville Mayor Eddie Trevino, and Brownsville attorney Elizabeth Garza in that race.
We have been asked not to reveal the name of the candidate, but we are told that he is seriously bothered by the Sanchez candidacy and wants to derail it. Whether the candidate will file after all is said and done is ye tot be seen.
And there are other murmurings about potential candidates for the various offices, one is raising a lot of interest in Brownsville and that is the JP 2-1 position now held by incumbent Linda Salazar. The rumor (and it's a rumor, mind you) that former candidate for JP 2-3 Yolanda Begum will challenge the marrying judge.
We tried to reach out to Begum, but as a doting grandmother and frequent visitor to the French Riviera, it's hard to get a hold of her.
After our initial inquiries, a close confidante of the former candidate said she could gives us a 80 percent confirmation that Begum would run "on all eight cylinders" and would file with the Democratic Party before the Dec. 14 deadline.
Both the anti-Sanchez and Begum's candidacies is sure to change the equilibrium of the two races. There is still about a month before we know if they're serious, so hold on to your loyalties.