Wednesday, January 13, 2016

FOR DAN, SAYING ONE THING, DOING ANOTHER IS NORMAL

By Juan Montoya
When former Cameron County Pct. 3 commissioner Edna Tamayo voted to do away with Justice of the Peace position in 2010 then held by Dan Sanchez in La Feria due to decreased revenues, Sanchez cried foul.
"It's unheard of for an elected commissioner to vote to eliminate services in their precinct."
Yet, this is the same justification that Sanchez took when he voted on November 2011 along with Carlos Cascos and Ernie Hernandez voted to merge the Pct. 4 Constable position in Rio Hondo with the Pct. 2 Constable position in San Benito and to merge the Pct. 7 Constable position with the Pct. 5 Constable position in Harlingen.
That brought the number of constable precincts from seven to five.
That also resulted in the elimination of the JP Pct. 7 Place 1 post and the JP Pct. 4 post to be merged into Pct. 3.
In an interview with a newspaper, Sanchez denied that by voting to merge the constable positions, he did not "intend" to eliminate the JP courts as Tamayyo had done before he was a commissioner.
"The intent wasn't to eliminate the JP positions," Sanchez said.
He said he "assumed" that the elimination was only for the constables, because while there can be more than one constable in a precinct, there can only be one JP.
Sanchez said the move to eliminate the constable positions was a fiscal move to save the county money.
Yet,a cursory glance at the budget for the resulting Pct. 5 Constable indicates that the budget for Pct. 5 after they combines was $504,827. Now, in the latest budget passed (2015-2016), it stands at $504,827. In fact, the Pct. 5 Constable budget is the largest one of all five constable precincts, even as the price of gas is going down.
Similarly, the Pct. 3 Constable budget was $598,778 in 2014. Now it's $629,273.
So where are the savings that Sanchez claimed could be achieved by the elimination and merging of these offices?
Sanchez also made a big deal of the use of county vehicles by the constables to escort funerals of athletic buses out of their precincts. He suggested that this constituted outside employment and said the county should not pay for their gasoline or overtime.
Yet, while Sanchez complained about constables making money on the side without commissioners court approval, has he noticed that Pct. 5 (Harlingen) Constable Cesar R. Diaz and former deputy constable Rudy Delgado are both licensed by the Texas Department of Public Safety under a private security firm named Premier Protection as private investigators. Why isn't Sanchez making hay over this seeming incongruency in his own precinct?
Could it be that election time breeds tolerance to something he found objectionable when he didn't need their votes?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

So I guess that JP2-2, and JP2-3 should not exist according to that grubby fat man's argument. Where did he get his law degree?

Anonymous said...

Dan is all about Dan Dan will say what he needs to say to serve himself Today he will support you because he needs your vote But if he finds out you did not support him he will eat you alive.

Anonymous said...

JP 2/3 should be done away with. Neither the judge nor the staff have nearly enough work to justify that court. Ask anyone in the Dancy building.

CC Taxpayer said...

Where is the cry baby? I don't see anyone crying about the JP's making another pay check performing weddings? And, that is done while being paid taxpayer money when they are on the clock? The problem with is just like the problem in Washington? Everyone is making a dollar but the taxpayer is the one that gets screwed in the end, pure and simple~!

Anonymous said...

JPs don't use county vechiles to perform weddings. yet the constables office are spending $60,000 in gas for funeral escorts. How is the county getting reimbursed.

Anonymous said...

How much is Zeke Silva paying you to trash Dan Juan? It is not Dan's fault Zeke could not get his boss Alex Dominguez to run for County Judge. Dominguez and Zeke wanted the position given to them....they never contemplated they might have to fight for the position. You don't have the balls to print this....Get over it Zeke and Alex. Alex should make sure his trained dog is working and not stealing from the tax-payers....we know he does nothing for the paycheck from county....that is theft of public funds...look into it Luis Saenz...he is paying Juan to trash you too.

Anonymous said...

I looked at the 2016 budget, you are right. Pct. 5 budget is $722,861, while Pct. 3 constable is around $629,000. That's 3/4 of a million dollars for one constable office. Last year Constable Diaz had a budget of $60,000 for gasoline. What's the price of a gallon of gas? Oh wasn't he involved in the Park Girl case in La Feria in 2011. She still hasn't gone to trial 5 years later, why? Looks like Dan Sanchez doesn't care what a budget is when he wants elected.

Anonymous said...

Fat Dan's drug of choice is FOOD. What emotional problem are you trying to cover up fat Dan? What's eating you Danny boy? His personal hygiene to proof he cannot manage himself let alone an entire county. Danny boy will eventually self-destruct.

Anonymous said...

If this is true, Alex Dominguez has lost our support for anything he does in the future. Is it true this man has convicted Felony? Did Alex hire him? Did Luis Saenz hire him? Is this true that a person with a convicted felony is paid with tax payer dollars?

Anonymous said...

Dan is spreading the word they have to stick together to win this. little does he know the closer they get the less votes they will get. People have the final say so and articles like this will hurt him.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Dan on eliminating Pct 4 Constables. That Constable was misusing taxpayers money with all those out of town football games masked as escorts. And he still continues, you can see him at his doctors appointments in his unit on Thursday at VBMC and afterwards just goes to work from there. Doesn't he have his own vehicle to do his personal errands or doctor visits in? Misusing taxpayer gas money should be considered he same as stealing. He is no longer the constable but didn't stray too far, now he is a constable deputy.

Anonymous said...

Its All About The POWER!!!!!!!!!

porky pig said...

oink oink oink, as many say he only wants el hueso, doesn't plan to do anything in office just collect a check like he is doing now and the hell with the voters and citizens. really is this what we want, I don't think so mr pig.

rita