SAENZ: TRUST ME. MY BUDDY JIM, FBI DIRECTOR, DOES

By Juan Montoya
Someone brought an ad for the reelection of Cameron County District attorney Luis V. Saenz that appeared one week ago Sunday and which I had missed.
That is probably understandable because even though we are media junkies, the lean offerings of the local daily sometimes makes us flip through the eight or so pages and miss some stuff. After all, everyone in town know that after AIM Media removed the presses from the Herald building, they also shifted their reportorial and investigative personnel to Harlingen and McAllen for its sister papers. In fact, the Herald is printed at the press of the McAllen Monitor and trucked here daily.
They might as well cal it the Mid-Valley Herald since the bulk of the coverage has to do with Harlingen and La Feria with a good dose of Hidalgo County thrown in for good measure.
Anyway, we digress.
Yes, there toward the back of the eight half pages dedicated to news, was Saenz ad featuring a April 30, 2015, photograph of  Saenz and FBI Director James Comey. (Luis is the little guy with the moustache at right in the graphic.)
Comey was two years into his stint as a the director of the FBI. Saenz would have the readers of the daily believe that having met with the director earlier that year (January 14) in the San Antonio office, Comey sought him out again personally the next April to "discuss border violence and spillover issues."
Well, Comey was really in South Texas to open a new FBI field office and met scores of lawmen and district attorneys. If you look at the photo at right, it's obvious that Saenz has taken a photo-op with the director to makes u believe that he is Trusted by the federal government (and the FBI director and that we should, too). Click on graphic below to enlarge.
Comey apparently also sought out Harlingen Police Chief Jerrfy Adickes (in city PR photo below) for his sage advice on "current terroristic threats to our country on both sides of the border." Adickes is just behind Comey's right shoulder one row behind him.

Saenz is the short guy on the right (that's why he's in front) wearing a white shirt. The photo in the Saenz ad above was obviously taken after the group shoot as a personal memoir for those attending. It's the same stage and the same Texas flag in the rear. Ditto for Adickes.
The ad goes on to list the alphabet soup of federal agencies who Saenz claims have had their Respect of the Cameron County DA's Office Restored as a result of his tenure. He lists the Dept. of Justice, the U.S. District Attorney's Office (we thought Justice and the Ass.USA were one and the same), the Dept. of Homeland Security, the DEA, the U.S. Marshal's Service, and the HIDTA unit for high drug intensity areas. That ad played January 17.
Well, we'll take that with a grain of salt.
Now, these are upper-echelon departments in the federal government. If Saenz is hanging out with these heavy hitters, it came across as somewhat incongruous that just four days later we came across a news story with a mug of Saenz as he stands over a stash of ammunition, no cash, some bullet-proof vests and 16 pounds of marijuana. There were no arrests.
Granted, 16 pounds of pot is small shakes for a DA to parade before the public. And as far as we know being in possession of ammunition (even 4,000 rounds) is legal in this country. In fact, the 7.6 caliber round fits more than 20 various revolvers and rifles on the market.
We're surprised, also, that Comey did not tell his little buddy Saenz that there are a couple of things that should be included in your first-year journalism story or press release. You know, basic stuff like Who, What, Where, etc.
First of all, Saenz's photo and cutline was played bigger than the text containing the non-information.
The seized items were taken "from an undisclosed location in Brownsville." The authorities, they said, "executed a search warrant at an undisclosed Brownsville location," and "declined to comment as to if any money was seized and to whom the ammunition might belong."
"They also declined to comment on where in Brownsville the seizure occurred." They did report that no arrests were made.
An interesting twist just about here. In the article, the reported wrote that investigators "speculate" the place where they seized the goods was "a stationlaunching pad" for "cartel activity."
They also "suspect" the drugs were to go north and the ammunition and body armor were to be smuggled into Mexico."
Is it up to FBI, DHS, DEA, standards to "speculate" on what was to be done with items confiscated when there is no proof provided for those assertions?
Saenz's ad copy, like the Herald news content, is getting a little lean just about here.
So with one fell swoop, Saenz prevented 16 pounds of pot from corrupting the minds of our youth and took them (probably with a street value of $100,000s) off the streets of New York or Chicago.
So Saenz doesn't tell us Who, Where, and never mind the How.
While we're at it, does FBI Director Comey know that his photo with Little Buddy Luis is featured on one of his reelection campaign ads? And if asked, would he approve it as appropriate?
Saenz has already claimed he has retrained the Mexican Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR) and has started them on the way to clean up their act with the techniques he has developed in Cameron County.
Now that he has "Restored the Respect" of Comey and his bods over at the feds, we guess he expects us to take him at his word that he has dealt a crippling blow to cartel activity by removing 16 pounds of pot from making their way to Sarita. We are blessed.