JUAREZ PROTESTS: I WAS NOT SUPPORTED BY OP 10.33

By Juan Montoya
We have received a missive from Tony Juarez, a recent candidate for Texas Southmost College trustee where he protests his inclusion on a list of candidates that were said to be supported by Dallas millionaire Mike Hernandez III' messianic OP 10.33.
Juarez, one of four candidates for the seat once held by Ed Rivera, says that a post written by Jim Barton in his thebrownsvilleobserver.blogspot was erroneous in cluding him among OP 10.33 candidates (who lost) at the Port of Brownsville like Ed Rivera and Raul Villanueva and the TSC candidates Daniel Pizaña and Evelyn Cantu.
"Information is false and slanderous," Juarez texted us. "Delete my name from the table and make statement posted in error."
Well, we must confess that although we did present the information Barton posted, we had our graphic department design Jim's info as a report card. (It's there on your right side of the screen. Click to enlarge.)
There is a saying that perception is sometimes more powerful than reality, at least when it comes to politics. We have shown pictures in tha past of Pizaña conferring with former TSC trustee Kiko Rendon outside the OP 10.33 headquarters and of him being supported by trustee Art Rendon at his pachange. Kiko Rendon, by the way, is now a "consultant" to Hernandez III's OP 10.33.
Both Rendons were supporting Rivera, an OP 10.33 candidate to the port commission who lost to Tito Lopez. And we have also posted photos os Juarez at a Pizaña rally. (See photo above)
The first time we even heard or saw Pizaña was at the old OP 10.33 headquarters where he was encouraged by Hernandez and community organizer Jose Angel Gutierrez to take an active part in civic engagement in his community and he decided to run for TSC.
Art Rendon and Ed Rivea both thought that with OP 10.33 behind them, their candidates had it in the bag and berated TSC trustee Trey Mendez for not going along with the OP 10.33 program.
As we said, sometimes the perception is more powerful than the truth, especially in politics. We post the offending table with Juarez's name crossed off to indicate the error he alleges.