WILL CORTEZ TRY ANOTHER D.E.A.TRICK TO BEAT LUCIO?

By Juan Montoya
Remember when former Indian Lake Police Chief beat out three other candidates for sheriff on the Republican Party primary?
John Chambers won that election getting 3,395 votes to Victor Cortez's 2,662, a 733 vote difference. The other two candidates in the field (Robert Rodriguez with 2,365 and Michael Watkins with 2,182) garnered 4,547 votes, or 42.8 percent. Chambers and Cortez were to face each other in a runoff for the Republican nomination, a first for county GOP candidates.
However, in a government document tampering case that was originated in the Cameron County District Attorney Office's Public Integrity Unit when Cortez was its chief, Chambers was convicted and he appealed, but the Republican Party bigwigs denied him a place on the ballot and Cortez faced second vote-getter Rodriguez in the runoff.
Cortez eventually beat Rodriguez in the runoff garnering 1,040 votes to 957, an 83 vote difference.
In total, 10,604 Republicans voted for sheriff  in the primary and 1,997 voted for sheriff in the runoff.
Cortez faces incumbent Omar Lucio in the November general election and he is hoping, one, that the bad blood generated by his involvement in the investigation (and the prosecution) of his political opponent  will not be held against him by his fellow Republicans, and, two, that the crossover vote by Democrats –a la Tony Garza and Carlos Cascos – will be repeated in his race.
For that he will have to pull out all the stops.
About the only criticism that Lucio had faced by the supporters of his lone opponent in the primary – unknown Gregorio Puente III – was that he was too old. Rumors circulated that he was suffering from dementia and that his chief deputy Gus Reyna and his brother Javier were running the department.
Still, that didn't stick.
Lucio got 20,563 votes and Puente, who lost, got 8,134. Cortez is hoping that at least a part of those 8,134 swing Republican to join "his" 10,604 Republicans. Even if they do, and that is highly unlikely, those 18,738 can't beat the 20,563 votes that Lucio got in the primary.
"About the only thing that Cortez can do as a former DEA man is to dig up dirt on the sheriff or on the Reyna brothers to make voters believe that they are corrupt or that the sheriff is too old," said a county staffer. "Don't put it past him to use that strategy."
People are also wondering what role Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz – Cortez's former boss – will play in this election. During the campaign leading up to the primary, Saenz was chummy with his former PIU chief and even walked together with him at the Charro Days parade and invited him to the Amit Livingston extravaganza he held at the Valley Regional Airport.
"This is for the marbles," said the county source. "Luis has to work with the sheriff on a daily basis. If Cortez loses, it could be a long four years that he would have to watch his back with Lucio and his people."