OTIS POWERS FILES FOR REELECTION FOR BISD POSITION 2

By Juan Montoya
With almost a month to go before the Aug. 22 deadline to file for one of the four positions up for election at the Brownsville Independent School District, Otis Powers has let everyone know he wants to be back on the board.
Powers filed for reelection to his position Monday. The filing period started June 23, but since it fell on a Saturday, he filed today.
Powers', Jose Hector Chirinos', Minerva Peña's, and Catalina Presas-Garcia's four-year terms are up this year. That means that a majority of the board is up for grabs. There have also been many rumors suggesting that the majority now headed by trustee Joe Rodriguez of which Chirinos and Peña have been a part of may be in danger if they lose. Many BISD observers are convinced that Rodriguez will field a slate to keep his majority and some of the names that have cropped up include former trustee Graciana de Peña and local attorney Phil Cowen.
Depending on which position they choose to run for, all new candidates will have to choose between running for Powers' Position 3, Chirinos' Position7, Peña's Position 6, and Presas-Garcia's Position 5.
There will be, of course, much jockeying to choose a position to run depending on the incumbent that is targeted. There is no love lost between Rodriguez and Presas-Garcia, for example, and rumors even have former trustee Rick Zayas as a candidate on the Rodriguez slate. He is rumored to have struck a deal with Dallas car-leasing mogul Mike Hernandez III to run in a OP 10.33 slate and accept their funding. So far, that group has seen its fortunes falter with none of their candidates doing well at the Port of Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.
Zayas and partner Ruben Cortez were ousted by voters amid charges that he and his majority had depleted the BISD's $110 million fund balance to nearly $65 million to avoid deficit budgets.
He is also Rodriguez's lawyer in a lawsuit filed against Presas-Garcia.
Powers was elected to Position 3 in November 2012 and was elected to serve as board president following the suicide of Enrique Escobedo. He remained president until the new majority under Rodriguez voted to make Minerva Peña president. She served until she was replaced by Chirinos.
There are at least a dozen or more would-be candidates hanging in the wings who have voiced a desire to run for the board that handles a $540 million annual budget, some 7,700 employees (nearly three time more than the nearest employer) some 45,000 students, approves every contract, and impacts nearly every facet of life in the city.
And, of course, Mike Hernandez's OP 10.33 with United Brownsville's Carlos Marin, Ed Rivera, Kiko Rendon, and State Rep. Eddie Lucio III as consultants and members of the group's staff will surely fileda slate to accompany Zayas and to try to finally make their mark in local politics.
By filing early, Powers is putting potential challengers on notice that he is here to stay and to discourage would-be candidates to seek another position other than the one he holds.
The position of BISD board member does not carry a salary.