IS CANDIDATE TREASURER APPOINTMENT AN ANNOUNCEMENT?

By Juan Montoya
On June 10, 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez filed a campaign treasurer appointment for a position on the Brownsville Independent School District elections this November.
Her treasurer?
Her husband Leo Lopez, who is also seeking an elective office. Leo is running as a write-in candidate for the position now held by incumbent Tony Yzaguirre as the Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector. Yzaguirre, under two indictments containing more than 20 charges, is scheduled to go to trial on Nov. 14, six days after the Nov. 8 general election.
There are at least two other candidates who have said they will file to be write-in candidates and local political activist Tad Hasse is holding forums across the county to unite all the candidates behind the strongest and give the incumbent a run for his money.
Lopez-Cornejo does not mention what position she is seeking. The positions that will be on the ballot are positions 3, 5, 6, and 7 held respectively by incumbents Otis Powers, Catalina Presas-Garcia, Minerva Peña, and Jose H. Chirinos.
Two other people announced their treasurer with the BISD. They were Laura P. Perez and Rigoberto Bocanegra. Perez is running for the position held by Presas-Garcia. Her treasurer is local attorney Rick Canales. She filed her treasurer announcement July 25.
Bocanegra's July 13 treasurer announcement does not say which position he is seeking. He lists his treasurer as Yolanda Begum, a local businesswoman who ran for Justice of the Peace 2-2 and got into a runoff with former JP Erin Garcia in her initial foray into elective politics. She then ran two years later and lost to Johnathan Gracia.
However, it is rumored that he is considering challenging Chirinos for the position.
There have been questions on whether the CTA constitutes a public announcement of a candidacy. Texas law is somewhat ambiguous, but the CTA instruction guide issued by the Texas Ethics Commission indicates that it does not. If it did, that would mean that Cornejo-Lopez would be required to "resign to run" for the school trustee board.
The law states that: "If you plan to run for a public office in Texas (except for a federal office), you must file this form when you become a candidate even if you do not intend to accept campaign contributions or make campaign expenditures. A “candidate” is a person who knowingly and willingly takes affirmative action for the purpose of gaining nomination or election to public office or for the purpose of satisfying financial obligations incurred by the person in connection with the campaign for nomination or election. Examples of affirmative action include:
(A) the filing of a campaign treasurer appointment, except that the filing does not constitute candidacy or an announcement of candidacy for purposes of the automatic resignation provisions of Article XVI, Section 65, or Article XI, Section 11, of the Texas Constitution;
(E) the making of a public announcement of a definite intent to run for public office in a particular election, regardless of whether the specific office is mentioned in the announcement;
(F) before a public announcement of intent, the making of a statement of definite intent to run for public office and the soliciting of support by letter or other mode of communication;
We are not attorneys here, but it seem that until there is a public announcement by the judge, she has not made a public announcement that she is a candidate and the "resign to run" law does not apply to her...yet.
If and when Cornejo-Lopez announces she will be a candidate, we're sure that the question of her keeping her district judge position at the 404th will be called into question.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are at least another dozen names floating out there who may be considering running for the four slots that are open.
If elected, they will be part of a 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.