OLIVEIRA'S REELECTION BASH DRAWS OUT USUAL SUSPECTS

By Juan Montoya
Anybody who was anybody was out at Texas State Representative for District 37 Rene Oliveira's reelection announcement at Cobbleheads last Wednesday.

That's the same Cobbleheads, where since 2007 to 2016, The Texas Tribune reported that "Oliveira has treated his constituents and associates to plenty of campaign-funded meals. Cobbleheads Bar & Grill tops the list, with $41,609.02 spent on 531 occasions. Other

Brownsville restaurants where Oliveira has paid for meals include Madeira ($13,281.81) and Toscafino’s ($13,134.35.)

"An examination of campaign fund expenditure...shows that the Democrat from Brownsville spent at least $16,105 at liquor stories between Jan. 1, 2007 and Dec. 31, 2016, with descriptions that include “beverages for capitol office” and “beverages for district office for constituents.

"Those expenditures, which include $6,228.33 at Jones Liquor and $5,730.54 at Ben’s Liquor, both in Brownsville, are part of a total of more than $250,000 Oliveira has spent out of his campaign funds over the past decade on extravagant living for himself and gifts for his constituents."

Now, with Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Alex Dominguez challenging him in the 2018 Democratic primary, Oliveira is pulling out all the stops and taking support wherever he can get it.

Noteworthy personages who showed up to give Oliveira another two years to do what he hasn't been able to do in the last 34 were none other than Ernie and Norma Hernandez, the notorious politiquera handlers who have been able to rig elections for decades since Ernie was a city commissioner.

The last we saw of Ernie was when he was being hounded out of office (Pct.2 commissioner) after he was caught trying to get his brother -in-law (Norma's brother Roberto Cadriel) a job at one of the county's international bridges as a non-commissioned security guard. Later, during his administrative assistant's trial (luckless Raul Salazar), testimony from the witness stand indicated that it was Norma who had filled out his application since Robert couldn't write. As a matter of fact, since he was a convicted felon, he wasn't eligible to work for the county either. But that didn't spot Ernie.

Salazar was convicted of providing Norma's brother the answers to the exam for security guard, and before that had had a staffer of Human Resources take the civil service exam third time for him so he could pass.

Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz (that's the guy with the moustache in the middle photo) agreed to allow Hernandez deferred adjudication if he would step down from office voluntarily. Hernandez seized the opportunity and Salazar went off to do nine months at Rucker-Carrizalez. We have learned since that Salazar was out already. After being shunted off to pasture, it appears that Ernie is champing at the bit to trot on the public nickel again.

Why is Ernie's (and Norma's) presence so important? We heard that Hernandez is contemplating running for public office again. No this in not a nightmare. You are awake. He is said to be making noises about running for the seat that will be left vacant by Brownsville Navigation District commissioner Carlos Masso. Masso, as you know, is making a run for 197th District Court left vacant by retiring Migdalia Lopez.

With the name recognition accrued from running twice against Saenz for DA, he is seen as an early favorite unless he gets caught in a motel room with a chicken. Also running for the 197th are Garry Linan, Adolfo Cordova and Sonia Herrera.

But Hernandez may have to get in line since there are already others saying they will be running for the seat. Among them is Masso good friend Esteban Guerra and former city commissioner Ernesto de Leon. De Leon's political juices started running when he heard that Hernandez was putting out feelers for the job.

It's a non-paying job, but that won't be any detriment to Ernie, who has shown he can squeeze money from a dry turnip before. Enrie has been able to place vending machines in city and county facilities before, switching the ownership from himself, Norma, and even Erin Garcia, his daughter, as needed to avoid charges of conflict of interest.

There is no missing Oliveira's looming presence in extravagance with his campaign war chest. We've detailed how he lives big off the six-figure amount donated to him by large donors and Political Action Committees (PAC) who give him big dollars to protect their interests.

He also ranks fifth (out of 150 representatives) in living high off the hog and splurging in wine and women, and (we've never heard him do karaoke so we couldn't tell it there is "song" at the end of that.)

Oliveira – while cloaking himself with the mantle of tolerance and women's rights – has managed to get his share of babes here and in Austin, using his influence with local law enforcement to get himself out of alcohol-induces scrapes during his escapades.

Like Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., this ineffective slug is once again asking the electorate to return him to Austin so he can "finish the job" that he feel he must accomplish before he gets his fill of the good life in "weird" Austin.

And the sad thing is that the voters – the minuscule percentage that vote – will once again return them to Austin to continue working for themselves. Only a catastrophic illness or a completed life expectancy will rid us of these political parasites.

In fact, The Tribune also reported that from 2016 to today, Oliveira  has spent $311,291 to get the 7,562 votes (about $41.17 per vote) to send him back to the skirt-chasing and boozing he loves so well.


With the war chest that Oliveira has amassed from his industry PACs from outside Texas, there might be something coming Delia's way. Let's keep it local, Rene.

The Tribune reports indicate that Oliveira’s contributions skew pretty heavily toward groups such as political action committees, law firms and corporations and away from individual donors.

Individuals made 323 contributions for a total of just under $280,000, or less than 18 percent of Oliveira’s total contributions. Larger entities have made 1,096 contributions for a total of nearly $1.29 million, or more than 82 percent of his total.

Edwin Bender, executive director of the Institute on Money in State Politics, told The Texas Monitor that groups tend to expect access with their money, so there are more strings attached to those donations.

“Those totals are indicative of someone who’s going to be paying attention to those 1,100 donors,” Bender said of Oliveira’s contributions.

Bender said Texas’ lack of contribution limits incentivizes candidates to go first to the people with the most money. This results in fewer total donors and generally less competitive races.

“They’re going to the big check writers and not focusing on the individuals,” he said.

https://texasmonitor.org/house-big-spender-5-rene-oliveira/