AS ELECTION DAY NEARS, ALL STOPS ARE PULLED

By Juan Montoya
With early voting over (11,200 votes, 9,372 Democrats, 1,828 Republicans), and election day looming on Tuesday, the combatants are pulling out all the stops to attract the 30 to 40 percent of the votes that traditionally wait to vote on election day to get them over the top or into a runoff.

If statistics can be used to predict results, in two candidate races, the outcome has already been decided, but in a close race with more than two candidates, it may be up to election day-voting or even the mail-in vote that may decide it.

Some of the sniping is in the mass media, but in some cases, the mud is being slung under the mass media radar, sometimes in the traditional (and anonymous) hojas sueltas, or in the burgeoning social media.

The most hotly contested races seem to be the races for Cameron County County Clerk and for Justice of the Peace Precinct 2-Place 2. Others, while contested, have not generated the level of rhetoric among the candidates' supporters as these two.

THE CAMERON COUNTY CLERK'S RACE

By far the nastiest below-the-radar campaigning has been the race for county clerk.

Incumbent Sylvia Garza-Perez is facing a stiff challenge from Lali Betancourt, an educational consultant and counselor and member of the politically-connected clan from Brownsville. The campaign has polarized factions within the Cameron County Democratic Party and driven a wedge between party loyalists.


In that race, some blogs and social media (including this one) have been the recipients of an anonymous hoja suelta letter charging Betancourt with "disloyalty" and drunkedness. The letter says Lali has been charged twice with DWI and say it mirrors the memory of her father, the late county court-at-late Adolfo Betancourt who they allege was charged with DWI "many times."

Without providing any documentation, the letter states that the late judge was unfaithful to his late wife and that he abandoned her (as Lali seems to have abandoned Democratic party county judge Eddie Treviño in his race for that position) when she was stricken with cancer with "the maid."

If you think that's bad, it then goes on to say that Adolfo was indecisive (like CC-at-Law Laura Betancourt) and that like him, her case load is "backlogged." "This is the animal that Laura, "La llorona," cries for?" the letter asks.


Betancourt supporters, in turn, have posted pictures on social media where Garza-Perez is depicted as being in her cups at various social functions and point at her blood-shot eyes and smile in the photos.

Even more damning, perhaps, is her posting of a photo at one of her campaign photos with Moises Sanchez, the brother of Carol Lynn Sanchez, who's running against Laura Betancourt for the county court-at-law position.


We had posted in the past that Carol Sanchez, a Harlingen attorney, had been induced to run against Laura Betancourt to keep her from helping Lali Betancourt in her race against Garza-Perez. 

Apparently, Cornejo-Lopez and Garza-Perez are pals and Sanchez was recruited by 404th District Judge Cornejo-Lopez to make life difficult for Laura Betancourt. Sources say she wasn't the first attorney she approached to run, but was the one who took the bait.

The bad blood between Cornejo-Lopez and Betancourt stems from then fact that Betancourt spoke out against the grading issue that Cornejo-Lopez advocated to give her child weighed GPA credit for the AP Spanish course she took in middle school. 

Betancourt had a child in the same class as did Elia. The board members apparently heeded Betancourt's message and denied changing the grading system as Elia had advocated. That led to Cornejo-Lopez seeking a candidate to run against her. 

But there is a history behind her candidate Sanchez. Apparently, her brother Moises Sanchez (in the photo above with Garza-Perez) is in Elia's court on felony charges of a sexual nature involving s child. Court sources say that when he was awaiting trial, he was arrested again and charged with a second count.

Prosecutors are closely watching the case as it progresses through the courts. If the relationship between Cornejo-Lopez and Sanchez bears out, there could be major conflicts of interest issues playing in the case and might have to be removed to another court.

Sanchez found out that once you step into the public limelight, there are no holds barred. Already, the arrest record of her common-law husband David Lee Hernandez has found its way to the social media. Hernandez was booked on a variety of charges ranging from assault, theft, and writing graffiti.

                                                                  THE JP 2-2 RACE

The last time there was so much passion raised in an election for JP was the race for the position now held by incumbent Jonathan Gracia. In that race, then-incumbent Erin Garcia Hernandez didn't make the runoff and the two survivors – Gracia and Yolanda Begum – were left to battle it out.

Now, facing reelection, Gracia, an attorney, has come out swinging against Reyna. Although Gracia's mail-outs and newspaper ads hint that Reyna is counting on his political connections and on his "playing politics, he has also said that he is a high-energy candidate, a reference, Reyna's supporters say, to their candidate's continuing battle with cancer.

There are, in fact,  three challengers for the position including Reyna, a Cameron County Sheriff Department Captain, former Pct. 2 Constable administrator Fred Martinez and Cameron County District Court Supervisor Diego Alonzo Hernandez.

In the mailer, Gracia shows all their names on the ballot but asks voters to not be fooled by his opponent (singular) and lists four characteristics which Gracia claims makes him a better candidate for JP 2-2 than his "opponent" Reyna.

"What does that mean?," asked a Martinez supporter. "Is he writing off Fred and Hernandez already and saying he is going to be in a runoff with Reyna?"

The comparison the flier does with Reyna are on judicial experience, being an attorney, a university graduate, donating to organizations in Brownsville, and being "high energy."

Supporters of the other three candidates say the flier is somewhat misleading because none of the five categories listed by Gracia against Reyna are required by law. They point out that the State of Texas only requires a candidate to be a U.S. citizen at least 18 years old, to have resided in Texas for a year and six months in the precinct, and be registered to vote, it also does not require one to be a practicing lawyer or judge.

The criticism doesn't stop there. Opponents also take issue with Gracia's claim in the flier (twice) that he is the voters' "full-time" judge. They say they have gone to the county and found that he has been assigned cases by the courts since he took office in January 2015. They say they have records showing that he was appointed to 84 cases in 2015, 26 in 2016, and 35 in 2017.
Currently, he is listed as being the attorney or record in at least 60 cases in misdemeanor courts.

And they discredit his "$25,000 donated thus far t the Brownsville Community" claim saying that the county has paid $29,993 in 2015, $35,441 in 2016, and $35,639 in 2017 for his court appointments.

In the most recent newspaper ad, Reyna appears with Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio who heartily endorses his department captain and asks his followers for their votes on his behalf. Reyna's brother Gus, is the sheriff's chief deputy and critics say that he was allowed to "retire" and then return to his former position to have access to his retirement pension.

"Is (Javier Reyna going to do the same thing and say he's a full-time JP," Gracia's supporters ask. There are other allegations being posted on social media, notably some that allege that Javier Reyna has been sued for abuse of his authority with prisoners that have cost the county ($100,000s), but cannot point out the specific cases. There are also allegations that Reyna has moonlighted as a process server, but no specific cases are mentioned.

Will this race go to a runoff if Martinez and Hernandez draw a bigger percentage of the vote than was expected of them?

If you haven't voted, this race (with four candidates) and the county clerk's race may be close enough for your vote to decide who will hold those offices.