XOCHITL LEAVES JUDGE'S OFFICE, BACK TO COURTS; EDDIE'S DEBT RETIREMENT AFFAIR ORGANIZED BY MATA PRI HONCHO

By Juan Montoya

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño is holding a debt retirement fundraiser at Rancho Viejo this Friday and if the entry fee is any indication of the money monkey on his back, it must be a hefty simian indeed.

At the same time, Treviño is parting ways - at work at least - with longtime aide and supporter Xochitl Llamas who was juggling her time between the judge's office and her work with the courts.

Llamas prepares social histories for family courts and as time went on, auditors told Treviño that her punching out and in on the clock to tend to the courts was creating a problem since it was a full time position and deducting the time she went to attend to court business was creating bookkeeping problems.

"She decided she didn't want to create problems for he judge and said she was making more putting together the social histories in divorce and adoption cases than she was an administrative assistant to Eddie," said a court insider.

Llamas is listed on the FY 2020 budget as an administrator coordinator at an annual salary of $43,493, the same as she received in FY 2019.

But while Llamas was an administrative coordinator for Treviño, she was also acting as his campaign manager and confidante.

It was her who recommended Aristóteles Cerda Muñoz, a PRI militant with the Matamoros Mayor Jesús de la Garza administration in charge of the city's libraries, to coordinate the debt retirement fundraiser at Rancho Viejo. He lists the PRI and the Presidencia Municipal (Mayors' Office) as his employment on his Facebook page.

Is he the new link between the Matamoros political power structure and Cameron County?

Cerda is obviously used to dealing with high rollers because the contribution levels start at $1,000 and top off at $5,000 for the fundraiser dinner.

Under Texas law, office holders have a year to hold a fundraiser to retire campaign debt. If the amount raised surpasses the debt documented, the amount over the debt is deducted from the permissible contributions on the next election if the office holder decides to run for reelection.

However, Cerda is now in hot water with the PRI and is accused of "double dealing" with MORENA, a rival political party which is allied to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

To have a Mexican national associated with a Mexican political parties soliciting funds for an American politician does not sit well with many people. Witness, for example, the mess that Rudy Guiliani is getting Donald Trump when he solicited $100,000s in political contributions from two Ukranian operatives.

Does Cerda's role in the Treviño fundraiser run afoul of Rule No. 7 of the  Federal Election Campaign Act?

No Contributions from Foreign Nationals:

Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits certain foreign nationals from contributing, donating, or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the U.S., either directly or indirectly. It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive, or accept contributions or donations from them.

Will there be foreign nationals who live in Rancho Viejo at the fundraising affair who will - by purchasing a seat at the table - be contributing, donating, or spending funds in connection with the county judge's election?

And then, of course, there are the usual lingering question: What does a fundraiser contributor expects in return for the hefty donation?