ADOBBATI AND LANGLEY'S LITTLE CAMPAIGN OF ERRORS

By Juan Montoya

Days after we had pointed out that 404th Judicial Court candidate Ricardo Adobbati had neglected to list his campaign expenditures, lo and behold, a correction/amended affidavit appeared two days after the January 15 deadline.


In it, Adobbati's treasurer Sandra Langley (appointed by the city commission to the Brownsville Public Utility Board at former Mayor Tony Martinez's urging) reported that the candidate had indeed spent $40,681.59 as attested by his political signage across the county.

Adobbati blamed the non-inclusion of his expenses on the TEC report on a "computer glitch," and supporter Erin Garcia (former JP and daughter of disgrace Pct. 2 county commissioner Ernie Hernandez) immediately took to social media to blame his opponent Ass. District Judge Louis Sorola.

Langley wrote the TEC that "The information for all expenditures was sent along with the report electronically and timely filed. I was able to speak to Brandon Barrett with the Texas Ethics Commission. He was able to retrieve the data and send the data in excel format in order for me to upload into the report."

Sorola, of course, denies he was behind the complaint and we have learned that it was another individual who complained to the TEC about the fact that Adobbati's signs did not comply with the TEC rules and that his expense report was two days late. Some of Sorola's legal colleagues who are listed as contributors to his campaign have been badgered by his opponent to "match" it with one to  Adobbati.

It would seem that with all the political veterans (Garcia and Hernandez) with which Adobbati has surrounded himself, that someone would have pointed out these missteps at the get-go. Now he has to be putting out brush fires of his own making.

As we reported previously, he had to hustle to Photoshop to black and cover up the $15,000 Rolex he sported on the first signs. Now there are perhaps three versions of his campaign signs across Cameron County.

Even then, some of his signs seem to indicate that he's misrepresenting his office title by a very careless placing of the word "for."

Even a layman who reads Chapter 255 of the Texas Election Code ( not Chapter 254) would know that a candidate may not represent that he or she holds an office that he or she does not hold at the time of the representation.

"If you are not the incumbent in the office you are seeking, you must make it clear that you are seeking election rather than reelection by using the word "for" to clarify that you don't hold that office.

Adobbati is facing Ass. District Judge Louis Sorola in the 2020 Democratic Primary this coming March.

The word "for" must be at least one-half the type size of the name of the office and should appear immediately before the name of the office.

Langley also knows a bit about getting around the rules. When she was appointed to the PUB, it was learned that neither she, Tony Martinez's secretary Sandra Saenz, of Jude Benavides – who were all appointed on the same day – had filed an application to get on the board, but an "exception" was made to bring them aboard.

Despite the fact that none of the three individuals field it within the required 15 days before and appointment, Langley filed her application on June 30, a Sunday, and two days before the July 2 commission meeting at the "discretion" of the commission.

How Adobbati will fare at the hands of the molasses-slow TEC is anyone's guess. But it's a rather rocky start to a campaign where voting starts in less than 30 days (Feb. 18).