"CARPETBAGGER" PAPER, INTRIGUE, IN CHAMBERS' PURGATORY

By Juan Montoya

Every cop wants to be the chief of police. And every deputy dreams of being county sheriff.

Both Eric Garza, the Democrat, and John Chambers, the Republican, are gunning for it in the November 3 general election.

As it has been said before, the year 2020 is a different "normal."

Garza, the former county district clerk, jumped ship after he was re-elected in 2018 and was in the 10th month of a second four-year term when he announced for sheriff against 19-year incumbent Democrat Omar Lucio.

Chambers political purgatory began in March 2016 when he was removed from the ballot by the Cameron County Republican party leadership after winning the primary and replaced with county investigator Victor Cortez who Lucio easily defeated in November 2016.

The new normal? Yellow-dog incumbent Democrat Lucio has endorsed Chambers against Garza who he does not consider a real lawman.

"I am thinking of the best choice and not partisan efforts," Lucio is quoted in a Chambers mass mailing that just arrived in local voters' homes. "I will do this believing that it is for the good and safety of all of Cameron County residents."

In 2016, Cortez played a direct role in getting a grand jury to indict Chambers, formerly Chief of Police at Indian Lake, on 14 counts of Tampering With a Government Document where he was accused of directing a confidential informant – his assistant chief Alfredo Avalos – to put together files on his 30 deputies' firearm certification.

Avalos, after receiving immunity through Cortez – told a jury that he was acting under Chambers' orders. Cortez was the head of the county's Public Integrity Unit. He initiated the investigation into Chambers following the disclosure that the Indian Lake chief had gone to the FBI with information on possible local officials' wrongdoing.

On the two previous occasions the charges against Chambers were dropped because of lack of evidence. The investigation into the alleged gun-certification changes originated with a Cortez-inspired investigation.

(A Cameron County grand jury has since charged Avalos, now a lieutenant with the Bishop Police Department, with two counts of misuse of official information for accessing the Texas Law Enforcement Telecommunications System – TLETS – last October for nonofficial purposes to get information on two vehicles parked in a Brownsville driveway 2020-DCR-01558.)

Cortez also  assisted his former DEA colleague George Delaney to try Chambers even though he was his opponent for the GOP sheriff nomination in the upcoming March 1, 2016 primary elections. (He is the guy in the baseball cap kneeling in the hallway outside the court in the corridor conferring with investigator Delaney in the graphic at left.)

It worked. After being charged with the 14 counts, Chambers was convicted for filing the reports with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement,. The TCOLE was later determined to have lacked the jurisdiction to require the documents and the charges were knocked down to misdemeanors.

But the damage had been done. Chambers had bested Cortez in the GOP primary and was removed by the party and replaced with the second-place vote-getter Cortez. Incumbent Lucio handily defeated Cortez.

Now in his November 3 race against Garza, the three stories in the Brownsville Herald on the upcoming race invariably focus on the 2016 charges and subsequent reversal of the felony convictions by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Also, repeating the claims by Garza supporters, they say TCOLE rules make Chambers “statutorily ineligible” to hold a peace officer license. This despite Chambers' assertions that although his license was first revoked before he won his appeal "That felony no longer exists. The criteria for revoking my license no longer exists, so they have to give it back."

The TCOLE’s website states that someone applying to get relicensed with Class A or B misdemeanors could submit a waiver request through any agency administrator that would then be reviewed by the executive director.  Chambers has worked for at least three cities as chief of police and is a state correctional officer. Any of those could apply for a waiver on his behalf. Even Cameron County. Of course, he has to win in November first before a disqualification applied.

But the daily takes it one step further. It claims that Cameron County Elections Administrator Remi Garza  said it would likely be up to the county's Commissioner’s Court to appoint a replacement until a special election could be held. Yet, no one can remember when a Texas judge has overturned an election and approved the appointment of a sheriff by the county commissioners against the popular vote. It simply is not done.

So after having battled his own party to be its nominee, reversing his conviction on felony charges, and in the process of reinstating his law enforcement license, Chambers now has to contend with an absentee "carpetbagger" daily that has moved out of Brownsville and gives token coverage to local issues. Ad if you believe there's something to reporters befriending certain politicians, take a gander at the Herald's Laura B. Martinez's Facebook page.

Sunday's article predictably rehashed the questions about his candidacy. And a local paid blogger has taken to posting pictures of Chambers in an orange jail jumpsuit. This is the same blog which called Garza a "paper pusher" and a phony lawman compared to Lucio.

The former district clerk has not been immune to the sting of social media innuendo. In the primary battle between the two Democrats, the same blog posted dark hints that came from his opponent's camp that linked him to cartel money and unsavory money launderers without providing proof.

But instead of dwelling on the characterizations of the "other" in those broadside, Chambers' mailout embraces it. He has hit upon a novel idea: Leave the decision of who is to be sheriff not not the carpetbagger newspaper, scurrilous blogs, or big-dollar contributors, but to the voters of the county.

"I know you might see me as an outsider," the mailer reads..."Maybe an outsider or a maverick is what we need here. I don't owe any favors and have financed my own campaign with my own money. I answer only to you, the citizen of Cameron County."

How long does political purgatory last in Cameron County? And will Lucio's endorsement and a "Trump" wave pluck Chambers from his torment this November 3?