OUR CHOICES FOR THE CITY: DE LOS SANTOS, CARDENAS

 Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Q: How can you tell it's election time in Brownsville?

A: Because Jessica Puente Bradshaw is running for...something.

This time it's not for a congressional seat. She has now set her sights on City of Brownsville District 3 commissioner. 

And she emerges from her hole in Austin and brings her message of divisiveness and right-wing rhetoric to the runoff race against local resident Roy de los Santos. Read what her shill says in his pitch for campaign donations. 

"WHAT'S ON MY MIND? IT'S CALLED MONEY!

Dear Friends:
I never really liked asking for money, but in this instance I feel that it is crucial that I do so. As a result of our May elections in Brownsville, there will be a runoff in District 3 for a city commissioner's seat. One of the candidates is a well-connected and well-financed 'progressive,' who will, if elected, be part of a leftward leaning trend in city government." 

You almost have to read between the lines to read what she really means to say, but it's not that difficult. She is saying that Roy De los Santos – a member of the LGBT community – is queer and that he is one of those damn "liberals" who will lead our city to ruin and perdition.

"Unfortunately," her appeal continues, "the present leadership of our city clearly has in mind a hard left turn, despite the sad histories of cities in the United States, where progressives have been disastrous leaders, burdening their citizens with dubious budgetary undertakings and overall poor economic prospects."

"Jessica is intelligent, articulate and very much at home in making policy to benefit all, not just a few."

This reads great, but let's not forget that the place she calls "home" in Brownsville is a boarded up house on 23 Poinsettia Place listed under her husband's name Johnathan Bradshaw.

"This is why I am calling on all my friends to support Jessica, a woman not afraid to speak out against those forces which have caused disaster for portions of our country and now even threaten our city."

This struck a chord for a local voter who said: "So what we have is someone who comes to Brownsville from Austin and runs for public office every once in a while. Then you have Roy, a local resident who has served on various boards to serve his community. When she ran for congress, she didn't use the name Puente up in Central Texas. This is a no brainer. Roy's our guy."

(The eggs in the photo is one of Bradshaw's calling cards in her campaign. Apparently, she thinks some voters necesitan huevos to vote for her.)

In the District 4 race..

It's not often I get pimped, but when I do, I don't like it. This is what happened to me when I agreed to take a photo with Ben Neece – an old friend – at the Memorial Day silent parade. I say old friend because I picketed city hall when it was on Market Square against Ernie Hernandez who was trying to have him fired. Then I found out that I had been featured on his Facebook page and he was thanking me – and others – for my political support in his race against local restauranteer Pedro Cardenas.

I had refrained from publishing comments criticizing him for using the day of remembrance for our fallen brothers and sisters in a political race because I thought it was over the top. But then I read this (click on graphic to enlarge):

"I'm very honored and happy to have the support of these fine individuals..."

Well, no. In fact, some of those mentioned didn't know we would end up being used for Ben's political ad. Then, to top it off, his shill – retired ESL teacher Jerry McHale – went a little farther and chided Cardenas and used my photo to say Ben had trumpted him with my support.

You know Jerry. 

In between porno (tits and ass sell), Jerry fancies himself a major writing force but is not above fabricating something to buttress his arguments. He has said that Cardenas did not attend meetings at the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC). That, of course, is not true. But facts never mattered to Jerry. The graphic at right shows that Cardenas, despite Jerry's babble, did attend. 

(Once he called me Judas for posting something that was not favorable to Ben. What does that make  Neece, Jesus? Come to think of it, when we were picketing city hall supporting Ben, McHale was walking by and we invited him to join us, but he declined and continued on his way.)

But what does that matter? Ben and District One commissioner Nurith Galonsky had their sights set on firing GBIC CEO Mario Lozoya – and the rest of the GBIC board which included Pedro – and taking over the GBIC and the $5 million annual revenue in sales taxes after a majority of the board chose Lozoya over their puppet Gilbert Salinas, of Brownsville Economic Development Council notoriety.

That, in a nutshell, is the glaring shortcoming that can be held against Neece. He not only lives in a Galonsky property he used to justify running for the district when he in fact lives in the county, but also provided Nurith with the legal advice and support to sue the GBIC over the Lozoya choice for CEO. And he has said publicly that the city's purchase of her father Abraham's Casa del Nylon for $2.3 million was justified when local appraisers pegged the real price at somewhere between $600,000 and $750,000. 

In fact, the Galonskys own so many properties in the city that just about any decision made by them either as city commissioners or on the zoning issues smacks of conflict of interest.

Let's not forget that Neece appointed Abraham Galonsky on the Planning and Zoning Commission, akin to putting the fox in the hen house. 

In other words, Ben is not the same guy he was before. We just received one of his mail outs and were disappointed with the allegation that Cardenas had done nothing for the public. Ben touts his 32 years as municipal judge as public service. And he was a good one, showing compassion for the defendants, including me. But he didn't do it for free, did he? No, it did pay, and handsomely, too.

Not that he wasn't worth it, and we're sure his clients would vouch for his tenacious advocacy. Ask Jerry.

Cardenas, the son of a prominent businessman who did – and still does –  business in Mexico and Brownsville, has been vilified by McHale and now on Neece's mail out for not doing anything for the public. Well, now, the families of the workers employed on both sides of the border would probably argue otherwise. Where do they get the money to buy their cars, pay the rent, or buy their kids new shoes? From Jerry? Or Ben? The Galonskys? Want to talk about job creation?

The city commission – with Nurith and Ben leading the charge – took over the job creation functions of the GBIC and promptly handed $450,000 to hire an outside consultant to try to study bringing space-related jobs here. In other words, they used the money to hire someone from the outside instead of the other way around. And when his bod Patricio Sampayo tried to extort close to $1 million from the GBIC after he bought options to property he knew was needed to bring a $1.6 billion steel mill and 600 jobs starting at $75,000 for local residents, he said nothing, even when the main suspect of leaking insider information may have been his fellow commissioner John Cowen. 

Before this race, Ben had told friends – including me – that he felt he could do more for the city if he wasn't a city commissioner and living in a fishbowl. I tended to agree, but he was talked into running again and now he is in the runoff against Cardenas. I still feel he could be more effective without the restrictions of public office. But it is what it is, isn't it? 

Someone seems to have lost his way. The Galonskys need a vote on the city commission and Ben seems to be their man. As always, special interests always seem have the money to buy their representation in city government. We hate to part ways with our old friend. But we are. Cardenas in this one on principle alone.

If you're going to pimp me, siquiera dame un besito, no?