THE 484TH DISTRICT COURT RACE: WAR BETWEEN BROTHERS?

By Juan Montoya

They have been a Team Saenz since they were growing up in Central West Texas, often finding themselves fighting the Good Fight side by side.

Luis Saenz – now Cameron County District Attorney – and his brother Mario, retired after working in the Midwest, have been united in the struggle of la raza since they were students at Carrizo Springs High School just south of Crystal City. 

It was in Crystal City, Texas, where a student walkout helped launch the Latino civil rights movement 53 years ago.

Historians say that in 1969 Mexican Americans were prohibited from speaking Spanish in school. There were no classes or lessons about Mexican history, culture or literature. The contributions of Mexican Americans were not included in textbooks.

Mexican Americans were – and remain – the overwhelming majority in Crystal City.

At the time, nearly half of these were migrant farmworkers. In spring, migrant parents took their children out of school, often before the semester had ended, and sometimes didn't return from the migrant circuit until after the fall semester had started.

During that summer interim, local government and school officials – all representing the Anglo minority – would select candidates for fall elections and pass measures, rules and regulations to maintain control of the absentee majority.

Chroniclers remember that the city council wasn't the only place where the Anglo minority was overrepresented. Teacher Greg Barrios remembers that: 

"If you looked at the local high school's cheerleading squad, you would never
know that most people in Crystal City were Mexican American. While school cheerleaders had been elected in the past by the student body, once Mexican American youth became the majority in the schools, the rules were changed. A faculty committee now decided the selection. Only one Mexican American cheerleader was allowed, while the other three positions were only for Anglos."

All that changed after the walkout, and the Saenz brothers, just down the road from Crystal City, decided that they also needed a Carrizo Springs high school homecoming queen who represented local Hispanics. They fought for it, and won, electing a local Mexican-American girl as homecoming queen.

They have been on the same page ever since. Until now.

Commenters on social media have wondered why the brothers are now on opposing sides on the Democratic Party race for the 484th District Court. On the one hand, D.A. Saenz introduced and publicly supports Adela Kowalsky-Garza, a longtime Asst. attorney in his DA's Office, for the newly-created court created to handle juvenile cases.

And on the other, his brother Mario Saenz is publicly supporting Noemi Garcia-Martinez, who is the acting judge of the court and referee credited with developing the deferred prosecution process for juveniles and is the author and presenter of the continuing education courses for juvenile law for prosecutors and defense attorneys.

So how did Team Saenz get to this rupture?

According to Mario – because Luis Saenz would rather just leave it at that – Team Saenz was waiting to see whether Kowalsky-Garza, his First Chair Felony Prosecutor at the D.A.'s Office – was going to file for the court. When she first said that she was not running, the Saenzes gave Garcia-Martinez the go-ahead to file and they promised her their support.

"Luis said that she was qualified and had the experience in juvenile law that few – if any – local attorneys or Assistant DAs," Mario said. "She was, in fact, the incumbent, already serving as a de facto judge of the court. We had no problem agreeing to support her." 

Then, after vacillating over the decision, Kowalsky-Garza announced that she was running for the post, after all. 

That threw a wrench into the works and left the brothers wondering what to do. DA Saenz, fiercely loyal to his staff, introduced Adela to participants in her announcement party at her husband Noe Garza's ranch La Gloria off West Alton Gloor Road while Mario Saenz dove into campaign mode for Garcia-Martinez.

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"I respect Luis for being loyal to his staff and employees," Mario Saenz said. "But he can't deny that he told me that Noemi was the most experienced in juvenile law. She's a star and I am proud to support her. But both are qualified attorneys, there's no question about that."

Will Team Saenz remain split after the Democratic primary when one of the candidates will prevail and the other return to her professional duties?

This race is not about choosing a homecoming queen for high school, but about the dispensation of justice for juveniles, a vulnerable group that is under great pressures from peers and now social media, and whose mistakes as teens could ruin the rest of their adult lives.

"Team Saenz supports Noemi," Mario Saenz asserted, "well, at least this half of the team.We'll see what happens at the polls."