CONTRIBUTOR: A PEEK AT "SKIPPY'" REPORT: THINK WE'LL SKIP HIM

 Special to El Rrun-Rrun

In looking over the campaign finance reports of the various candidates for countywide office, we were glancing at their reported contributions and expenditures when one of them caught our eyes.

It was for one of the three Democratic candidates for the Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office office which included incumbent Tony Yzaguirre and challengers Eddie Garcia and Jose "Skippy" Davila.

The Yzaguirre and Garcia reports were the standard list of contributors and expenses which balanced out squarely. But it was "Skippy's" which caught our attention. It just didn't balance out number-wise.

To begin with, he was late two days to file the report which was due January 15, but was received on the afternoon of January 17. If you are at all acquainted with deadlines and filings of the different districts and municipalities, you know that a late filing could spell financial disaster for the publicly-funded entities. The Texas Election Code Section 254.041 specifies that a candidate commits an offense if the person knowingly fails (a) to file a report on time.

Small potatoes, you say. Perhaps. But if  you check out the numbers below, you get a sneaking suspicion that something just ain't right.

Notice, for example, that he reported just $72.68 in small unitemized contributions. Then, for larger contributions, he lists only $1,202.33, $809.54 in unitemized political expenditures and lists total expenditures of $24,617. On the last day of the reporting period, he lists $502.33 on hand and $0 in outstanding loans.

Ok.

So if he had $1,202 in total political contributions and $502 on hand, where did the $24,617 come from to pay for the political expenditures? There are no loans listed to himself, or even in-kind services provided. See what we mean?

One of his opponent's supporters said that they had counted some 24 trailer trucks with banners across the county. The going rate for those, according to the candidates, averages about $2,250 per trailer/banner, which would cost some $54,000 for the duration of the election. Where did the money to pay for those come from? It's not in the expense report, and there is no in-kind report to account for them.

Things get curiouser and curioser about this candidate. when he announced for the office, his Facebook page listed his residence in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and listed his membership in several Matamoros and Tamaulipas state agencies and commissions. Can a person hold public office in Mexico and the United States as well?

Incidentally, "Skippy" also skipped over local vendors with just one or two (Home Depot and Karina Jokl-Mireles, for example from Brownsville). The rest are for vendors in Washington, D.C., Menlo Park, California, Waltham, Mass., and Austin., Texas. The only major local expenditure was for $12,230 for advertising expense to a vendor (Impresos del Norte) from...you guessed it, Matamoros.

As we said at the beginning, something doesn't seem right about this guy. We think we'll skip him, too.