REARRANGING THE DECK CHAIRS ON THE USS CCSO

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Push has come to shove at the Cameron County Sheriff's Department with defeated incumbent Eric Garza struggling to keep a skeleton crew with top administrators bailing out as the ship falters in the roiling waters following his political defeat in the May 28 runoff election to Manuel "Manny" Treviño.

Visitors to the administrative offices – named after his predecessor Omar Lucio by county commissioners as if to add salt to the wound – have noticed that Chief Deputy Silverio "Silver" Cisneros' office is now empty. And some staffers say that Cisneros was seen hauling out his personal effects out the building after having handed in his two-weeks notice.

This follows reports that Cisneros and Garza had had an all-out shouting match behind the closed doors of Garza's private office, allegedly over the filing of charges against Charles "Chuck" Hoskins, the IT maven who Garza had brought with him from his former position as Cameron County District Clerk.

The latest scuttlebutt is that Luis Mendieta, the jail administrator in charge of the county's jails, has been tapped to fill "Silver's" shoes as chief deputy, to be Garza's water carrier after Cisneros refused to carry out Garza's ongoing retribution against those who did not support him in the election.

God help you, Mendieta.

 Cisneros was said to be reluctant to carry out orders to start messing with people who didn't support the boss in his reelection by writing them up or for any reason, and/or demote them. Some of the targets said to be on Garza's "hit list" include Jesus Rosas, who ran against the sheriff, Captain Alvaro Guerra and Sergeant Edgar Rivera from CID because they filed the charges against Hoskins and arrested him for impersonating an officer.

He was fired immediately after he was arrested and booked. https://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2024/06/ccso-administrator-charles-hoskings.html

When Garza was said to be planning to rehire Hopkins, Cisneros was not on board with that decision. Surprisingly, Cisneros showed he still had a pair and showed he knew how to put politics aside after a loss and stood up to the boss on what he thought was a purely political act of retaliation against the veteran lawmen.

Some candidates that had been mentioned as Cisneros' successors were Captain Danny Gomez, Gilbert Cisneros, Angel Perez, Rick Cornejo, or even Carlos Del Bosque 

Del Bosque had already retired from the Sheriff's Department and got rehired as a regular deputy but with supervisor authority. It's well to remember that chief's position is a non-civil position, and when a new sheriff comes in January 1, 2025, they will be out. Whoever the new chief deputy turns out to be, they will be asked to sell their soul to the devil. Nobody should be messed with for political affiliation. 

They have families who will be collateral damage if the sheriff administration messes with their livelihood.

Ideally, that position should be left to be filled by the new administration. But politics being politics, Garza is moving fast to exact political retribution. Will Garza's maneuvers be approved by the commissioners court which hold the power of the purse in approving personnel changes?

As of now, every department is running on its own merit. Good luck to "Silver" with his new endeavor, and some top sheriff personnel knew that he was forced to do things Garza ordered him to do and stuck up for the deputies.

The countdown is on for the end of the Garza administration, 189 days to be exact, but who's counting?  January 1st can't come soon enough.