DISTRICT 4 CARDENAS' OFF-AGAIN, ON-AGAIN CANDIDACY...ON AGAIN

 Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Ay Pedrito!

Remember all that noise that City of Brownsville District 4 Commissioner was making about leaving his seat to run for the At-Large "B" position on the council that will become vacant when incumbent Rose Gowen leaves it because she is prevented by term limits to run for it again?

In fact, Cardenas announced that his last campaign fundraiser event – a golf tournament – was to be held on September 5, cancelled due to weather, and rescheduled for October 11, and said he was raising money for his run at the At-Large "B" position.

But when the golf tournament sponsors and teams showed up at the River Bend Resort and Golf Club on Military Highway, they were turned away and the word got out that the tournament was never held because his check had bounced. 

The management of River Bend, which had had problems collecting the golf rental fees for the course during his "first annual" tournament in 2023 insisted that he pay in advance for 2024.

The tournament was then cancelled although Cardenas never gave contributors and explanation for the cancellation and as far as anyone knew, never returned the money. The question remains: If he announced that the tournament was to help him run for the At-Large "B" position, did he collect the money under false pretenses? 

Well, the fickle (some say wishy-washy) commissioner has now decided that he'll remain in his district and finish out his term which ends on May 2025. In fact, he is already announcing for his reelection for District 4 on social media. 

If the number of social media readers and the number of likes (0) is any indication, not a lot of folks out there are liking his new move. 

If Cardenas had remained in the A-Large "B" position, he would have faced fellow commissioner Roy De Los Santos, who has announced he will run for Gowen's old seat on the commission. A few days ago, Cardenas and commissioners Linda Macias and De Los Santos were chumming it up at Rodrigo's Double Trouble on Adams Street. 

Cardenas' suspect fundraising activities have already fueled a complaint before the Texas Ethics Commission which announced it had accepted it and announced it would investigate. A similar complaint was filed with the Brownsville Ethics Advisory Commission, which sidestepped the question and claimed that it did not address the ordinance alleged to have been violated and dismissed it out-of-hand. The TEC, however, said that an investigation was underway. 

Cardenas posted on social media – but did not file that report – that he had received contributions from almost 100 or more companies and individuals who were not listed in then report. Among those Cardenas listed on his Facebook page who had made sizeable contributions are:

Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, the Brownsville Police Officers Association, Sate representative Erin Gamez, Border Health PAC, DHR Health-Brownsville, Mr. Taco, CAG Professional Services, Mor-Wil LLC, Al Chile, Anchor RGV Properties LLC, Fruia Motors, L & F Distributors, Republic Services (city vendor), and G&T Paving, also a city vendor.

Cardenas also posted that many others had paid to be sponsors of his golf tournament such as the law firm of Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Solaris Development, a major downtown city grant recipient, the Joe Salazar Insurance Group, St. Joseph Academy in memory of Anuar Jobi,  the Law Office of Fabian Limas, also a city grant recipient, former PUB board member and McDonald's Franchise owner Ana Oquin, the Cisneros Law Group, former state rep Eddie Lucio III's Orange Theory Fitness, the Law Office of Ernesto Gamez,  Fiestas Outdoor Billboards,  

Others include Manuel "Manny Treviño, Cameron County Democratic Party Sheriff candidate, Fresamex Futsal, MBMT Law Firm, Ethos Engineering, Ricardo's Restaurants, Steve Guerra, chairman of the Brownsville Navigation District, Cardenas Motors, Constable Abel Gomez, former Brownsville mayor Trey Mendez Law Firm, and Transcar Express.

Still other contributors to Cardenas campaign fundraiser included former city commissioner Jessica Tetreau, Eddie Garcia, BISD member and now winner in the race for Cameron County Tax-Assessor-Collector, GI Associates, Eliseo Davila, a RCR Realtor, Garduño Tax Associates, Villareal Law Firm, 7th and Park Cycles and Coffee, Los Trevi Drive-Thrus, etc..

After the complaint was filed with the city, Cardenas filed a report with the city secretary after seven months of non-compliance. However, the TEC on December 6 wrote to the complainant that its confidentiality rules prevented them from disclosing where the matter stood until it went through the process.

" I’m afraid we can tell you nothing about the resolution beyond what’s in the letter. Section 571.140 of the Government Code makes sworn complaint proceedings confidential, unless and until they reach the formal hearing stage or end in a non-confidential resolution. Where a sworn complaint proceeding ends in a public resolution, we send a copy to complainants. If the resolution is not public, then we can’t provide documents or any further information, even to the complainant.

The commissioner's woes don't end there. He has confirmed through friends that his divorce to his former wife had became final, but listed no address for his 
current residence. After the couple sold their home in District 4, they bought a new home outside the district in the Palo Verde Subdivision.

At the time, Cardenas said he was staying temporarily with his in-laws at the Valley Inn and Country Club. But on September 1 – four days before the "second annual" golf tournament was to be held originally – he posted from the Santa Maria del Rio, San Luis Potosi, Mexico resort that they were enjoying themselves there. Were they spending the golf tournament money that was never returned?

Since he chose not to have his address revealed through the city secretary, no one knows where he lives, or even if he lives in District 4, or in the United States for that matter.

The domestic turmoil has spread out into his business, El Pueblito Restaurant. Close associates say that he has put the business in his sister Martha Cecilia Cárdenas Montemayor's name. She, in 2016, along with her husband was reportedly charged with money laundering and drug running after her arrest by the Cameron County Sheriffs Department, according to online portal Cambio de Tamaulipas.

Former vendors to the restaurant complained about the slow payment for their wares and waiting help have reported and complained that sometimes Cardenas would delay paying them for weeks and that sometimes he withheld tips that patrons had left them.