If any election result will determine the political fortunes of any one individual, it is probably the runoff race between Yolanda Begum and Erin Hernandez Garcia for the Cameron County JP 2-2 position.
Even though Cameron County Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez's name isn't on the ballot, if his daughter wins, it will signal that he will get one step closer in his bid to establish a political empire in Cameron County.
Hernandez, who lost to Pat Ahumada for mayor of the City of Brownsville and then eked out a controversy-tainted victory over Ruben Pena for the position he now holds, now wants to have his daughter be part of a wide-ranging political influence ring that he will doubtless use to make a run for county judge.And his pervasive influence over the elections department nominally headed by lapdog Roger Ortiz is reflected when the pliant elections official turns a blind eye to blatant voter abuse such as politiqueros hauling in vans of elderly and mentally-disabled voters and allowing the ward heeler to vote on their behalf.
In fact, even the placement of precinct elections judges has been tainted when Ortiz allows his underlings to reject and appoint polling site judges solely on their political persuasions.
For example, Adriana Villarreal, a supervisor in Ortiz's office, rejected the application of Gloria Beier on the grounds that she had been a block walker campaigning for Begum but approved the application of Linda Castro Dragustinovis for Pct. 98, Benavides Elementary School, despite the fact that Castro has been a vociferous supporter and block walker for Erin Hernandez and Carlos Masso. Castro is one of the principals with the cyberpolitiquero group Cheezmeh.
Villarreal is said to have a romantic relationship with Amadeo Rodriguez Jr., one of the Hernandez politiqueros recently implicated in herding the elderly and coercing them to vote for the ticket headed by Masso, Erin Hernandez and Abel Gomez."Adriana placed Linda Castro in my voting precinct and rejected Gloria's application," said Begum. "And Linda has been openly campaigning for my opponent and appearing in Facebook postings. What does that tell you?"
Ernie Hernandez's ambition knows no bounds, and neither does that of his daughter Erin nor his wife Norma's, the real operative in this political ring.
Each one of them has been linked to some unseemly activity to wrest political control of the county at all costs.
Whether it's doling out patronage jobs (Ernie), harassing her opponents on the campaign trail (Erin and Norma), or deceiving the elderly and mentally incapacitated voters and coercing them to vote for her daughter and harvesting the mail-in votes(Norma and her paid politiqueros), they have alll had a hand in perpetrating the worst kind of politics on the residents of this county.
In the last few days of the campaign in this runoff races, the ticket that has emerged has been one of the Hernandezs forming a ticket with DA runoff candidate Carlos Masso, Constable Abel Gomez and Denise Blanchard, running for Congress.
Their literature is passed out by the same operatives, pre-marked sample ballots bear the ovals darkened by their names, and Facebook posting feature them all together.
There is a factor associated with the presence of Denise Blancahrd working here that might just jump out and bite their behind, however. The fact that Blanchard has associated with the Hernandezs has prompted a reaction from those supporting Filemon Vela Jr., Blanchard's rival in the congressional runoff.
Vela's in-law, Ruben Pena, lost to Ernie Hernandez for Cameron County commissioner just two years ago, in a race that was tainted with charges that Hernandez "harvested" the mail-in ballots with politiqueras.
Even though the judge in the case found more than enough evidence to take the case to trial, the time restrictions involved forced him to bring the case to an end. Rest assured that neither Pena nor the Velas have forgotten that maneuver.
In a footnote on Ortiz's lip service to fair elections while on the Hernandez leash, it has been revealed that when he told the local daily that he was calling for an inspector from the Secretary of State's office to monitor this election, he was not really telling the truth.
It now turns out this inspector, Paul Miles, is not from the Secretary of State's office after all. A local blogger's call to that office revealed that Miles was no longer associated with it, but instead was now a member of an organization called the Texas Association of Counties.
His investigative work will also not include a monitoring of how ballots are handled and the protocols of accepting them, but only the actual arithmetic of the count.
So Ernie an Erin can rest easy now that Roger has run interference for them.
In a footnote on Ortiz's lip service to fair elections while on the Hernandez leash, it has been revealed that when he told the local daily that he was calling for an inspector from the Secretary of State's office to monitor this election, he was not really telling the truth.
It now turns out this inspector, Paul Miles, is not from the Secretary of State's office after all. A local blogger's call to that office revealed that Miles was no longer associated with it, but instead was now a member of an organization called the Texas Association of Counties.His investigative work will also not include a monitoring of how ballots are handled and the protocols of accepting them, but only the actual arithmetic of the count.
So Ernie an Erin can rest easy now that Roger has run interference for them.
In the sidelines, and champing at the bit to be relevant, the delusional Cheezmeh politiquero group has been attempting mightily to remain politically relevant as the countywide races come to a conclusion, The results in these races, too, comprise a referendum on their viability.
The decision awaits the voters who trek to the polling places today. Will Ernie get his empire and Cheezmeh its credibility? Or will the voters opt to reject empire building and cybercheezmehmongering?
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