AS ELECTION DAY NEARS, LINDA SALAZAR'S GAME UNRAVELS

By Juan Montoya
Few people in southeastern Cameron County know that Democrat JP candidate Linda Salazar has an opponent.
No, it's not a Republican.
It's actually a representative of the growing adherents to Libertarianism that has taken root in the county after Democrats started to behave like a select club. While not quite ready to embrace the GOP, they found Libertarianism to be a kind of benevolent constitutionalism that they could live with without embracing extreme right-wing ideals advocated by the Romney-Ryan camp. In fact, they find that ticket to be so ambivalent on their stands that they avoid it purely out of principle.
We have Nancy Mishou, a Libertarian candidate, running against Eddie Lucio III, the latest incarnation of corrupt politician dynasties in Cameron County for Texas House of Representatives District 38.

DOUGHERTY

And Marlene Dougherty, a local attorney well-versed in the byzantine twists and turns of immigration law – among other things – is challenging Linda Salazar for the JP Pct. 2-1 position. There is no Republican candidate on the Nov. 6 ballot.
One of the main issues that Dougherty points out is the Salazar policy of issuing court marriages instead of registering them as common-law marriages, a practice that puts money in Linda's pocket, but makes a huge difference in the couple's immigration applications.
Dougherty said that she has had clients that she has sent to register their common law marriage and they came back with Court marriages by Salazar.
When she asked why, they said the girl at the window had  told them they HAD to go to the court. She said that this had happened to two or three of her clients.
However, apparently as of August, about a month after this fact was made public, she told them I told them that if they are told they have to go to court, to insist on common law registration, and to let her know if they were denied that. They did not have a problem.

SALAZAR

"The issue with immigration is that if they register their common law marriage (a statutory right, under Texas law, and therefore Constitutionally protected) the marriage is valid from the day they started living together," Dougherty said. "If they have a Court marriage it is only valid as of the date of the court ceremony. If a person is married less than two years they will be issued a conditional residency(CR) for a 2 yr period and have to later apply for removal of the conditions, if that is granted they issue the Lawful Permanent Residency(LPR). If CL was over 2 years and registered they will be issued LPR and they are good until they choose to file for citizenship, or 10 years later to renew their card."
By convincing couples to get court marriage certificates instead of the common-law variety, Salazar not only gets paid for performing the ceremony, but also delays their immigration process to point zero again as far as residency status.
Dougherty was under the belief that there was someone in the County Clerk's office that was a religious extremist and that was why they were denying her clients their rights.She further said that the victims can file a lawsuit.
Of course, if she wins, she can no longer represent them. But if the victims can identify themselves, they can also make a criminal complaint with the Federal government.
Also weighing in on Salazar's performance as a JP is on-again, off-again blogger Bobby Wightman who said that he had filed a complaint before the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct and had verification that a case number has been assigned to the following complaint against Linda Salazar. Her JP page tells people to hire notaries to help complete lawsuit forms for filing in her court. As most people know – this is illegal.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/134468587/scan0008
Wightman aslo said he is working on an investigation as to why the politiqueras pulled so many mail ballots for her when she did not even have an opponent in the Democratic primary.
"On the notary issue," Wightman added, "it could lead to RICO charges against her. My next move is to have the Texas AG open a criminal investigation - we all know (Cameron County District Attorney Armando) Villalobos will do nothing."
Salazar's son, former Brownsville Independent School District trustee Ruben Cortez, by the way, is the Democratic candidate for the Texas School Board of Education. His total of mail-in ballots during the Democratic primary was almost identical to his mother's. Perhaps Wightman's probe could also include him as well.