SANCHEZ KEEPS GNAWING AT COUNTY JUDGE CANDIDACY

By Juan Montoya
Ever since he was elected as Cameron County Commissioner for Precinct 4, Dan Sanchez has not been very successful at flying under the radar to hide his desire to become the next county judge.
But, being a person used to living big, his grandiose gestures to appease the powers that be have been very obvious to local political observers.
Sanchez, who harbors a gargantuan grudge against sitting judge Carlos Cascos for his role in the elimination of the Justice of the Peace Precinct 7-2 court in La Feria that did away with his job and two of his employees, has made no bones that he wants the judge's seat as his pound of flesh for the perceived slight.
After Edna Tamayo left her position as Pct. 4 commissioner, Sanchez saw his opportunity and jumped in the race, easily beating Tamayo's opponent Juan Ortega.
Meticulously, deliberately, he set about to curry the favor of other Democratic Party bigwigs (District Clerk Aurora de la Garza) and heavyweights (County Clerk Joe Rivera).
The first chance he got to make an obsequious gesture was when the county commissioners balked at paying for two ostentatious photo portraits of the Democratic Duo to be hung at the appropriate place in the San Benito Annex, which was also named in their honor for their lengthy service to the residents of Cameron County.
Question remained on who had authorized the $2,500 portraits of the rule-bending duo not authorized by purchase order. When some commissioners balked at paying, Dan offered to pay them from his own pocket. However, that wasn't necessary because local heart surgeon Robert Robles held a fundraiser party at his mansion to help out the cash-strapped perennial office holders.
When he again made another courtesan pass at the two yellow-dog Democrats, it was in the form of an addendum to the Commissioners Court minutes authorizing raises totaling nearly $6,000 for the two.
Again, when some commissioners (Cascos and Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza) protested that the little people in county employ had not received raises in recent memory, Sanchez offered to pay for their raises from his own salary.The action to do just that came during an item to publish the salaries of elected officials. The motion was made by Dan Sanchez, commissioner for Pct. 4, and was included in the minutes of the Aug. 2 meeting. Voting along with Sanchez was Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez and Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides.
With the increase, the total compensation for both this year effective was upped from a base salary of $71,745 plus $5,400 for auto allowance plus the additional $2,000, totalling $79,143.
Said Sanchez at the time: "We have a duty to taxpayers to run an efficient government."
Piped up Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez who also had kind words for the taxpayers: "We're going to squeeze that turnip even more."
Despite these incongruousness, Sanchez knows that the increases will disappear from his salary in the next budget go-round and will be carried by inertia in the 2013-2014 budget to be paid by the county's general fund, a small sacrifice to get into the duo's good graces.
Illustrative of Sanchez's continuing (and ongoing) campaign for judge, was the participation of county employees at his thinly-disguised Christmas party cum campaign function at South Padre Island. None other than Marty Pena, the Director of the Cameron County Bridge Systems, and his employees were parking cars for the Sanchez confab.
Between the personal generosity of this ambitious politician and his flair for the grand gesture at taxpayer expense, it appears we are witnessing the birth of yet another voracious political barnacle chewing away at the hull of the worm-eaten Cameron County ship of state.