IT'LL BE HORACIO ZAMORA BY HOOK OR CROOK

By Juan Montoya
A funny thing happened on the way to a patronage hiring.
Just when they thought they had all their ducks lined up to protect former Pct. 1 Constable Horacio Zamora's retirement pension and salary, Cameron County commissioners pushing for his rehiring ran into a snag.
Apparently, when Cameron County commissioners court legal counsel Bruce Hodges was asked to prepare and post the ob description starting on Dec. 20 until it was filled, he listed that the preferred candidate should have a "Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited four year College or University or (be ) a graduate of either the FBI National Academy or the Southern Police Institute supplemented by extensive training in police science and administration, and considerable administrative experience in modern police work.
Additionally, Hodge wrote that the candidate "must have at least eight (8) years full-time job experience in law enforcement with a minimum of four (4) years in a supervisory position. Have Basic Life Support for the Professional Rescuer and Community CPR certification. Must be Licensed and TCLEOSE certified peace officer and a valid State of Texas Driver’s License."
If the job description was meant to be a mirror image of the qualifications that the former constable had he would have been a shoo-in, as the scuttlebutt around the courthouse indicates. The move to reopen the parks rangers' department position was pushed by Pct. 1 Commissioner Sofia Benavides and she was joined by Pct.2 Ernie Hernandez to reopen it. It had been closed for the last four years and the responsibilities of security on both Boca Chica and South Padre Island – as well as security at all county parks (Cameron Park, Browne Road, Santa Maria, Olmito, etc.) was handed to Zamora when he was the constable.
But, alas, Mr. Zamora's political fortunes took a dive for the worse and he was defeated in a runoff election by Pete Delgadillo, surprisingly, a Republican.
Then, despite the fact that it was Mr. Zamora who had argued against the reestablishing of the park rangers when he held the constable's office, the move by the court to open it signalled to most courthouse watches that it was being created to make a space for Mr. Zamora to lick his wounds until the next political go-round.
That in itself is nothing new. Numerous law enforcement personnel whose political fortunes have plummeted because they were on the wrong side of the voting totals have sought refuge in the dunes where they keep an eye on nefarious criminal types who would litter on the pristine beaches or (gasp!) use glass containers on an SPI outing. Gus Reyna, the current Chief Deputy with the Cameron County Sheriff Department comes to mind. When his candidate – Omar Lucio – suffered a defeat at the hands of none other than former sheriff Conrado Cantu, he was moved over seaward to await the sea change in the next round of elections. Then, when Cantu lost, his chief deputy Juan Mendoza played musical chairs with Reyna, and on and on and on.
 So when Zamora lost, the answer, of course, was to reopen the department at untold cost, take the deputies from the constable (Delgadillo), and install Zamora as chief of the park rangers. Neat, ain't it?
Someone, however, forgot to tell the 12 applicants that there was already a finalist for the position. Of the nine that applied, three (Zamora, former Pct. 2 Constbale Pete Avila, and Hector Ramos, a 30-year veteran with the Texas Department of Public Safety) had made the cut. But when Hodge told the commissioners (now joined by Pct. 4 commissioner and wannabe county judge Dan Sanchez) that there was a little sticking point because Zamora did not meet the academic requirements posted on the job description, the plot, as they say, fizzled.
Instead, the commissioners chose to table the item and have put the hiring  of the chief park ranger on the backburner. The standard bureaucratise explanation in cases like these is for the Human Resources personnel to ask the court to readvertise in order to "expand the pool" of applicants. As they do so, we might notice that the job description might be altered slightly to require the sheepskin or "experience in lieu of an academic degree" thrown in to "taparle el ojo al macho."
 Whatever the case may be, one would expect that by now the patronage mechanism at the courthouse might have been better oiled than to have such a simple maneuver messed up by such a simple thing as a badly written job description. We'll see what kind of stratagem emerges from the Dancy puzzle-house to confront this little snag.