WHO ELSE COULD THE "COMPROMISED" SOLIS CONNECTION AT DISTRICT CLERK'S OFFICE BE?

By Juan Montoya
Now that Mark Rosenthal is cooling his heels in the clink after federal judge Andrew Hanen ruled he was in contempt of court for violating the terms of his conditional release while awaiting trial, the testimony of convicted racketeer Jim Solis allowed a glimmer of information to let observers guess who his connection in the Cameron County District Clerk's Office could be.
Solis, turning state's evidence after his conviction following former 404th District Judge Abel Limas plea bargain with the feds, said that his connection at the district clerk's office was malleable as far as placing lawsuits in "friendly" courts because that person was "compromised."
That meant that attorneys like Rosenthal, Solis and later Limas, could just about dictate which courts they wanted their cases to be heard. After Limas left, that court was the 357th District Court presided over by Leonel Alejandro, who resigned in mid term in December.
But who would be compromised to such an extent that the lawyers could count is a cinch to do their favors.
We have Rosei Sotello, the clerk in charge of placing civil suits and Eric Garza, in charge of criminal cases.
But these are the little fish. They are like the good German soldiers who do as they told. And even though that defense didn't hold water in the Nuremberg trials, apparently both came clean with federal prosecutors when they were interviewed.
But if you want to talk about compromised in terms of a case with a personal interest that only leaves their boss Aurora De la Garza. The case (you guessed it) is the one involving her son Joey's embezzlement of thousands of dollars from the Sunshine Haven Hospice in Olmito.
We never did get a firm number on the extent of the pilferage young Joey perpetrated at the hospice, but we have been assured that it was not the $87,000 he had to pay in restitution to the organization set by Limas during a half-hour court hearing on a Friday afternoon. Members of the board of the hospice say the total was much higher than that, perhaps double or more.
In that case, District Attorney Armando Villalobos assented to the sentence, and none of the victims were notified that the hearing was being held before Limas' court. It was a drive-by judicial process in the classic sense of the word.
So what if, some of us wonder, these attorneys had Aurora "compromised," and had their way in the county's courts through her office?
When the feds came knocking, we understand that Sotello thought her bosom buddy Aurora was truing to dump the blame on her. So instead of trying to protect her boss, she spilled. And spilled. And spilled.
About all anyone can imagine is that the federal prosecutors have Aurorita listed in an unsealed list of rebuttal witnesses in case one of the principals testifies contrary to the evidence the feds present.
In any case, Aurora's days as a public official are obviously numbered and the political buzzards flying over Brownsville skies can sense the stench of her political carcass miles up in the sky.