IS DAVID GARCIA COUNTIING ON DAVID GARZA FOR PROTECTION?

By Juan Montoya
By now we have all heard the rumor that Cameron County Asst. Administrator David Garcia – the Do-Nothing $186,000-man – has decided to flip over on Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez on the ongoing investigation into the illegal hiring of his brother-in-law Robert Cadriel in violation of the civil service process.
Now, politicians being what they are, and Ernie is one of the best, they have grown adept at handing out patronage and goodies to their supporters and camp followers. In return, they expect a certain amount of deference and, of course, your vote.
For a very long time Garcia has been flying under the county radar as he and his boss County Administrator Pete Sepulveda held down two jobs, one with the county and the other with the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority.
The county pays out these two gentlemen from at least four department budgets and the CCRMA pitches in with a nice $75,000 stipend annually for their troubles. That's not bad for part-time work. In fact, that's more than the individual county commissioners and the county judge get paid.
About the only ones getting paid anywhere the $75,000 are county tax assessor-collector Tony Yzaguirre, District Clerk Aurora de la Garza, Sheriff Omar Lucio, and perhaps Auditor Martha Galarza.
Sometime back the CCRMA announced that Sepulveda would go to work full; time for them and only had some loose ends to take care of. It's been the better part of a year and the situation remains the same. With the $75,000 sweetener form the CCRMA, Sepulveda draws in in excess of $200,000 and Garcia collects a cool $186,000 a year.
Someone who would like that to remain that way is Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza, who has been allowed to substitute for judge Carlos Cascos on those trips to Austin and beyond. If you thought former commissioner John Wood was a happy traveler, we are looking into reports that compared to Garza, he is a definite homebody.
In the abeyance of Cascos hooking up with his bods in Austin in the stable of Gov. Rick Perry, Garza and Garcia have been rubbing elbows with the Gov's boys as representatives of Cameron County and Republican Carlos Cascos.
 But we understand that may soon be a thing of the past. With Garza's tracks all over the favored hiring of Pct. 1 Constable Horacio Zamora even after he did not meet the qualifications and the job description had to be changed to accommodate his candidacy for the position, Garza stepped in to save the day. After the new qualifications were posted and a HR committee selected five finalists, guess what? That's right, Zamora still didn't make the cut.
So, at Garza's insistence, Zamora was also included in the finalists' round and then chosen to be the new Parks Department Police Chief.
Now we understand that he is now trying to pull the same stunt in the selection of the County's Public Works new chief. His candidate? Would you believe a persons who works in the same construction company as does Garza's son? That man, someone named Tirubio, is said to be waiting in the wings while Garza makes the necessary arrangements to facilitate his coming on board with the county.
It is bad enough that the company his son works for is already the recipient of several contracts with the CCRMA – where his overpaid ally Garcia is licking up the gravy – but now it appears that the commissioner want to have his cake and eat it, too.
Will the county judge and the rest of the commissioners let him? And if Ernie has come under the microscope for  for allegedly fixing it so that his brother-in-law could get a nice cushy gig by skirting the civil service employment process, isn't what commissioner Garza is up to somewhat similar in nature?