Are the Bloggers Exaggerating the Unethical Behavior of Ernie Hernandez and Erin H. Garcia?

Brief Historical Background; The Ambitious Plan; A Chronology of Hernandez-Garcia vs. Begum in the JP Race

The father-daughter couple at the left may not be your personal acquaintances, but, if you're in the habit of reading the local blogs, you've read about them. The now defunct BROWNSVILLE VOICE along with Juan Montoya's El Rrun Rrun blog have detailed numerous unethical episodes of current County Commissioner Ernie Hernandez and the burgeoning indiscretions of daughter Erin.  Jerry Mchale's Brownsville Blues does the same, using adjectives meant for mature audiences.  Mean Mister Brownsville adds harmony to the chorus.

Ernie's Continual Conflict of Interest

Read almost any ethics code for a governmental entity and notice the preoccupation with conflicts of interest.  Cities, counties, states and school boards award contracts into the millions of dollars for services, products and construction.  Ethics codes are written to prevent the very officials awarding these contracts from personally benefiting in any way.  To prevent subterfuge or sleight of hand, usually family members or relatives are included in the prohibition.  In Ernie's two decade political career, working for the city and county, he has run roughshod over this basic ethical principle, servicing the governmental entities with wrecker service, printing, uniforms and vending.  His daughter Erin is part of the current shell game of switching the ownership of their vending company from one family member to another.

Stealing Elections

Ernie's corruption also includes the stealing of the 2010 County Commissioner Precinct 2 election against Ruben Pena.  While Pena won the run-off election by 162 votes, Ernie clobbered him with the mail-in votes, 240-30.  There was a trial with even more corrupt, political hanky-panky.  All of this was documented, among other places, in a series of articles in Mean Mister Brownsville:      

http://meanmisterbrownsville.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-ernie-hernandez-jr-stole.html
http://meanmisterbrownsville.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-ernie-hernandez-jr-stole_2988.html
http://meanmisterbrownsville.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-ernie-hernandez-jr-stole_04.html
http://meanmisterbrownsville.blogspot.com/2012/04/juan-montoyas-he-voted-from-heaven.html

Doing Favors for Two Infamous Brothers-in-law

Ernie orchestrated some shenanigans for two of his brothers-in-law recently, both incidents screaming political corruption and heavy-handedness.  Here is a brief quote from the October 29, 2011 article from Mean Mister Brownsville about the Robert Cadriel incident:  

"Robert Cadriel, the brother-in-law of Ernie Hernandez had worked for the county before, but had been convicted on six counts including bribery. He applied for a job with the county again using State Senator Eddie Lucio and City Manager Charlie Cabler as references. There was only the formality of a basic competency exam in the way. Cadriel failed twice while personally taking the test with scores of 30 and 33, almost the equivilent of putting your name on the test sheet and accidentally getting a couple of questions correct. It was reported that a female assistant under the direction of Human Resources Director Robert Lopez then took the test for Cadriel, scoring a 96. This all came to light after Cadriel had worked one day on the job. Cadriel resigned as did Human Resources Director Robert Lopez. Lopez was quoted at the time as resigning "to pursue other endeavors," but a young family man with a newborn child does not leave a high paying county job simply to pursue other unknown endeavors. Robert simply got entangled. The alleged orchestrator of these shenanigans is County Commissioner Ernie Hernandez."

In another obvious breach of duty, County Commissioner Ernie allegedly used thousands of dollars of county caliche to cover a road leading up another brother-in-law's shooting range.  The range belongs to Ariol Cadriel, another Erie relative, now charged with first degree murder.  Here is a quote from Jerry Mchale's Brownsville Blues blog relative to the incident:

"While we were visiting the Aroldo Cadriel tragedy, we got a few calls from former county workers who said Ernie lied when he said he had nothing to do with using thousands of dollars of caliche and the labor of county employees and machinery (and federal colonia monies) to extend the caliche top on Nogal Road more than a mile all the way to the end of the road where Cadriel had his firing range business."

The Hernandez' Plan for Daughter Erin

By all accounts, Ms. Hernandez' goal is to eventually enjoy a high-paying job with the county as a district judge.  The justice of the peace position she currently seeks is a mere stepping stone to that end.  Normally, a productive, effective attorney would not be seeking a JP position, but Erin H. Garcia's law practice can be described as limited at best.  I can find no record of her arguing a case as a trial lawyer in Cameron County, with the exception of the one day she substituted for David Hockema in her dad's election-stealing trial against Ruben Pena.  She says she has qualified for ad litem appointments, something Abe Limas recently described as "easy money."  She is sometimes described as a municipal judge in Primera, TX, but a call to that court revealed that Arturo R. Salas is the municipal judge with Erin as an "alternate."  I asked the secretary if Erin H. Garcia EVER held court in Primera.  She said:  "No, not at all."

Erin's Ethical Violation in the Last Election

In the last city election, "alternate" Municipal Judge Erin H. Garcia was listed as the Treasurer for the campaign of John Villarreal, candidate for City Commissioner, District 4.  Notice Canon 5 of the Texas Judicial Code:

"No judge or judicial candidate shall authorize the public use of his or her name endorsing another candidate for public office."

Actually, Ms. Hernandez Garcia did get to finally wear her judicial robe, swearing in John Villarreal as Brownsville City Commissioner.

Chronology of the Hernandez-Garcia vs. Begum JP Race

At the Erin H. Garcia Meet and Greet in the lobby of the Amigoland Event Center, a new alliance was formed.  Linda Castro of Brownsville Cheezmeh initiated conversations with the Hernandez, eventually leading to Erin H. Garcia sponsoring a Brownsville Cheezmeh bowling tournament.  Later the two joined forces at the Ice House Cantina for a Raffle Night.  Some speculated that Linda might even get a job in the JP office after the election or get some referrals for the Notary Public work she does.  The two have seemed almost tied at the hip this election season.

Lightly regarded(at the time) JP candidate Yolanda Begum also began to be noticed with the size and enthusiasm of her events.  With those early successes came problems.  Begum signs all over town started to get vandalized or stolen.  A large sign at a relative's house at the V.I.C.C. only a block from Ernie Hernandez' apartment was also stolen.  Someone perused her outside trash cans two weeks in a row.   This kind of vandalism is, of course, almost impossible to prove.  Ernie also got to look at Begum's application and tried to get her disqualified.  Later, Ernie proposed a new, smaller district for Begum in the rurals, but Begum declined.

Hernandez-Garcia was now running ads on the Brownsville Cheezmeh site.  The Cheezer cultists, with Erasmo Castro fanning the flames, were unrelenting in their criticism of Begum for her Spanish accent, perceived lack of education and even for the way she wore her makeup.  Here is an Erasmo Castro article(most likely written by him) running on the site for several days:  

The picture below was selected by Erasmo to depict Yolanda Begum.  I recognize the writing, by it's grammar and syntax as Erasmo's.  He always describes himself as humble, although he is anything but. . . . . Erin's monetary support of Cheezmeh began to pay off:

                                                       Yolanda Begum. . According to Erasmo Castro

On Taste…and we are not talkin about the free food at the Mattingly Meet and Greet

4 February 2012 By cheezmeh

And now is the time for soirèes and “Meet and Greets” , where there is a man (or a woman) of the hour who is surrounded by his/her supporters, critics, and the gadflies who are there for the free food.
But what about good manners and taste when one political firecracker attends the event of another election hopeful? We know class cannot be bought, nor can it be supplemented by campaign funds from well-meaning supporters and political groupies.
Why oh WHY would Yolanda not silence her phone during Chuck’s speech? A ringer should not be allowed to go off THAT many times during such an important point of an event. What are you like at funerals, Madam? And why – furthermore – was she “pressing flesh” with people sitting at their respective tables (whose names she did not know) to prevail upon them with flyers bearing her name and, without discussing anything she stands for, soliciting that their votes be hers?
The humble author is about to take it down a level:
Honey, it is CHUCK’s shindig. Why would you overpower his flyers and stickers with your own? And lay off the eyeliner. Maybe even lighten up the cut of your ‘do a bit – you come off as har d ad harsh and almost glaring with the way you make yourself up. Do yourself a favour. And keep the pamphlets away from the ones that belong to the person these people have come to support.
There is a “time” and a “place” to further your political interests in such an insistent and pressing manner. Such as, for example, YOUR OWN MEET AND GREET.
There were a couple of “may the best candidate win” quips to be heard after such an intrusion during what would have otherwise been a night of gladhanding and support for gentle giant Chuck.
Luckily, the White Knight man of the hour, Chuck Mattingly, was visible and prevailed with his notably palpable presence, as well as the many supporters in tow who acknowledged his accomplishments and CONVICTIONS – both legal and moral. Cheers, all.
-Concha Hemingway

The next dirty trick by Erin was to bring a former daughter-in-law of Yolanda Begum, seemingly of dubious character into her campaign.  This lady had once been married to Mike Begum, Jr., the deceased son of Yolanda's husband.  This "lady" had some bitter complaints about the distribution of monies from Mike Sr.'s will, but, as Yolanda tried to explain, that was out of her control.  That didn't stop Erin making prominent use of this woman for a time in her campaign.



We can look at the method of operation for the two campaigns and make our choice, but I don't believe it's an exaggeration to describe Hernandez behavior as unethical in this and other campaigns.   Erin is backed by the Brownsville Cheezmeh group and the Hernandez family historically gets the politiquera vote, but will she get your vote?