Hanen Gives Us A Glimmer of Hope As Corruption Goes Unabated in Cameron County

The Penn State Analogy

Penn State fired head football coach Joe Paterno and president Graham Spanier, not because they had molested young boys, but because they've known since 1998 that Jerry Sandusky was involved in highly questionable conduct and did nothing.  One person who did "come forward", assistant coach Mike McQueary, has not fared much better because he only went to his superiors, never the police.

Many of us in Brownsville and Cameron County are nearly in McQueary's shoes.  We KNOW many of our judges, politicians, city and county officials are corrupt, but are not in a position to do much about it.  Bloggers Jerry Mchale, Bobby Wightman-Cervantes and Juan Montoya have written literally thousands of words detailing the transgressions of Ernie Hernandez, Gilberto Hinojosa, Armando Villalobos, Carlos Quintanilla, Enrique Escobedo and others.  But we can only vote, talk, curse and scream without the necessary prosecutorial authority.  Those with the authority to investigate, arrest and prosecute for political and judicial corruption do not.

The Robert Cadriel Example

A recent case in point would be the illegal hiring of Robert Cadriel, Ernie Hernandez' brother-in-law as a guard at the international bridges.  Although a convicted felon who had been fired from the City of Brownsville for misconduct, Robert received glowing recommendations from State Senator Eddie Lucio and City Manager Charlie Cabler.  Go figure!  But first, there was the matter of the civil service test.  Cadriel scored a 33, then a 36 on the test, not good enough to be hired.  Allegedly, someone in Human Resources, a female, took the test for Robert, scoring a 96.  When this came to light, Robert Cadriel was fired.  The next day Human Resources Director Robert Lopez, a young father with a new baby, left the high-paying position "to pursue other opportunities."  Many feel it obvious that Lopez simply fell on his sword for Ernie, who had backed him in two political campaigns.  As usual, teflon Ernie "knew nothing."  Hernandez has nothing to fear because our community tolerates corruption, malfeasance and lawbreaking by public officials.  Ernie gives us that cocky, Sandusky-like smile, letting us know we're the fools for letting him do to the taxpayers of Cameron County what Sandusky did to little boys.

This stinky mess was initially looked at by Carlos Garcia, then police chief of the Brownsville Police Department.  Garcia mulled over the matter for 30 days and then realized it was "not in his jurisdiction."  Do you really think it would take more than a few minutes for a chief law enforcement officer to determine jurisdiction?  Garcia suggested the Cameron County Sheriff's Department or the Texas Rangers investigate, but threw the hot potato back to the Cameron County Commissioner's Court.  The Commissioner's Court, on further review, flipped the case to the District Attorney's office.  The now indicted District Attorney, Armando Villalobos, more closely associated with generating corruption than stifling it, has now "held" the case for several months with no action.


This brings us to U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen.  During the Ray Marchan trial, indications of widespread judicial corruption surfaced, involving names not relevant to the trial.  Former Judge Abel Limas mentioned four names of Cameron County judges he describes as, like him, corrupt.  This prompted Judge Hanen via letter to order the U.S. Attorney’s Office to cooperate to the fullest extent possible with investigations by the Southern District of Texas and State Bar of Texas into the unethical conduct of the defendant or any other individuals associated with the case.  That was an unusual step, but a necessary one.  SOMEONE has to get the anti-corruption ball rolling.

The revelations forthcoming in the Limas and Marchan trials and now the Villalobos indictment taint ALL of the judgements rendered in Cameron County for the last several years.  Did those without the money to bribe or those who hired ethical lawyers get justice?  Were ad litem appointments distributed equitably?  How many cases will get thrown out or have to be retried?  How much will all this corruption end up costing the taxpayers of one of the country's poorest counties?

Let's hope what Andrew Hanen has started gets finished soon.  Corruption paralyzes our city, county and school district with unethical hiring practices, awarding of contracts and judicial judgements.  All of this wastes resources, both monetary and human and adds to the disillusionment of a non-participating community.