After Sarkis Defeat: "Brownsville Is Really, Really Screwed!"

Debbie Portillo

The mood post-election at Saga Enterprises, the place of business of Martin Sarkis was somber, actually emotional. Several who had worked in the campaign seemed genuinely sad for the city.  "Brownsville is really, really screwed!" was one noteworthy comment.

The lament expressed was that, in young Debbie Portillo, Mayor Tony Martinez  now had another automatic vote on the City Commission, making for ultra-smooth sailing in his poorly-thought-out giveaway of city assets to whatever satellite entity of the merged university settles in Brownsville.  A key winner too is United Brownsville, the shadowy, unelected board assuming ever-increasing control while, at the same time, losing some of its funding as some in Cameron County government and the Brownsville Independent School District have finally started to see through the scam and halted the annual stipend.

Of course, there was the anomaly of Portillo winning the early vote handily, while Sarkis did the same on election day.  That almost never happens.  One theory floated was that it finally dawned on voters very late that Tony Martinez was trying to give away one of the city's prized assets, City Plaza, to the University of Texas system and thus voted for Sarkis on election day.  One operative observed:  "Many city workers I talked to in the last week were really pissed, not only that Martinez was giving away City Plaza and sending them to the rundown Casa del Nylon, but that he was trying to orchestrate the firing of City Manager Charlie Cabler and forcing into retirement Chief Financial Officer Pete Gonzalez.  That moved them to vote for Sarkis on election day."

At an adjacent table were some Brownsville's firefighters and an experienced political advocate.  They searched for some glimmer of hope while facing the reality of an unbalanced City Commission.  "I really think John Villarreal may speak up more in his second term.  The first time around, he simply didn't want to make waves since he may want to run for something else later and will need support," opined one man at the table.

"You know who surprised us and has shown some signs recently of independent thinking?  Estela Chavez-Vasquez.  When Fire Chief Lenny Perez went before the commission after the retirement of Fire Marshall Ben Nunez to try to eliminate the Fire Marshall position, she questioned him.  Perez claimed he wasn't eliminating the position, but going to cover it in another way.  She said:  'Look, I'm an attorney.  I can read.  Your directive says you are eliminating the position.'  What Perez was trying to do is give the job to one of his cronies without the merit test.  Can you imagine what insurance companies would do if a city had no Fire Marshall?"

There seems to be a consensus that, with the election of Portillo, Martinez now has three certain votes to implement the United Brownsville agenda:  Rose Gowen, Estela Chavez-Vasquez and Portillo.  Tony will gleefully break the tie.

"Ricardo Longoria, while he initially supported Tony, is now against giving away City Plaza as is John Villarreal and Tetreau.  Longoria, though, has tired of being on the commission.  He may run for something else before his term expires," stated a politico.