Will Deborah Portillo Prove to Be Worth the Money?

"Money talks

But it don't sing and dance

And it don't walk"

Forever in Blue Jeans 

by Neil Diamond

Deborah Portillo

For $40,000 you can buy a fully restored Volkswagen Westfalia Campmobile, a house in the rustbelt of Buffalo, NY or the job as City Commissioner, District 3 in Brownsville, TX, a position that pays nothing.  

Actually, combining the four required campaign finance report totals together, Portillo received $40,493 in contributions for the race. Mayor Tony Martinez is not listed on a single report as a contributor, although, if Portillo proves to be what Melissa Zamora was not, an automatic pro-Tony vote, he becomes the greatest beneficiary of her campaign's financial support.

Propitiously, just before the audio was turned on for the August 13 City Commission meeting, Portillo appeared on the TV screen just above the City of Brownsville seal, receiving a paternal kiss on the cheek from the mayor just before the taking her seat for the special City Commission meeting.  The mayor showed no lingering grumpiness from his own revelation at last week's meeting that the completed dredging of the first of the city's resacas to experience restoration had yielded 200 tires, not to mention household appliances that now needed recycling.  

The August 13 meeting immediately went into a scheduled executive session to discuss "deliberation of real property, concerning possible exchange of property with the University of Texas at Brownsville and/or Texas Southmost College.  (Mark Sossi – City Attorney – 15 min)"  The executive session, scheduled for a mere 15 minutes, lasted 50 minutes, with City Commissioner Ricardo Longoria later commenting on the need for "continuing negotiations between the parties."  Cynically, it seems negotiations go more smoothly if Texas Southmost College isn't involved.  Perhaps, it relates to something about the UT System not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but TSC being asked to spend real money.(There were no public commenters, hammering yet another nail in unscrupulous City Attorney Mark Sossi's ludicrous theory that more citizens would participate if the cameras were undemocratically blocked.)  

But, back to Portillo's campaign finance reports:   The largest lump sum contributor is John Cowen, kicking in $5,000 to the newly-elected City Commissioner's campaign.  Port Warehouse Properties also added $5,000 to Portillo's campaign kitty, in increments of $1,500 and later $3.500.  Googling Port Warehouse Properties reveals its CEO to be John F. Cowen.   So, if John Cowen and John F. Cowen are the same person, the guy has $10,000 invested in the Portillo campaign.  

Naples Investment of Dallas gave the Portillo campaign $1,000 on 6/12, then added $3,500 more on 6/21. If that name sounds familiar, Naples Investment contributed $2,000 to the campaign of County Commissioner Sofia Benavides.  Why is Naples Investment of Dallas so interested in Brownsville and Cameron County?  

In personal donations Jim Tipton gave $1,500 and then $500 more, Bill Hudson donated $1,000, then added another $500, Nicholas Serafy, Jr. contributed $1,000 and then added another $1,000, while Jorge Emilio de la Garza gave $2,000.  

It may be a bit early to gauge Portillo's performance in her new role.  At her installment as City Commissioner, she read from a prepared script, thanking those who worked in her campaign and her family for their support.  During a taped promotional for Cyclopedia with John Villarreal, Portillo seemed more like the veteran commissioner with John fading into the background.