Gilberto Hinojosa, the Dangerous Undercurrent in the Cameron County Judge Race

Texas Democrats looked longingly at the border in 2012, seeing substantial blocks of blue in an essentially red state.  

Without due diligence, the state party, using a so-called logical fallacy, chose Gilberto Hinojosa, the former Cameron County Democratic Chair, to work his magic statewide as chairman of the Texas Democratic Party.  State officials, aware of the uphill battle Democrats faced in their communities, figured Hinojosa must have been doing something right, not understanding the deeply rooted Democratic tradition in hispanic areas.  

Cindy, Gilberto Hinojosa

Had state party officials called south of the Arroyo Colorado, they would have learned that Gilberto Hinojosa is widely viewed  as a pariah, associated with election manipulation, backdoor deals and the kind of political corruption being dealt with slowly, feebly in Cameron County.  Truthfully, many Cameron County Democrats breathed a sigh of relief when Hinojosa was elected as state chair, hoping against hope that he would be sufficiently occupied in his new job so as not to stick his nose into individual races in Cameron County between Democrats.

Sylvia Garza-Perez

Those entertaining such hope were proved wrong, when, this past fall, Hinojosa interjected himself into the Cameron County Judge and Clerk races, and, by default, the eventual appointee to run Cameron County's troubled Human Resources Department.

After inappropriately endorsing and actually introducing Sylvia Garza-Perez as a candidate for County Judge, Gilberto began to have second thoughts.  Was Sylvia, should she get past fellow Democrat Ruben Pena, a strong enough candidate to defeat Republican Carlos Cascos?  Evidently, Hinojosa didn't think so as he approached County Clerk Joe Rivera about running for County Judge and Garza-Perez filing for County Clerk to replace Joe.  

County Clerk Joe Rivera

Even after the brokered deal was in place, Rivera continued to deny:  "Very few have stayed 40 years in one position.  I'd like to reach 40 as County Clerk." That proved untrue as Rivera indeed filed for County Judge.  Sylvia Garza-Perez placed "Clerk" stickers over the word "Judge" on her campaign signs. 

Motivating Hinojosa in this intervention in local Democratic races goes beyond simply promoting the Democratic Party, after all County Judge Candidates Ruben Pena, Martin Arambula are T. Rivera are Democrats, as are clerk candidates Letty Perez-Garzoria, George Kowalski, Don De Leon and Arnold Flores, Jr. Hinojosa's motivation is the deep butthurt he still feels from losing the county judgeship to Carlos Cascos in 2006, then seeing his boy, John Wood, also fall to Cascos in 2010.  In actuality, whether 2006, 2010 or 2014, regardless of the name on the ballot, the reality is it's Gilberto Hinojosa vs. Carlos Cascos.