Saturday, July 19, 2014

Corruption at Cameron Park~A Pictorial Essay of the 2012 Election, Now the Subject of Indictments

The van pictured above,  allegedly rented by Carlos Masso was observed delivering loads of the elderly to the Cameron Park polling place during the 2012 primary runoff.  Nena and I were poised to document the incidents through pictures, but we'd been seen. While we were there, just outside the gates of the Cameron Park Community Center, the van would simply be driven past, without stopping.  After we left, we got a call from Zeke Silva stating that, as soon as we left the area, deliveries of the elderly started up again.  

So, we drove back to Cameron Park, preparing to take pictures.  Within 5 minutes or so, a Cameron County Sheriff's deputy, followed by Election Administrator Roger Ortiz were on the scene.  The deputy went inside the polling place.  Ortiz approached us.

"Pictures are not allowed within the designated polling place," Ortiz explained.  

I told Ortiz that Nena's camera was in the truck, that, we were taking pictures outside the polling area, not inside.   Ortiz said he could have us arrested for loitering.(Later, the F.B.I. asked if we wanted to file a civil rights violation against Ortiz, stating that he had no right to threaten us with a loitering charge.)

Three political camps were obviously working together with tents just beyond the fence of the community center:  Abelardo Gomez, Carlos Masso and Erin H. Garcia.

In the picture above, Election Judge Arcellia Villolon steps outside the polling place during polling hours to confer with Candidate for Constable Abelardo Gomez and Junior Andrade.  Was she talking about coordinating the busloads of elderly?  Was she talking about our presence?  As soon as she noticed Nena snapping a picture from across the street with a zoom lens, she ran back inside.

Later, we received this message:
"The guy next to Abelardo(Gomez) talking to the lady(Election Judge) is Junior Andrade his compadre. The Andrades are scum that brag about having poiticians in their pockets. They run several arcade estsablishments and bankrolled Gomez for protection of their arcade businesses. Luis Saenz should close all the arcades,...the Andrades gave alot of money to Carlos Masso also. They are people that do not know what an honest living is."


I walked around to the snap this picture of longtime politiqueras Margarita Ozuna and Herminia Becerra at the Abelardo Gomez tent.  While they posed for this picture, Ozuna tried to pick a quarrel with Nena later. Herminia, though, was very open about her role:  "No one get elected unless I say so," she told us.


The grainy picture on the left was taken by someone with their cell phone.  They allege that it shows Carlos Masso paying the drivers of the vans of elderly taken to Cameron Park.

9 comments:

  1. (stating that he had no right to threaten us with a loitering charge.)

    In Cameron Park, if you got the Buck$$$, you're in charge. Been there, don that, err, escaped with my life.
    Dags.

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  2. Wow, good work Jim.

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  3. Carlos Masso wasn't the only candidate with vans running back and forth with our vulnerable seniors. Elia Conejo Lobez did the same in support her husband in the Pct 2 County Commissioner race. Anyone with one eye can see these vans coming and going to the voting places. The politiqueras and the candidates they serve are taking advantage of our seniors....a form of elder abuse if you ask me. What a shame that we have such low-life people who take advantage of the aged, either in their homes or in elder care facilities. Politiqueras pollute the election process. Any elected official who tries to enforce the election laws takes a risk of the consequences that come from cheating the system and the citizens of this community.

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  4. What do we expect. Cameron Park is a Mexican Island surrounded by Brownsville. They conduct politics as they would in Mexico, where corruption is a major element in elections.

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    1. Who developed Cameron Park and is responsible for its "demographics" and made a killing in the process? I don't think it was a "Mexican".

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  5. Useless effort, Jim. Nothing changes around here, dude. Take up Bingo!

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  6. So ..... if nobody tries to do anything about it, nothing ever will change around here! If there were more people like the Bartons, we may actually get things changed. Thanks, Mr & Mrs Barton, for what you do.

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  7. Norma Hernandez and Amadeo Rodriguez, Sara Perales with another of their politiqueras were houling seniors to the elections office and Cristo Rey, we must admit it was a very well planed operation, the problem was they did not allow the people to get out of the vans to vote, they went inside to get the ballots and they filled them out for them then handed them to the people inside the van just to sign it. This had been going on for many years, only this tine thanks to Jim and Nena and other people, it was documented and reported, not to local outhorities because it had been done before and did absolutely nothing, but to the FBI

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  8. What it takes is when the FBI, or other authority asks you if you want to make a complaint, you say YES! Then they have something to work with. Once they have a victim who is willing to pursue their rights, then the perpetrator is wide open. From there, hopefully more info flows regarding others. No victim, their hands are tied.

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