Thursday, June 16, 2016

First of Four Tax Assessor Write-In Candidate Forums Held at Brownsville Public Library

Tad Hasse carefully explained one more time why he's launching four candidate forums for write-in candidates for tax assessor.  The first forum was held Thursday night in a meeting room at the Brownsville Public Library.

"We're just tired of these appointments being made time and again without voter input," Hasse stated.  

As Hasse has repeatedly explained, IF indicted incumbent Tony Yzaguirre gets the most votes, then is convicted, the Cameron County Commissioner's Court selects a replacement.

"Then, you appoint someone for two years and they now become the incumbent in the next election with at least a 10% advantage."

In other words, the cronyism keeps perpetuating itself.  


Candidates Leo Lopez, Jessica Puente-Bradshaw
Three out of the four declared write-in candidates for tax assessor showed up, Jessica Puente-Bradshaw, Leo Lopez and Randy Garza.  

Possibly, throwing a monkey wrench into the plan, Erasmo Castro of the Brownsville Cheezmeh Facebook page was a no show.  A quipster remarked that Erasmo was "the elephant not in the room."  Castro may feel his popularity on Facebook affords him the opportunity to go it alone.  He certainly has the right.


Group Meets in Side Room at Brownsville Public Library
But, Hasse emphasized that, for the plan to work, the candidates must be willing to support the candidate the forums reveal to be the strongest.   He estimates that the write-in will need about 14,000 votes to win.  The indicted incumbent, Tony Yzaguirre, received 11,528 votes in the primary, an embarrassment, revealing the lack of information possessed by Cameron County voters. 

Hasse asked the candidates two questions:  "Why are you the most qualified candidate?"


Write-in Candidate Randy Gonzalez
The second question was:  "Why do you feel you can pull more votes than the other candidates?"  I don't feel the candidates really understood or addressed the second question, as they went back to reiterating their qualifications, which has little to do with garnering votes.  

Jessica Puente-Bradshaw, for example, has the distinct advantage of being an Hispanic woman, proven time and again to be an asset in local elections.  
She has name recognition, with at least a couple county wide races behind her and a run for Congress.  

Leo Lopez has administrator experience at BISD, the Health Department as well as involvement in numerous non-profits.

Randy Gonzalez can point to his 9-1/2 years in the military, his management of a local nursing home and relative youth.

24 comments:

  1. Leo Lopez was a failure at BISD he has failed at most jobs he has held.

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  2. How many elections has Jessica Puente-Bradshaw won? stick with the facts, Jim! She's toxic.

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  3. Whoever came up with the "elephant not in the room" is a genius...

    Didn't make the forum because of work. As most know my job takes me Midland, Houston and of course Austin.

    It is my hope that a great candidate emerges for this position, in the absence of one I would opt to run. One of our all time stances has been and will continue to be "No one should run unopposed". In the case of Tax Assessor Collector, we desperately need to unite and do all we can against Yzaguirre and his people. To reiterate, if a great candidate does not emerge, the "elephant not in the room" will run.

    Blessing Jim.

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    1. "To reiterate, if a great candidate does not emerge, the "elephant not in the room" will run."

      So, despite the forum process, you will unilaterally determine if the surviving candidate is "great" enough? It seems that you want to bypass Tad's process while giving it lip service.

      You must believe that, even with another write-in candidate in the race as well as the incumbent, you could get enough votes to beat Yzaguirre.

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    2. Actually that is not what I meant. I have great faith in the process. I would focus more on my words: "we desperately need to unite and do all we can against Yzaguirre and his people"... the ONLY reason I would OPT to run is if a great candidate would not emerge when we need to fight against all the crap that continuously keeps us down... in this case, there IS a process in place to find that candidate. I will do all in my poor power to assist the process my friend. Blessings Jim

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    3. By Erasmo staying in the race isn't he saying that no one is more qualified than a felon from Austin?

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  4. I guarantee you this was a plot by Tad to get Jessica Bradshaw the nomination. He idolizes her. This was smart though, and I applaud him for getting other idiots to follow

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    1. Plot or not,Tad deserves credit for the effort he is putting out. Anyone for the position except Leo Lopez , as I think his wife will dominate his position if he were to win . Didn't she also buy some "questionable " properties from the old gang in power? Fuck you Leo!

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  5. If this is some sort of scheme to get Jessica Bradshaw whatever the designated candidate, I'll take a pass. She's from the lunatic right wing fringe.

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  6. After receiving some information on spoilers last week I decided to not attend the forum. There is nothing in place for anyone to be able to decide the best candidate. This election is going to have a very, very large palanca vote because of the presidential election. This means they are not voting for Yzaguierre but just a straight Democratic ticket. The ballot is going to be large and in Brownsville you will also have a BISD Ballot. People are just not going to be interested in reading all of the names on the ballot.

    It is going to take a lot of money and an army of volunteers to pull this off. If OP10.33 decides to run a candidate that candidate will have near unlimited funding making any candidate chosen by his forum the spoiler.

    I have no problem with the concept of trying to find the best candidate, but finding a needle in a haystack would easier. Everyone who showed or claims to want to run have been rejected by the people already. Nothing is going to change. We really need to be focusing on the BISD races. But egos will rule as they always do - so play on and when the palanca vote proves too much for a candidate with no money and no political machine I am certain the conspiracy theories will fly. I find it funny that a write in candidate if they won would have to agree to uphold the constitution. But in seeking to run they are ignoring the constitutional right of Yzaguirre of innocent until proven guilty. There is a story which will break soon enough on several corrupted cases in DA Saenz's office. Anyone who is willing to declare Yzaguirre guilty before a trial is not fit to hold office

    Bobby WC

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    1. Spoilers? Jim, if somebody had to explain to you how the palanca works during presidential election years it is starting to make sense that you are giving so much time to your buddies Hasse and his nowhere near qualified social climbing slightly Marty Feldman-looking friend.

      It was badly run, started late, and was anticlimactic.

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    2. Get over yourself , Bobby ! You weren't missed or needed. Go back to writing your crap about how you still believe in Mike Hernandez and all your ailments !

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  7. Why was Adela there? Looking to cheer her old friend Jessica BRADSHAW?

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    1. 9:13 Nephew Randy & Auntie Adela. Adela only shows up when she has skin in the game.

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    2. Adela Garza is involved with OP1033 SHE ACTS IF SHE DOESN'T LIKE THIS ORGANIZATION ,BUT REMEMBER SHE PLAYS BOTH SIDES TO GET WHAT SHE WANTS, SHE IS A CRY BABY, ALL SHE WANTS IS TO BE THE CHAIR PERSON FOR TSC, SHE CRY'S AND CRY'S TO ALL THE BOARD MEMBERS. I BET SHE CALLS THEM EVERY DAY TELLING THEM , THAT IT SHOULD BE HER TURN TO BE CHAIR PERSON. HOW SAD OF A WOMEN, ONLY LOOKING OUT FOR HER SELF AND NOT FOR OUR COMMUNITY

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    3. Adela has nothing to do with OP10.33 and has in fact actively supported each of their picks' opponents so give the bullshit a rest.

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    4. And it's "cries", dumbass.

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  8. An unbiased opinion please, which candidate best presented their case for being elected the county tax assessor?

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  9. Leonel Lopez no doubt about it

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    1. Leo Lopez desperately needs a job if not his wife will divorce him. He is a joke. He doesn't care about anyone but pleasing his wife. He would be 100 times worst than Tony. The difference between Tony and Leo six Leo will have a wife that's a Distrct judge running interference between him and the DA to not prosecute.

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  10. Again that's your opinion Cata ///

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  11. I find it funny how before all this mess no one wanted to run against Mr. Yzaguirre now all of a sudden it's like everyone wants to run ..where were these candidates then?

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