Tony Martinez Serves As Role Model for Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi

King Anthony XIII

Mayor Tony Martinez and Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi share a remarkable kinship.  Both men won democratic elections but then moved quickly to assume absolute power.

Mayor Martinez serves as a role model for Mursi, instantly assuming kingship just as Mursi wants to become another Egyptian dictator.  In his first City Commission meeting, Martinez took the board appointments right out of two young commissioner's mouths, referring them instead to a shadowy, unnamed board, not accountable to the citizenry.  Two commissioner's districts instantly lost representation, yet were still subject to taxation.

As his protege Mursi would later do in Egypt, Mayor Martinez also moved quickly to stifle, squelch and stymie dissent by blocking the broadcast of public commenters.  Only the royal pronouncements of King Anthony and his court could officially be heard and seen in the Kingdom of Brownsville.

Although Mursi wants to create a new constitution, Mayor Martinez simply circumvents the existing one which calls for representative democracy.  Since City Commission decisions are actually put to a vote, Martinez laid the groundwork for controlling that vote by heavily subsidizing or providing amenities for commissioner candidates that would guarantee a rubber stamp once elected.  One can argue that the results so far have not been without a few dictatorial hiccups, but the effort has been there.  The campaigns of Commissioners Rose Gowen and Estela Chavez-Vasquez were heavily supported by Martinez with a view to achieving a coalition that would sing backup harmony for Martinez.  Gowen particularly has been a dutiful plant with nearly a perfect pro-Martinez voting record.  One almost forgets the sound of her voice unless some matter of public health or a green initiative comes into play.  Melissa Zamora even rented her house from Mayor Martinez and perhaps still does.  All of this was certainly by design.

Debbie Portillo

But, now with Melissa Zamora moving on to challenge the notoriously unprincipled Aurora de la Garza for District Clerk, the mayor has set his sights on another plant to guarantee him control of the City Commission vote, a young twenty-seven year old Debbie Portillo, already neatly positioned in a job with no actual work but a huge title, Special Assistant to the Executive Director of United Brownsville.  Martinez has already given young Debbie an office in the Cueto Building.  Her boss is Mike Gonzalez, who likely is an expert at video games or crossword puzzles, because there is no work done at the nicely appointed office of United Brownsville.  Annually Gonzalez shines his shoes to make appearances at BISD, P.U.B., the City Commission, the Brownsville Navigation District, TSC/UTB, the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation and the Greater Brownsville Incentive Corporation to dun the entities for 25 grand each to finance the do-nothing sham of a think tank.

Martinez is already giving Portillo the Rose Gowen treatment, readying her to replace Melissa Zamora as his personal plant on the City Commission.  Will Martinez subsidize a sea of blue signs to flood the vacant lots, residences and store fronts of District 3 to prove that young Debbie "believes in Brownsville?"  Knowing what we know about monarchies and dictatorships, it will be in District 3 and Brownsville's best interest to block this blatant move by Martinez.  Perhaps businessman Martin Sarkis can be convinced that his city needs him to maintain a balance on the City Commission, preventing the monarchy.

King Anthony Tries His Hand At Gerrymandering

While most of us may view Tony Martinez as a do-nothing mayor, that is not the case.  While he has done nothing for Brownsville, he has worked diligently behind the scenes to promote his own interests.  In addition to setting up Debbie Portillo for a District 3 commissioner run, Tony has tried to gerrymander the other districts in a very self-serving way.  Tony wants to move the affluent Rio Viejo area into District 1 or 4 so that one of his rich cronies could replace John Villarreal or Ricardo Longoria.  He also tried to remove the neighborhood of Jessica Tetreau from District 2.  These are blatant, illogical moves not based in common sense.  It's not about representation, but about control and Tony has shown a flair for manipulation to get what he wants.