"That Which Is Crooked Cannot Be Made Straight"~The Climate of Corruption in Cameron County

With Armando Villalobos, Jim Solis, Abel Limas, Conrado Cantu, Ray Marchan already indicted or imprisoned, the announcement by the El Rrun Rrun blog that four more indictments were likely forthcoming from among Rene Oliveira, Eddie Trevino, Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez, Judge Leonel Alejandro, Judge Arturo Nelson, Charles Willette and/or Judge David Sanchez indicates that likely corruption runs deep in Cameron County.

The preceding paragraph may be one of very few written in recent years about Cameron County corruption NOT mentioning Ernie, Norma or Erin Hernandez who have unethically used Brownsville and Cameron County as their personal ATM machines for two decades, presumptuously securing contracts with the city and county while depriving honest business men and women of that opportunity.  Preparation for two election fraud court trials produced substantial evidence of stolen elections using manipulation of mail-in ballots, harvesting of votes by politiqueras  from the nursing homes, day cares and elderly high rise and numerous other illegalities.

A prolific commenter on local blogs has coined or copied the word DUMBOCRATS to imply that the corruption is party-based.  A local educator is credited with the observation that "corruption is part of the Mexican culture."  Do you really think that political corruption is ethnic or limited to one political party?  Of course not!  By the way, local Republican County Judge Carlos Cascos, generally not associated with political corruption, admitted recently having used politiqueras to get elected.  Do you believe Cascos was not aware of the illegal nature of politiqueras in harvesting votes?  Those familiar with the antics of the original Mayor Daley of Chicago and his political machine would snicker at the concept that political corruption is a Mexican thing.

Sheriff Lucio

Bobby Wightman-Cervantes of the BROWNSVILLE VOICE blog claims that in a 2008 interview with affable, elderly County Sheriff Omar Lucio, the sheriff admitted to using politiqueras to get elected and re-elected.  The sheriff was quoted as saying that, although he did not pay the politiqueras for their services, he allowed them to fix tickets for relatives and associates.  In the recent Democratic primary, Sheriff Lucio, Abelardo Gomez and Carlos Masso had nearly identical mail-in votes.  When this was shown to outgoing Election Administrator Roger Ortiz, he admitted:  "The must have used the same politiquera or group of politiqueras."

                 Cameron County Democratic Primary~5/29/12

Name                                   Total Votes                %                           Mail-in Votes

                                                         COUNTY ATTORNEY

Carlos R. Masso                     8,072                        35.86                      192

Luis V. Saenz                          7,766                        34.50                        47

Maria Urbina De Ford             6,672                        29.64                        33

                                                               SHERIFF

Joe Cisneros                            6,107                        26.02                        55

Terry Vinson                            3,268                        13.92                        25
Omar Lucio                           14,096                         60.06                      191

                                                    CONSTABLE, PRECINCT 2

Juan S. Torres                         2,348                         27.45                        13
Roel Arreola                               893                            8.54                        7
Pete Avila, Jr.                          3,952                         37.78                        27
Abelardo "Abel" Gomez, Jr.     3,267                         31.23                      191

Mayor Tony Martinez

While refusing to believe the corruption in Cameron County is ethnic or party oriented, it is obviously pervasive, a culture, a way of doing business, operating.  Even politicos like Mayor Tony Martinez, not generally associated with political corruption, operate with total disregard for ethics or democratic principles.  Mayor Tony has been on an unencumbered free ride,  using taxpayer dollars to purchase  speculative real estate in downtown Brownsville without so much as a whimper from the citizenry or City Commission.  In one $2,300,000 deal Tony's law partner Horacio Barrera was allowed to represent the seller in a deal with the city for the purchase of the Casa del Nylon building.  And just think, Martinez is on a panel commissioned to create a new ethics code for Brownsville, along with City Manager Charlie Cabler and City Attorney Mark Sossi.  Ouch!