Earthfest 2013 Announced Despite Commissioner John Villarreal's Threat to Block Funding

Earthfest organizers have announced that the event will once again take place in Brownsville's Linear Park on April 27th despite last year's threat by District 4 City Commissioner John Villarreal to block funding for the annual event.

The normally reticent Villarreal, who seldom utters so much as a peep at City Commission meetings, typically playing a subservient role to Mayor Tony Martinez, became enraged at last year's festival when he noticed Mary Helen Flores in  a booth, passing out voter education materials.

In a telephone interview last year Flores defended her activities:

Mary Helen Flores

"I'm well aware of the need to not confuse my work with CAVA with political activity. I'm very careful to not combine the two. CAVA is about voter education. It is non-partisan."

Villarreal's problem with Mary Helen Flores was likely two-fold.  Flores was a supporter of Villarreal's 2010 District 4 opponent, Tony Zavaleta.  Also, Flores' group, Citizens Against Voter Abuse(CAVA), has frequently pointed out the flagrant election fraud committed by Ernie, Norma and Erin Hernandez who happen to be Villarreal's closest political friends, not to mention the politiquera activities of Margarita Ozuna, Herminia Becerra and Joey Garza, prominent Hernandez operatives. 

In our Mean Mister Brownsville article dated April 26, 2012 we described a sequence of events leading up to Villarreal's threat to defund future Earthfest events:

"Mary Helen Flores initially asked Villarreal to produce something in writing, some ordinance or city regulation that she was violating, or in absence of that, City Manager Charlie Cabler to cite the ordinance she was violating. John chose a different line of attack. He approached Parks Department official Shannon Guerro asking her assistance in ejecting Flores. Interestingly, Guerro, like Villarreal, is a close friend of the Hernandezes. Guerro's method of handling the situation was to ask Rio Bravo's Joe Boswell to ask Mary Helen Flores to leave. Witnesses state that, by this time, the incident had caught the attention of EarthFest lead official, Municipal Judge Ben Neece. It was at this point, that Commissioner Villarreal played his trump card in front of Boswell, Neece and others. Villarreal stated in front of the assembled group that because of this "incident," he would vote not to fund EarthFest next year. What is more, John stated, he had been in contact with Mayor Martinez and fellow Commissioner Melissa Zamora and they both agreed not to fund the event next year."

Commissioner Zamora

This last escalation of the incident by John Villarreal may have been at worst a misrepresentation or merely a bluff. Melissa Zamora made clear later on the CAVA site that she at least did not agree with Villarreal:

Here is Zamora's comment made on the CAVA site: 

 "Just wanted to clarify some misinformation. I fully support and will continue to support the Earthfest activities.   I so much enjoyed judging the children's cooking competion on Saturday, and I again attended events on Sunday at Lincoln Park.   I personally thanked all the organizers and commended them for a job well done.  Not once did I mention Mary Helen or express discontent with the organizers on her passing out fliers. I've always been a strong advocate for free speech, and I also supported the airing of public comment at our meetings." 

Letty Perez-Garzoria,
Candidate for City Commissioner,
District 4

Why bring up John Villarreal's temper tantrum from a year ago?  Well, first of all, it speaks to the character of the District 4 City Commissioner who is in a closer-than-expected fight with Letty Perez-Garzoria for that city commission position.  Also, we are unaware of any public apology by Villarreal for his petulant actions at last year's event nor a personal apology to Mary Helen Flores for violating her First Amendment rights.