Brownsville Loses Round One As Tony's Puppets Prevail~Martinez Needs Only to Add Portillo to Achieve Majority

King Tony Celebrates Low Turnout

The hardworking taxpayers of  Brownsville took a severe hit as two proven lackeys of Tony Martinez, incumbents Rose Gowen and John Villarreal were re-elected as city commissioners, largely by default as over 95% of Brownsville's registered voters declined to participate in the democratic process.  Those who waited until Saturday, May 11 to vote, were confronted with a confusing assortment of 20 polling places with many voters having changed precincts without their knowledge.

With the exception of a single Monday at one polling place, early voting hours had ended at an arbitrary 5:30 PM, instead of the normal 7:00 or 8:00 PM.  "That was totally Tony's doing," explained one union official.  "We asked Chris Davis about the restrictive hours.  He claimed that it was Mayor Martinez' decision.  Of course, Martinez knew the working class did not support the direction he was taking the city, so he likely tried to make it more difficult for them to vote."  The anti-democratic Martinez feels Brownsville residents are too stupid to vote in local elections or have their comments included in the broadcast of city commission meetings.

With a built-in majority on the city commission, Mayor Tony Martinez has been given a free hand to squander $3,500,000 of taxpayer dollars on speculative real estate downtown.  He unethically used his law partner, Horacio L. Barrera, to negotiate the purchase of Casa del Nylon, an older retail building downtown, from his friend Abraham Galonsky for a highly inflated $2,300,000.  Who knows how money changed hands in that deal?

The two automatic votes Martinez secured with the re-election of the loyal Gowen and the pliant Villarreal, added to the Tony-financed Commissioner Estela Chavez-Vasquez, guarantee the continuation of similar shady deals by the mayor.  We are told several are already in place, pending city commission acquiescence.  Tony's personal fortune from representing clients alleging medical malpractice in the 80's may be largely depleted.  The unpaid mayor position, played just right, opens up the opportunity for monetary gain by accommodating and placating a shadowy group of rich con artists who pull Brownsville's strings behind a scam entity, United Brownsville.  So, put succinctly, Tony needs money and personal enrichment is only an automatic city commission vote away.

But two puppets aren't enough to get the job done.  Tony needs three votes to push his agenda through.  Enter 28 year old party girl Debbie Portillo, a young lady who has never held an actual job, never voted in a city commission race.  She did "work" in her parents jewelry store and was given a created position in United Brownsville as the Special Assistant to the Executive Director of United Brownsville.  She received $3,000 a month in that position for essentially doing her nails. (There are no actual duties in United Brownsville, a sham entity.)

Martin Sarkis

Next consider that this party girl, who has never even worked in a campaign or a job, never voted in a city election, somehow acquires a $30,000 war chest to run for city commissioner.  Of course, in Brownsville, political puppets are in high demand and worth their weight in gold.

Portillo will face off against Brownsville businessman, Martin Sarkis, 49, in the runoff.  Sarkis is Brownsville's only remaining hope to block Martinez' continued squandering of taxpayer assets and suppression of
democratic values in the city.