𝗝𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗬, 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗖𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘; 𝗜'𝗩𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗔 𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗕𝗢𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗢𝗦 𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗭𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗢, 𝗡𝗢𝗥 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗜 "𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗦𝗘𝗗" 𝗛𝗜𝗠!

"Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton, 1887

Donald J. Trump

Admittedly, my primary focus in recent months has diverted from local political races to the national stage: Donald Trump vs the United States, democratic values, "alternate facts," disinformation vs truth.

Should the disingenuous Trump prevail November 5, 2024, mini-Trumps will sprout across our land, including the RGV, hurling juvenile insults at the political opponents, denigrating them, dehumanizing them, while also stifling, squelching and stymieing other would-be dissenters.

Yet, despite my focus on the national election, every few days, I'll scan our two other local blogs, El Rrun Rrun and the McHale Report, to see what's being written and reported.

The prolific Jerry McHale, in just the last 24 hours, had submitted over 30 blog offerings on the McHale Report, many simply photos accompanied by a caption or headline, including the obligatory entry featuring human female mammary glands.

In the 29th position among Jerry's submissions was an article featuring BISD Board Trustee Carlos Elizondo that misrepresented my perspective with regard to Mr. Elizondo, chiding me to "Google" his name or read characterizations of him through the years on El Rrun Rrun.

Carlos Elizondo

If I bear responsibility for Jerry's mischaracterization of my position on Elizondo, it's because my article on the pending sale of the Brownsville Learning Center(the former Cummings Middle School) to the Gladys Porter Zoo simply contained a Facebook discussion between Ramiro Gonzalez and Carlos Elizondo that I posted without commentary.(Surprisingly, McHale didn't also assume that, by posting that conversation, I'd also become a fanboy of Ramiro Gonzalez.) 

Even as a self-described backsliding agnostic, my articles frequently contain the admonition from the historical Jesus in Saint Matthew 24:15,16 to "Let the reader use discernment."

In other words, I'm suggesting that my adult readers can form their own conclusions as I share the bare bones of a discussion or controversy without side commentary from me and that's what I've done in reporting on the proposed transfer of the old Cummings Middle School buildings to the zoo.

In another article, following my lunch interview with BISD Board President Jessica Gonzalez, I think I'd made clear BISD's position that the sale would need to net them sufficient funds to build an alternate Brownsville Learning Center on one of their campuses.

Before going further, let me post McHale's statements that misrepresented my view:

(EDITOR'S NOTE: At The McHale Report we find it interesting that The Brownsville Observer's Publisher Jim Barton is putting in a good word via his anonymous contributors for BISD Trustee Carlos Elizondo who  is hoping to win a majority on the BISD Board of Trustees so he can fire Brownsville's own Superintendent Jesus Chavez. Barton's praise of Elizondo comes in the middle of the negotiations between the City and the BISD over the sale of the former Cummings Middle School. Eventually, the City will buy the property at a reasonable price in order to expand Gladys Porter Zoo, Brownsville's number one tourist attraction. The BISD basically has no use for the aging complex. It's present function can be transferred to any number of empty BISD school buildings. Elizondo, often considered the community's version of Donald Trump, is not a good person. He has had a checkered career at best. If he had the mental capacity to play chess, he would have been checkmated many years ago. He likes to think of himself as a king when he barely has the power of a pawn. Blogger Barton is an eclectic thinker, so he has his reasons for putting Elizondo on a pedestal, but if he would just scrutinize Google, or Juan Montoya's El Rrun Rrun archives, he would immediately discover from the many deleterious articles posted about the former fire chief, who got caught with his pants on fire, depicts a person who is nothing short of despicable. He is one of the many reasons Brownsville never seems to get ahead. As we reported earlier from a prominent public servant who is held in high prestige: "There is something wrong with Carlos. He is sick.")

In the interest of accuracy, not self-vindication, I never "praised" Elizondo, someone I've been aware of since, as a chubby young firefighter, he was taking night classes to better himself at a local college.

Two friends of mine, longtime firefighters Jorge Lerma and Rico Bocanegra, mentored Elizondo, unabashedly supporting him as he eventually rose to the position of Fire Chief, replacing the embattled Lenny Perez.

Over his years of service with the local fire department, Elizondo was involved in several instances involving theft or misappropriation of department property, although none of these charges ever seemed to stick to the teflon-coated Elizondo.(My memory is that I was the only blogger attending those civil service hearings.)

Although, many of us were shocked at the racial slurs caught on the taping of comments by former City Commissioner Cesar De Leon, it's worth noting that it was a supposed friend, Carlos Elizondo, who recorded and released that tape to the public.

There was also the matter of an ill-advised supplementary ambulance service involving Elizondo, City Manager Charlie Cabler and City Attorney Mark Sossi that may have contributed to the firing of Sossi and abrupt retirement of Cabler.

During Elizondo's tenure as Fire Chief, I ran into a distraught Rico Bocanegra just outside the U.S. Post Office on Elizabeth Street.

While sparing me the details, Bocanegra had this to say about Elizondo:  "Jim, we did everything to support and help that boy, but, as soon as he gained control, he stabbed us all in the back."

And, in the interest of accuracy, let me quote what I wrote about Elizondo in the Brownsville Observer when he was elected to the BISD Board of Trustees:

"One personal surprise in the November election was Carlos Elizondo's easy BISD School Board victory over Drue Brown and Philip Cowen.

Elizondo, a personable young man, has had his brushes with the law and countless questionable incidents, including being charged with "unauthorized" ATM withdrawals amounting to thousands of dollars from a Brownsville Fire Department account and other misdeeds, but he's never been convicted.  There were even reports that Elizondo had cheated on his entrance exam, changing his grade from 69-71, but he later referred to the whole thing as a "witch hunt."

My first encounter with Carlos was over a decade ago, introduced by Jorge Lerma and Rigo Bocanegra, de facto leaders within the Brownsville Fire Department.

Back then, Jorge and Rigo were proud of Carlos, a chubby lad working nights in the fire department and taking college courses at UTB during the day.

The story was that then Fire Chief Lenny Perez was giving Elizondo a hard time with tuition reimbursement, something spelled out clearly in the city's contract with the department.

By May of 2016 Elizondo was named Brownsville Fire Chief.

In short order the very men who'd supported Elizondo's climb through the ranks to become Fire Chief, felt betrayed, backstabbed and disrespected, seeing firsthand how easily power corrupts.

As is typical in Brownsville and the valley, Elizondo's hiring was based on compadrismo, not merit.

Eventually, Elizondo was deposed as Fire Chief without pay October 17, 2017 by the city, a decision held up during a 2018 civil service hearing before a 3 member panel headed by retired firefighter Ben Nunez, Sr.

During that civil service hearing and a followup hearing in 2019, Attorney Ricardo Navarro, representing the city, claimed that even after Elizondo's termination, he'd unlawfully accessed a Brownsville Fire Department computer 48 times for emergency response information in attempting to divert emergency calls to a private ambulance service partially owned by Elizondo.

Elizondo was only charged for 11 of the instances of unlawful computer access, but found not guilty, but his tenure as Fire Chief was turbulent and department morale was extremely low.

This is only a partial summation of Elizondo's checkered record, but, no matter, Brownsville voters have deemed him worthy of guiding the education of their children for the next four years."

Jerry McHale

Gawd dammit McHale. Get your shit right!