By Juan Montoya
If you listen to the infamous tape recording released by Carlos Elizondo to discredit City of Brownsville Commissioner Cesar de Leon to distract people from his potentially criminal actions as Brownsville Fire Department chief, you might remember some of his comments.
![Image result for carlos elizondo]()
Elizondo told De Leon cryptically more than one time that he would "never hurt you on purpose," and pledged his loyalty.
But now that he has approached blogger and retired teacher Jerry McHale and told him not to write about his wife or family, (or else?) a pattern is emerging.
Just this morning one of our seven readers called us concerned that she had heard that FBI agents had visited De Leon's office at the corner of Van Buren and E. 10th streets and wondered whether the commissioner was in the sights of the federal government.
We inquired (as we are wont to do at times) from the office and were told (anonymously) that federal agents had indeed gone aknocking there. But they weren't there to ransack De Leon's office or take his computer. Apparently, they were there to make sure that Elizondo was not acting on his veiled threats (warnings?) about hurting him "on purpose" or otherwise.
Coming on the heels of the encounter between McHale and the former fire chief, this has raised some eyebrows among local players who wonder whether its merely bravado or whether there is actually some sinister side to Elizondo.
We remember when there was a similar incident at Annie S. Putegnat Elementary that was being used by the BISD and SombreroFest staff as an office from where they organized the festival at Washington Park. At that time we were told that Elizondo had insisted that he (and his family) be allowed to use the bathroom in the school and not the portable toilets used by the rest of the public.
There was a mini-confrontation between SombreroFest staff and Elizondo (backed by BISD counsel Baltazar Salazar) and there were some bruised feelings on both sides.
When we wrote about it, we got a stern call from Elizondo telling us that we could write anything we wanted about him, but to leave his "family" out of it. He didn't seem to realize that he had curried popular support for his candidacy to the BISD board and that by exposing his family to the public spotlight, he himself had limited their expectations of privacy.
And some former members of the BISD board have told us that he had issued these types of "warnings" at them and some adminitrators.
It would behoove this gent to realize that other people are watching his actions and – in the case of federal agents – might move to assure that potential witnesses, like De Leon, are safe. If they feel that the case they're making will be threatened (there's that word again) by his actions or somber warnings, they might move to preempt anything from happening.
Just saying.
If you listen to the infamous tape recording released by Carlos Elizondo to discredit City of Brownsville Commissioner Cesar de Leon to distract people from his potentially criminal actions as Brownsville Fire Department chief, you might remember some of his comments.
But now that he has approached blogger and retired teacher Jerry McHale and told him not to write about his wife or family, (or else?) a pattern is emerging.
Just this morning one of our seven readers called us concerned that she had heard that FBI agents had visited De Leon's office at the corner of Van Buren and E. 10th streets and wondered whether the commissioner was in the sights of the federal government.
We inquired (as we are wont to do at times) from the office and were told (anonymously) that federal agents had indeed gone aknocking there. But they weren't there to ransack De Leon's office or take his computer. Apparently, they were there to make sure that Elizondo was not acting on his veiled threats (warnings?) about hurting him "on purpose" or otherwise.
Coming on the heels of the encounter between McHale and the former fire chief, this has raised some eyebrows among local players who wonder whether its merely bravado or whether there is actually some sinister side to Elizondo.
We remember when there was a similar incident at Annie S. Putegnat Elementary that was being used by the BISD and SombreroFest staff as an office from where they organized the festival at Washington Park. At that time we were told that Elizondo had insisted that he (and his family) be allowed to use the bathroom in the school and not the portable toilets used by the rest of the public.
There was a mini-confrontation between SombreroFest staff and Elizondo (backed by BISD counsel Baltazar Salazar) and there were some bruised feelings on both sides.
When we wrote about it, we got a stern call from Elizondo telling us that we could write anything we wanted about him, but to leave his "family" out of it. He didn't seem to realize that he had curried popular support for his candidacy to the BISD board and that by exposing his family to the public spotlight, he himself had limited their expectations of privacy.
And some former members of the BISD board have told us that he had issued these types of "warnings" at them and some adminitrators.
It would behoove this gent to realize that other people are watching his actions and – in the case of federal agents – might move to assure that potential witnesses, like De Leon, are safe. If they feel that the case they're making will be threatened (there's that word again) by his actions or somber warnings, they might move to preempt anything from happening.
Just saying.