There is Battle Royale in full swing for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party of Cameron County.
It is a battle which is part of a war that began some four years ago when challenger Carlos Masso tried unsuccessfully for the second time to defeat incumbent Luis V. Saenz. Along the way, both sides gained adherents, resulting in two main factions who have squared off in this year's primaries.
Masso is in an election race for the 197th District Court to be vacated by incumbent Migdalia Lopez next January 2019. Aside from Masso, there are also Adolfo Cordova, Gerardo "Gerry" Linan and Sonia Herrera. But since this is a two-county district (Cameron and Willacy), the split in the Cameron County Democrats has less of a bearing on the results.
Linan has run for office before as has Herrera. And Cordova is well liked by most attorneys since he served as a magistrate for many years at Rucker-Carrizales. But in terms of name recognition, Masso has the upper hand. Can Masso pull it off without a runoff? Or will the vitriol generated in his two encounters with Saenz poison that dream and extend the race with one of these opponents?
It is in the other races that the split becomes more marked.
The lightning-rod race has to be the contest for Cameron County Clerk between incumbent Sylvia Garza-Perez and Lali Betancourt. Garza-Perez won her position and openly supported Masso with her growing constituency. She originally filed for county judge, but party old-timers talked her into switching position to allow former county clerk Joe Rivera to run for judge instead.
Rivera lost and Garza-Perez took over his office. She is running for re-election.
But politicians in South Texas have long memories and bear grudges, like the mascot for the other party is said to never forget.
Many say that Betancourt – the daughter of an iconic political dynasty started by the late Adolfo Betancourt – is DA Saenz's foil to Garza-Perez and that Team Saenz is pushing hard for her to defeat upstart Garza-Perez. The Betancourts hold several public offices such as county treasurer (David) and a county court-at-law judgeship (Laura).
The incumbent, who has forged alliances along the way, has also attracted other constituencies – including an alliance with current county judge Eddie Treviño – to try to stay in office. Among those supporting her is county tax assessor-collector Tony Yzaguirre who has a bone to pick with the DA who had him indicted by a jury on 23 corruption counts.
Yzaguirre was tried by a jury in Nueces County and acquitted. But he – and others – say that Saenz jumped the gun and filed the charges before the federal and state joint task force investigation was complete that resulted in the botched trial. They credit the ensuing publicity with boosting Saenz over Masso in what was generally seen as a tight race with Masso holding a thin edge over the incumbent.
Sources close to Yzaguirre say that it cost him upwards of $1,000 in legal fees over more than a year to clear his name. Recently, the same court where he was arraigned ordered the expungement of the charges for all public documents.
Many said it was ironic that the judge – Janet Leal of the 107th District Court and a former partner in the same law office where Sanez practiced law – signed the expungement order.
The Yzaguirre/Garza-Perez alliance was forged when she administered the oath to the then-indicted tax assessor-collector before he was tried. There were rumors at the time – later confirmed – that at a birthday party for treasurer Betancourt, he was introduced as the new county tax assessor-collector. When Garza-Perez administered the oath of office to Yzaguirre, that possibility evaporated.
Charges that Garza-Perez is using her office to favor friends and punish enemies and has forced her staff to support her reelection have been bandied about in social media. Some charge that she has allowed her staff to steer couples who have paid for their marriage license in her office toward JP 2-1 Linda Salazar, an ally. She denies it and says her staff is under orders to tell couples they can marry before a priest, a minister, any judge, or the JP of their choice.They say that claims by her campaign that her staff is hosting an event today at a local sports bar is false and that the staff members are being used involuntarily for her campaign.
If Betancourt should win, she is sure to put an end to those rumors and change the system at the office to dispell them. That is garnering some traction among the other JPs who have complained about the huge disparity in the number of lucrative marriage ceremonies ($200 to $350 a pop) between Salazar and all the other JPs in the county.
Garza-Prez's supporters, on the other hand, say that Lali Betancourt is being used by Saenz to get back at the county clerk for her support of his former challenger. They also say that Saenz supporting Betancourt is bowing before a political dynasty that has been entrenched on the county payroll for decades and that a change is needed. They criticize Saenz's support of candidates to different county and judicial offices saying he wants to exert an imperial influence in the entire county.
There are quirks, to be sure.
For example, in the JP 2-2 race between incumbent Jonathan Gracia and Cameron County Sheriff's Department Captain Javier Reyna, Saenz is said to be favoring Gracia. They say that Reyna is Salzar's nephew and that Saenz was openly supporting former DA Public Integrity Unit Chief Victor Cortez – a Republican – against Reyna's boss Sheriff Omar Lucio. Salazar's son, Ruben Cortez, is currently trying to hold on to his District 2 seat on the Texas State School Board of Education and has been present at many Reyna functions.
Gracia's supporters have said that Reyna has cost the county money as a result of lawsuits alleging official abuse, but have yet to provide the details. Reyna has charged that Gracia is too busy with his law practice to be available to law enforcement agencies when he is needed to make rulings. They scoff at his claim that he is a "full-time" judge.
There are two other candidates in that race, former constable office administrator Fred Martinez and Diego Hernandez, a supervisor at the Cameron County District Clerk Office. Will their votes throw the race into a runoff and exacerbate the schism between the two factions in the party?
Since Betancourt and Garza-Perez are the only two candidates for county clerk in the Democrat and Republican ballots, one of them will fill the office in November if they win the primary.
As the split branches off into the different races, it has now become a us-against-them dilemma where potential candidates for public office in the county feel they are being forced to choose one or the other. And waiting in the wings is Carlos Cascos, the only Republican candidate for county judge who will face either Treviño or Robert Sanchez in the November general election.
That this is happening in the home county of the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, former county judge Gilberto Hinojosa, leaves much to be said about fostering unity in the party under his watch. Additionally, his former county judge office assistant Jared Hockema, waltzed into the county party chairmanship without opposition because she didn't let anyone know she was not going to run for reelection.The smart money boys say it will be Treviño facing Cascos. If it is, the split becomes a biparty one since Cascos is an ally of the DA and in fact was sworn in by Saenz when he won reelection in 2014 but left to serve as Texas Secretary of State before returning to reclaim his old post.
Which way will Saenz go if it comes to that given the bad blood between Treviño's supporters and his Team Saenz? We've already seen some Democrats inviting Cascos to their rallies. Will the Demo split continue into the general election?