Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Incumbent City of Brownsville District 2 Commissioner Jessica-Tetreau has filed a lawsuit in district court seeking the removal of one of her challengers - Catalina Presas-Garcia, for allegedly signing a petition stating she collected signatures to get on the ballot when someone else did it for her.
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Tetreau filed for declaratory relief motion for emergency temporary relief last Friday for an emergency temporary restraining order and motion for permanent injunction and mandamus to the City of Brownsville Secretary Griselda Ramos in the 197th District Court. (2018-DCL-115-C)
Both Ramos and Presas-Garcia have been served with the notice of suit. Obviously, Tetreau does not relish the thought of having Presas-Garcia on the ballot. Former mayor Pat Ahumada is also running for District 2.
In her posted announcement, Presas-Garcia pointedly said there were som things that she would not do as commissioner including:
"I will not embarrass my city or the voters by getting arrested for assaulting a senior citizen.
"I will not interfere with the operations of the police department or any other city department on behalf of my friends.
"And I will not flaunt my wealth posting on social media that I am buying expensive jewelry and luxury cars while our city is ranked the poorest in the country."
Tetreau's complaint centers around her claim that the petitions for Presas-Garcia to be on the ballot were fraudulent because the forms bore her signature when in reality it was someone else - in this case William Kingsbury - who solicited the signatures from voters.
A technicality? Perhaps. Tetreau is not arguing that the voters did not want Presas-Garcia on the ballot, but rather that she deliberately committed perjury in signing the bottom of the form in violation of the election code. Will a court interpret that to mean that the intent of the voters should be cast aside and remove her from the ballot on something the voters had nothing to do with?
Perhaps Tetreau didn't realize this, but when one asks for an injunction, it applies not only to your race, but to the entire election process. If one is issued, it stops the process and affects all the other candidates. If granted, no ballots can be printed, and the process is prolonged, including early voting April 22, and impacts all the candidates' literature.
It's ironic that Tetreau is alleging perjury when she herself was the object of a similar complaint with the Brownsville Police Department on a charge that she tried to get Ramos to change the minutes of a meeting where she alleged that Mayor Tony Martinez had misinterpreted her vote on an appointment to the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation.
In that case, cooler heads prevailed, and the complaint came to naught.
It is also highly instructive that the attorney she hired, Rick Zayas, is a sworn Presas-Garcia enemy and often found themselves on opposite sides on the board of Brownsville Independent School District. Zayas has blamed Presas-Garcia for his eventual defeat for a seat on the board. Now Zayas is Tetreau's attorney to remove her from the city ballot.
Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.
Incumbent City of Brownsville District 2 Commissioner Jessica-Tetreau has filed a lawsuit in district court seeking the removal of one of her challengers - Catalina Presas-Garcia, for allegedly signing a petition stating she collected signatures to get on the ballot when someone else did it for her.
Tetreau filed for declaratory relief motion for emergency temporary relief last Friday for an emergency temporary restraining order and motion for permanent injunction and mandamus to the City of Brownsville Secretary Griselda Ramos in the 197th District Court. (2018-DCL-115-C)Both Ramos and Presas-Garcia have been served with the notice of suit. Obviously, Tetreau does not relish the thought of having Presas-Garcia on the ballot. Former mayor Pat Ahumada is also running for District 2.
In her posted announcement, Presas-Garcia pointedly said there were som things that she would not do as commissioner including:
"I will not embarrass my city or the voters by getting arrested for assaulting a senior citizen.
"I will not interfere with the operations of the police department or any other city department on behalf of my friends.
"And I will not flaunt my wealth posting on social media that I am buying expensive jewelry and luxury cars while our city is ranked the poorest in the country."
Tetreau's complaint centers around her claim that the petitions for Presas-Garcia to be on the ballot were fraudulent because the forms bore her signature when in reality it was someone else - in this case William Kingsbury - who solicited the signatures from voters.
A technicality? Perhaps. Tetreau is not arguing that the voters did not want Presas-Garcia on the ballot, but rather that she deliberately committed perjury in signing the bottom of the form in violation of the election code. Will a court interpret that to mean that the intent of the voters should be cast aside and remove her from the ballot on something the voters had nothing to do with?
Perhaps Tetreau didn't realize this, but when one asks for an injunction, it applies not only to your race, but to the entire election process. If one is issued, it stops the process and affects all the other candidates. If granted, no ballots can be printed, and the process is prolonged, including early voting April 22, and impacts all the candidates' literature.
It's ironic that Tetreau is alleging perjury when she herself was the object of a similar complaint with the Brownsville Police Department on a charge that she tried to get Ramos to change the minutes of a meeting where she alleged that Mayor Tony Martinez had misinterpreted her vote on an appointment to the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation.
In that case, cooler heads prevailed, and the complaint came to naught.
It is also highly instructive that the attorney she hired, Rick Zayas, is a sworn Presas-Garcia enemy and often found themselves on opposite sides on the board of Brownsville Independent School District. Zayas has blamed Presas-Garcia for his eventual defeat for a seat on the board. Now Zayas is Tetreau's attorney to remove her from the city ballot.
Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.