By Juan Montoya
Even before the final deadline to file for the city election expired, incumbent City of Brownsville District 2 Commissioner Jessica Tetreau (or is it Tetreau-Kalifa?) was already protesting to City Secretary Griselda Ramos that Catalina Presas-Garcia should be prevented from appearing on the ballot.
She has since thrown a monkey wrench in the city election works by asking a district court to issue an injunction against the city and force officials to remove Presas-Garcia from the ballot.
![]()
In a letter to Tetreau, Ramos sad that she had examined Presas-Garcia's petition and "I find that the affidavit of circulator as sworn to and subscribed by (her) before a notary public with petition requirements as to its form, content, and procedure, which is the extent of my due diligence when validating this instrument."
Ramos said she had reviewed Tetreau's complaint with city attorney Rene De Coss to address her concerns.
Not satisfied with that answer from the appropriate city officials, Tetreau instead went to a known Predas-Garcia antagonist - former Brownsville Independent School District Attorney and Presas-Garcia colleague there - and filed a lawsuit in district court alleging that she violated election law.
In her lawsuit, Tetreau specifically accused Presas-Garcia of violating Texas Election Code candidacy for public office requirements regarding the affidavit of a circulator, which requires the person collecting signatures to witness signatures and verify registration status, according to the lawsuit.
This has sent shock waves through the other candidates' camps who may have used other supporters to collect signatures. Did they, as well, violate the law and should be removed from the ballot if they signed off on the bottom of the form if they didn't collect the signatures personally?
Robert Uresti, for example, was seen collecting signatures by various people on behalf of At-Large "A" candidate Jessica Puente-Bradshaw and the candidate was nowhere to be seen. Did she also sign the petition?
Until Tetreau's complaint against Presas-Garcia is resolved, we may never know because the city secretary's office, on the advice of De Coss, has refused to release copies of the other candidates' petitions or allow anyone to inspect them citing pending legislation. Later De Coss clarified the city's position saying that only the signatures in the Tetreau-Presas-Garcia contest were being withheld.
Tetreau's lawsuit says that circulators must sign an affidavit stating the following:
"I called each signer's attention to the above statements and read them to the signer before the signer affixed their signature to the petition. I witnessed the affixing of each signature. The correct date of signing is shown on the petition. I verified each signer's registration status and believe that each signature is the genuine signature of the person whose name is signed and that the corresponding information for each signer is correct."
In her lawsuit, Tetreau said he based her complaint on someone who told someone else the violation had occurred.
She states that she bases her allegation off an affidavit from a man named Evaristo Cardenas (AKA Viro Cardenas), who claims that during a Feb. 15 conversation a woman named Tara Carnesi told him she had signed on page 4 of the petition, but that Kingsbury circulated that particular page of the petition, not Presas-Garcia.
"Therefore the Petition of Caty Presas Garcia is void because all the signatures on page 4 of her petition are void," Cardenas says in his affidavit. "The affidavit of the circulator on page 4 of the petition was signed by Presas Garcia and not Kingsberry [sic]."
But the revealing part of Ramos' letter is the part where she tells Tetreau that on "secondary inspection of (her) original petition, I find no alteration on page 2 of 14, line 6." Sources say that Tetreau charged that the signature of Vicente Ortiz had been forged.
Some of Presas-Garcia's supporters say that Ortiz is none other than one of Garcia-Presas' sons from a previous marriage who was living at the family home when he signed the petition. And to add another twist to the situation, it just so happens that one of Tetreau's friends in the Brownsville Police Dept., Diana Martinez, is the partner of Garcia-Presas' ex husband, Ortiz.
"If this ever gets to a trial, we expect that not only Puente-Bradshaw and Uresti might be called, but also that Vincent and officer Martinez will be called to testify," said a Garcia-Presas supporter.
Martinez was named in a complaint filed against Tetreau for allegedly interfering in the operations of the Brownsville Police Dept., including Martinez's patrol assignment.
"There are many suspicious strings that lead to many people," said the Garcia-Presas supporter. "Jessica just opened a can of worms by trying to get rid of her opponent through the courts instead of letting the voters decide who they want to represent them. This might affect all the other races and candidates because of her."
Even before the final deadline to file for the city election expired, incumbent City of Brownsville District 2 Commissioner Jessica Tetreau (or is it Tetreau-Kalifa?) was already protesting to City Secretary Griselda Ramos that Catalina Presas-Garcia should be prevented from appearing on the ballot.
She has since thrown a monkey wrench in the city election works by asking a district court to issue an injunction against the city and force officials to remove Presas-Garcia from the ballot.
In a letter to Tetreau, Ramos sad that she had examined Presas-Garcia's petition and "I find that the affidavit of circulator as sworn to and subscribed by (her) before a notary public with petition requirements as to its form, content, and procedure, which is the extent of my due diligence when validating this instrument."Ramos said she had reviewed Tetreau's complaint with city attorney Rene De Coss to address her concerns.
Not satisfied with that answer from the appropriate city officials, Tetreau instead went to a known Predas-Garcia antagonist - former Brownsville Independent School District Attorney and Presas-Garcia colleague there - and filed a lawsuit in district court alleging that she violated election law.
In her lawsuit, Tetreau specifically accused Presas-Garcia of violating Texas Election Code candidacy for public office requirements regarding the affidavit of a circulator, which requires the person collecting signatures to witness signatures and verify registration status, according to the lawsuit.
This has sent shock waves through the other candidates' camps who may have used other supporters to collect signatures. Did they, as well, violate the law and should be removed from the ballot if they signed off on the bottom of the form if they didn't collect the signatures personally?
Robert Uresti, for example, was seen collecting signatures by various people on behalf of At-Large "A" candidate Jessica Puente-Bradshaw and the candidate was nowhere to be seen. Did she also sign the petition?
Until Tetreau's complaint against Presas-Garcia is resolved, we may never know because the city secretary's office, on the advice of De Coss, has refused to release copies of the other candidates' petitions or allow anyone to inspect them citing pending legislation. Later De Coss clarified the city's position saying that only the signatures in the Tetreau-Presas-Garcia contest were being withheld.
Tetreau's lawsuit says that circulators must sign an affidavit stating the following:
"I called each signer's attention to the above statements and read them to the signer before the signer affixed their signature to the petition. I witnessed the affixing of each signature. The correct date of signing is shown on the petition. I verified each signer's registration status and believe that each signature is the genuine signature of the person whose name is signed and that the corresponding information for each signer is correct."
In her lawsuit, Tetreau said he based her complaint on someone who told someone else the violation had occurred.
She states that she bases her allegation off an affidavit from a man named Evaristo Cardenas (AKA Viro Cardenas), who claims that during a Feb. 15 conversation a woman named Tara Carnesi told him she had signed on page 4 of the petition, but that Kingsbury circulated that particular page of the petition, not Presas-Garcia.
"Therefore the Petition of Caty Presas Garcia is void because all the signatures on page 4 of her petition are void," Cardenas says in his affidavit. "The affidavit of the circulator on page 4 of the petition was signed by Presas Garcia and not Kingsberry [sic]."
But the revealing part of Ramos' letter is the part where she tells Tetreau that on "secondary inspection of (her) original petition, I find no alteration on page 2 of 14, line 6." Sources say that Tetreau charged that the signature of Vicente Ortiz had been forged.
Some of Presas-Garcia's supporters say that Ortiz is none other than one of Garcia-Presas' sons from a previous marriage who was living at the family home when he signed the petition. And to add another twist to the situation, it just so happens that one of Tetreau's friends in the Brownsville Police Dept., Diana Martinez, is the partner of Garcia-Presas' ex husband, Ortiz.
"If this ever gets to a trial, we expect that not only Puente-Bradshaw and Uresti might be called, but also that Vincent and officer Martinez will be called to testify," said a Garcia-Presas supporter.
Martinez was named in a complaint filed against Tetreau for allegedly interfering in the operations of the Brownsville Police Dept., including Martinez's patrol assignment.
"There are many suspicious strings that lead to many people," said the Garcia-Presas supporter. "Jessica just opened a can of worms by trying to get rid of her opponent through the courts instead of letting the voters decide who they want to represent them. This might affect all the other races and candidates because of her."