By Juan Montoya
The excitement of the campaign faded long ago. The victory party, the glad-handing, the congratulatory calls from people you hadn't heard from in months or years telling you they have been on your side all along.
Suddenly, everyone wanted to be your friend.
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And for a while, everything was fun. Workers in the governmental entity treated you like royalty, knowing full well their jobs and careers might depend on one of your decisions. But things have changed.
Locking down the county in the face of widespread COVID-19 contagion should have been a no-brainer for the county commission. We're talking about County Judge Eddie Treviño, Sofie Benavidez, Joey Lopez, David Garza, and Gus Ruiz.
Instead, starting with the first case emanating from vacationing Rancho Viejo residents, Treviño went out of his way to keep it hush hush and opted to provide discreet cover for the infected, and well-heeled, parties without alerting residents of the impending crisis.
Now, as the attention of the state and the U.S. focus on Cameron and Hidalgo counties as the hot spots of the nation, Treviño – by his own admission and medical director Dr. Jaime Castillo – continues to manipulate the body count of the dead and minimizes the immensity of the dangers facing county residents.
At each press conference which features Eddie and Eddie and Eddie, he brings out reports that say 10, 15 or no people have died. He doesn't clarify the numbers and tell them that "hundreds" are dying that have not been showing up on the death list, or that the numbers are from the dead from three weeks ago to a month.
Are you OK with Treviño lying and misleading the people? How about it Sofie Benavides, Joey Lopez, David Garza, and Gus Ruiz? If you're not, stop his dog-and-pony show of lies or become accomplices to his lies.
Are we OK with having employees at the different departments where there have been positive cases found continue to be coerced to show up for work and possibly get infected and taking the disease home to their families?
And even after County Clerk Sylvia Garza-Perez caught the virus herself and an assistant died of it, she and other county administrators including Treviño and the county commissioners still require the departments' employees to show up for work at infected offices and county facilities. The workers say they have been coming to work for more then a month after the first positive case appeared in their office.
![Commissioner Joey Lopez - Home | Facebook]()
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Fearing retaliation, these employees feel forced to show up for work even though the facilities remain unsanitized, they have to ride the same elevators and stairs and share the same space with people who have tested positive but are asymptomatic.
![EL RRUN RRUN: COVID-19 SHUTS DOWN CAMERON COUNTY PCT. 4 ROAD CREW]()
![Commissioner Pct. 3, David A. Garza - Cameron County]()
The county employees of the departments – particularly those at the Brownsville and Harrison and Levee streets buildings – work and live in fear of retaliation if they don't show up, even after one was rushed to the hospital by ambulance from the Harrison Street facility and afterwards there was no move to sanitize the building.
Should county employees accept possibly infecting themselves or their families and relatives – as well as the general public – as the price of their employment?
Are we OK with that Sofie Benavidez, Joey Lopez, David Garza, and Gus Ruiz?
Over in Hidalgo, County Judge Richard Cortez ordered a lock down of the entire county including county facilities to scour them free of the virus and put a crimp on its transmittal. Right now the virus is raging behind the walls of the Rucker-Carrizales jail in Olmito and inmates have been deprived of legal counsel or access to the courts.
Serving 60 days for a misdemeanor should not equate to a death sentence. Or should it Treviño, Sofie Benavides, Joey Lopez, David Garza, and Gus Ruiz?
We cannot count on Donald Trump to face the truth, nor Greg Abbott, or even Eddie Treviño to look out for our interests. Can we count on you Sofie Benavidez, Joey Lopez, David Garza, and Gus Ruiz?
Who can we count on to defend and protect us? If not you, who? If not now, when?
The excitement of the campaign faded long ago. The victory party, the glad-handing, the congratulatory calls from people you hadn't heard from in months or years telling you they have been on your side all along.
Suddenly, everyone wanted to be your friend.
And for a while, everything was fun. Workers in the governmental entity treated you like royalty, knowing full well their jobs and careers might depend on one of your decisions. But things have changed.Locking down the county in the face of widespread COVID-19 contagion should have been a no-brainer for the county commission. We're talking about County Judge Eddie Treviño, Sofie Benavidez, Joey Lopez, David Garza, and Gus Ruiz.
Instead, starting with the first case emanating from vacationing Rancho Viejo residents, Treviño went out of his way to keep it hush hush and opted to provide discreet cover for the infected, and well-heeled, parties without alerting residents of the impending crisis.
Now, as the attention of the state and the U.S. focus on Cameron and Hidalgo counties as the hot spots of the nation, Treviño – by his own admission and medical director Dr. Jaime Castillo – continues to manipulate the body count of the dead and minimizes the immensity of the dangers facing county residents.
At each press conference which features Eddie and Eddie and Eddie, he brings out reports that say 10, 15 or no people have died. He doesn't clarify the numbers and tell them that "hundreds" are dying that have not been showing up on the death list, or that the numbers are from the dead from three weeks ago to a month.
Are you OK with Treviño lying and misleading the people? How about it Sofie Benavides, Joey Lopez, David Garza, and Gus Ruiz? If you're not, stop his dog-and-pony show of lies or become accomplices to his lies.
Are we OK with having employees at the different departments where there have been positive cases found continue to be coerced to show up for work and possibly get infected and taking the disease home to their families?
And even after County Clerk Sylvia Garza-Perez caught the virus herself and an assistant died of it, she and other county administrators including Treviño and the county commissioners still require the departments' employees to show up for work at infected offices and county facilities. The workers say they have been coming to work for more then a month after the first positive case appeared in their office.
Fearing retaliation, these employees feel forced to show up for work even though the facilities remain unsanitized, they have to ride the same elevators and stairs and share the same space with people who have tested positive but are asymptomatic.
The county employees of the departments – particularly those at the Brownsville and Harrison and Levee streets buildings – work and live in fear of retaliation if they don't show up, even after one was rushed to the hospital by ambulance from the Harrison Street facility and afterwards there was no move to sanitize the building.
Should county employees accept possibly infecting themselves or their families and relatives – as well as the general public – as the price of their employment?
Are we OK with that Sofie Benavidez, Joey Lopez, David Garza, and Gus Ruiz?
Over in Hidalgo, County Judge Richard Cortez ordered a lock down of the entire county including county facilities to scour them free of the virus and put a crimp on its transmittal. Right now the virus is raging behind the walls of the Rucker-Carrizales jail in Olmito and inmates have been deprived of legal counsel or access to the courts.
Serving 60 days for a misdemeanor should not equate to a death sentence. Or should it Treviño, Sofie Benavides, Joey Lopez, David Garza, and Gus Ruiz?
We cannot count on Donald Trump to face the truth, nor Greg Abbott, or even Eddie Treviño to look out for our interests. Can we count on you Sofie Benavidez, Joey Lopez, David Garza, and Gus Ruiz?
Who can we count on to defend and protect us? If not you, who? If not now, when?