"Our team is keeping it clean, and I'm proud of that. After all, the voters are the ones that will decide. Regardless...:" Yesenia Gonzalez Costilla, SBCISD Losing Slate Supporter
By Juan Montoya
The dust hasn't settled yet from from the tussle that erupted over the San Benito CISD board election and already there is word that intrigue and treachery in the form of Brownsville Independent School general counsel Baltazar Salazar will overturn the results in at least two races with as yet uncounted provisional ballots.
Why the BISD general counsel would intrude in that election is not clear, other than he wanted to ingratiate himself with who he thought would win to line his pockets with future legal work. Salazar is already earning $264,000 a year with the BISD.The slate he supported, and which lost – Chon Lopez, Mario Silva, Oscar Medrano and Joe D. Gonzalez– was running against a slate composed of Orlando "Papas" Lopez, M.L. Garcia, Victor Rosas, and Angel Mendez. Their opponents on the winning slate say that Salazar contribute $5,300 to each.
We called the SBCISD to ask for the campaign contribution reports and were directed to a number which proved to be disconnected. The Cameron County Elections Office website does not list any of the SBCISD candidates' campaign reports.
We called the SBCISD to ask for the campaign contribution reports and were directed to a number which proved to be disconnected. The Cameron County Elections Office website does not list any of the SBCISD candidates' campaign reports.
Unofficial results before the canvassing of the votes show that the Baltazar Salazar slate lost to the other group, but with slim margins. Word in the San Benito district indicates that Salzar is going around saying that when the 13 provisional votes he claims are still out there are counted, the results will change in his slate's favor.
The results as they currently stand are as follows:
Place 4:
Orlando Lopez: 1,512
Chon Lopez: 1,055
Place 5:
M.L. Garcia: 1,284
Mario Silva: 1,281
Place 6:
Oscar Medrano: 1,260
Victor Rosas: 1,303
Place 7:
Joe D. Gonzalez: 1,279
Angel Mendez: 1,289
It is obvious that if Salazar's claims are true that the 13 provisional ballots that remain uncounted and the voters have six days (until Friday, May 12) to show their identification proving them to be legitimate registered voters in the SBISD, the totals have the potential of changing the results in the two races (Place 5 and Place 7, where the difference in the totals are, respectively, three votes and 10 votes.
Salazar has gotten involved with the BISD races to the point where he is the main suspect in the setting up of a Political Action Committee to defeat Caty Presas-Garcia in the last election held November 2016. That resulted in court action that is now being heard in Judge Migdalia Lopez's 197th District Court.
In that case, Presas-Garcia is claiming that Salazar conspired to set up a phony PAC specifically to defeat her in the runoff election against Laura Perez-Reyes and that there is no PAC treasurer. She has shown that Juan Flores Leal's address was listed on a vacant lot in a Brownsville barrio, was moved to Houston to a vacant home without utilities owned by Salazar and his wife, and now has been moved to a Ft. Worth address.
Salazar was the only contributor to the PAC in finance reports field with the Texas Ethics Commission.
With this background, it is not difficult to believe that Salazar has gotten involved in the SBCISD races and is trying to manipulate them to his benefit. The provisional votes will be counted Saturday at the county's elections office on Madison Street in Brownsville.
Salazar has gotten involved with the BISD races to the point where he is the main suspect in the setting up of a Political Action Committee to defeat Caty Presas-Garcia in the last election held November 2016. That resulted in court action that is now being heard in Judge Migdalia Lopez's 197th District Court.
In that case, Presas-Garcia is claiming that Salazar conspired to set up a phony PAC specifically to defeat her in the runoff election against Laura Perez-Reyes and that there is no PAC treasurer. She has shown that Juan Flores Leal's address was listed on a vacant lot in a Brownsville barrio, was moved to Houston to a vacant home without utilities owned by Salazar and his wife, and now has been moved to a Ft. Worth address.
Salazar was the only contributor to the PAC in finance reports field with the Texas Ethics Commission.
With this background, it is not difficult to believe that Salazar has gotten involved in the SBCISD races and is trying to manipulate them to his benefit. The provisional votes will be counted Saturday at the county's elections office on Madison Street in Brownsville.