Save Jerry McHale: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Rrun Rrun

EL RRUN RRUN
http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/

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TAKE WEST NILE VIRUS SERIOUSLY: A CASE FROM 2002
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br />The discovery of a mosquito infected with the West Nile virus at the Galaxia Subdivision near the Rio Grande just west of Las Prietas this week brought back memories of my first encounter with the disease back in 2002.<br />I was working for a small newspaper in Worthington, Minnesota, a typical Midwestern town that had seen an influx of minorities from all over hte word â€" including a sizable population of Hispanics from the Southwest, the West, and even from far off places like Guatemala and El Salvador.<br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNV8sX1A-Avi4GRLRF_6ilAzqCjfbtDjJeyg-UYfJnXL1kFt7GVCehMtFjeeaflg03yf245-dqEDDHrLVBLSp1MYbjdXR0fkXUZPxYq5f-jonLk_1mVo1KbH4j0A3UBbD8-Z22Y5Ni1k/s1600/awest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNV8sX1A-Avi4GRLRF_6ilAzqCjfbtDjJeyg-UYfJnXL1kFt7GVCehMtFjeeaflg03yf245-dqEDDHrLVBLSp1MYbjdXR0fkXUZPxYq5f-jonLk_1mVo1KbH4j0A3UBbD8-Z22Y5Ni1k/s400/awest.jpg" width="400" /></a>The first indication that the West Nile virus was being carried by mosquitoes was first indicated when people saw dead birds on the ground or struggling to walk on the ground as if they had been poisoned. Birds, you see, are carriers of the virus. When mosquitoes bite a bird, they transmit the disease wherever they fly. When a mosquito bites another animal, they inturn carry the virus into the animal's bloodstream.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In that little town in southwest Minnesota, some of the first victims were animals like horses, that had to be shot or treated by local vets when they began to display the symptoms of having been bitten by the disease-carrying mosquitoes.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The horses of the local sheriff â€" a dour, rural lawman who made money housing undocumented immigrants who arrived to work at the local hog slaughterhouse and got into trouble in town â€" were some of the first animal casualties. They were fine-looking animals but had to be quarantined after they showed the first symptoms of the disease. The vaccines, though hard to get, were made available and they eventually survived.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">As alarming as this was, I asked local health authorities if there were any local human victims reported locally who might have been bitten by disease-carrying mosquitoes and they got me in touch with 83-year-old Lucille Tryon. She was the first known human case of the disease in the state.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Like many elderly rural women, Lucille loved her garden. There was hardly a place on her back yard that wasn't blossoming or blooming. The porch around her home was filled with flower pots bursting with color from the flowers she  grew.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In her back yard, local varieties of flowers formed a colorful natural fence. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> But there was also something else growing there. Mosquitoes, swarms of them. And among them, apparently, were some that had been infected by the virus.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> "I had dizzy spells and was feeling just awful and I had a lump on the back of my neck and my neck was sore," she said.  "I had West Nile."</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The woman, who had never relied on anyone to get around, had to spend the better part of a month hospitalized to recover from the virus. But for a while, it was touch and go and doctors gave her a slim chance of survival. </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">"I had a cane and a walker but I hated to have people see that lady out there with a walker," she told another reporter who did a story on her survival a year later.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2fZGE2FsR0Dx83ptjPmRVcbP3z6yU7FW9lWUuJ8If9V0dHa9GzdaEuIHPIXfGemW9nJBYI9DoXcPRr72AxUgmlJpGIFajzZMZ7KIt1Pg9ioxgEMlA10zwSZByERU0gDJ3CcnBUfRYAM/s1600/awoman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2fZGE2FsR0Dx83ptjPmRVcbP3z6yU7FW9lWUuJ8If9V0dHa9GzdaEuIHPIXfGemW9nJBYI9DoXcPRr72AxUgmlJpGIFajzZMZ7KIt1Pg9ioxgEMlA10zwSZByERU0gDJ3CcnBUfRYAM/s320/awoman.jpg" width="320" /></a>She says she never paid attention to the mosquitoes while she spent hours with her flowers. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> "I don't know that I'm recovered yet!" she said.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In South Texas, where many retired elderly or housewives delight in spending their time cultivating their matas, the danger is very real that they might come in contact with an infected mosquito. Like many locals, I myself have two parents who after they raised their kids, dogs, grandkids, etc., like to spend their time cultivating their gardens where they raise â€" besides flowers â€" other plants and vegetables such as <em>piquines</em> or tomatoes. </div></div>We must communicate to them that this exotic virus is very real and very dangerous, especially to the elderly with lower immunity. There is no cause for alarming them, of course. But precaution of this new danger in the air is something we should communicate with them.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-550689324840046140?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/08/take-west-nile-virus-seriously-case.html

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Brownsville Noise

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Brownsville Noise

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Brownsville Noise

Rrun Rrun

EL RRUN RRUN
http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/

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MAYOR SHOWS TRUE COLORS: FIRM DEFENDS HERNANDEZ'S CAMP VOTER FRAUD IN YOLANDA BEGUM'S LAWSUIT
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br />While Hizzoner and self-declared King of Brownsville Tony Martinez has set out to reconstruct Browntown as we know it, he has allowed his law firm to engage the camp of JP 2-2 declared winner Erin Hernandez Garcia in defending them from allegation of voter fraud and abuse stemming from the July 31 runoff election.<br />Martinez, who has called in the experts with plans to purify our city and provide us with Better Block and in making our city safe and healthy for our pedestrian and cycling population aged from 8 to 80, apparently thinks that having the likes of Cameron County Commissioner Ernie Hernandez, daughter Erin, and his wife Norma and her politiqueras manipulate the sanctity of the democratic vote is a good thing.<br />Why else would he allow his partner Horacio Barrera â€" and his firm by extension â€" to become entangled with this bunch?<br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-RgMXOEhB8zRmcpENm-8qmFqHa21Y-qai35BowNxIHr0G4Z5C20gA9f7JHKUpUR7gMc8azaeM2XO07uBhe2SqvJTKjP7Z8Tnrwz5sZaV2E5IlhVPdJ7E_4vT_BJXI5GAVwPFQRvEflU/s1600/nappy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-RgMXOEhB8zRmcpENm-8qmFqHa21Y-qai35BowNxIHr0G4Z5C20gA9f7JHKUpUR7gMc8azaeM2XO07uBhe2SqvJTKjP7Z8Tnrwz5sZaV2E5IlhVPdJ7E_4vT_BJXI5GAVwPFQRvEflU/s320/nappy.png" width="254" /></a>Now, no one begrudges a lawyer for defending a paying client, but in light of the brazen voter abuse and mail-in fraud ascribed to the Hernandez camp, it would appear that a professional firm the likes of the Martinez, Barrera y Martinez, LLP would distance itself from an outfit that's has been associated with manipulating the voting in Cameron County and the City of Brownsville for as long as anyone can remember.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In fact, one of the politiqueros named in the lawuit filed on behalf of Erin's opponent Yolanda Begum is Amadeo Rodriguez Jr., who Martinez thanked profusely in public after he won the election for mayor of the City of Brownsville.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The date of the trial has not been set, but as far as we know, Barrera and Martinez expect to get paid for their services. Will it be from the vending contract that the Hernandez's have with Cameron County in apparent violation of conflict-of-issue statutes? Or perhaps its from the income of the Cadriel Firing Range, Norma's brother Aroldo's business where the road was obligingly coated with county caliche by Ernie even though there were no residences within the range of gunfire? But then again, he's saddled with debt for the defense of his murder charge.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Or perhaps they will get paid by Erin's non-existent large client base?</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In light of Emma Perez-TreviÃ±o's report today in the <em>The Brownsville Herald</em> that the Internal Revenue Service has filed a federal tax lien against Ernie and Norma Hernandez for the nonpayment of $821,206 in taxes, Martinez might want to advise his partner that he better ask for the money up front before the Hernandez try to duck the government and declare bankruptcy.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">"We hired some attorneys to look into this and we hopefully will get it settled in the next couple of months, but it may take up to a year,â€ Hernandez told the daily.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So Tony and Horacio, you better get it up front before you have to stand in line, don't you think?</div>In terms of the cost in your political stock, it is doubtful that Ernie â€" who has thrown more than one gullible supporter under the bus â€" will be able to make it up after you get through defending him and his camp followers.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-8366021688922269929?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/08/mayor-shows-true-colors-firm-defends.html

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IT TOOK OUTSIDERS TO SET BROWNTOWN STRAIGHT
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<em>"A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house."</em> <br /><strong>Matthew 13:57</strong><br /><br />By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br />That admonishment by Jesus to his disciples comes to mind after reading the account of the visit to our fair city by 8-80 Cities Executive Director Guillermo PeÃ±alosa when he pointed out that Brownsville was, well, unfair to pedestrians and cyclists.<br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu_ldr2ZhxBnCnrvdEGtgWSq0ctVdZkEyM-Y-zqjosH5E_sA0rXxWHoiUh-j9UX30Ewap9dKPpqdB2cGVAk-mDQxoCxiH_JY52ykrfONTrOy6uFT4CQ6uv-3lCrcta0WvPpdoRdiiiLtY/s1600/buslady.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu_ldr2ZhxBnCnrvdEGtgWSq0ctVdZkEyM-Y-zqjosH5E_sA0rXxWHoiUh-j9UX30Ewap9dKPpqdB2cGVAk-mDQxoCxiH_JY52ykrfONTrOy6uFT4CQ6uv-3lCrcta0WvPpdoRdiiiLtY/s320/buslady.JPG" width="242" /></a>At the top of his list to encourage "vibrant cities" was PeÃ±alosa's plan to people to "walk, bike and use public transportation as well as enjoy parks and other public spaces."</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">He said his initial impressions were that â€œthere has not been respect for the pedestrian.â€</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This is news to us?</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">How many times have we pointed out the shameful way that the elderly and children have to wait in 95-plus degree heat to wait for the infrequent buses for transportation? The reason people walk down the side of the roads and street ways â€" even without sidewalks â€" is because they have no income to buy and maintain a car or even to pay for the bus fares.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">And in the case of bicycles, it's like taking your life into your hands to traverse the city. Bike lanes are basically restricted to the newer roadways in more affluent neighborhoods. Don't try to ride downtown or in the Southmost barrio on a bike. We've heard about Suicide By Cop. This would be Suicide by Chisca.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">â€œThere are very few sidewalks that are in good condition,â€ PeÃ±alosa told a group yesterday. â€œI saw in many residential areas there are not even sidewalks, which is shameful.â€</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The local daily reported that in comments to its reporters last week, PeÃ±alosa said he supported Mayor Tony Martinez's efforts to entice the UT System to locate its UTB main campus downtown.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">â€œI think one of the most important decisions in Brownsville would be to convince the university to set up headquarters downtown,â€ he said. â€œThe city should try to put all of the pressure that they can to make it happen...Being a public university â€" whatever they settle â€" it has huge implications that go way beyond the cash flow of the university,â€ he said. â€œSo, they need to be good citizens.â€</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">For starters, they can stop trying to coerce the community college (TSC) to sell its real estate at cut-rate prices to the third-wealthiest university system in the United States, wean itself off from the $50 million in "contractual transfers" it gets from the local district and taxpayers each year, and â€" at the very least â€" pay the college the $12 to $15 million in rental arrears it owes it.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">He probably hasn't heard of the effort by the UTB and its president Juliet Garcia to gobble up more than $250 million in community college assets that included all its real estate, buildings and bank deposits as a "gift" while leaving them the bond indebtedness that helped fuel the building boom on the "partnership" campus.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">And if he did, we're sure that Martinez and his UTB-favored United Brownsville would have dissuaded him of making any statements on the matter.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9It0aFo-8X76OhPdNX6Tz-EbTZwhewitduv9uUw4PtXuyp3GyKlZ2GaRrO4v9sRCyqzUVPEPvA9ktIRlZuRizummajnhXKTRIY-DrP0NMcA36JI3EiMRUoDsCGxzj72FuHIka4lhjbE/s1600/busfamily.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9It0aFo-8X76OhPdNX6Tz-EbTZwhewitduv9uUw4PtXuyp3GyKlZ2GaRrO4v9sRCyqzUVPEPvA9ktIRlZuRizummajnhXKTRIY-DrP0NMcA36JI3EiMRUoDsCGxzj72FuHIka4lhjbE/s320/busfamily.JPG" width="320" /></a>How long have there been local cycling and public transportation advocates asking that there be more sidewalks built, more bus shelters to protect local bus riders from the elements, and more pedestrian walkways built for those local residents who wish to exercise? </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Why did it have to take an expert from Canada by way of Colombia to drive home the message and get front-page coverage from the local daily?</div>But for now, anyway, an expert from the "outside" has echoed the repeated complaints that local citizens have voiced against the city and the university. Since these complaints from the locals seem to have fallen on deaf ears of city and university officials, will they listen to the outside "prophet" now?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-8445034121853294840?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/08/it-took-outsiders-to-set-browntown.html

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Brownsville Noise

Maclovio OMalley

The Maclovio O'Malley Show
http://www.spreaker.com/show/the_maclovio_o_malley_show

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Episode 44, 8/28/12
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LINK: http://www.spreaker.com/user/maclovioomalley/episode_44_8_28_12

Copyright Maclovio O'Malley

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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Rrun Rrun

EL RRUN RRUN
http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/

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DYNASTY POLITICS IS THE SCOURGE OF SOUTH TEXAS
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br />For 28 years, U.S, Congressman Solomon Ortiz cloaked himself with the mantle of the District 27 Congressional office (now District 34).<br />It seemed almost a given that his son, Solomon Jr., a member of the Texas House of Representatives, would follow in his father's footsteps and inherit the scepter of power.<br />But alas, it was not to be.<br />Now, it is apparent that there is another dynasty in the making. We speak , of course, of the Eddie Lucio Dynasty headed by patriarch State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. Lucio who was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1986 and stayed there four years before being elected to the Texas Senate in 1991, where he has maintained a stranglehold on the reins of power.<br />As a result of scandals associated with the $21 million boondoggle at the Port of Brownsville where he turned out to be a lobbyist for Dannenbaum Engineering at a hefty salary after he "introduced" the firm to the district commissioners, we found out he had pocketed respectable amounts of cash for consulting work with the company.<br />Ditto for the companies building correctional facilities in Willacy County where several county commissioners were convicted of accepting bribes from the builders in return for their voting them juicy contracts. We found out that Eddie Sr. was also receiving thousands from the prison contractors and was listed as a "consultant." Most of us took it with a grain of salt when he lists his profession as an "advertising executive."<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcJHbSuGYy7Vljbc3XwBBamRKo02Kcwm405uHKwOSSHVZMtDac_yTwC8aUh-Dmq40wdEmS2c3GGian47KpTRmnV1-V8HdxqBO1LlWO30tPktzKN2rhm9TXkGvTEsY0eFs2_ySV5UEImGY/s1600/e3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcJHbSuGYy7Vljbc3XwBBamRKo02Kcwm405uHKwOSSHVZMtDac_yTwC8aUh-Dmq40wdEmS2c3GGian47KpTRmnV1-V8HdxqBO1LlWO30tPktzKN2rhm9TXkGvTEsY0eFs2_ySV5UEImGY/s400/e3.gif" width="400" /></a>Now he has installed his son Eddie Lucio III (derisively called The Turd by his detractors), in the Texas House of Representatives District 38 seat in 2006, the year following his graduation from UT law school.<br />He has since been re-elected twice in 2008 and 2010. District 38 is composed of the southwest region of Cameron County.<br />Now he is in his making his fourth run at the District 38 seat.<br />Here is South Texas politicians have a way of holding on to power until they pry their dead cold fingers from the throttle. County Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre, for example, has been in the same position for 24 years and wants four more, presumably to take case of unfinished business he didn't have the time to get to in the two dozen years he's been there.<br />Likewise, State Rep. Rene Oliveira has been there for 28 years as well and shows no sign of stepping down and let someone else represent the district.<br />Ask them what their accomplishments and they will basically point to the same things : bringing UT to TSC, the Regional Allied Health Center, the improvement of the lives of the people in South Texas, protecting insurance companies by passing tort reform, and taking care of the Political Action Committees (PACS) that contribute thousands to their re-election campaigns.<br />From July 1 through Dec. 31, 2011, Democrat Eddie Lucio III of Brownsville raised $70,060, according to the statement of campaign contributions and expenditures that he filed with the Texas Ethics Commission this month.In 2010, Lucio III raised $188,154. All in all since he first campaigned for state representative in late 2005, Lucio III has raised $943,292.<br />And in the period from January 1 through June 30 of this year, Lucio III reported receiving contributions of $63,900 and spent $59,000.<br />His Republican challenger, Alejandro â€œAlexâ€ Torres of Harlingen, reported no contributions for the period covering Sept. 6, 2011, through Jan. 14 this year. In his latest report covering January through June, Torres did only slightly better, reporting receiving $943 in contributions and spending $2,910<br /><div>Houston magnate and Republican booster Bob J. Perry, was the top donor to Lucio IIIâ€™s campaign in 2011 giving him $35,000 from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2011. He also gave III $21,500 to Lucio III in 2010. This year â€" from January to June â€" Perry kicked in an extra $10,000 in two contributions.<br />Other Republican contributors to Lucio IIIâ€™s campaign include Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which donated $5,000 the last part of 2011. They also kicked in an extra $5,000 in the first part of 2012.<br />The list of Political Action Committees goes on and on, some listing addresses as far away as Georgia, Illinois and other Texas towns outside District 38.<br />This year, aside from the Republican candidate, Lucio III also faces Libertarian candidate Nancy Mishou . If anything, perhaps the candidates will question Little Eddie III on just what these Big-Money Boys get back in return for their largess besides just his "open door" policy.<br />On the other hand, he may pull a Marie Antoinette and suggest they let him eat his cake.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-2256278105108030677?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/08/dynasty-politics-is-scourge-of-south.html

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VOTING ABUSE OF HAULED-IN ELDERLY DONE IN PLAIN SIGHT
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ67TZkw46wwymwe5GJUdaWGlRLHn94dVsavCAOpr6rRNKjN9qnIfXo84QKhZSGXirvsjbXRL7JMLpd90otLjFoRkZHTAh4uhbp6tIpmbRy_6c1_cDIA_SVjg9-6Z5mg_fsTSNUopHH2E/s1600/vanss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ67TZkw46wwymwe5GJUdaWGlRLHn94dVsavCAOpr6rRNKjN9qnIfXo84QKhZSGXirvsjbXRL7JMLpd90otLjFoRkZHTAh4uhbp6tIpmbRy_6c1_cDIA_SVjg9-6Z5mg_fsTSNUopHH2E/s400/vanss.jpg" width="353" /></a></div>By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br />For at least five days of the week preceding the July 31 runoff elections, anyone going by the early-voting sites at main courthouse, the Cristo Rey Catholic Church and the Cameron Park Centro Cultural would see vans like the one in the picture on the right stop at the entrances.<br />Then, in plain sight, the voting judge at these places would ask the driver and the political representative of the candidate he was supporting how many ballots he required.<br />Inside the van were perhaps a dozen elderly or mentally-incapacitateded voters who could have walked and voted themselves, had their handlers allowed them out of the vehicle.<br />However, the heelers prevented them from alighting the vans and instead had them vote in the vans.<br />Before getting there, the politiqueros and politiqueras had provided the elderly voters with pre-marked sample ballots showing who they were to vote for. In at least one case, a police report indicates that partisans of the candidacy of Erin Garcia Hernandez (including her mother Norma and politiquero Amadeo Rodriguez Jr.), had tried to take people to vote from day care centers even when they had been told before hand that it was private property.<br />In the instance above, a passerby used his iPhone to capture the moment that the election judge handed the ballots to the people inside the van. He later said that he heard the politiqueros and the driver instructing them to vte for the candidates already listed on the pre-marked sample ballots.<br />And yet, in spite of the hauling in of the elderly and mentally-incapacitated voters by the Hernandez campaign, she only won the walk-in early vote by some 85 votes over a five-day period. It was in the mail-in vote that she amassed a 177-vote lead that was insurmountable, even though her opponent Yolanda Begum beat her on election day.<br />Cameron County Elections Administrator Roger Ortiz claims that he never saw any of the above-described voter fraud happen. And yet, this picture was taken in the front door of the elections office on Harrison Street, virtually under his nose.<br />The woman with her back to the camera is a poll watcher for Begum whose protests were ignored, but whose written affidavit will probably be included in the evidence to be submitted in the upcoming lawsuit Begum filed against Hernandez and the county.<br />Will the court and the county officials do the right thing?<br />"You can lead a horse to water...."    <br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-7346979401963076287?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/08/voting-abuse-of-hauled-in-elderly-done.html

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BANALES NIXES DE LEON'S INDEPENDENT CONGRESSIONAL BID
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br />Most observers of the local political scene would not have given Independent Don De Leon a chance of winning the election to the newly-created Congressional District 34 over Democrat Filemon Vela Jr. and Republican Jessica Puente Bradshaw.<br />But most voters would have been willing to allow him the right to cure his petition in time of this name to appear on the November ballot.<br />Instead, it now appears that De Leon will have to sit on the sidelines as the Democrat and Republican fight it out to represent the district.<br />Visiting Judge J. Manuel BaÃ±ales, of the 105th state District Court in Corpus Christi, said Monday that De Leon was given time to cure petition where he left out â€œDistrict 34â€ on the space that indicate the ofice he was seeking.<br />Instead, he wrote in â€œHouse of Representativesâ€ when he collected about 800 signatures, 300 more than were necessary.<br />So he filed suit against Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade on Aug. 17, and represented himself in the hearing.<br />BaÃ±ales stated that Andrade correctly rejected the petitions with signatures of voters that independent candidates must submit because the petitions had not noted â€œDistrict 34â€ on the line for the office sought.<br />De Leon countered that it was obvious to the people who signed his petition that he was running for District 34 because it is the only district in Cameron County and when he was campaigning and distributed his cards, he informed the voters that he was running for District 34.<br />However, BaÃ±ales sided with Keith Ingram, director of elections for the Secretary of Stateâ€™s office, who testified in the 103rd District Court that he advised De Leon on Aug. 10 that he had to recollect the 500 signatures with â€œDistrict 34â€ added to the candidateâ€™s place section, instead of â€œHouse of Representatives,â€ at the top of every page of the petition.<br /><br />"You just didn't do it," BaÃ±ales told De Leon.<br />In the past, De Leon has run for commissioner of the Port of Brownsville. His father Ernesto de Leon, is a former city commissioner who made a run for Cameron County commissioner two years ago.<br />By far, the candidate spending the most money has been Vela, trailed a far second by Bradshaw. According to Ballotpedia, he has listed some $412,785.77 in contributions and $404,588.49 in expenditures since April to win the Democratic nomination in a runoff July 31 against Denise Saenz-Blanchard.<br />Like Blanchard and Bradshaw, De Leon insisted he would run a "grassroots" campaign and relying on word-of-mouth to win the contest.<br />Also on the ballot besides Vela and Bradshaw is Libertarian Steven Shanklin.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-1671794347463898449?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/08/banales-nixes-de-leons-independent.html

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