Our new Sheriff: Goliath has left the arena

María Eugenia Guerra

Rick Flores won. How many times has an earnest, squeaky clean candidate come to the plate, put his life and all his good intentions on the line to run for office, only to be stopped by the last vestige of the patrón system in Laredo, which we all know, but choose to ignore, lives and breathes in the Webb County Justice Center and in the Sheriff's Department.

Good triumphed and status quo will have to take a hike. It makes my head spin to think of all the re-calibrations, all the changes that will take place as a result of Flores' win, not only in the administration of the Sheriff's Department and the deplorable conditions of the Webb County Jail (drugs, violence, suicides, the highly questionable sweetheart deal for the commissary), but in Webb County government as a whole.

If you take Flores ' candidacy back to the days last spring that he was summarily fired from the District Attorney's office by first assistant Roberto Balli when the existing sheriff exerted pressure there, you'll understand that the DA's office will likely have to forge a new relationship with the new Sheriff.

It's no secret that Sheriff Juan Garza and Webb County Judge Louis H. Bruni have had a symbiotic, if not sycophantic, political relationship. Garza worked mightily to secure Bruni's election to office and to oust former Webb County Judge Mercurio Martinez, Jr. It is also no secret that Martinez gave Rick Flores a hand in this election. Karma or payback, does it really matter what the wheel of justice was grinding out as it came full circle? With so ready and accommodating an ally as the Sheriff gone from his political horizon, Judge Bruni, too, will have to forge a relationship with the new Sheriff.

The Shinola Factor

Most journalists, even some of us who've heard it all, often root for the good guy, the underdog, because fresh approaches and fresh ideas smell distinctly different from the stale, fetid arena in which most campaign promises are made. There was one among us, however, Robert García, who left journalism to become Sheriff Garza's point man.

In all the months that Rick Flores worked his campaign to be elected Webb County Sheriff, I watched with interest the steps he took to gain momentum and respect, though in large part name recognition and respect were well in place for Flores because of the very worthy work he did in the District Attorney's domestic violence unit.

Rick Flores' campaign was organic, ever changing, and ever growing. Early in the effort, before the first sign went up on the side of Mando Villarreal's building in South Laredo , I ran into a friend on the street, an attorney who said with some disdain, "Rick's not going to win." Late in the campaign, after a routine doctor's visit, one of my physicians, a good citizen of this county, said to me in an aside that he believed Rick Flores would make a good sheriff. His comments made me understand that Flores had reached far and wide into the community.

When Flores came into my office for the placement of ads, it was clear he had done his homework about the machinations of the Sheriff's office. He was full of information about the chronic, life-threatening problems in the jail, the information that was the substance of the nine-year history of negative assessments of the jail by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Even when his fundraising wasn't what he needed right that moment to win, he was always upbeat, always positive. He kept good company, accompanied often by his children or folks who were giving him a hand. He also stuck to a simple message that mirrored the truth. His was a good faith, grassroots campaign. In some respects the Flores campaign was a triumph of the good intentions of folks who believed in their candidate. The Flores campaign for Sheriff was an affirmation that everyone's vote counted and could make a difference.

Though all three candidates for Sheriff are certified peace officers, Sheriff Garza and the other candidate for Sheriff, Laredo Police Department patrolman Juan Rivera, made much political hay over Flores' lack of experience as a patrolman, as though the failure to pay dues in a cruiser was reason enough to discredit Flores ' resumé as a well-educated public servant. It wasn't, and what a surprise Flores' lead in the election must have been to them, especially to the one who referred to Flores as "un guerco."

Candidate Rick Flores was, in my humble opinion, the real deal. If he builds an empire or a fiefdom out of the Sheriff's Department I will be one of many who will be surprised.

Flores said he has spent the days after the election putting together a transitional administrative team that will evaluate the policies and procedures manual and a code of conduct for the employees of the Sheriff's Department.

"We want the set the tone and the new direction for the department by introducing a mission statement, something that has lacked in the organization," Flores said. "We want to assure all who are doing their jobs that they have nothing to fear. It is those who are not performing to standards who will be reevaluated."

Flores said he has been in touch with many Laredoans who supported him. "I know people are depending on me. That is what is keeping me focused. There is a community waiting for us to do the good things we said we would," he said.

"We are looking at every single angle to attempt to deliver the just service everyone in the county deserves," Flores said.

Curiouser & Curiouser

Here's a curious footnote to the March primaries. How did Frank Sciaraffa -- a fellow who showed up for no debates, a fellow who answered no public forum questions -- run away with 42% of the vote in the race for Webb County commissioner Precinct 1?

The Davis Group of Austin , the agency of record for Senator Judith Zaffirini, which is to say the Davis Group is not an inexpensive outfit, handled some of the media buys for Sciaraffa, Roque Vela, and O.J. Hale, Jr.

Sciaraffa will square off with incumbent commissioner Jerry Vasquez in an April 13 runoff which will also have Precinct 3 incumbent commissioner Felix Velasquez up against challenger Jerry Garza, whose numbers (30%) overran Velasquez' (26%) as well as those of a host of other challengers.

Oh, those hand-scrawled Juan Garza for Mayor signs you saw in the background on television on election night? That was a message to former Webb County Judge Mercurio Martinez, Jr., who reportedly will be a candidate in the next mayoral race but who will first run for trustee for Laredo Community College .

But hang on to your hats: Raymond Bruni, who just ran against Senator Judith Zaffirini and lost, has thrown his hat into the City Council District IV race and will face fellow challenger Sabas Zapata III and incumbent Johnny Amaya.

Awards for Most Negative

Campaigning

The Roque Vela TV ad that used Jerry Garza's high school photo and called Vela's opponents various disparaging names ranks high on the most negative campaign ad list. And give the O.J. Hale campaign a close second for the shadow woman with the trembling voice talking about how incumbent Judge Andy Reyes did not help her cause.

And then there was the whisper campaign, but let's not go there. I'm always so surprised at the venom and vitriol that surfaces and its sources.

Good News in Zapata

In Zapata, there were two pretty big surprises in the election outcomes. Congratulations to José Emilio Vela and Joe Rathmell for retiring longtime Zapata County commissioners José Luis (Tata) Flores and Adolfo Gonzalez. What a change that will make in that forum!