Sing It: "Where Have You Gone, Lou Sorola?"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Not many local politicians scoot the playing field gracefully after a stinging defeat. Some keep on bitching and dishing on how bad things are and will continue to be in town and in the county. You'd think they had a brain.

Enter Louis Sorola, Esq.

The husband of Justice of the Peace Mary Esther Sorola and the son-in-law of Cameron County Commissioner Sofia Benavides may as well have died since losing his 404th District judgeship to fellow Democrat Ricardo M. Adobbati in the summer of 2020. We can't recall Sorola going low after losing. No sour grapes that we remember.

He just vamoosed. Flew the coop. Split for parts unknown.

Well, no on that last one. He remained in Brownsville, working his law office while if perhaps lamenting the loss, doing it in private. Sorola fell in love with his judgeship. Once, he welcomed his mother to his court for picture-taking of the family album sort that looked and seemed corny, but perhaps in keeping with his desire to please her.

The actual Election Night contest was a runaway for Adobbati. Sorola said nothing in public. If he ached to the bones while watching the depressing results come in, well, he lumped it alone. The intervening two-plus years have seen him lay low, as they say in boxing. If he was training for a second shot at Adobbati, only Louis knew.

He'll have the chance next year, as Adobbati's term ends in November, 2024.

There were, it should be said, some unproven, weird rumblings from the county courthouse to do with Louis Sorola's management style, some things about alleged rudeness and an ever-demanding personality. If he addressed any of the allegations, well, we missed the reporting on them.

Adobbati (shown in photo at right) did not bring any of that up during the Democratic Party primary knockdown-dragout that saw him take out Sorola convincingly. The General Election that November saw Adobbati run unopposed. A surfacing minor windstorm related to his being appointed to the 404th District Court did not damage him in the race against Adobbati. Sorola's appointment had come with guarded allegations that his mother-in-law (District 1 County Commissioner Benavides) called in some chips and the push had been enough for him to get the appointment.

Nothing was ever said about that publicly by Sorola or County Commissioner Benavides.

Sorola dutifully and cheerfully went about his duties after that. We wonder about his current mental state as things relate to politics. Is he even interested? Nothing's come out, not even on Sorola's ever-fawning blog operated by blogger Juan Montoya.

It was Montoya who tried to help Sorola during the primary campaign by publishing what he said were photos of Adobbati in "blackface," a societal blunder for white people. Adobbati's camp produced photos showing the face of the gent Montoya had targeted as Adobbati. It was someone else. Blogger Montoya merely deleted the fake posting and never mentioned - or apologized for - the error.

A Sorola vs. Adobbati rematch at the polls would be interesting.

Judge Adobbati would wear the incumbency Sorola so wished he still had and Sorola would likely fight for the post a little harder this time.

Political rounds are always more than three minutes long. Not like in organized boxing, no.

Politics demands a plan, of attack and defense. We do wonder if an occasional (accidental?) politician like Louis Sorola has the skill to wage a brawl in Cameron County, considered the Big Time in local judgeship elections.

Perhaps this time he'd come out of his corner with a full-facial scowl and not a smile...

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