POLITICS:...So What If He Next Runs As A Republican?...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Eric Garza hasn't had a smooth ride in his first three years as sheriff of simpleton-heavy Cameron County. Problems within the department have dogged his administration. Disgruntled employees have been airing dirty laundry. Inmates have died in custody at the county jail.

And local bloggers have gone loco in criticizing his every move.

Now, it is a vato-fueled rumor moving slowly but surely across town that Garza, a Democrat, may be switching to the Republican Party for his reelection campaign in 2024. The idea has rankled a few unemployed locals.

To that we say, "So what if he does switch?"

Big effin' deal.

It's not as if it would mean actually much to the day-to-day job. A congressional candidate switching parties is one thing; a local politician doing it is largely meaningless and only a barely superficial stain on his record, if that.

Local public officials are not any more empowered by being either a Democrat or a Republican. Oh, the Republican governor may come down to visit you are mayor and if you say you're one of his ilk, but nothing will change as far as doing the job. The same performance metrics will be in place.

The connection some loose-tongued residents make between, say, the sheriff's office and that of a more powerful post, like congressman or governor, is nonsense. Rio Grande Valley counties have had both Democrats and Republicans and...it's played out fine. No Republican sheriff has gone after residents of the poor side of town, nor have they favored the wealthy. It's been rather calm, in fact.

Last election saw the sitting sheriff (who had been beaten in a primary election by Eric Garza) up and support the Republican candidate in the eventual race. Omar Lucio was that fake Democrat and, well, the Republican lost and 84-year-old Lucio died, but nothing wild and onerous ever happened. That's gray-hair Lucio in photo above. A local resident was killed in his home by one of Lucio's escaped prisoners. Such wanton lawlessness has not happened under Sheriff Garza.

The job is the same for whoever gets it, political party aside.

That Eric Garza sees better possibilities as a Republican would be normal.

He's a politician, fer chrissakes!

Besides, and this is as important as anything else, Garza really has not had a major scandal on his hands. Hidalgo County Sheriff J.E. "Eddie" Guerra can say the same thing. But his predecessor? Man, what a lawless lout. Now there was a lost missile.

That would be one Lupe Treviño, who was first elected as Hidalgo County Sheriff in 2005, pled guilty to money laundering in 2014. Treviño was accused of accepting money for his 2012 re-election campaign from Weslaco drug trafficker, Tomás Gonzalez, also known as “El Gallo.” A judge sentenced Treviño to five years in federal prison.

His son Jonathan, a deputy and former Mission Police Department detective, was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to 17 years in prison. He is scheduled for release in May, 2031.

Compared to that mess, Eric Garza's tenure as sheriff has been rather tame, yes.

But scandalous, no.

Not even close. He's been a lightning rod for bored and petty Brownsville bloggers and no one else.

Whether he seeks reelection as a Democrat or switches party to the Republican fold is meaningless at the end of the day. The job carries no political clout outside its operating sphere. Being a "local" Republican is not like being a "state" or "national" Republican.

The so-called power here comes from the job itself, not the party affiliation... 

-30-