DEPARTMENT OF CASH DONATIONS:... Co. Judge Trevino Says, "Hold On."...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | There was one of those always intriguing continuations of the slam jobs on Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino the other day on former County Judge Carlos Cascos's Facebook page. The comments some of his followers submitted to a post about Trevino were not new, or novel, or even interesting.

It was the usual all-alarm attack on Trevino, and not the first in Brownsville's social media.

Criticism aimed at a politician belongs in our discourse these days. Drop some anger on that public servant just because, goes the line. We have no problem with that, only we do when the attack seems wrong on most counts and unnecessary.

At issue was a $15,000 contribution offered to Precinct 1 Constable Norman Esquivel. No, it didn't come from the Girl Scouts Cookies organization; it was from a Republican political action group led by someone named John Rourke.

It seems Rourke, shown in photo below, approached the Cameron County Commissioner's Court recently to ask that it okay the contribution, and to do it publicly and posthaste.

County Judge Eddie Trevino, a Democrat, said in so many words, "Uh, no."

Rourke then went public with his anger and disappointment, taking Trevino to task for some sort of disrespect he felt he got from the county judge. Soon, Rourke was on the far-right cable talk shows blasting Trevino. Trevino said no more, other than the contribution would be approved or disapproved after further review.

On the Facebook discussion entertained by Carlos Cascos, the verbiage went to how Trevino could deny such a generous offer.

We chimed in with a few questions about the contribution and the group behind, asking also why only Constable Esquivel was being singled out as the lone recipient. Initially, we noted that Esquivel is a Republican, only that is somewhat up in the air.

We further said it was a good decision by Trevino to not approve the donation immediately. We noted the fact that Rourke is aligned with Donald J. Trump, so that, for Democrat Trevino, was something to throw into the equation and think about.

"I don't think the issue was so much the $$, but more the treatment, disrespect of the constable & the politicizing of the event," Cascos, the former county judge, threw in. "Stating the flyer mentioned Bidens name when in fact it did not, he made it political. That's the way I saw it."

Disrespect, I did not see.

Yes, Trevino was likely not happy at seeing Rourke show up. And, as is his wont, he reacted pretty much as he always does at anything he does not like. That's all politicians, however. Cascos did note that he faced criticism while serving as Texas Secretary of State and always dealt with it civilly and with respect.

That's Cascos.

That's not Eddie Trevino.

As for the out-of-the-blue donation, we wonder what Rourke and his Republican pals would do if a Brownsville Mexican showed-up at a county government meeting in Florida and ask that a bag of cash be okayed for one of their own deputies.

The response would likely be: Cat-quick, wild-eyed insinuation that the benevolent Mexican was a member of the Drug Cartels out to buy local influence.

You know it. And I know it...

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