Democratic candidates quizzed by citizens

Candidates running in the March 2 Democratic primary election for Cameron County offices offered quick responses Monday night to questions posed at a Candidate Accountability Session sponsored by Valley Interfaith.

The office seekers were given about 30 seconds to answers questions about living wages, drainage improvements, street paving, and the toll roads that Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority has proposed.

The candidates attending were Eddie Treviño Jr., Rebecca Gomez and John Wood all seeking the party nomination for county judge.

Incumbent Cameron County Judge Carlos Casco is unopposed as the Republican candidate for county judge.

Other candidates included Gerry Linan, Ernie L. Hernandez, Victor Alvarez, Ruben R. Peña, Enrique Escobedo Jr. and Ernesto L. De Leon, all seeking the party nomination for Precinct 2 commissioner; and Juan Jose Ortega, Eladio “Lyle” Garza and Dan Sanchez seeking the party nomination for Precinct 4 commissioner.

The accountability session, attended by at least 300 residents, was held at the San Pablo Parish Hall at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Brownsville.

The candidates were quizzed about increasing the starting wage to $9 per hour from the current $8.50 that Cameron County pays its workers. They said yes.

When asked if would support reinstating $300,000 in tobacco funds for indigent health care services, they agreed they would.

Instead of being used for health care, the funding was used to balance the county’s budget, officials said.

Gomez said she was in favor of reassigning the funds which were promised to the community in the first place.

One question concerned the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority’s West Parkway project that calls for a toll road that may be constructed from the B&M International Bridge, near downtown Brownsville, to U.S. Expressway 77/83. More than 5,000 signatures opposing the road have already been gathered, Valley Interfaith officials said.

The candidates were asked if they would support a resolution against the proposed toll road. All replied yes, with Hernandez adding a sure way to ensure there is no toll road was to “change out the members of the CCRMA.”