Hernandez emerges big spender in mayor’s race

Sally Miniel Arroyo and Pat M. Ahumada Jr. have something in common outside of both being candidates for mayor.

Both contenders for the mayor’s seat are relying heavily on the personal funds and loans to finance their campaigns.

Contender Henry Gonzalez appears not to be actively raising funds, while Ernie L. Hernandez Jr., who has amassed a campaign chest of $75,500, has not injected any personal funds into his campaign.

“It’s other people’s money. This is money coming from my contributors,” Hernandez said.

“We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve had a lot of people wanting to support us, people with signs out, asking us for bumper stick-ers,” the former commissioner said. He resigned from the Brownsville City Commission in January to seek the mayoral spot.

Hernandez said that while he has not invested personal funds into the race, “my investment has been my 14 years of experience and the time that I have spent on this campaign.”

He is the top spender with a total of $75,283, according to candidates’ statements of campaign contributions and expenditures, which are filed 30 days and eight days before the election.

In contrast, Arroyo has raised $18,710, and injected $25,000 of her own money into the campaign. Her expenditures have totaled $21,081 for the campaign season to date.

“I am very, very confident,” Arroyo said. “Everyone I’m talking to is very supportive. I am extremely optimistic and it has been great fun.”

Ahumada has raised $8,780 and secured two bank loans totaling $17,000. He’s a distant second to Hernandez’s spending record, reporting $25,153 in total expenditures.

Ahumada, a former mayor, said that the worst anyone can do “is think I should have done this or that. We did what we could have done with the resources that we had.

“We have been in radio, newspaper, mail outs and the personal approach of hand to hand. We have gotten our message out. Volun-teers are working the telephones, and the voters have a choice. I just hope that my message resonated.”

Gonzalez, also a former mayor, has raised just $4,785.

“That’s a lot of contributions,” Gonzalez said. “That’s a lot of money to spend for something that doesn’t pay.”

Elected officials are not entitled to compensation from the city they serve, except for a $10 per-meeting attended stipend. City leaders in Brownsville also can receive a city-paid cell phone, laptop and car allowance. They are also given the option of signing up for tax-funded insurance afforded to city employees.

In the most recent statement filed eight days before the election, Hernandez reported $23,550 in contributions and $24,713 in ex-penditures.

Contributors include his oldest son, Ernest J. Hernandez for $2,000, his father, Ernie L. Hernandez Sr. for $5,000, Andrea E. Garcia for $2,000, and Luis and Celinda Fernandez for $1,000.

Other contributions include $500 from Bill Hudson’s Bene Facimus LTD, $250 from lobbyist Glenn B. LeMunyon, $750 from the Brownsville Police Officers Association, and others. Hernandez reported raising $10,250 in ticket sales of $50 and less to a fundrais-ing event.

Major expenditures include $6,000 to Victory Data for poll tracking, $3,000 to Dahill for printing and mail outs, and $7,184 to Mil-lar Hollander for consulting and advertising.

Arroyo reported $12,065 in contributions and $11,210 in expenditures in her second statement of contributions and expenditures.

Contributors include daughter Laura L. Miniel who provided an in-kind contribution with a value of $4,500 for Web site design, custom graphics and updates; G. G. Habet of Rancho Viejo with an in-kind contribution of $1,500 for a fund raising event; her par-ents also provided a $1,000 in-kind gift for the event.

Lawyer Ruben R. Peña gave $1,000, Igor Kozlik gave $500, Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez gave $300 and former mayor Blanca Sanchez Vela gave $225. She also reported contributions from $50 to $300 and raised $3,305 in contributions of $50 or less.

Major political campaign advertising expenditures include $1,000 to Delia Alvarez, $2,161 to Sanchez Marketing, $2,229 to The Brownsville Herald, and $2,802 to Breeden/McCumber.

Ahumada reported $11,580 in contributions, of which $3,450 was in contributions of $50 or less, in his most recent filing.

Major contributors include lawyer Ernesto Gamez with $3,200. Ahumada also received contributions of $500 each from Antonio M. Bernus, Flavio Marquez, Arnold I. Benson, Rodrigo Alfonso Garcia, and Danny Hernandez. NAFTA General Agency Inc. also gave him a $500 contribution, but Ahumada returned it because the donor is a corporation.

Expenditures totaled $12,167. Major expenditures were for $550 to Los Paisanos Catering for a fundraiser, $2,902 to the Brownsville Herald for ads, $1,950 to Logo Tech for flyers, and $1,040 to Vicenta Berino.

Gonzalez reported $1,500 in contributions, mostly from the law firm of Roerig, Oliveira & Fisher. He spent $1,598, mostly for ad-vertising.

The candidates will be filing a third report, after Saturday’s election.

GO VOTE

Election Day is Saturday. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For a complete list of polling places and a sample ballot, pick up Saturday’s Brownsville Herald. For more information on the candidates and issues in this race, go online to brownsvilleherald.com or brownsville2020.com for a complete Voters’ Guide.