Politiqueras warn candidates can’t win without them

A controversial figure is emerging early in the campaign season for the 2008 elections and she’s not even on the ballot.

Candidates hoping to win their parties’ nomination in March are taking sides on using paid campaign workers, or politiqueras to aid their run for office.

With the deadline to file for the March primaries still months away, established candidates are taking a position on the issue.

District attorney candidate Peter Zavaletta and incumbent District Attorney Armando Villalobos said this week that they will not employ politiqueras, who are typically older women that that are paid to wave campaign signs, block walk and spur voter turnout.

Zavaletta and Villalobos equated the use of politqueras to vote buying.

“I have not hired any politqueras and will not hire any politiqueras,” Zavaletta said.

Zavaletta, who is challenging Villalobos for the Democratic nomination, said he “would not compromise the integrity or moral authority of the District Attorney’s Office by condoning a practice whose legality is questionable, at best.”

Villalobos said “our office doesn’t condone any illegal activity and we are with charged with prosecuting those types of cases when they come to light Â… Anything like that, we don’t condone and we don’t have any part of it.”

The use of politiqueras in elections has been common practice in South Texas. Their role has been questioned regarding obtaining and delivering mail-in ballots for elderly or disabled voters, which could be misled or manipulated.

State law bans people from handling or mailing absentee ballots for voters who are not relatives or don’t live with them. State lawmakers amended the law in 2003 to permit such assistance if the helper signs the ballot envelope with a name and address.

This was the subject of a 2006 lawsuit from Texas Democrats who said the practice was discriminatory and noted that all who had been prosecuted under this law had a record of voting Democrat and were almost always black or Hispanic.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last November that the attorney general is free to enforce the law.

But because politiqueras are becoming an ethics issue for candidates, choosing not to use them could be a smart move, said Jerry Polinard, a professor of political science at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg who is frequently consulted to comment on local politics.

“Over the past few years using politiqueras has become a liability in terms of public perception,” Polinard said. “And if you are going to use them, you try to stay below the radar screen.”

He also acknowledged that using these campaign workers who are well known in the community and well versed in their craft, could be the key to victory for some candidates.

In a 2003 interview with The Herald, longtime politiquera Herminia Becerra claimed that “almost all the elected officials in the city and county are there because of us.”

She boasted of delivering more than 2,000 votes for the candidates that employed her and her cohorts, which have included generations of city and county leaders.

But, “the public perception” of using this type of election support has grown so negative that candidates “run the risk of turning some voters off if it becomes known that you are using politqueras,” Polinard warned.

In 2005, Hidalgo County politqueras were accused of buying and selling votes before the May 7, 2005, mayoral race in McAllen. Ten people were indicted on charges ranging from unlawful assistance to possession of another’s ballot. Some of the cases were dismissed while others were pending, according to media reports.

Hidalgo County officials discovered some politqueras were charging candidates similar to a piece rate, based on how many mail-in ballot applications they delivered.

Hidalgo County Elections Administrator Teresa Navarro said she placed a limit of one mail-in ballot application per person and 100 per candidate.

Cameron County officials are battling similar activity and are trying to come up with a solution that will bring back “integrity” to the election process. Currently, an individual in Cameron County can request 10 mail-in ballot applications per month, but this could change. The county is considering limiting applications to one per person per month.

Still, the paid campaign worker is not completely taboo here, yet. Some candidates plan to employ politiqueras to spread the word about their campaign.

“You cannot expect them to be out there for nothing,” County Commissioner Sofia C. Benavides said.

It is not illegal to compensate campaign workers for gas or food because these expenses must be reported on campaign expense reports. It is illegal to pay them for delivering votes.

Benavides said the volunteers as well as the election workers she employs for about $50 a week are soliciting support, not buying votes. “Some of these people need money for gas and for food during the day, it’s only right that I compensate them in some way,” she said.

Benavides was appointed last year to complete the unfinished term for Precinct 1 after her husband, the late Commissioner Pete Benavides’ death in October 2006.

Lucino Rosenbaum Jr., a frequent challenger for the Precinct 1 seat, is again seeking the post. Both he and Sofia Benavides are seeking the Democratic nomination.

Rosenbaum said he will also employ politiqueras and is using volunteers, giving each gas money to place campaign signs, for example.

“I’m going with the people who have always supported me,” said Rosenbaum, who served as county commissioner from 1988 to 1996.

“You don’t carry out a campaign without la politiquera,” said well-known politiquera and community activist Natividad Arzola.

Arzola has worked on numerous campaigns, including that of former mayor Eddie Treviño Jr. in 2003 in his run for the mayoral post.

“It’s always been said that we charge and we charge and we don’t do anything. We are working but the politician doesn’t want us helping anyone else,” she said.

Arzola said she only gets reimbursed for gas money, and not until the full campaign swing begins.

“Zavaletta says that he doesn’t want politiqueras, but I know how they work,” she said. “They have people that help them, como que no?”

She predicts that “he won’t win if he doesn’t have politiqueras,” and recalled other candidates that have flip-flopped on the issue.

“(School board trustee) Pat Lehman said that he wasn’t going to need politiqueras,” she said, “but at the last minute, I was one of them.”