Review reveals backgrounds for mayorial candidates

A review of public records shows that the candidates for mayor in the May 14 election have — for the most part — stayed out of jail, stayed out of the courtroom, and are current on paying property taxes.

There are some exceptions and questions.

“Everyone is innocent until proven guilty,” incumbent Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. said of a drunken-driving charge that is pending against him.

Ahumada, a real estate appraiser who also has business interests in Mexico, is seeking re-election to a second four-year term but faces four other candidates for the mayoral position: Michael A. Garza, a contractor; Edward C. Camarillo, a marketing consultant; Evaristo “Viro” Cardenas, who is in the automotive industry; and Antonio “Tony” Martinez, an attorney.

All have various other interests and investments.

AHUMADA

A public records’ check on Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr., 58, shows that the pending charge of driving while intoxicated from May 2010 is his second DWI but third arrest. He pleaded guilty in 1988 to a 1987 DWI charge and was sentenced to six months’ probation. He was arrested again for DWI in 2003, but the charge was dismissed.

Records also reflect that he was arrested for public intoxication on Nov. 19, 1981, by the Aransas Pass Police Department and was fined.

Ahumada also was charged with theft in 2005 after he took a dog from the Brownsville Animal Shelter, maintaining that the dog was not being nourished properly and did not have required vaccines. The charge was dismissed.

And in 2009, he was charged with felony theft, abuse of official capacity and misapplication of fiduciary property in connection with a $26,139 check. The mayor was charged after he deposited the check into his business bank account, although it was made payable to city vendor Tarsia Technical Industries Inc. of New York. He maintained it had been an error.

His first trial resulted in a mistrial, and he was found not guilty in his second trial, in 2010.

His arraignment on the pending DWI charge is slated for March 30 before a Cameron County court-at-law.

“It’s going through the process,” the mayor said, adding that “things are not always what they seem.”

Ahumada also has been in and out of court over the years on matters regarding family law, a car accident and business affairs.

Records show that the first time he went to district court might have been in 1970, shortly after his 18th birthday. He was under 21 and he requested to be declared an emancipated minor. Then 107th Judicial District Judge Myrlin O. Johnson agreed.

Ahumada owns a house and is current in the payment of property taxes.

GARZA

Of the five mayoral candidates, Michael A. Garza, 49, was the only one who did not respond to repeated telephone calls from The Brownsville Herald Friday and Saturday or to an e-mail with questions, including a request for his photograph.

Public records do not show that he has ever been arrested.

They do reflect that he and his family have a very successful construction business that has steadily grown throughout the years.

Garza has a variety of business interests and is a property owner.

As of Friday, the Cameron County Tax Office website showed that he and his business own nine properties. Of these, county tax records online show that he owes $307.31 in taxes on one of the properties and $2,165.88 on a second property.

Garza did not respond to an email from the Herald requesting comment.

A review of Cameron County Appraisal District records online, however, shows that the two properties are owned by two separate parties. The appraisal records also show that the parties granted the two properties to Garza in May and December of 2010, respectively.

Additionally, whereas the county lists Garza as the owner of a property on West Lake Street, the appraisal district lists the owner as another party but shows that the property was granted to Garza in November 2010. Taxes were not noted as being owed on this property.

CAMARILLO

City Commissioner Edward C. Camarillo — who leaves the District 4 seat with two years remaining in his term — has never been arrested, as far as public records show. He said that this is the case.

Camarillo, 32, is not a property owner but indicated that this doesn’t hamper his ability to relate to people who do own property.

“I am not wealthy by any means,” Camarillo said. “Just like everyone else, it has been a struggle because I also try to help my folks,” he said, noting that his parents are on fixed incomes. “It’s been a bit tough.”

He noted that taxes are paid to the city through the rent one pays. “I also pay taxes to the federal government,” he said.

Camarillo said that he and his fiancé plan an August wedding and that they are moving toward the American dream of home ownership.

“I am in the process of owning a home and sharing that experience with my soon-to-be family,” he said.

CARDENAS

Public records do not show any arrests for Evaristo “Viro” Cardenas, 42. He did own up to having received a speeding ticket.

He is not a property owner. “I’m just an average guy,” Cardenas said, adding that he just wants to help the community.

Records show that a Cameron County justice of the peace court entered a judgment against Evaristo Cardenas in 2009 regarding a $5,058 debt to Compass Bank.

Cardenas did not recall a judgment or legal issues with the bank and speculated that the judgment could have been against a relative.

Cardenas registered a nonprofit organization in 2009 called the AIDS Survival Project. Cardenas volunteered that he had only signed his name to it in order to protect the public from a scam.

He indicated that at one time, before the organization was duly registered, funds might not have been properly applied.

MARTINEZ

Antonio “Tony” Martinez recalled driving in Louisiana in the 1960s in the midst of the Civil Rights movement when police appeared to be on alert for “outsiders.”

And then he ran a red light.

“They put me in jail,” Martinez, 65, said of police who questioned why he had a driver’s license from Texas and not Louisiana.

It was about 6 a.m. and he was on his way to work. His employer quickly helped him get out of jail.

The arrest doesn’t appear in public record searches that the Herald conducted.

A speeding ticket that he got in May 2005 show up, however. He was found guilty in a Pawnee County Court and was fined $188.90.

An attorney, Martinez has been in and out of a courthouse hundreds of times throughout the years and said he has been sued twice, in one case by opposing parties to a lawsuit that he worked on.

He also is involved in litigation with a law firm, which together with his law firm worked on the Fen-Phen drug cases. The dispute involves a fee-sharing arrangement.

Martinez has extensive holdings and a review of Cameron County tax records shows that he is current in the payment of taxes.