DA takes on county

A temporary restraining order requested by Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos against the Cameron County Commissioners’ Court and its legal division has left the Commissioners’ Court without legal representation.

The court-approved restraining order is part of a lawsuit which requests that the legal division of the Commissioners’ Court be transferred back to the district attorney’s office, where it had been housed for numerous years.

Villalobos said the reason the lawsuit was filed is because the issue of separate civil counsel needs to be addressed. The district attorney’s office also has its own civil division.

Currently, the legal division of the Commissioners’ Court is charged with advising the county on contracts it signs with vendors and represents the county in civil lawsuits. Villalobos believes some of the advice has been "ill advised."

Cameron County Judge Carlos H.Cascos said he was disappointed that Villalobos decided to file a lawsuit against the Commissioners’ Court, but added "maybe he (Villalobos) believed that was the way he needed to do it."

A hearing on the restraining order is set for Jan. 1, before 444th District Judge David Sanchez. However, there’s a possibility it could be reset since Jan. 1 is a holiday recognized by the county.

"In our opinion, the office of county attorney is a separate and distinct division, created under the separation of powers," Villalobos said in a statement. "The role of county attorney includes protecting the citizens of this county with proper legal advice to Commissioners’ Court, including advice against taking certain actions, such as entering the ill-advised contract with the U.S. Marshal’s Service that is now hurting our taxpayers with inflated costs."

He added that currently "counsel for Commissioners’ Court is equivalent to in-house or captured counsel, whose priority is going to be towards opining what is wanted rather than what is correct."

Named in the lawsuit are civil attorneys Richard Burst, Bruce Hodge and Dylbia Jefferies, Cascos and Commissioners Sofia C. Benavides, John Wood, David Garza and Edna Tamayo.

In 1998, the Commissioners’ Court transferred the budget slots for the county’s legal division from the district attorney’s office to the Commissioners’ Court, the lawsuit states.

According the lawsuit, the transferring of the department was done out of spite. It cites a comment from Cascos who during a March 6, 2007 Commissioners’ Court meeting stated, "It (the Commissioners’ Court civil division) was created to basically impede the performance of a new DA (district attorney) Yolanda De Leon."

Cascos served as Precinct 2 county commissioner when the transfer was made.

The restraining order, which took effect on Monday, left the Commissioners’ Court without legal representation during Tuesday’s Commissioners’ Court meeting, Cascos said. Luckily, there was nothing urgent that the civil division needed to address.

The Commissioners’ Court will hold a special meeting on Monday to hire a special counsel to represent it during the Jan. 1 hearing.

"It’s good that this comes to the forefront so we can resolve it one way or another through a court of law," Cascos said. "This is something that neither the DA can decide or we as a commission can decide."

Cascos later added, "I’m hoping that this kind of puts everything in perspective and to rest one way or another. This is just not about Cameron County. This affects virtually every other county in the state that has similar arrangements."