02/27/2014
source
Willacy County: An illegal appointment to public office or dirty politics?
|
The Willacy County Judge is up for re-election and is accusing his challenger of exposing the county to possible lawsuits.
Did ex-commissioner Aurelio Guerra vote to appoint himself to take over the formerly vacant county judge seat?
It happened more than four years ago, but it’s resurfacing because Judge Gonzales believes the so-called appointment was illegal and was handled inappropriately.
Further complicating the matter, Guerra and Judge Gonzalez are running against one another in the current race for county judge.
It was on the Willacy County Commissioner’s Court agenda back in September of 2009, and it’s back on the agenda this Thursday for discussion in a closed door executive session.
"The Commissioner’s Court appointed one of their own. They appointed one of the commissioners as county judge and by Texas law that’s a violation of law-an appointing body can not appoint its own,” said Willacy County Judge John Gonzales.
He said the appointment was unethical and claims 44 cases were handled under Aurelio Guerra, which Gonzales said opens up the county up to liability and potential lawsuits.
"He started presiding over probates and guardianships and mental cases and had no legal authority to do that," said Gonzales.
"I was interim county judge in the first of the year that year, but we had to change from interim county judge to acting county judge," explained former commissioner Aurelio Guerra.
Action 4 News brought Judge Gonzales concerns to Guerra, who says he sought legal advice from Probate Judge Guy Herman in Austin, just to be on the safe side.
"Everything was done properly in open court. There was an issue there that I had voted for myself-that’s not true. I did accept the position as acting county judge and all the commissioners were in agreement for me to do that," said Guerra.
Guerra explained that the decision was made because the Commissioner’s Court received a complaint that a separate attorney was handling the county’s probate cases.
"As far as I’m concerned, I did what I should have done back then for the people of this county," said Guerra.
The appointment was over four years ago.
Guerra said bringing it up now, is just a political move by his opponent.
"I have no doubt that this is political, I have no doubt that this was held back until the proper time for the other party," claimed Guerra.
The election is just days away and both Gonzales and Guerra are running for the Willacy County Judge seat.
"I just want to reassure the public that our intentions have always been and will always be to serve the public properly...I ask to continue to have the trust you have in your county leaders and weed out the ones that are obviously doing some of these things for their own personal gain," said Guerra.
Gonzales said the timing of this issue does not have anything to do with politics or the upcoming election. He said he’s just doing his job as Willacy County Judge.
Action 4 News also reached out the Willacy County District Attorney Bernard Ammerman, who said no complaint has been filed with his office regarding the appointment in 2009, an issue that he believes is now moot.
Action 4 News contacted Judge Guy Herman’s office in Austin, but he has not yet returned our call.
The issue will go to the Willacy County Commissioner’s Court Thursday afternoon.
source
No comments:
Post a Comment