THE RIO GRANDE GAZETTE SPECIAL EDITION
OPEN LETTER TO THE MAYOR & COUNCIL, TOWN OF ANTHONY, TX. Mayor Ben Romero & council members under the freedom of information act, the Rio Grande Gazette respectfully requests the following information
Editorial
TOWN ELECTIONS CANCELED TWICE IN A ROW
Mayor Romero please correct us at the Gazette if we are mistaken on our dates. It is our understanding that the town of Anthony Texas elections are held every year, for staggered two-year terms. One year, three council members run for a two-year term, and the next year the mayor and two council persons, also run for also a two-year term. Mayor Romero, you have been elected only once, and that was in May of 2016 for a two-year term as a town councilman. To the present, you have now managed to stay in office until May of 2021 by being reappointed as a councilman and recently appointed twice as the town mayor. Last year, before the town scheduled May 2018 elections, you and the rest of the town council voted to cancel the May 2018 elections. The reason being, that no one had filed to run for any of those three positions that were up for election. The three councilmen whose term was up last year also chose not to file for reelection were you, Luis Alfaro and Edward Chavez. However, once the canceled May 2018 elections date passed, the same three of you councilmen that did not file for reelection were as the past incumbents were immediately appointed to your same office for an additional two years.
On December 2018 Mayor Martin Lerma, for reasons of his own resign unexpectedly. You as the mayor pro-term, would normally have assumed the position as mayor until Lerma’s term would have been up on the May 2019. But for unknow reasons you would not or could not assume the position as mayor. Your initial decision not to get sworn in as mayor, compelled the council to make the unusual decision, to allowed you to retain various positions at once. What the council allowed you to hold were to retain your voting privilege as a councilman and that as the mayor pro temp and serve as the town chief executive, for the town of Anthony
Finally, on February you were able to get sworn in as a mayor until the next schedule town elections of May 2019. Mayor Romero, for the second year in a row, you and the town council managed to cancel the town’s schedule elections for May 2019. Once again, the council provided the town with the same reason as before. You and the council stated that no one had filed for any of the offices that were up for re-election. Mayor Romero, for the second time it included you, who chose not to file to run for office, along with council member Joe Garcia, and councilman Shawn Weeks who also chose not to file for re-election. As if it had become a paradigm, after the May 2019 election had been cancelled and passed, in unison council member Joe Garcia, councilman Shawn Weeks, and you, Ben Romero were appointed to serve in your same positions until next year in the May 2020 schedule town elections. This of course with the precedent understanding that amongst the members of the existing council and yourself Mayor Romero, do not manage to cancel the coming elections for a third time.
Mayor, we at the Rio Grande Gazette have tried to be very careful and accurate on the information we publish. Nonetheless, we have encountered a share of challenges as we have tried to retrieve public information that has been only available, “a shred at a time” from your office.
Mayor Romero, the Gazette would like to know if you and the council members complied with the State of Texas Election Code that pertains to publicizing this year’s May 4, 2019 town election? The required public announcement would notify the town voters when and where, the proximate town elections were to be held. The announcement would also include the deadline for candidates to file for office at the town office. Did you and the council comply with these state statutes? Pertaining to your nomination for mayor, did you ever legally file your candidacy with the town’s clerk?
To date, the Gazette found that two days before the deadline to file for office, in your personal Facebook page, you posted a video (since then deleted) stating that you would be running for the position of mayor.
Deadline notices for upcoming elections are important for our democratic form of government. It allows voters to remember the important function of voting. This process provides voters an opportunity to consider the field of candidates that are running for office, review their qualifications, verify their personal past and be able to identify the person they feel is most capable to serve as their representative and that holds their best interest. Failure to comply with our Texas election regulations does not only disrespect the rule of law, it also prevents the voters from meaningfully participating in the election process. Mayor Romero, the Gazette’s best interest is to assure the community that none of the present town of Anthony public office holders were involved in a conspiracy of not filing for reelection; consequently so that you could cancel schedule town elections twice in a row, or to discourage others potential candidates not to file to run for office so that the three of you could automatically be appointed to stay in office another year.
Mayor, with great concern, the Gazette recently received alarming information that a citizen of Anthony, TX allegedly approached you before the May 4, 2019 elections wanting to file for the Alderman seat you had recently vacated when you were appointed as mayor. Supposedly, you discouraged her from filing for your vacancy and allegedly you told her, she would save the town the expense of conducting an election. Additionally, you allegedly also promised her to have the council appoint her, to your vacant seat after the 2019 scheduled town elections were to be cancelled. Mayor, while these are very serious allegations, in all fairness to you, please tell us if they are true or not? The Gazette wants to assure that no citizen of our town has been discouraged in either filing to run for office or has been denied their ultimate right to vote for whomever they choose.
As individuals in this great town and in this great country, we must never forget that the ability to elect our leaders is the bedrock of our American government. The costs of holding public elections are trivial compared to the potential for abuse, corruption and self-serving in the absence of public accountability.
MAYOR BENJAMIN ROMERO QUALIFICATIONS
Mayor Romero since the Gazette has not been aware to your background or qualifications to serve as the appointed Town of Anthony mayor and chief executive officer, we would be grateful if you can provide us a copy of your resume. We would like to publish the extent of your formal education. We also would like to publicize any previous experience you have had in overseeing an accounting department or managing a successful business. Please tell us what qualifies you to lead our proud town, including trainings in accounting and/or leadership that have serve to qualify you as the chief executive of Anthony. A municipality equates to a business, since both must be managed with prudence and the financial responsibility of balancing expenses with revenues, as well as planning for future growth and unexpected crisis. Whether it is a business or a government, our leaders must constantly be very careful to avoid unnecessary poor mistakes and6+ financial waste.
Mayor, do you agree that you and the council have mismanaged the budget these past two years and that you continuing to do so with this fiscal year’s budget as well? If so, will you also agree with the CPA criterium of how bad the town books were kept. You have had two town clerks and a bookkeeper walk out on you in disgust and presently you do not have a full charge bookkeeper on staff. Can you admit then you and the council are simply repeating your past financial embarrassing mistakes? How can you expect the town citizens to consider you being qualified to lead us out of the town present financial crisis this next two years if you and the council members are in fact the very ones that have put the town in this terrible financial crisis?
Finally, mayor do you have a personal police record or any charges in your past that might cast doubt on your competency, honesty or integrity? Do you consider yourself a peace-loving person or are you prone to violence and intimidate others including minors? Is it true that you pulled a pistol on a minor that was a passenger on a driver that had an accident? Did you threaten a restaurant owner to call the police on her when she was turning off the water meter to connect a kitchen appliance? The voters of Anthony are entitled to this information, particularly in the absence of you being instrumental in these most unusual cancellation of our town scheduled elections for the past two years. The Gazette welcomes your reply to our open letter and vital questions to you and each council member. Please know that the Gazette also understands and appreciates that our open letter to you and all the council members may be a delicate topic for all of you, but democracy demands transparency and the voters of Anthony have a right to this information.
Mayor, the Gazette is also hopeful, that if necessary, all three of you would be willing to attest, in a court of law, that none of you had anything to do with a conspiracy to cancel the town elections twice in a row to be subject in a heated contested campaign where all of you, as the incumbents, would be subjected to having to answer various questions as to why under your leadership, the town’s solvency has been jeopardized due to your reckless mismanagement of public funds, conflict of interest or even being accused of possible illegal financial dealings during your tenures in office.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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