It’s official.

After months of speculation and reports circulating around the Brownsville area, former Brownsville Mayor Eddie Trevino Jr. has announced his bid for Cameron County judge.

Trevino will run as a Democrat and as of Friday, he is the only Democratic candidate to publicly announce his intentions for this office.

Trevino will be pitted against incumbent Carlos H. Cascos, who will run as the Republican candidate.

Now that Trevino’s name is out, it’s probably just a matter of time before more names start pouring out.

Fourteen months away and the race has begun.

Cameron County Judge Carlos H. Cascos and District Attorney Armando Villalobos bunkered a deal to avoid a lawsuit against Commissioners’ Court.

Villalobos had threatened to sue Commissioners’ Court over his budget.

Commissioners’ Court had wanted the DA to trim his office’s budget by u p 5 percent, but the DA said in so many words “no can no.”

Instead he found money in his drug forfeiture fund that he could shift to the county’s general fund to balance the budget.

The shifting meant not having to cut staff.

The two also reached an agreeement that will allow the DA’s office to make a presentation on how it would operate collecting delinguent taxes for the county before Commissioners’ Court.

Had a lawsuit actually been filed, Commissioners’ Court may have  ended up paying more money to fight it than what it wanted the DA to cut.

There could be some legal action soon as Cameron County Commissioners’ Court attempts to balance its budget.

In this corner you have District Attorney Armando Villalobos.

And in this corner you have Commissioners’ Court.

The details coming in Thursday’s Brownsville Herald.

Cameron County isn’t alone in trying to find ways to balance its budget.

Counties and states all over are faced with the same dilemma.

Some are taking drastic measures. Here’s what’s happening else where.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/25/rhode.island.shutdown/index.html

It was a few weeks ago that Cameron County officials announced the county was facing a $5. 6 million budget shortfall.

There were talks of pay cuts, closing some county offices and raising taxes.

The good news - that $5.6 million figure is now at about $241,000 without having to cut salaries or offices.

The bad news - well if you consider it bad - taxes will go up by a penny - maybe.

This issue is still being discussed and officials are trying to see if  - and that’s a big if - they can  balance the budget without that extra penny from taxpayers.

What a difference a few weeks make.

With the March primary election about seven months away, it will be interesting to see if voters will temporarily switch parties.

Switching from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party or vice versa will give voters the chance to nominate the candidate they hope is best for the job.

The biggest election that could have voters temporarily crossing party lines is that to be Republican Party nominee for Texas governor.

You have incumbent Rick Perry against U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison both vying for the job.

Both have recognizable last names, at least you should know them if you live in Texas.

Although both are Republicans, there could be some Independent and Democratic voters who may want to vote for them.

The beauty of the March primary is that it gives voters the chance to cross party lines if they prefer a candidate, who is not on their  party’s ticket.

Then in November they can jump back to the party they believe represents them the best.

Still seven months away, but oh what an interesting  March primary it will be.

Where are our elected officials?

This was a question posed at a recent health care reform event in Harlingen where the elected congress members were a no show.

They were invited to attend the event so the public could ask questions about the proposed health care reform and probably the pros and cons about it.

It’s a touchy subject all over the country and many of the public events on health care have  gotten out of hand.

However, don’t the elected officials owe it to the people who elected them to office answers?

And yes, the public needs to respect the officials even if they don’t agree with what they have to say.

I guess Aretha sang  it best that pretty much should be honored by both sides…

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Things got a little testy at Thursday’s Cameron County Commissioners’ Court  meeting and it has to do with money.

Commissioner’s Court is trying to dwindle down a $5.6 million shortfall and is trying to make cuts.

Although they hoped to trim down the budet, by cutting the staff for the newly created 444th state District Court, this didn’t sit well with Judge David Sanchez.

He wants to have a full court even if it means the county find some $200,000 plus to fund it.

Apparently this didn’t sit well with Commissioner Edna Tamayo. Here’s what she said.

“This kid (the judge) is just out of control,” Tamayo said, after Sanchez left the court. The Commissioners’ Court then resolved to present concerns to the Board of Judges, with the aim of preventing Sanchez from taking criminal cases.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Is it a good idea to bite that hand that feeds you? Hmm, only time will tell.

There’s new stuff on the John Allen Rubio capital murder trial.

And more news could be coming out later this week.

Read Tuesday’s Brownsville Herald for what’s up with the case.

There’s some updated news in the case against former District Attorney Yolanda De Leon.

District Attorney Villalobos received some news from the appellate court that he’s been waiting  for.

Read all about it in Sunday’s Herald.