By Mark Reagan and Valerie Gonzalez | STAFF WRITERS
There’s a red target on longtime Starr County Judge Eloy Vera.
In late June, a Republican political action committee filed a complaint against Vera, a Democrat, with the Texas Ethics Commission alleging the longtime elected official has disregarded Texas’ campaign finance reporting requirements, leaving the public in the dark as to who financially supported his campaign and who he paid using those contributions.
The complaint followed Texas Public Information Act requests #ProjectRedTX filed with the county seeking records for a campaign treasurer appointment or campaign finance reports.
The request revealed that the Starr County Elections Department had no records.
“Mr. (Wayne) Hamilton unfortunately we are unable to promptly produce the records as requested as we do not currently retain the following records, in particular, Forms CTA (appointment of a Campaign Treasurer by a Candidate), Forms ACTA (Amended Appointment of a Campaign Treasurer), and Forms C/OH (Candidate Campaign Finance Report), including all accompanying required schedules, for the candidates and office holders for 2022 or years prior at this time,” Elections Administrator Armandina Martinez wrote.
Hamilton is the executive director of #ProjectRedTX, which is a PAC that seeks to recruit and support Republican candidates at the local level.
And on Wednesday, #ProjectRedTX said in an email that the Texas Ethics Commission has initiated a separate investigation into Vera’s new campaign treasurer, Starr County Treasurer Romeo Gonzalez.
Vera is up for re-election and is running against Republican Maria Yvette Hernandez, and on Tuesday, the elected official took to Facebook, addressing “an interest group investing time and money to try to bring a so-called Red wave to the RGV.”
In the post, Vera claims that campaign finance reports are generally maintained for major elections with major contributions, citing state representatives and congressional candidates.
“I typically finance my own small-scale local elections,” Vera wrote. “Nonetheless, we found that these reports were not being maintained by our Elections office & it is being corrected.
“We do not have an issue with making these corrections, so there is not a ‘pending investigation.’ This publicity stunt is bad politics.”
Hernandez, his Republican opponent, has also seized on #ProjectRedTX’s complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission and on Tuesday, said on Facebook that Democrats can no longer “hide their misconduct.”
“Not only have they been in power for decades, but they also can’t produce their legally mandated campaign finance reports,” she wrote. “Let’s demand change and hold them accountable on election day!”
She doesn’t mention Vera by name, and #ProjectRedTX has donated $750 to her campaign, according to her campaign finance report, which has a stamp from the Starr County Elections Department.
That document is available on her campaign website.
THE COMPLAINTS
The initial complaint filed against Vera notes that he first won election in 1998 and has consistently been re-elected, usually facing opponents.
However, #ProjectRedTX alleged he has no campaign treasurer appointment on file, has made expenditures without a campaign treasurer on file and has continually failed to file campaign finance reports despite raising and spending funds toward re-election.
The complaint said that Vera faced opponents in 2014, 2018 and 2022 and throughout this time, #ProjectRedTX alleges he disregarded the state’s campaign finance requirements, “denying the public information as to who supported his campaign and who he paid using campaign funds.”
The complaint goes on to break down each of those years and names his opponents while reiterating the allegation that he failed to file campaign finance reports.
The alleged violations include making expenditures without a campaign treasurer on file; failing to file the semi-annual reports for July 2020, January 2021, July 2021 and January 2022.
The complaint filed last week against Gonzalez, the Starr County treasurer, begins by noting he first won election to office in 2018.
However, #ProjectRedTX alleges that until Aug. 1 he had no campaign treasurer appointment on file; has made expenditures without one on file; has continually failed to file campaign finance reports and has failed to properly report details of his single reported expenditure.
“Prior to August 1, 2022, the Starr County Elections Administrator did not have a campaign treasurer appointment or any campaign finance reports relating to Gonzalez’s electoral activity,” the complaint stated. “On August 1, 2022, Gonzalez used the wrong form … to designate a campaign treasurer.”
The complaint said that during the 2018 Democratic primary, he defeated a primary opponent and purchased signs reading “Elect Romeo Gonzalez,” which featured a “legally deficient disclosure statement reading ‘political ad paid for by the candidate.’”
The Republican group alleges this expenditure was never properly reported as evidenced by the lack of a campaign finance report filing.
“Since his election, Gonzalez has not filed semi-annual reports required by law. Within the previous two years, he has failed to file reports in January 2021, July 2021, or January 2022,” the complaint stated. “He did not timely file a semi-annual report in July 2022.”
The complaint said he filed his first campaign finance report on Aug. 1 and that it “purports to cover a period from January 1, 2022 through July 15, 2022.”
The only expenditure on the report, according to #ProjectRedTX, is for a $350 printing expenditure.
“However, Gonzalez did not indicate the date of the expenditure, the name of the payee, or the address of the payee as required by law,” the complaint stated.
In all, #ProjectRedTX alleges he committed seven violations.
In a news release, Hamilton, the executive director of #ProjectRedTX, alleged neither Vera or Gonzalez have complied with Texas’ campaign finance laws.
“It seems like everyone around Judge Vera gets pulled into his ethical mess,” Hamilton said in the release. “His decision to make the County Treasurer his campaign treasurer already smells like a conflict of interest, and if that weren’t bad enough, it turns out neither one of them respect or comply with Texas’ basic campaign finance and transparency laws. Starr County Deserves better.”
As for #ProjectRedTX’s public information request for Vera’s campaign finance documents, Martinez, the elections administrator, referred him to Hilda Gonzalez on June 9 for the records, saying she is the Starr County Democratic chair.
A person who answered the phone at Gonzalez’s law office on Thursday, said she is no longer the chair and said Dr. Jessica Vera-Rios is the chair.
Vera-Rios responded Friday disputing the legitimacy of #ProjectRedTX as an organization and their complaints As for the records, Vera-Rios was elected March 1 but didn’t take office until mid-June.
“Since I’ve taken office, yes, many of the candidates have started forwarding it to me,” she said of new campaign finance reports. Previous records sought by #ProjectRedTX were before her time. “Prior to this, Republicans and Democrats were not being asked to keep finance reports. The election administrator is responsible for keeping these records,” the Democratic chair added.
Vera-Rios also explained that the new elections administrator only recently took the position and found “utter havoc” in the office and believed the records were left in disarray.
As for the Republican PAC, the Starr County Democratic chair didn’t mince words on her opinion of #ProjectRedTX and its executive director.
“He basically calls himself a ‘political operative,’” Vera-Rios said of Hamilton. “Anybody can scream at the top of their lungs whatever it is that they want and that’s exactly what he’s done.” She said Hamilton recruited other Republican candidates to run in Starr County, aside from the county judge’s office, but Vera-Rios said, “They really don’t have a chance.”
