A Starr County judge dismissed a lawsuit on Monday that sought to keep the Republican candidate running for Starr County judge from being on the ballot.
The lawsuit was filed Aug. 19 by Starr County Judge Eloy Vera, a Democrat who is running for reelection.
Vera argued in the lawsuit that his Republican opponent, Maria Yvette Hernandez, does not live in Starr County and is therefore ineligible to run for the seat. To support his argument, Vera used paperwork Hernandez filed with the Starr County Clerk’s Office on June 24, 2016, in which she attested that a La Joya residence had been her “sole homestead” since 2006.
But after the judge dismissed the lawsuit on Monday, Vera said on Facebook that he had referred the information to authorities to investigate whether Hernandez had falsified records regarding her residency.
On Tuesday, Wayne Hamilton, executive director of #ProjectRedTX, a political action committee that seeks to get Republicans elected to local offices, said the judge dismissed Vera’s lawsuit due to a lack of jurisdiction.
The group has filed complaints with the Texas Ethics Commission against Vera because he apparently has not filed any campaign finance reports and has also contributed $750 to Hernandez’s campaign.
In a news release issued Monday, Hamilton said Vera has made “questionable moves” that could present conflicts of interest. Vera hired Hilda Garza, a Starr County assistant district attorney and the former Starr County Democratic Party chair, to represent him in his lawsuit against Hernandez. Garza, however, has her own private law firm in Starr County.
“The apparent conflict of interest with the Assistant District Attorney representing the County Judge as the plaintiff in an election-related case involving their own County is stunning,” Hamilton said in the release. “Who is looking out for the County’s interests? Who is looking out for the people? How many more will get caught up in Eloy Vera’s web of ethical mismanagement?”
Vera also appointed Romero Gonzalez, the Starr County treasurer, as his campaign treasurer. Hamilton’s group has also filed complaints against Gonzalez with the ethics commission for his own campaign finance reports.
In the unsuccessful lawsuit against his opponent, Vera alleged Hernandez is ineligible to run because the document Hernandez signed said she lived in La Joya and it conflicts with her voter registration address, which is listed as 107 North Garza Street in Rio Grande City.
That location has several businesses registered there, including the Law Office of Omar Escobar, E-Tax Solutions, New York Life and La Paz Perpetual Care Cemetery, Inc.
Hernandez is listed as a director for La Paz Perpetual Care Cemetery, Inc.
In #ProjectRedTexas’ news release, the group said Hernandez and her family are “well known as an active part of the Rio Grande City community, having fed and entertained hundreds of their neighbors and area residents at their home over the years.”
Vera’s lawsuit also named Starr County Elections Administrator Armandina Martinez as a defendant because she refused to remove Hernandez from the ballot. Vera said he notified her of the residency allegation on Aug. 5, and four days later, on Aug. 9, she told him she could not remove Hernandez from the ballot.
“(Her) refusal to eliminate candidate, Maria Yvette Hernandez’s name from the official ballot will result in monetary loss to plaintiff and will destroy a valuable property right, in that he will need to expend financial resources, personal energy, generate sample ballots and other campaign materials and recruit poll workers to challenge the campaign against Maria Yvette Hernandez’s ineligible candidacy,” the lawsuit stated.
In a response, Hernandez generally denied Vera’s allegations, and her attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the suit for want of subject-matter jurisdiction.
That motion stated that under Texas’ election laws, it’s legally too late for Vera’s lawsuit to proceed because he didn’t file it 74 days before the November election.
That motion said Vera filed 71 days before the election and at this point the only way Hernandez could be removed from the ballot is if the state of Texas initiated an effort to do so.
“After nearly 25 years in office, Eloy Vera seems to think the people of Starr County don’t even deserve a choice anymore,” Hamilton said in the release. “Today the courts protected the right of Starr County citizens to decide for themselves who should lead their County into the future.”
As for Vera, he took to Facebook following the ruling and in a post addressed to “Starr County Voters,” he thanked them for their inquiries and messages of support while apologizing for not responding sooner.
He said he learned a lot from the case and indicated that Hernandez testified that Hamilton had paid her $750 filing fee to run for county judge.
Vera also said in the post that Hamilton is not from Starr County and that Hernandez “testified, under oath, that she ‘did not read’ the application, she ‘just signed it.’”
The post also said Hernandez testified that she didn’t read mortgage paperwork she prepared and did not properly file a financial expenditure report.
“Ms. Hernandez does NOT claim a homestead,” Vera wrote. “Ms. Hernandez testified that she could not purchase the home in Las Brisas, so she used her friend’s credit to purchase the home occupies ‘off & on.’”
Vera also said that Hernandez’s husband claims a homestead in La Joya, but votes in Starr County and alleged that she hasn’t established permanent residency in Starr County, but votes there anyway.
“The Office of County Judge requires at least 6 months residency prior to filing for the ballot,” he wrote.
The incumbent, however, did acknowledge in the post that he missed the deadline for petitioning to remove Hernandez’s name from the ballot.
“Therefore, Ms. Hernandez’s name will remain on the ballot due to the fact that the deadline passed, not because she proved to be eligible,” Vera wrote. “The court encouraged Council to pursue the matter of residency and the possibility of falsifying records. The facts have been turned over to authorities for investigation.”
Vera ended the post by calling himself a man of order and respect of the law.
“I look forward to Ms. Hernandez’s name on the ballot. The rule of the people will uphold Democracy, ALWAYS,” Vera wrote. “Onward we go! I kindly ask for your VOTE NOV. 2022.”
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