District attorney campaigns center on Guerra
EDINBURG — A pair of past political foes hope to stand between Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra and his bid for an eighth term in office in this year’s Democratic primary.
Pointing to the incumbent’s more than a quarter of a century in office, Alma Garza and Fidencio Guerra Jr. have campaigned on platforms urging change within the office of the county’s top prosecutor.
“We need a change. We need a drastic change,” said Fidencio Guerra, who is not related to the district attorney. “Twenty-seven years is 27 years too long.”
Garza, an Edinburg defense attorney who worked at the DA’s office between 1989 and 1997, gave Guerra one of the closest re-election races of his career in 2006, forcing him to a run-off and losing by less than 2,000 votes.
As in her past campaign, she has pledged to avoid inserting politics into the justice system and encouraging better relationships with local law enforcement. Under the current regime, the office has become a bastion of “compadrismo,” where political alliances and friendships factor heavily into decisions on which cases get prosecuted, Garza has said throughout this year’s race.
“The office is run the way it was run years ago, and things in the Valley have changed,” she said.
Fidencio Guerra, a former state district judge who also worked in the district attorney’s office, has taken this criticism of his election-year rival even further. He has at times compared Rene Guerra to J. Edgar Hoover, the former FBI director with an infamous reputation for using his office to settle personal scores, and posted campaign signs prominently throughout the county featuring the name “Rene” with a slash through it.
If elected, he has promised to bring defendants to trial more quickly, establish a better working relationship with municipal police departments and restrict sentence-limiting plea deals.
“His record stinks,” the judge said. “It’s time to stop with excuses, we want answers and we want action. The silent majority wants a change.”
But Rene Guerra maintains neither of these candidates is qualified to run an office that houses 47 attorneys and handles nearly 20,000 cases a year.
Garza, he says, has offered no specific ideas on how she would change the office. And Fidencio Guerra — who was named one of the state’s worst judges in a 2006 Texas Observer article — has a record that speaks for itself, Rene Guerra said.
“For people to tear me down and accuse me of compadrismo like that is an insult for the public servants who work for this community,” he said. “I have 47 lawyers for a population of (almost) 1 million. You can’t get more efficient than that.”
First elected in 1982, Guerra is one of the longest serving district attorneys in the state. He has said that this will be his last run for the office, a promise he also made in 2006 after narrowly defeating Garza.
Should he be re-elected to an eighth term, he will remain in office until 2014.
RENE GUERRA
AGE: 64
EDUCATION: Juris doctorate (University of Texas-Austin ‘75), bachelor’s degree (Texas Pan American College ’69); Edinburg High School ‘65
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: won seven elections prior elections for Hidalgo County district attorney
EMPLOYMENT: Hidalgo County district attorney
ALMA GARZA
AGE: 54
EDUCATION: Juris doctorate (Texas Southern University), bachelor’s degree (Texas Pan American College ’79); Edinburg High School ‘74
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: ran for district attorney in 2006
EMPLOYMENT: criminal defense attorney in private practice, former assistant district attorney
FIDENCIO GUERRA JR.
AGE: 62
EDUCATION: Juris doctorate (St. Mary’s School of Law ’74); bachelor’s degree (Texas Pan American College ’71); McAllen High School ‘66
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: former state district judge; former president of Hidalgo County Bar Association; previous campaigns for county court-at-law judge
EMPLOYMENT: visiting judge for Texas court system; worked as a defense attorney and assistant district attorney
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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.
