Local experts: Brownsville mayor's DWI a disruption

BROWNSVILLE — The most recent legal scandal enveloping Brownsville Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. does not bode well for the city and its projects, political analysts said.

When the personal reputation of the city’s top elected official is in question, the public’s trust is violated and his credibility is tarnished, experts said.

“That person continuing in office creates a cloud around his or her entire administration that adversely impacts every aspect of their job, to include endangering the success of current and pending projects,” said Samuel Freeman, political science professor at the University of Texas-Pan American.

However, Ahumada — who just two months ago was acquitted of theft charges in a check scandal — is facing the legal realities of a third DWI charge, and his effectiveness as a city leader and his political credibility are hanging in the balance.

Still, he is urging the community to consider his accomplishments and his passion for the city he represents.

“Look at all the good things that have happened,” the mayor, who has a year remaining in his term, told The Brownsville Herald on Wednesday.

“I love my city very much and I will continue to work very hard,” he said.

Some say he does still have his supporters and that his political reputation might not be beyond repair.

“I think that an acknowledgment of his responsibility, and an apology, might help,” said Tony Knopp, professor emeritus of History at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. “But I don’t know how much.”

Ahumada’s arrest on Tuesday comes less than two months after a state jury cleared him of felony theft, abuse of official capacity, and misapplication of fiduciary property. Since 1987 he has had two other DWI charges. One resulted in conviction and the other was dismissed.

Ahumada first served as mayor from 1990 through January 1994, when he resigned in an unsuccessful bid for Cameron County judge. He was again elected mayor in 2007 for a four-year term.

THE FUTURE OF AHUMADA’S PROJECTS

As is usually the case in political arguments, detractors tend to see only the missteps of the opposition, while supporters tend to see the successes, with the reality usually falling somewhere in the middle.

Supporters say Ahumada has been especially tireless in his efforts to forward the Brownsville Public Utilities Board’s dam proposal, commonly referred to as the weir and reservoir project, which he predicts will reach fruition.

He also has been working on the development of a binational riverwalk, much like San Antonio’s, dotted with hotels, shops and restaurants. He proudly points to the recycling program that began through his initiative, and to his steadfast opposition to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, seeking its removal.

Ahumada’s attorney, Star Jones, on Friday said the mayor does not feel that these or any other projects are in danger of losing momentum.

But Knopp believes Ahumada’s most recent arrest could weaken his ability to bring projects to fruition.

“I don’t know that it is really going to undermine and impact many city projects, but those with which he is identified would suffer some,” Knopp said.

It is hard to say if the mayor’s arrest would affect dealings with federal and state agencies, he added, because city employees rather than elected officials carry on a lot of the city’s business.

“But it certainly can’t help,” he said.

HIS COMMISSION WEIGHS IN

At least one city commissioner is concerned about the impact of Ahumada’s troubles not just on city projects, but also on the City Commission itself.

“There are comments made by people accusing the commission as a whole of being irresponsible and setting a bad example for the community. I am not a drinker or a thief,” Commissioner Ricardo Longoria Jr. said Wednesday.

“The work that I or other hard-working members of the commission do for this community should not be tarnished because of the actions of current or past commission members,” he said.

Just days before Ahumada’s arrest for DWI, former City Commissioner Carlos A. Cisneros, who was Cameron County Commissioner John Wood’s assistant, was arrested for DWI and assault-family violence.

Cisneros resigned as Wood’s assistant on Monday, one day after his arrest. Cisneros continues to serve on the Brownsville Community Improvement Corp., to which he was appointed by the City Commission while he was a city commissioner.

City Commissioner Melissa Zamora said it is unfortunate that the shadow of negativity has been cast over the city because of the alleged poor behavior of elected officials past and present.

“I refuse to be distracted from city business, a professional setting, and by what may have transpired over the personal lives of certain individuals,” Zamora said Tuesday.

“I urge our community to reflect on the wonderful things our great city has to offer — ecotourism, great exhibits at our historic and art museums, award-winning school district, excellent parks, etc. — and positively support their home known as Brownsville. Negativity only begets negativity.”

City Commissioner Rose M. Z. Gowen declined to comment on the mayor’s latest travails.

City Commissioners Edward C. Camarillo, Anthony P. Troiani and Charlie Atkinson, who chairs the Brownsville Community Improvement Corp., did not respond to requests from The Herald for comment.

However, Atkinson himself is no stranger to legal problems. He faced his own DWI charge in 2007, which was dismissed the following year. And shortly before he was elected to the commission, Atkinson in 2006 was charged with reckless driving for traveling 70 mph in a 30-mph zone. That charge also was dismissed.

In early 2009, Atkinson said he would push for Ahumada’s removal from office if a grand jury indicted Ahumada on felony charges in the check scandal, but ultimately did not pursue it.

FROM FRYING PAN TO FIRE — AGAIN

Given Tuesday’s arrest and DWI charge, Ahumada might again be squaring off with Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos, whose office unsuccessfully prosecuted Ahumada on the felony charges stemming from the $26,139 check that the city issued to a vendor, but that Ahumada said he deposited by mistake in his business bank account.

“It is disappointing that Mr. Ahumada’s personal life has become a distraction from his duties as mayor of Brownsville,” Villalobos said of Ahumada’s DWI arrest. “I had hopes that his last legal entanglement would have had the effect of discouraging Mr. Ahumada from situations that call his behavior into question.”

A grand jury brought felony charges against the mayor, resulting first in a hung jury in 2009, and then in his unanimous acquittal in a second trial in March this year.

“Once we review the latest allegations against him, we will evaluate what, if any, charges should be filed against him,” Villalobos said. “If indeed evidence suggests that he committed the offense of DWI, it would be filed as a DWI 2nd because of a prior conviction, making it a Class A Misdemeanor.”

Freeman, the UTPA professor, said elected officials hold the public trust and that they have a responsibility to conduct themselves in accordance with a “higher standard.”

“They are not supposed to show us what elected officials can get away with,” he said, “but how we should conduct ourselves ethically, and with a respect for those around us.”

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Emma Perez-Trevino is a reporter for The Brownsville Herald.