Governor appoints Cascos to lead security council

Gov. Rick Perry appointed the following people to the Border Security Council:

- Carlos Cascos, Cameron County commissioner

- Phil Wilson, Austin, Texas Secretary of State

- Val Clark Beard, Brewster County Judge

- Tomas S. Herrera, Maverick County Sheriff

- Fred Burton, Austin, vice president for STRATFOR, a private intelligence company

- Buddy Garcia, commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

- Becky Dean Walker, Hudspeth County Judge

- Robert Braxton Holt, Midland, rancher and oil producer

- Scott A. McLaughlin, El Paso, president of Stagecoach Cartage and Distribution

- T. Michael O’Connor, Victoria County Sheriff

- Allan B. Polunsky, San Antonio, partner in Polunsky and Beitel law firm

Elizabeth Pierson Hernandez

Austin Correspondent

Freedom Communications, Rio Grande Valley

Phone (512) 323-0622

Cell (512) 653-8058

Fax (512) 323-0696

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday announced Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos will lead an 11-member council to advise the governor on how to spend more than $50 million in border security money.

Cascos said he wants the council to consider the Gulf of Mexico as another possible border and explore whether some of the border security money should go toward securing Texas ports, including the one in Brownsville.

He plans to ask port directors to testify about security, he said.

“I’m just wondering if, in fact, we do have enough security along the coast, and if we do that’s OK. I don’t know.” he said.

As presiding officer of the Texas Border Security Council, Cascos will help Perry’s office determine who gets the money the Legislature set aside earlier this year in the name of border security. The council will also develop requirements for local agencies that want some of the money, and create auditing and reporting standards.

The Legislature this year designated more than $100 million for border security, more than half of which was allocated for the Texas Department of Public Safety. But Perry’s office will be able to dish out the rest, through his office of homeland security, to sheriff’s offices, police departments or other entities that meet the standards the Border Security Council sets.

Cascos said he would schedule hearings statewide to gather public input on the guidelines, but did not know when. Perry does not have a timeline in mind for the council to develop the standards, said spokeswoman Krista Moody.

Cascos is one of five border members from the council and the only one from the Rio Grande Valley. The law passed earlier this year required that at least one-third of the council members be from the border.

Moody said the governor believes having appointees from other parts of Texas adds to the council’s value.

“Border security is a statewide issue and it’s not confined to a handful of counties in South Texas,” Moody said.

Perry has tapped Cascos, a fellow Republican, for other appointments, including the Public Safety Commission and a task force in 2005 to study how to evacuate the coast in a hurricane.

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Elizabeth Pierson Hernandez covers the state capital for Valley Freedom Newspapers. She is based in Austin and can be reached at (512) 323-0622.