GARZA 9-17

 It's bad enough that almost every candidate for the BISD Board of Trustees is attired in pink jumpsuits as a result of criminal excesses, but when the Republican candidate for Cameron County Sheriff is facing one years in jail, the voters start thinking that Donald Trump may be a saint after all in comparison to this motley crew.

The Brownsville Herald is reporting that John "Jailbird" Chambers is looking at one year behind bars on 14 misdemeanor charges as well as a $4,000 fine for each count. And this is the guy who has the audacity to call his Democratic opponent, Eric Garza, the next Conrado Cantu if the latter prevails in the November elections.

Chambers has been coordinating a smear campaign against Garza in a desperate strategy to win at all costs. As Cameron County District Clerk, Garza served the community competently. And he has no criminal record, which seems to be a prerequisite among candidates in Brownsville and Cameron County these days.

Beginning with multiple felony charges, Chambers has been in and out of the courts for the last four years. Do we need a sheriff and criminals appearing before judges together? What a joke, but it is no laughing matter. 

You would think that candidates would have the good sense to vet themselves, and maybe look at themselves in the mirror too, before they hit the campaign trail asking us to trust them when the state doesn't trust them. Reports the dying daily:

Texas’ highest criminal appellate court declined to hear a petition for discretionary review in the case of John Chambers, former chief of the Indian Lake Police Department, who sought to have 14 misdemeanor counts of tampering with governmental records reversed.

The petition was the second filed at the Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) by Chambers. It was published on Tuesday under a section listing petitions for review the court has chosen not to re-litigate.

Chambers was convicted in January 2016 on 14 counts of tampering with governmental records, all state jail felonies. The former chief appealed those convictions at the 13th Court of Appeals, which affirmed the 103rd District Court of Cameron County’s judgment in May 2017.

In August 2017, Chambers appealed his convictions at CCA, which found that evidence was insufficient to show that Chambers ordered a subordinate officer to falsify firearms qualification records with intent to defraud or harm the state.

The case was remanded to the 13th Court, which reversed the convictions, sending the case back to the trial court for a new punishment hearing. He faces up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000 on each count.

Chambers again appealed to CCA in June, seeking to potentially have those misdemeanors reviewed and reversed.