Brownsville Mayoral Forum report.

Over 200 people attended this week’s forum on the mayoral race in Brownsville, Texas with five candidates appearing at the event hosted by the Republican Club of Brownsville: Pat Ahumada, Erasmo Castro, William Garza, Robert Sanchez, and Brenda Joyas. Unfortunately, Mayor Tony Martinez was unable to attend the forum, due to a scheduling conflict to attend a memorial in Houston to honor Martinez’ late son, Rev. T.J. Martinez, who passed away in November.

• Former Mayor Pat Ahumada displayed his previous experience with bond projects, utility rates, and the bag ordinance—clearly correcting other candidates when incorrectly using the word, “ban.” While some of his previous criminal record may hinder his ability to achieve re-election, he was quick to answer questions and address city issues.

 

• In contrast, “pole front-runner” Erasmo Castro demonstrated the other side of the coin—his obvious inexperience with running for public office. His poor mic skills combined with his ability to repeated-ted-ted-ted-ly stu-tu-terr over and over in front of an overflowed mayoral forum, showed his inappropriateness to be the next official to represent the City of Brownsville. While he considers himself to be “one the wealthiest individuals” out there, perhaps he should invest in some public speaking courses to better address the public. The truth is, he made no big impact at the forum this week, with even the Brownsville Herald citing, “Erasmo Castro kept mostly to himself.” Though he didn’t directly aim at any other candidates either, his claims about Social Media and work with oncology patients proves his inexperience with elected office—he even completely missed answering a question about  fire and police infrastructure and instead ranted about the Brownsville airport and Gladys Porter Zoo. Nothing extraordinary was presented by Mr. Erasmo Castro, and the residents of Brownsville saw that Tuesday night. No knowledge of SB 2034. No proposed policy initiatives. No real experience. That is Erasmo Castro.

 

• William Garza, former City Commissioner, mentioned his vision of Brownsville to become a tourist city, filled with trolleys and tourist attractions. However, his extremely abrupt answer on SB 2034 (a proposed taxing healthcare district for Cameron County) also showed he had not followed up on local current events. However, he did have heart-filled moments, referring to himself first and foremost as, “Billy’s dad,” a tribute to his son who attended the forum. His previous Commissioner experience was cited also with the city budget.

 

• Robert Sanchez, mainly known by his work name as Captain Bob, is a local businessman with and he devoted the majority of his time at the forum constantly bashing the incumbent for not attending the forum. “There’s not even a representative here!” as he screamed on the podium. “You all are the citizens of Brownsville!” It was basically to the point where former mayor Pat Ahumada stated, “I know what’s it’s like to lose children—I’ve lost two children. So if the mayor can’t be here, because he has to be at a memorial service for his son, I don’t disagree.” Captain Bob’s aggressive attitude on the microphone showed the opposite of a level-head.

 

• Brenda Joyas, a local community leader, showed prowess and expertise when speaking before the public, while maintaining her ideologies in place. Being the only candidate to express an increase in city staff and spending, she mentioned how the city staff has not increased in over 20 years. She also opposed the proposed LNG facility by inferring it might turn Brownsville from a “Greenfield” to a Brownfield. She advocated for public infrastructure projects and said infrastructure has to be in place first to attract business.