Sneaky with Power

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Just when I thought we were running out of adjectives to describe the arrogant politicians in the crazy town of San Benito, Texas, Mayor Guerra and his band of city commissioners strike again… And this time, what they did show they aren’t just stupid with power in the small Rio Grande Valley town… They are Sneaky with Power too.


We always appreciate journalistic advice, even critique from the people we investigate… And we get plenty along the way.

“I want to ask you a couple of questions”, says Andrea. “Sure”, responds Fred Sandoval.

Last summer we wanted to question San Benito city manager Fred Sandoval because we discovered he didn’t live in San Benito like the city charter required him to…

He wasn’t even trying to move…. And we struck a nerve when we brought it up.

Andrea: “We wanted to know about you moving to San Benito because you’ve been the city manager for a while your house isn’t up for sale”.

Sandoval: “No, it’s not”.

Andrea: “Okay, are you planning to move?

Fred: “No…”

Andrea: “Never?”

Sandoval: “Never”.

Sandoval tried to convince us the State law said he didn’t have to move.

“It’s the charter provisions of local government code that doesn’t require me to live in the municipality that I’m working in”, explains Fred Sandoval.

Fancy government talk but Fred’s clearly no lawyer because that wasn’t true at all…

“It wasn’t exactly a chamber of commerce moment considering Sandoval he’s the one who is supposed to be convincing investors to bring their money and new development to the land of the resaca…”, says Wayne Dolcefino.

It turns out the city manager isn’t just an angry with power…… he’s sneaky with power too…

So is the entire San Benito city commission…

“How much transparency do you want?”, asks Mayor Guerra.

Early voting for the November election in the Rio Grande Valley won’t begin until next week, but we took a look at the ballot San Benito voters will see when they get in there…

It includes a special election to change San Benito’s city charter….

And look here, Proposition D…. Or what we call: the Fred Sandoval amendment…. A charter change that doesn’t help a single resident of San Benito…. Just one guy who doesn’t want to live in the city where taxpayers pay him to work.

But when exactly did the San Benito city commission vote to put that proposition on the ballot….  Because we can’t find it mentioned anywhere in the agendas or minutes… And we looked…

But here’s when it happened…. August 6th of this year… Just weeks after our Arrogant with Power video took the Valley by storm. During what’s called the consent agenda…

“A consent agenda is where commissioners lump all non-controversial items, routine stuff. Into one up and down vote… That’s what happened on this day…” explains Wayne.

Item two on the consent agenda that day was consideration and possible action to approve order number 2024-0806-001 for the city’s November five charter amendment special election… That ordinance was not put online 72 hours in advance of the meeting…

It is the only place we could find since the summer where a special charter election was even talked about.

“Okay so I’ve got a motion by Commissioner Goodman, do I have a second? All in favor? Any nays? Motion passes”.

But there was clearly nothing routine about the Sandoval charter amendment…

Even Sandoval knew it was controversial…. He had gone to the newspaper to try and explain his anger over our questioning.

Then there is amendment C…. Which is trying to change the charter to take more power away from residents… And give it to the politicians.

Now if a city commissioner resigns and there’s less than a year left in a three-year council term a special election is held…

The change would allow city commissioners to hand-pick the replacement…

And then there is what we’re calling the Carol Sanchez amendment… Prop B…

Sanchez was thrown off the city commission this spring when she moved out of the city with weeks left in her term…

You got to love the way Sandoval reacted back then…

Sanchez: “Is it the same charter that says the city manager has to live in the city?”

Sandoval: “Yes, absolutely”.

Sanchez: “So are you prepared to move here?”

Sandoval: “As soon as I get my contract in April”.

Sandoval obviously changed his mind… But we say that the vote in August that put those controversial ballot changes was illegal… And a violation of the very charter the commission was trying to change… Maybe they need to read it.

They can vote to put a new amendment in the charter by ordinance, but they are required to read the entire text.  I bet they didn’t because they wanted to keep it a secret.

“People are just completely unhappy at this point in time”, says Sanchez.

Sanchez is now supporting a recall of the San Benito commission she used to sit on… A petition drive is now in its final days.

We agreed to help a group of citizens saying enough is enough.

“At the end of the day it’s up to us to speak up… The power of the pen, right? We can vote”.

You’d understand if Julian Rios didn’t have time to take back his government… the former chairman of the EDC is trying to raise funds as his young wife battles another round of cancer…

“My wife tells me to keep fighting, to keep doing what is right. It keeps us busy, it keeps us focused on something other than the cancer. Our kids are the next generation, and I have to make sure that they’re good”, says Rios.

Now the revelation that the San Benito city commission snuck through potential changes to the city charter is proof the recall is required for a group of politicians hungry with power…. And willing to ignore the embarrassments of recent months to get more power.

“This being sneaky it is ridiculous”, adds Rios.

Petition organizers say only a few reasons have been cited for not signing…

One is the fear of retaliation by the San Benito school board…. The school district is one of the biggest employers in town…

After our last video, Brian Rivera of Texas Hometown Strategies called us to help. He sent folks to San Benito to collect petitions…

“I had to talk to a lady because she was so scared of signing not because she didn’t believe in it but because she was afraid to sign it”, reveals Rivera.

“I went back on the Mickey G podcast to send a message don’t even think about retaliation”, says Wayne.

Besides the school district wants to get a bond approved. Even though their last one is still immersed in scandal. Buildings never opened… Because the foundations are all wrong.

We’ve opened an investigation into nepotism at SBISD. After Mayor Guerra got elected, one of his brothers got a sweet job as its director…

The housing authority is hiding the investigation into another brother for alleged sexual assault.

And of course, another brother is on the EDC… The one that assaulted me during a recent visit to City Hall…

Nepotism is what first brought us to San Benito… that’s funny a charter amendment to stop that isn’t on the ballot. Of course, that would have been brought up if the people who live under this hungry from power bunch would have known it…

Some San Benito residents, who want the mayor recalled and a councilwoman Deborah Morales, have more sympathy for a councilman like Tom Goodman… Who has failed to publicly call out the nepotism or the mismanagement… Even the conduct of the mayor’s family…

Goodman: “I understand what you are saying about it very clearly”.

Dolcefino: “But you are not willing to do it”.

Goodman: “I have to navigate small-town politics and try to help improve it and make it do better”.

Goodman was at that August meeting this year. When the council snuck through details of a special election. Major changes to the city charter without uttering a word about it.

“They didn’t do anything, there are people of integrity but man when you sit there and do nothing you are doing just as much of an injustice as the people that are doing this”, affirms Rios.

Hundreds have already signed the petitions, even before this double cross… It is why we offered to help San Benito residents in the first place try and take their town back.

“Do it for your kids, do it for your kids so they can see mom and dad saying you know what this is America, by the way, and in America, we get to petition our government, it’s kind of what the original dudes were all about”.

Petitions are available to sign at Chuy’s Custom Sports on Highway 77. They must be turned in on Friday to the city secretary. Wonder if she’ll call the cops again…

“Fight, fight, fight, San Benito, fight, fight, fight”, urges Wayne.

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