By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
It may only be December, and Election Day still 10 months away, but the fireworks are already popping between local candidates.
At the close of Tuesday’s Val Verde County Commissioners Court meeting, Democrat Val Verde County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr., responded to comments he said he had heard were made by Jimmy McDonald, who is seeking the Republican Party nomination for County Commissioner Pct. 2, a position currently held by Democrat Juan Carlos Vazquez.
Owens said, “As a judge, I cannot endorse or be part of politics when it comes to other elected officials. There was a comment made on Friday that I had endorsed and begged Mr. McDonald – was the comment that he made – to run for office.
“For one, (I) would not do it. Did not do it, and by law, cannot do it. So – and I’m trying to pick my words here – it’s not political, and it doesn’t matter what party or who you’re affiliated with, doesn’t matter.
“But again, Mr. McDonald made the comment. I did not beg him, ask him or have any conversations with him, for him to run for any office, the one he’s seeking now, or any other office, for the record,” Owens said.
On Friday, the Val Verde County Republican Party Executive Committee held a meeting at Rudy’s Bar-B-Q and Country Store, during which former county judge Laura Allen was elected Val Verde County Republican Party Chair.
The vote to elect Allen took about 12 minutes, but then the dozen members present discussed a myriad of other items for nearly 40 minutes.
McDonald, who was present for the meeting, told the room he didn’t really want to run again due to experiences in his campaign against Vazquez in a previous election.
“Because of the nastiness of that taste of politics, I decided I wasn’t going to be involved in politics at all, ever again,” McDonald said Friday.
The comments that rankled Owens came next.
“Since that election happened . . . I have had the county judge, (County) Commissioner (Pct. 1 Martin) Wardlaw and (County) Commissioner (Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus”) Flores come to me with countless number of registered voters in the county of Val Verde begging me to run for County Commissioner of Precinct 2 again,” McDonald said.
“I was like there was no way in hell that I’m going to run for County Commissioner of Precinct 2 again and go through this nastiness where I strive to live this stellar life as a Godly person,” McDonald added.
Previously, McDonald ran as a Democrat, but is now running as a Republican. He also added he had always voted Republican. About three minutes later, McDonald reiterated Owens, Wardlaw and Flores had asked him to run, claiming they told him Vazquez was never available.
During Tuesday’s meeting, however, Owens said he didn’t make the comments and was concerned they’d undermine his court.
“I think that all of us have done a really good job working together, and don’t appreciate anybody trying to throw rocks at any one of us in order to have the rest of the court either mad or upset with one of us. Don’t appreciate that. Think that’s bullshit,” Owens said.
“I think we’ve all – and we’ve had this conversation with our county attorney – I think we’ve all pretty much stayed in our own lanes. Everybody has their own job to do. I believe we’ve done it well. I’m not endorsing anybody, but all of us have the right to run for any position that we want to run for. That right we do have,” the county judge added.
When The 830 Times contacted Wardlaw and asked him if he’d asked McDonald to run, his first answer was unprintable.
However, Wardlaw added, “I’ve met that man twice in my life, and I have not asked him to run against Commissioner Vazquez, and it never will happen.”
Flores had a similar response.
“No, I did not ask him to run,” Flores said.
“How could I, a Democrat, ask a Republican to run against a fellow Democrat?” the commissioner added.
When McDonald was informed Owens, Wardlaw and Flores had denied they recruited him or even asked him to run, he said, “I have no comment.”
After a pause, he added, “I’m not going to get into an argument with the county judge.”
Vazquez, too, was contacted for comment, and he said he was never worried.
“When I heard this, I had all the faith in this team of commissioners and the judge that I had their support. I was pretty sure Mr. McDonald was lying,” Vazquez said.
Writer’s Note: The 830 Times Senior Reporter Karen Gleason contributed to this story.
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Contact the author at joelalangton@gmail.com
