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Floresville councilman won’t appear on ballot




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Floresville city Councilman Eduardo Villarreal will not be on the May 6 ballot, after his application to run for re-election was discovered to be incomplete. WCN FILE PHOTO

Floresville city Councilman Eduardo Villarreal will not be on the May 6 ballot, after his application to run for re-election was discovered to be incomplete. WCN FILE PHOTO

Floresville city Councilman Eduardo Villarreal will be omitted from the May 6 municipal election ballot, after the applications of three council candidates were challenged March 21 in court.

Two candidates — Dustin Honesto and Chez Perez — initiated legal action to have Floresville City Secretary Evelyn Garcia remove Councilman Eduardo Villarreal, Jessica Rodriguez- Green, and Donald Scee from the ballot.

Parties to the case met in the 218th District Court in Floresville last Tuesday. However, district court Judge Russell Wilson recused himself from the case. Judge Jennifer Dillingham of the 81st District Court heard the case by Zoom at 1:30 p.m. later that day.

Honesto, Villarreal, and Green — along with Roy Idrach, who is not a party to the case — are running for Place 3 on the council. Perez and Scee are running for Place 5.

Villarreal’s application was challenged on the basis that he failed to record his permanent residence address on his application. Rodriguez-Green’s and Scee’s applications were challenged on the basis of being an earlier version of the application form.

Both Rodriguez-Green and Scee said they had accessed the application form from the city’s website.

Attorney José Garza, whom the Floresville uses for election-related matters, told the Wilson County News about the difference between the two forms. He explained that the new form includes two boxes, and an applicant should check one to state whether he or she has been convicted of a felony.

However, Rodriguez-Green pointed out that a statement appearing above the signature line on the old form includes a declaration that the applicant is not a convicted felon.

“All the mandatory information was there,” Scee said. “It met the statutory requirements.”

All applications had been filed on time and accepted by the city secretary. However, Wilson County Elections Administrator Olga Marrero, whose office will conduct Floresville’s election this year, identified the “discrepancies.”

Application challenger Honesto said he was informed about those discrepancies by “word of mouth,” while Perez said he learned about them from “another candidate.”

“It’s very important to make sure our city is following the election rules and laws,” Perez told the Wilson County News. “We are entitled to challenge a bad application.”

The challenged candidates were informed of the legal action March 20 by their opponents’ attorney, John Carroll.

In a hearing that day which lasted less then 30 minutes, Carroll, speaking on behalf of the plaintiffs — Honesto and Perez — withdrew the challenges to Rodriguez- Green and Scee remaining on the ballot.

However, the judge found that Villarreal failed to comply with the legal requirement to state his residential or mailing address on his application.

The court therefore “enjoined” the city secretary not to include Villarreal on the May 6 election ballot.

“I do take responsibility,” Villarreal said of his omission. “It was a first-grade mistake.”

However, Villarreal regrets he didn’t learn of the challenge sooner.

“No one represented me,” he said. “I had no time to get legal counsel.”

He also regrets that not all the interested parties were informed of the afternoon hearing on Zoom or could participate in it. Regardless, Villarreal said he won’t appeal the ruling or sue the city.

“I do not want to do anything that would cost taxpayers any money,” he said. “It’s not their fault.”

Perez also indicated that he would not challenge the ruling, which allows Scee — his only opponent — to remain on the ballot.

“The judge made a ruling, and I’m fine with the outcome,” Perez said. “[But] we want to make sure this doesn’t happen to another candidate.

“Was the city hiding these bad applications and not wanting anyone to find out?” he wondered.

gripps@wcn-online.com