Four on the ballot to replace Sanchez
SAN JUAN — Call it the Butterfly Effect, but the fact that five La Joya ISD officials pled guilty in federal court two years ago to charges that included, but not limited to, theft, bribery, money laundering, extortion, and wire fraud now means that the City of San Juan will have to spend $78,000 of taxpayer money to hold a special election July 30.
Why?
Because SJ City Commissioner Leonardo “Lenny” Sanchez was forced to resign from the city commission.
Why?
Because La Joya ISD proved so corrupt (two trustees and three administrators, not to mention alleged vendors who were never charged in the conspiracy), the state took over the district earlier this year (February). As part of that takeover, a new district policy was passed that said, among other things, that no La Joya ISD employee who supervised workers could hold elected office in any neighboring city.
That’s because, at the time, some La Joya administrators held elected office in neighboring towns, or those who held elected office in neighboring cities had a supervisory job at LJ ISD, and this cushy, close network (of colleagues, friends) helped to facilitate the corruption.
The lucrative deal worked for a while until an FBI investigation crashed the party and resulted in five 2023 convictions (two trustees, three administrators), with more possibly waiting in the wings.
Thanks to a new state law passed in 2021, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) could more easily take over the operations and supervision of a school district if it’s gone off the rails, so to speak: failure at the academic level, the abuse of power, or financial mismanagement. Or graft, corruption, bribery; any of the above.
In the case of La Joya ISD, wanting to spend $38 million installing LED lights at every campus without the benefit of any legit study showing that any money would be saved as a result, was a tip off. One of many, as it turned out.
The district hired an expensive attorney to fight the TEA takeover but lost the day.
On Feb. 1 of this year, the old LJ ISD board of trustees got the boot and TEA installed a new superintendent, Marcey Sorensen, and selected seven new board managers out of an applicant pool of 107.
This, by the way, was the first time in the history of Region One (approximately 40 school districts spread out across South Texas) that a school district has seen its entire board and superintendent removed, replaced with a whole new cast of characters.
The Butterfly Effect
With that back story laid out, for those who already don’t know the recent colorful/criminal history of La Joya ISD, we can get back to the so-called “Butterfly Effect Theory.”
How does it work?
According to the Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences: “The two pertinent things that the Butterfly Effect teaches us is that small things matter, and we are all connected to a bigger system. Our action now, today, would have been the result of a previous action and this could in turn, lead to a future action. With one small gesture, you can change somebody’s life.”
In the case of La Joya ISD, the City of San Juan’s July 30 special election could be considered part of the so-called "Butterfly Effect." Place 4 City Commissioner Leonardo “Lenny” Sanchez was first elected to office in 2018, reelected in 2022, so far so good, but had to resign from the commission last month, thanks to La Joya ISD’s new policy.
In other words, the criminality that took place inside La Joya ISD, outside La Joya ISD, resulted in changes felt inside SJ’s city hall and it will cost taxpayers $78,000 to sort out in the form of the special election — early voting begins Monday, July 15th, and lasts through the 26th.
Sanchez said he loves public service, his time spent on the city commission, but when push comes to shove, he has to go with what puts bread on his family’s table; and in Sanchez’s case, that means keeping his job at La Joya ISD, where he serves as police chief.
For 20+ years, Sanchez, a PSJA Bear, Class of 1995, worked with the Palmview PD. After that, he worked as an investigator with the Hidalgo County DA’s office under both “Ricky Rod” and “Terry” Palacios. Last September, he assumed the chief’s job at La Joya.
Things were going along fine until La Joya ISD adopted its new policy, which only applies to new-hires (after February of this year) and employees with renewable annual contracts, which includes the position of police chief.
“I didn’t see it coming,” said Sanchez.
Since the middle of May, his city commission Place 4 seat has been vacant, leaving only four on the commission, following Sanchez's resignation from the commission that same month.
“If my position as city commissioner would have affected my job, I would have opted out myself,” he said.
It didn’t, though, said Sanchez, because he never saw any conflict between the two. After all, the criminal stories coming out of La Joya ISD in 2022, 2024 never involved San Juan, or any city nearby. The corruption, extortion, bribery cases were basically tied to the western end of the county where political incest has too often ruled the day.
Or did rule the day; we can hope.
“When I was a San Juan city commissioner, there was never a time when the two were conflicted,” said Sanchez.
“It’s tough leaving,” said the former commissioner, whose wife is now running against three other candidates to fill his seat. (Names printed below.)
“I have two passions — politics and law enforcement. But the (school board and superintendent) made a decision, and I respect it. I have to live by it. Politics is what I do. It’s not who I am.”
Sanchez said that anyone running for public office has to make a tough decision.
“You have to always tell the truth. Elected officials have to decide if they’re going to always tell constituents the truth, or simply what they know the public wants to hear.”
Special Election
Four candidates have filed to run for Place 4 on the San Juan city commission.
As their names appear on the ballot:
# Cruz Quintana, Jr.
# Jose Enrique “Henry” Flores
# Veronica “Ronnie” Villescas Sanchez
# Jesus “Jesse” Ramirez
Election day is July 30, with two polling locations: the San Juan Memorial Library where the city commission usually meets and the San Juan Fire Department on the north side of the city.
Early voting begins Monday, July 15th, and lasts through the 26th.
The approximate $78,000 it costs to host the election goes directly to the Hidalgo County Elections Department for the cost of both equipment and manpower.