Constable Barrientes-Vela Desperately Tries to Stop the Replacement Process
Constable Michelle Barrientes-Vela and her attorney were in court on Monday and were able to get visiting judge, John Gabriel, to grant her a temporary restraining order. Barrientes-Vela tried to get the judge to stop the hiring process completely but he refused to do so. A hearing has been scheduled for Friday, October 11th.
I was wondering why the judge didn’t refuse her request but I think this is all political theater. To begin with, why have a visiting judge be the one to hear her request? I would have to say that Barrientes-Vela has shown that she is willing to throw out all kinds of accusations when she doesn’t get what she wants. Rather than take the political risk of a Bexar County judge hearing her case, ruling against her and having her make accusations that could hurt his future campaign, a visiting judge was selected instead. Judge Gabriel has the advantage of not having to worry about how a ruling could affect his re-election campaign since visiting judges are selected, not elected.
But if Judge Gabriel doesn’t have to worry about being re-elected then why not just rule against her? I suspect that it’s being done so the citizens of Bexar County will see that she got a fair hearing. Barrientes-Vela would have been screaming her head off about the ‘good old boys’ like she has been doing all along. She’ll probably do it anyway but if she hadn’t even able to get a hearing it may have given some people the impression that what she was saying was true. This is probably the wisest approach.
Everyone knows that Michelle Barrientes-Vela announced her campaign. She even used the word “formally” in one of her announcements. She is in violation of the Texas Constitution and needs to be replaced but to show that her accusations of corruption have absolutely no basis and that she was treated fairly, they’re going through the full dog and pony show. That the visiting judge didn’t make Commissioners Court stop the hiring process, in my mind, adds weight to this theory.
At least, this is what I hope is happening. If Judge John Gabriel actually rules in her favor he will be doing the citizens of Bexar County a grave disservice.
You can read the KSAT 12 article here.