Scandal-Plagued Constable Announces Re-Election Campaign
Constable Michelle Barrientes-Vela announced her re-election campaign on Friday, August 30th. Barrientes-Vela’s time in office has been filled with scandal after scandal most of which involve her disregard of laws, rules and policies. Even her announcement of her re-election campaign was a violation which was pointed out to her by Dillon Collier.
Bexar County employees are not allowed to engage in political activities while on duty or in uniform. When questioned about it, Constable Barrientes-Vela said she knew that it was a violation of policy but that she owed it to her constituents.
Her actions had nothing to do with her constituents. This was fully for her personal benefit and it means that the taxpayers of Bexar County were paying her while she campaigned, a clear violation. As she has shown us multiple times, she couldn’t care less about the laws, rules and policies established to ensure ethical behavior.
Constable Barrientes-Vela has conducted herself in a manner that is so blatantly unethical that she is now an embarrassment to her position of constable. Rather than make any attempt to follow the laws, rules and polices that she is subject to, she instead has tried to pretend she is being attacked because she is a woman. That’s an insult to all the women who actually do face harassment and discrimination.
Apparently we, at this website, missed one of her scandals. We only realized it when we read the article about her announcement. According to Dillon Collier, Constable Barrientes-Vela would not respond to requests for comments back on August 14th when he tried to get information on a training trip she and two male constables took to Austin in 2017.
According to the information Mr. Collier dug up, the three stayed at a different hotel than the one contracted for that event, which gave an event discount, and instead spent hundreds of dollars on expensive rooms at the Embassy Suites. The three also missed the full second day of the training seminar, the longest day of training, but still charged the county for meals. There is no information about what the three county employees did that it appears, the citizens of Bexar County paid for but both men have since been promoted.
During Monday’s announcement, Constable Barrientes-Vela stated she would run for sheriff in four years. Her statement was made as if it was a threat. To begin with, I wouldn’t be surprised if criminal charges were filed against her but even if she manages to escape them, I have no doubt that all her dirty laundry will be aired by her political opponents to remind everyone of her seeming belief that she is above the law.
Between Constable Michelle Barrientes-Vela and Sheriff Javier Salazar, the citizens of Bexar County have met their quota of embarrassment.
We highly encourage you to read the two articles linked in our post. Both have videos that you should watch also.