Nick Jimenez

Neal ponders running for county judge

Will he or won't he? That's the political question of the moment and the subject is Corpus Christi Mayor Loyd Neal.
   Will the mayor run for Nueces County judge and challenge incumbent Richard Borchard? Borchard has announced he's running for re-election. Neal says he's hasn't decided yet, but he's making all the moves of a candidate. This past week he held an invitation-only meeting with what one of the invitees described as "grassroots political activist" Democrats - precinct judges, block walkers and phone bank workers.
   That Neal could call such a meeting and that people would attend says that even though Neal would run as a Republican, local Democrats are willing to listen. It also says that some people are not enamored of the county judge.
   Let's count up the minuses and the pluses of a Neal candidacy.
   On the minus side, Neal would be walking away from city government just as his biggest efforts are bearing fruit: the new city arena, a new airport terminal and the long-awaited expansion of the convention center. These are all projects he can claim as his successes.
   Then there's the job. It's one thing to be mayor with a city manager to direct and another to be county judge who has no staff to give orders to, but instead has a courthouse full of politicians jealous of their turf, each one elected and each with his or her own constituency. Neal would be a Republican in a courthouse full of Democrats.
   Then there's the challenge. Borchard is a tough campaigner, one of the best at pressing the flesh and looking like he's enjoying it. He will do what it takes to win. Don't forget the peanut-butter-eating dog that Borchard unleashed on Ed Martin's campaign in 1994.
   Then there's the politics. Running in a partisan race is a different breed of cat from non-partisan municipal races. The Democratic Party would be defending the bastion of its power, the courthouse, from an Anglo Republican. And at the top of the November ballot would be the first Hispanic running for governor, Democrat Tony Sanchez, with the potential to draw many more voters to the polls.
   Then there's the plusses. The biggest is the opponent. Borchard's manipulation of the county's port appointments has alienated many supporters. His opposition to the expansion of the port board to include San Patricio County was viewed, rightly, as nothing more than protection of his power. Borchard would be fighting credible charges that he has run a fiefdom, with his majority 3-2 vote, for the benefit of Robstown cronies.
   Then there's the candidate. Neal as mayor has developed credibility with a wide spectrum across the city. One of those attending this week's meeting was still undecided about backing Neal, but said that to Neal's credit, "he's always been there for us. If there's a fund-raiser, he's always there." Neal is articulate and quotable about his vision for the county. In a debate with the less articulate Borchard, as one person noted, Neal would win hands down.
   Then there's the job. As Neal tells it, being county judge would give him the opportunity to be a leader on regional issues and to assert the area's interests which, he believes, are being left behind against the interests of the Valley, San Antonio and Austin. He would have a hand in making appointments on the port and RTA, and thereby extending his vision of what a progressive county should look like. Only the county, not the city, he says, can do that.
   To win, Neal will need 25 to 30 percent of the Democratic vote. Can he win? Can Borchard lose? John Longoria came close to beating Borchard in 1998. The late Tom Hunt came close in 1994. But close doesn't count in politics.
  
   Nick Jimenez can be reached by phone at 886-3787 or by phone at jimenezn@caller.com.
  
  
  

 
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