Daisy Campos Rodriguez and Ricardo Rangel
Courtesy photos
Laredo Morning Times
Jason Mack
Laredo City Council is scheduled to discuss two agenda items related to its District II seat which remains occupied by Daisy Campos Rodriguez pending appeal after Ricardo “Richie” Rangel Jr. was ruled to be the rightful winner of the election.
The November 2022 election was extremely close as Campos Rodriguez edged Rangel by only six votes. However, Rangel took the case to court, and visiting Judge Susan Reed ruled in the 49th Judicial District Court in Webb County that enough illegal votes were cast in favor of Campos Rodriguez to swing the election. She ruled Rangel was the rightful winner.
The votes determined throughout the case to be illegal included multiple officers from the Laredo Police Department. That led to disciplinary action as three of them were suspended, while a fourth retired before discipline was handed down.
After the initial ruling, Laredo City Council discussed the case during a Feb. 6 meeting. Through discussion with the city attorney, it was determined council could move for a resolution stating their position of requesting Campos Rodriguez to step down, but it could not restrict her actions or remove her from office.
A motion was made to pass that resolution, and a vote of no confidence in Campos Rodriguez passed. Voting in favor were Gilberto Gonzalez (District I), Melissa Cigarroa (District II), Dr. Tyler King (District VI), Alyssa Cigarroa (District VIII) and Laredo Mayor Dr. Victor Trevino. Voting against were Alberto Torres Jr. (District IV), Ruben Gutierrez Jr. (District V) and Vanessa Perez (District VII).
During the Feb. 6 meeting, the city attorney estimated the accelerated appeal would likely be resolved within 45 to 60 days. However, there were 286 days between the ruling by Reed and the affirmation of that decision on Monday, Nov. 13 by the Fourth Court of Appeals.
The decision was signed Nov. 13 by Justice Patricia O. Alvarez affirming the trial court’s judgment. She said she agreed the trial court did not err in determining the “true outcome” of the election but that she would subtract the illegal votes from the manual recount as the final canvass rather than the election night count or the Cast Vote Record.
Alvarez agreed with a contention from Campos Rodriguez saying that “these factual findings constitute an abuse of discretion because they improperly supplant the legislative-preferred manual recount for the general election night results and they are not supported by legally sufficient evidence. I agree on both points.”
The final recount showed Campos Rodriguez won by 11 votes. The election night count had 3,908 votes with 1,957 for Campos Rodriguez and 1,951 for Rangel. The manual recount had 3,901 votes with 1,956 for Campos Rodriguez and 1,945 for Rangel.
Alvarez said the trial court “did not abuse its discretion by determining that at least twelve of the illegal votes cast were for Daisy.” Because of this, the decision ruled that Rangel is therefor the rightful winner. The decision also ruled the costs of the court would be taxed against Campos Rodriguez.
Despite the second ruling in Rangel’s favor, the case remains unresolved. Rangel’s attorney made a motion to refuse to permit a motion for hearing, and it was denied. It was determined that any motion for rehearing or en banc reconsideration must be filed within 10 days, and the court will not consider any motion for extension. Campos Rodriguez also maintains the option to file a petition for review to the Texas Supreme Court within 45 days following the last ruling on motions by the Court of Appeals.
The City of Laredo was informed by attorney Doug Ray of their intention to “seek a rehearing and/or file a petition for review.”
After being notified, the city attorney’s office said Campos Rodriguez would remain in office while the outcome of the case is still pending. The office said it would be “impracticable” to exercise the judgment prior to the Court of Appeals issuing its ruling for a motion on rehearing or reconsideration and before any potential petition with the Texas Supreme Court.
On Monday, Nov. 20, there will be two agenda items at the Laredo City Council meeting regarding the case. Both items were requested by Melissa Cigarroa and co-sponsored by king and Alyssa Cigarroa.
The first item is discussion with possible action to ratify the city attorney’s decision to send a letter to the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals requesting expediency in the judgment of the election appeal.
The second item starts off saying it is to “restore faith in the public in our electoral process.” It requests discussing possible action for a resolution to requests Campos Rodriguez refrain from any decision making or expenditure of District II funds until the appeals process is exhausted.