HD 40: Where In The World Is Eddie Saenz?

We continue to be fascinated with the Democratic Primary race for House District 40 down in the Rio Grande Valley. There, State Rep. Aaron Pena (D-Edinburg) faces engineer Eddie Saenz in the Democratic Primary.

This primary is one being watched across the state because Pena is a so-called “Craddick Democrat,” which has essentially put a target on his back.

However, as we’ve said before, Pena’s district is no hard-core liberal district where the Speaker’s race is truly a defining factor in a Democratic Primary.

Now, it appears Saenz’s campaign is losing steam and coming under fire for alleged residency issues and an absentee candidate.

Pena, at his blog, noted he was left to debate Saenz’s wife at the Hidalgo County Democratic Party’s big shindig earlier this week to celebrate the close of the filing period:

Tonight was my first opportunity to confront my challenger as we each were invited to speak before the Hidalgo County Democratic Party at their largest event of the year. Every Democrat is expected to attend as it provides the first opportunity for the competing candidates to confront each other. As he did many times in our 2004 race against each other, Eddie Saenz failed to appear at tonight’s event. No chance to debate here. He instead sent his wife to try to explain his absence.

And, according to a video now up on YouTube, Saenz’s wife said he was absent because he needed to tend to his very ill father, which is certainly understandable. Here is what Mrs. Saenz said:

“Good evening as you can tell I am not Eddie Saenz. I am his wife, Sandra Saenz. Unfortunately, he had some prior commitments along with spending a little bit of time with his father. But I would like to thank the Hidalgo County Democrats…”

Prior commitments in politics are surely understandable, although nobody I’ve talked to in House District 40 is aware of any events Saenz was attending that conflicted with the Hidalgo County event. Second, it’s also understandable that someone would want to spend time with their ill father. However, that becomes a little tough to believe when the candidate is spotted later in the week hanging around at a basketball game:

It’s a little grainy and blurry, but there in the middle of the circle is Eddie Saenz, next to the guy in the red (I guess you could call this Saenz’s “Dawnna Dukes Moment“). This photo was taken last night, January 3, just a day after Saenz missed an important event to “spend time” with an ill family member. Saenz was spotted by several tipsters (one of whom sent Capitol Annex the nifty pic above) at the varsity basketball game between Edinburg North High School (the Cougars) and Edinburg High (the Bobcats), which lasted from about 7:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. (For the record, the Bobcats won–Go Bobcats!).

Capitol Annex isn’t trying to be rude or insensitive to Mr. Saenz (especially since we’ve lost family members to terminal illness), but if you are going to use that as an excuse to miss a campaign event, it’s not a good idea to show up at a high school sporting event the following night. Oops.

While we’re on the subject, a number of RGV tipsters have been filling our inbox with tips on Saenz’s residence. Pena has eluded to those on his blog, but with no specifics. So, we’ll give you the low-down.

On Saenz’s ballot application, he listed 718 Summit Circle in Edinburg as his residence. A lot of tipsters have advised us this address wasn’t actually in HD 40. However, after spending an hour switching between Google Maps and the Texas Legislative Council’s Redviewer, we were able to determine that the residence is, in fact, in the district. However, other tipsters advise us that, while Saenz indeed owns the house on Summit Circle he claims as his residence, he actually lives on Las Cruces Drive which happens to be in neighboring House District 41:

Is that a terribly big deal? Well, to some folks in District 41 it is, because we’ve had a number of tipsters from that district tell us that Saenz’s vehicle is usually parked outside his home in Las Cruces, and that he’s seen coming and going there daily. Since Mills v. Bartlett (377 SW 2d 636) remains the prevailing case law in this area of election law (residency), there probably isn’t much that can be done since Saenz says “intent’ is evidently to reside in the district.

However, it is interesting that Saenz says he has only lived in District 40 four months on his application for a place on the ballot. Especially since he used this same address in his previous run for HD 40. I guess it is Saenz’s “intent” to live in the district as long as he’s running.

Ah, the fun of Valley politics.