"Cameron County Justice of the Peace Precinct 5, Place 1 Sallie Gonzalez has received the T.A. Vines award as an exemplary member of the Texas Justices of the Peace and Constables Association..." - Reporter Allen Essex, July 11, 2011, Brownsville Herald
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files
HARLINGEN, Texas - It doesn't take much to get a dose of bad press in this town. The mayor knows the drill, as do other city elected officials. You take a step this way and those people over there will stone you. You take it that way and those on the other side will rain a mountain of rocks on your head. It's Harlingen, Land that Time and Modern Advances Forgot.
The press here is nothing if not a gang of hungry flyweights out for a few laughs.
Now comes one Jerry Deal, editor of the sort of respected Blog - MyLeader News.com - to lash a local justice of the peace in no uncertain terms, to beat his feet on her head out of some misguided sense of community reporting. Sallie Gonzalez is the judge's name and that's her in the photo atop this story.
This is what Deal wrote about her today: "One thing that has really pissed off many is you seeking a 30 percent pay raise ($12,000), at a time the county has a serious money budget shortfall, plus this area has an unemployment rate of 12 percent and they and many others are feeling the impact of a poor economy. I must admit, you have real intestinal fortitude to take your case for a pay raise to a grievance committee under those circumstances."
That came well within the body of his story, but what made it even more bizarre was the fact that Deal, a former editor of the local Valley Morning Star, did not assign either an "opinion" or "editorial" tag to his beatdown. To say that he is merciless in asking Gonzalez to resign is being, well, somewhat kind. She wants a 30 percent raise, according to the breathless Deal, and he says like Hell she'll get it. Hey, he wants her gone, and he wants her to declare retirement plans, as in no bid for re-election, as in right now, sweetheart.
It is an absurd post by Deal, who we know knows better.
Ms. Gonzalez is an "elected" official. Voters will decide her fate. Deal seems bent on calling for her ouster without noting anything the judge may be doing, or have done, right. He fails to tell the rest of the story, which waters down his position and allows fair-minded readers to believe he is simply venting for venting's sake. Make your case in a straight-up "news" story, not a bodyblock below the knees. If the lady has done something terribly wrong, prove it. WTF.
So she has asked for a raise? Deal cavalierly assumes she will get it. We give elected officials credit for a bit more brains than he apparently gives them. She will appear before the county and state her case for the request. Cover it there, Jerry? We'll see. He knows the path to the ballpark, but when's the last time he attended a county commissioner's meeting? We'd bet it's been decades, if ever.
But to simply come out smoking with cliches and innuendo, and saying readers tell him this & that is not enough. Not for a true Journalist. We do not know this lady, but wonder what she would say in her defense. Deal did not call her, did not interview her and does not know what she would say to account for her pay hike request. That would help readers make their own decision on whether she's due the raise or is being silly. Deal blew it off.
Another of his complaints is that she fails to make herself available to local law enforcement on those occasions when her call is needed in a death case, that dramatic pronouncement at the scene. Again, that is for review by those who elect her and those who pay her. Deal includes nothing other than a cursory, hearsay comment from unnamed police officers. Bad Jerry.
Deal's blog is about the best little Harlingen has to offer. Much more is expected of him than of the others, even of the under-achieving Valley Morning Star. So, when he goes off on this sort of shallow reporting, well, the bar goes down even lower in town.
To be fair, it just may be that Judge Gonzalez is a tough, no-nonsense judge who treats anyone appearing before her like animals. That may be, but Jerry Deal brings no proof, other than anecdotal mentions that don't quite stand up to the tenets of fair & objective Journalism.
His fight with Sallie Gonzalez is further watered-down by his inability, or unwillingness, to apply the same reporting toughness on the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings baseball team, the one that has yet to say whether it has settled its delinquent utility account with the City of Harlingen. Even a cub reporter would have written the Hell out of that story by now.
Not Jerry Deal.
He's going after a woman who wants a $12,000 annual pay raise, not the team that reportedly owed the city - what? - $40,000 for availing electricity needed for sloppy, semi-pro baseball. Groan and double groan...
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22 comments:
ouch!!! wow! god article. agree with th editor. Jerry Deal posted a one-sided story.
Deal was unfair. but what else is new? He's selective and he stomps on people he doesn't like. Poor guy.
All of the following are my opinions based on years of reading Deal’s news reports, columns and blogs.
You are right about Deal. He has a double standard, a warped double standard. The Whitewings can do no wrong according to Deal. Why? Because he is a paid media whore. Deal is raking in money from the league to promote the team. He should make that clear in every article he writes about the Whitewings, and the other teams in the league. This biased reporting is not limited to the Whitewings. He relentlessly attacks Mayor Boswell. Deal has a deep seated grudge against Boswell. Why? Who knows? Some think it is envy; having grown up a poor cracker in Nebraska he now resents Boswell’s financial success and his success as a community leader. Others think it is his unwavering loyalty to Joe Rubio and Rubio’s humiliating defeat in the last mayoral race.
Deal has kicked around in journalism for a long time. He never held prestigious positions or received the accolades as you have. He ended his professional career as the editor of the failing Valley Morning Star. He inherited the job from the previous editor, another old curmudgeon who wrote a weekly column of tidbits, rumors and observations. Deal took over, writing a similar styled column that quickly went down hill. He wrote a lot of gossip passed on to him in various bars around town. He wove together gossip, guesses and guile in to a fabric of whole cloth using the phrases “sources in this corner,” and “as told to me, ” never providing a credit, or as far as anyone could tell, verifying his information.
Now, Deal has turned on Judge Sally. I think I know the answer to this one. He sees his career stumbling and staggering on feet of clay into obscurity. Once a great reporter and editor, in his own mind, Deal is down to contributing a few small articles to his blog and advertisement rags in Los Fresnos, La Feria and Rio Hondo. He has no real influence, credibility or celebrity left. He has taken to the low roads and follows the paths of Chapa and Rubio – throwing friends under the bus. How poignant and depressing to watch as this old scribbler becomes so bitter. His writings turned like wine to vinegar, even if the wine was only Thunderbird to start with.
Instead of calling on Judge Gonzalez to withdraw, Deal should ponder deeply on his own retirement from public life. It is hard to watch when a former champion does not know when to retire from the ring. Like a train wreck you can not keep from watching, here is the old champ, now an old chump, taking pummeling after pummeling and all he has left in his arsenal are low blows and biting off his opponents’ ears.
Not so, anons: Sally Gonzalez has been a justice of the peace for over 19 years, prior to that she was secretary of another Jp. Her justification for asking a raise is that she collects too much revenue for the county, more than other Jps.
Well excuse me Mr. Editor, but that was what she was elected to do. She knew what the pay was, when she ran for office, much of the time she derilicts her responsibilities when needed by Law enforcement.
She is drawing a salary of $44.480, plus she gets $5,400 for call allowance that is around $412.00 a month. Plus she does wedding ceremonies and collects extra for those.
She isn't asking for 10% she is asking for 30%. I find her request insulting.
Unlike the last time, we are preparing a candidate to run against her. Like a lot of people, I believe her time is up.
Paz you missed the point, this was not an editorial, or a commentary. This was a letter addressed to Judge Gonzalez to retire.
Jerry Deal happens to know Sallie for the longest time, but when your own friends are asking you to leave, I say, it is time to leave, before the negative comments appear on the local paper.
Sallie Gonzalez ought to be more concern about the citizens who appear before her court, than spending time on looking or getting awards.
Specially on county time.
Deal needs to write a letter of apology to Sallie Gonzalez and to every real baseball fan! He has lost credibility lately. Too much in fact.
I agree with Larry sanders. deal is not what he appears to be. That stuff he pulls on the WhiteWings would get him fired by a newspaper. We want the facts, deal. Keep your buddies to yourself.
instead of going to interview SALLIE gonzalez, jerry deal went to the ballgame. Por bastard. no credibility.
it may or may not be case the here, but whoites (like Jerry Deal) like to put down all Mexicans serving in elected office. Sooner or later, they soil reputations. That's how they do it today. Sallie Gonzalez has her problems but she is being whipped like most Hispancs are whipped. That's why w ehave no supre role models. They get clipped at the knees everydamnedtime. Deal isn't fooling me!
Anons, Johnny, and Larry, Sallie time is up, her time is up, even if she doesn't get a raise, she is on her way out.
The bell started ringing, when Judge Wise was voted out.
It is in the cards her time is up.
Side Video, common Mr. Editor, what are we now, real patriots??
EL BUTTINSKIII:...It's never been about super patriots or medium cool patriots. But it's always about where you belong, and, if you are in this country, it has to be a special feeling, no matter what Dick "The Creep" Cheney and his ilk say on Fox News. Be thankful you are relatively free... - Editor
So true. It's been years since I said the pledge of allegiance. and you hav eto tell people in the valley to stand for the national anthem at football games. sorry I know.
Sallie (Gone) Gonzalez, is beginning to feel the heat, I hear from county employees, how she is planning on addressing the committee.
Thats okay Mustang Sallie, your time is coming.
Get a real job, leeched too long from county pay rolls.
Okay, who put the curse on Chapaneco's blog, no one is blogging anymore at myhgnws, not even el tamalon juan jose ortegon, el panson.
Only the homo man, Jake is responding to Chapete's screwed up blog, nothing of interest just the same old bullshit, adios, viejo estupido, asta la vista.
Larry sanders makes a great case against Deal. Thanks, Larry
Common you guys, leave Jerry Deal alone, no one is perfect, we have Ruben Naverrette writing one sided articles about Ice. And the Fox news, wheeww it, talk about bias. So Jerry posted a letter asking the whale of a judge to do the right thing and resign. So whats wrong with that???
In a year Jerry Deal will leave the valley, and then what, we get an idiot that can't read or write.
Or the Chicken Bucketts.
The chapa blog has gone from 0 to minus 0, 8 comments in two days. The rumor, Chapa wants Jerry to move away, so people can use his losers blog again.
I hear one of the political action groups might begins a blog. Just a rumor, none of those members have journalistic background.
Side Bar picture, the Tea Party girl, man she sure is tanned. I hope she put some tanning lotion.
What... some people consider the Justice of the Peace position, part time work, I teach middle shcool.
Hell, the county pays better for Part-time work, than what I get. Where do I go and file an application.
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