Cervantes Is Candidate to Clean-up County Clerk's Office

There is much wrong with the current management of the County Clerk's office. Under County Clerk, Delia Briones, 85 of her 99 employees have been fired in 7 years. That's 86%!

Many of these involuntary terminations have resulted in grievances and some of those grievances have been upheld. 

According to the County Attorney's office, five lawsuits resulting from these terminations have been filed. Settlements have been made and guess who pays for those - you and me.

That's not counting our paying for training replacements, learning curves and inefficiency caused by low morale in the County Clerk's office as a result of these dismissals seemingly by whim. 86%!

This doesn't sound like a management style but a personality disorder. One is reminded of the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland who screams: "Off with their heads."

Now there is an added kicker. In a recent forum with the three candidates for the office: incumbent Delia Briones, Rosa Cervantes and Valerie Sanchez, Ms. Briones did admit to some problems in her office as she tried to dodge criticism for all the turnovers during her tenure. The El Paso Times reported it in a story this way:

"Briones admitted that there have been problems at her office, including the selling of birth certificates outside the Courthouse. She did not elaborate."

The emphasis is mine.

The selling of birth certificates outside the Courthouse?! And the Times didn't follow-up as far as we know? What about the FBI? Homeland Security? Drug Enforcement? In this day of drug cartels, beheadings, terrorism - the falsifying of records such as birth certificates is not just a crime but a collaboration with viciousness. I sincerely hope someone is investigating. Why didn't Briones sound the alarm when it happened? We not only have a management style by personality disorder, we have dereliction of duty.

Does the voter have a choice, an option, a remedy? I think so.

Rosa and Bert Cervantes with their children and Rocky

Native El Pasoan, Rosa Cervantes, has managed her own legal processing service for over 24 years. She has been married for 34 years to Bert Cervantes and they have two lovely children. She has given back to the community as a past member and President of the Montwood Booster Association and was the recipient of the Montwood High School Volunteer of the Year award. Bottom line: she is a proven business manager with a BS in Business and Marketing and she is the one who has called to our attention the shocking rates of turnover in the County Clerk's office under Delia Briones. 

The other candidate, Valerie Sanchez, was one of Briones' victims. We feel for her but recognize her candidacy to be due more to her dismissal than to a sense of what it takes to manage the office and to boost morale - attributes Cervantes has.