Fighting City Hall

Fired Pharr public works director and County Commissioner Precinct 4 candidate Donato "Don" Medina fires back at his former bosses this evening at a 6 p.m. grievance hearing at Pharr City Hall.

The Pharr City Commission axed Medina after he announced his campaign because the municipal charter doesn't allow city employees to run for elective office. Of course, Weslaco tried to pull the same stunt with firefighter Armando "Mando" Martinez, who won a lawsuit against that town after winning a seat in the state house of representatives.

Medina says in a press release that,

“Despite plenty of legal precedent which demands that cities allow their employees the constitutional right to seek office and serve the public, Pharr city commissioners have turned a blind eye to democracy by insisting that I be held to their unconstitutional employee manual. All I want is the opportunity to use my skills as a public works director to serve the residents of Hidalgo County.”

In case you're keeping score at home, Medina's running against incumbent Oscar Garza and former Precinct 4 Commissioner Leonardo Camarillo -- not exactly scintillating competition. Maybe the Pharr City Commission is just trying to help them out a bit.