Former Fort Worth council candidate endorses opponent in June 10 runoff election
.png "Jeanette Martinez (left) and Rick Herring (right) are squaring off in the June 10 runoff for the District 11 seat on the Fort Worth City Council.")
Former Fort Worth council candidate Tara Maldonado-Wilson, who came in third in District 11 race on May 6 election, is endorsing neighborhood activist Rick Herring in the June 10 runnoff.
Wilson accused Jeanette Martinez, an administrator for Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks who got the most votes in the May 6 election, of being bought by special interests and not having a clear idea of why she wants the city council job in the first place.
“We (District 11) were told that we’d get a fair shot at electing our future Councilperson, but that is not what happened,” Maldonado-Wilson said in a press release Friday.
She accused Martinez of having conflicts of interest for vowing to keep her paid position with the county if elected. She also pointed to Martinez’s list of endorsements, including the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, to make the case Martinez represents the so-called, “Fort Worth Way.”
“I unequivocally, unapologetically, and full heartedly put my support behind Rick Herring who has demonstrated his commitment to Eastside neighborhoods for the last 30 years,” Maldonado-Wilson said in the press release.
Herring has been collaborative and open to different perspectives, she said, which makes him the better candidate for the office.
Martinez said in a text message she was proud of her grassroots support and felt confident she would win the June 10 runoff.
She did not address Maldonado-Wilson’s accusation Friday about being beholden to special interests, but in a separate phone interview earlier in the week, Martinez vowed to put the interests of the district’s residents first if elected to the Fort Worth City Council.
Martinez has come under fire from Herring supporters for vowing to keep her Tarrant County job while serving on the Fort Worth City Council.
They’ve argued her county job represents a conflict of interest that will weaken District 11’s influence if Martinez is forced to recuse herself from votes or discussions involving Tarrant County and the City of Fort Worth.
Martinez said she would recuse herself from votes on inter-local agreements between the city and county, but noted these agreements are infrequent and that she wouldn’t receive any personal benefit from collaborations between the two governmental entities.
Because Tarrant county is a governmental entity and not a business, most of the conflicts that come from being a part of a commercial enterprise won’t apply, said city attorney Leann Guzman in an email to the Star-Telegram.
“The city will follow its usual processes of advising and counseling each council member if a recusal would be advisable for specific situations,” Guzman said.
District 11, sometimes called the horseshoe district for its unique shape, was drawn in the 2022 redistricting process to give Fort Worth’s Hispanic community an opportunity for more representation on the city council. Hispanics make up roughly a third of the city’s population, but only District 2 council member Carlos Flores is of Hispanic heritage.
The district includes neighborhoods just east and northeast of downtown Fort Worth along with predominantly Hispanic south side neighborhoods of Rosemont and Hemphill Heights.
Maldonado-Wilson had previously argued against Herring’s candidacy because of his lack of Hispanic heritage. The District 11 council person needs to be able to relate to the lived experience of Hispanic residents, which Herring wouldn’t be able to do, she said in an April 11 meeting with the Star-Telegram editorial board.
Herring has promised to hire a Hispanic district director to address that population’s needs. He’s also pointed to his experience as a leader in neighborhood organizations to demonstrate how he’d empower neighborhood needs on council.
Early voting for starts May 30 and runs through June 6.
This story was originally published May 19, 2023 at 8:44 AM.
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