As I've said before, when I'm wrong I'm the first to admit it. I'm not really wrong in a post I did previously outlining some of the problems with Chente Quintanilla's bid to regain his old seat as state representative for HD 75, but there is some clarification that needs to be done.
The case alleging voter fraud against Chente Quintanilla and some of this close associates like Judge Nina Serna and Judge Lujan was dismissed back in April of 2015.
There was another lawsuit alleging defamation that was filed against all the aforementioned individuals and a couple of other people from Judge Dominguez, and that case was filed in 2014 at the same time as the alleged voter fraud case.
But the funny thing about both of the cases is the fact that basically nothing has happened.
On the one case that is still active, nothing has moved on the case since February of last year.
Two years ago, as it is being reported in multiple locations now, there was an investigation initiated of alleged voter fraud.
To date, there has been nothing that has come of the investigation. That is not to say that something won't come of the investigation, but I think the media coverage and my post, might have given the impression that there was some sort of recent development on this front. And I got that impression from the fist news story on the issue.
So to clarify, one civil law suit was thrown out, one is still pending but nothing of note has happened since February of last year, and there has been no allegation of wrong doing by a law enforcement agency against Chente Quintanilla, or Judges Serna and Lujan as of yet.
An investigation is just a search to find out what the facts are. It means nothing unless and until there is an actual allegation of wrong-doing by law enforcement or an indictment from the district attorney.
None of that has transpired as of yet. Nothing substantive has happened in the CIVIL cases in two years. Is it notable that Chente ran for re-election with this allegation hanging over his head? Yes. Has this been the first time its been alleged? No.
But unless there's anything more than an allegation, its not really a bid deal. Again the only substantive development of this case in the last couple of years has been the dismissal of one of the civil lawsuits in April of last year.
So essentially the story surfaced initially for what appears to be no other reason than the fact that it is election season.