October 1, 2007
Retired El Paso Police Lt. Gabriel Serna announced his candidacy for El Paso County Sheriff Monday. He is the third person to formally announce, although the field is expected to grow.
Serna retired last week after 32 years with the El Paso Police Department, 20 years as a lieutenant.
"I have dedicated most of my life to serving the Community as a Police Lieutenant for the City of El Paso and have retired to continue this profession as the Sheriff for the County of El Paso," Serna said in a prepared statement announcing his entry in the campaign. "I chose to enter this race simply because at a time when we have corruption and dishonesty casting an ugly shadow on El Paso we also have a man retiring who demonstrated to all of us what honesty and integrity are all about. He gave us a template to follow and I intend on following in his footsteps, what better example to follow then his."
Serna's statement continued, in what might be a preview of the campaign to come.
"As a Sergeant in 1982 I followed closely the decay of the Sheriff Department and how ugly it made El Paso look. It wasn’t until Sheriff Samaniego took over that the problem began to turn around," Serna said. "For the many years of hard work that he put into making it the premier law enforcement department that it is I agree with him that it can not be handed over to just anyone. I also could not stand idly by and let anyone of questionable character and integrity walk in and take his place."
Serna is the third person to announce their candidacy. Former Police Chief Carlos Leon, who retired in 2004, and retired U.S. Marshal Al Patino are the other announced candidates.
In an interview, Serna said that his comments related to "the possibility of somebody getting into the position (of sheriff) who is of questionable character."
Initially, he declined to elaborate or specify to whom he was referring, noting that NPT has reported the possible candidacies of Police Chief Richard Wiles and retired Deputy Chief Robert Almonte, who retired from the department in 2004.
He did single out Leon, however, when pressed to specify his comment. Leon worked at NCED, which was the subject of a federal investigation into its hiring practices. NCED, which now is called Ready One Industries, was to hire a given number of disabled people for its government contracts to make military garb. An investigation found that the company was misreporting the numbers. In addition, the company has been linked through court documents to the FBI public corruption investigation.
"That is something the voters need to be looking at," Serna said. "(Even) if I wasn’t running I would say that is a tremendous red flag that is being waved."
Leon said that his employment at the company was simple: "I did my job and did it well, and that was protecting the assets and the employees of the company."
He said that his employment -- which encompassed the restructuring of the company -- ended last week.
"I'm proud of my employment there," Leon said. "The previous leadership had, obviously, some problems, and I'm glad I was part of the rebuilding team."
Leon said that during the campaign, "I'm sure a lot of things will come up, but my hope is that, and I'm sure they will be, concentrating on what they can do for the county of El Paso, and what I can do. I think that's what's important."
The other announced candidate, retired U.S. Marshal Al Patino, said the campaign "appears it will be getting pretty contested. All I can say is in regards to ethics and integrity, with me being in the federal government for many years, it was necessary."
Patino said that he has received background checks due to his military and U.S. government service "literally since I was 20 years old … and that has forced me to maintain a level of ethics and integrity throughout my career."
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NPT Background:
-- Aug. 28, 2007, Carlos Leon announcement story
-- Sept. 12, 2007, Sheriff Samaniego retirement announcement story
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Sito Negron can be contacted at sito@epmediagroup.com, or at 915.351.0605.