A campaign manager in Hidalgo County, Texas sold cocaine for votes in the 2012 commissioner’s primary election, FBI court records filed last week show.
The latest allegations in an 18-month investigation came after the FBI arrested two paid political campaign supporters, Veronica Saldivar and Belinda Solis. The women were paid to drive voters to the polls.
FBI investigators said the campaign manager, who worked for the county commissioner, bought $50 worth of cocaine and split it up among the two women. The women allegedly passed it out to persuade people to vote for the commissioner in the primary.
The suspects also told FBI investigators that they gave cocaine, marijuana, beer, cigarettes and cash to voters during the school board election in Donna Independent School District.
Both candidates in the election denied any knowledge of the incident and both said they did not have a campaign manager, The Monitor, a Texas newspaper, reported Sept. 1.
Commissioner A.C. Cuellar, Jr. who won the election with 57 percent of the vote said “All I can said is that it’s not me,” adding, “I didn’t even have a campaign manager.”
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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