GOP hopefuls put focus on Salazar
Three Republicans find tempting target in Democratic sheriff
The three candidates seeking the GOP nomination for Bexar County sheriff often talk past one another in their eagerness to attack Sheriff Javier Salazar, a Democrat.
Indeed, he’s a too tempting target for the Republican candidates — Nathan Buchanan, Dennis Casillas and Victor A. Mendoza — to resist. (Casillas and Mendoza formerly worked in the sheriff ’s office.)
While Salazar is facing a challenger in the Democratic primary election Tuesday, the two-term incumbent is seen as the heavy favorite to make it to next fall’s general election. He’s running against Sharon Rodriguez, who has worked in a few law enforcement agencies in Bexar County, including the sheriff’s office, and was a distant second to Salazar in the 2020 primary.
And Salazar, 53, is adept at attracting media attention, staging numerous news conferences, a possible throwback to his past life as a public information officer with the San Antonio Police Department. And he doesn’t shy away from politically charged controversies.
He recommended felony and misdemeanor charges of unlawful restraint after operatives working for Florida Gov. Ron Desantis flew more than 50 asylum-seekers on two charter planes from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in September 2022.
Salazar railed against Desantis in an October episode of “60 Minutes.” And in June, he met with California Gov. Gavin Newsom after another Desantis operation flew migrants from Texas to Sacramento.
Casillas, who served as deputy chief under Salazar, sometimes calls his former boss “Hollywood Javi.”
And he claims Salazar’s reaction to the migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard was intended to distract voters from the sheriff’s office’s long-running
investigation of the Anaqua Springs Ranch shooting in 2019.
Nichol Olsen, 37, and her two daughters, Alexa Montez, 16, and London Bribiescas, 10, were found dead in a home they shared with Olsen’s boyfriend, Charles Wheeler, in the Anaqua Springs Ranch gated community near Leon Springs. Five years after the killings, no suspect has been arrested, and families of the victims have been critical of Salazar’s handling of the matter.
The sheriff recently told the San Antonio Express-news Editorial Board that he’s keeping the investigation open and that he still has unanswered questions about the case.
Tough balancing act
In 2020, Salazar became the first Bexar County sheriff to be reelected since 2004. But his time in office hasn’t been problem-free.
The sheriff ’s job is twofold: to operate the Bexar County Jail, which currently has about 4,400 inmates, and to patrol and investigate crimes in the 629 square miles of unincorporated Bexar County — though his department’s jurisdiction encompasses the county’s entire 1,240 square miles.
During Salazar’s first term, in February 2019, the jail failed a state standards inspection and wasn’t back in compliance until close to the end of that year. And at least 16 inmates were released in error during his first term.
Salazar hired a new jail chief as part of his effort to get the facility back on track, and he sought advice early in his second term from a consultant to improve jail operations.
Salazar has been trying to fill numerous vacant positions in the jail, which has led to many employees working 16-hour shifts, forcing the county to spend millions of dollars on overtime.
The policing side of his department also has a number of jobs waiting to be filled.
In August, Bexar County deputies got pay raises to try to ease the department’s retention problems. Salazar also introduced the Straight to the Streets program, which allows people to apply for law enforcement positions without first serving in the jail. Working in the lockup before going out on patrol had been a longstanding requirement.
Salazar said Straight to the Streets has not affected the number of jailers on the job and that the wage increases have improved employee retention rates.
The sheriff’s office employs about 1,500 uniformed officers, 900 of whom work in the jail. In August, Salazar said the jail had 250 job vacancies and law enforcement an additional 30. Last month, he said vacancies had dropped to 200 and 10, respectively.
“It’s helped,” Salazar said of the pay increase. “But it’s not one of those things where just overnight it’s going to solve our manpower issues, but we’re starting to see the needle move in the right direction.”
The sheriff oversees an annual budget of $167 million.
Battling for the badge
Ronald Tooke, president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County, speaks highly of Salazar and his accomplishments, notably the pay raise for deputies. The union’s political action committee has endorsed Salazar.
Tooke said Salazar often highlights deputies who perform well in their jobs but is also a strict enforcer of department standards.
“Whether people believe it or not, we have the same goals,” Tooke said. “We want better for our people. We want our reputation to be better. So we’re in line on a lot of stuff.”
But Casillas contends the job vacancies are the result of low morale under Salazar. He says the sheriff is a poor manager of personnel and the budget.
Casillas has the most experience of anyone gunning for Salazar’s seat. He worked in the sheriff’s office from 1983 through 2020.
He ran a write-in campaign against Salazar and the Republican nominee, Gerry Rickhoff, in 2020. Casillas garnered 389 votes — less than 1% of the total number of votes in the race in the general election.
Casillas is also focusing in his campaign on the number of jail inmate deaths under Salazar.
Throughout Salazar’s tenure, 78 inmates have died, according to data provided by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Many of those inmates died after being transported from the jail to a hospital. Five of the deaths were homicides, while the rest were classified by the commission as accidental, natural or suicide.
“This is my family, this is my house, and I feel that by running for election and getting elected, that I can right this sinking ship,” Casillas said.
Salazar said he and Casillas butted heads when they worked together, and he called Casillas’ management methods “antiquated.”
For their part, Casillas’ opponents in the Republican primary have raised concerns about his political affiliation — he used to be a Democrat.
Casillas, however, said he left the Democratic Party because of what he views as overly permissive stances on law enforcement, including the decriminalization of marijuana.
Mendoza is entering the race with 27 years of law enforcement experience, with almost two decades as a deputy in the sheriff ’s office. He’d left the department by the time Salazar took over as sheriff.
Like Casillas, Mendoza, a 55year-old VIA Metropolitan Transit police officer, believes he could run the office more efficiently than Salazar, saying he would make major improvements within his first 100 days in office if he is elected.
For him, running for this position has been a longtime dream.
“I always knew I wanted to be the sheriff,” he said.
Buchanan, 40, has run several unsuccessful campaigns, first for Precinct 3 constable in 2016 and 2020 and then for Bexar County judge in 2022. He did not respond to requests for an interview.
On his social media platforms, he has been strongly opposed to San Antonio’s Centro de Bienvenida, formerly known as the Migrant Resource Center. The facility on San Pedro Avenue temporarily houses asylum-seekers traveling through the city and helps them get plane or bus tickets to leave the city — many have court hearings scheduled out of state.
“My first week in office, mark my words, that place will be raided,” Buchanan said in a video posted on X, formally known as Twitter. “And people if they interfere — I don’t care if it is the police officers working there doing a part-time job, they will be arrested if they interfere and try to stop us from doing it.”
During the pandemic, Buchanan, a small-business owner, criticized Bexar County leaders for issuing emergency shutdown orders that hurt local businesses.
The only person directly going up against Salazar in Tuesday’s primary election is Rodriguez, who lost to the sheriff in the Democratic primary four years ago. Rodriguez, 36, was one of four challengers in 2020. She finished second but received only 17.6% of the vote, to Salazar’s 53.8%.
Rodriguez had brief stints in a few local law enforcement agencies: the sheriff ’s office, the Hollywood Park Police Department and the Precinct 2 constable’s office.
Despite the difference in experience, Rodriguez said she thinks her desire to focus on public safety above all else makes her stand out.
“I’m bringing a different perspective to the sheriff ’s office,” she said.