The Duval County Freedom Party: Part Five

POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM JULY 10, 2018

Investigations impacted Parr machine, helped Freedom Party

The first test on how much impact local, state, and Federal investigations were having on Parr’s political hold came in the 1954 Benavides school election where Freedom Party candidates were challenging three Old Party incumbents. In those days, Freer was part of the Benavides school district, and all the candidates were from Freer. The Parr incumbents were W.C. Kelley, Paul Green, and Troy Carey. The challengers were F.J. Sparkman, Manuel Garza, and Bob Mayberry. Despite having the ballots impounded, Parr candidates won easily by a better than a two to one margin.

George Parr

“With all the adverse publicity and all that Attorney General John Ben Shepherd could do he still can’t change the minds of Duval County voters,” Parr said.  

While not discounting the importance of this election, Donato Serna felt the real test was going to be the July Democratic primary. Parr did not appear concerned, saying they would have a bigger margin in July.

More than half of the votes in the county were in the Benavides School District, and the Old Party had scored a big win.

While Parr was confident of winning at the polls, he continued to lose in his battle against the ongoing investigations. The Texas Supreme Court removed his district judge, Woodrow Laughlin from office; his arch enemy, Donato Serna, was named the new County Auditor for Duval County; and the courts upheld Laughlin’s replacement’s appointment of a new grand jury dominated by Freedom Party supporters. The new grand jury indicted Parr for the attempted murder of Cristobal Ybanez, and the district judge barred the Parr supported district attorney from prosecuting the case. The grand jury capped Parr’s public relations nightmare by indicting him and thirteen of his friends for corruption regarding funds at the Benavides school district.

Just as things could not seem to get worse, one week before the Democratic Primary, the Freedom Party held a rally in San Diego, county seat of Duval County, Parr’s backyard. Four thousand five hundred Freedom Party supporters were said to have attended. The Freedom Party held the meeting at a recreation center across the street from Parr’s headquarters.

On election day, however, those numbers did not translate to victory as Parr candidates outdistanced the Freedom Party slate by a two-to-0ne margin, 3,085 to 1,515. And while, Freedom Party candidates, with the help of the three other counties in the district, narrowly won the state representative and district attorney’s races, Parr’s judge Woodrow Laughlin managed to squeeze back into office. Since the district judge had a considerable say on who served on the grand jury, Laughlin’s win was no small matter.

A breakthrough

Cracks in the Parr machine finally began to appear after the Democratic Primary when Dan Tobin, who had been elected County Judge on the Parr ticket, openly split with Parr. The following year, in December 1955, Tobin met with the Freedom Party to discuss a possible alliance. Tobin was the son-in-law of Daniel Garcia who had called the late-night meeting with the Freedom Party three years earlier to explain his intended split with Parr. Talks between Tobin and the Freedom Party did not yield the desired results.

Apparently, there was disagreement on what candidate would run for which office. Judge Tobin issued a letter saying he had never formed or led any party; that the so-called Tobin Party was a figment. That he urged all citizens to vote for the candidate that best suited his interests. Hardly a notion with which the Freedom Party could argue.

The Freedom Party moved on. They held a meeting in Benavides where they elected Robert Leo from Ramirez as Chairman of the party. John Rutledge was elected vice chairman, and Donato Serna as secretary. The party planned another meeting in San Diego where they would name local committees. They also fielded a full slate of candidates for the San Diego and Benavides City Council elections.

Manuel Sanchez challenged C.G. Palacios for mayor of San Diego and Freedom Party candidates for the city council included Marcos Hinojosa, Enrique S. Solis, and Juanita R. Tijerina. The Parr candidates for council included Alberto Garcia, Leopoldo Sepulveda, and Martin Alaniz. There was, however, a third slate in the San Diego Council election fielded by the supposedly non-existent Tobin Party. Their candidate for mayor was Servando H. Gonzalez, and aldermen candidates included Amado Garcia Jr., Manuel Olivares, and Manuel E. Trevino.

Parr candidates swept all seats except for one city council seat which went to Amado Garcia of the Tobin Party. Freedom Party candidates came in a distant third in all races.

In Benavides, the Parr candidate for mayor Octavio Saenz outdistanced Freedom Party candidate Regulo Benavides, 602-374. Old Party candidates Leopoldo Chapa and Reyes Ramon turned back Edelmiro Chapa and Maximo Vera.

Despite their best efforts, the Freedom Party could not crack the Parr Machine. In the 1956 Democratic Primary, George Parr, relying on absentee ballots, recaptured the sheriff’s seat he had been forced to abandon in 1952. Parr outdistanced three opponents, including J.P. Stockwell of the Freedom Party, 2,708-2,568. Parr, however, was not able to take his seat, because the Duval County Commissioners Court, which did not include any Old Party members, refused to certify his or Amando Garcia Jr.’s election as County Clerk because they owed money to the county. The court’s majority consisted of Tobin Party members County Judge Dan Tobin and Commissioners Tomas Molina and Juan Leal and Freedom Party commissioners Dennis McBride and Jose D. Ramos.

(Next week we continue with Part Six, the final part of this series.)

    

2 COMMENTSON "THE DUVAL COUNTY FREEDOM PARTY: PART FIVE"

1. Charlie Perez | July 11, 2018 at 9:16 am | Reply (Edit)
   Very informative. Growing up in San Diego with my grandmother, Elisa Trevino, never knew how powerful the Parr family was.

alfredo@mcmbooks.com | July 11, 2018 at 9:22 am | Reply (Edit)
Thank you, Charlie. Many of us group up in the barrios and never had contact with the power structure.