It was just two weeks ago when Mike Montemayor was announced the winner for Webb County Commissioner pct one. After a ballot recount that took twelve hours. Montemayor thought that was it, until incumbent Frank Scriaffa filed to contest the recount.
"He said he would be the first one to congratulate me and to give up his chair and now he's contesting."
According to the petition provided to Democratic Chair Silverio Martinez, Frank Sciaraffa filed on Friday at 4:26 in the afternoon. The document states Sciaraffa is alleging negligence and fraud during the recount, something Montemayor was shocked to hear.
"It really surprised me. I thought he accepted it, I know he walked out, he congratulated me. He gave me a hug and you know the guy, now he's a liar."
In the petition, it's not only Montemayor that Sciaraffa goes after, but also members of the elections office. It claims the environment created during the recount created the opportunity to manipulate the vote. It goes on to say the ballots were left out in the open exposed for twelve hours with multiple people in and out of the recount area, which he says led to the potential of ballots being lost or miscounted.
But Montemayor is quick to say the elections office officials did a great job that day and the people voted for who they wanted.
"This is a joke. This is ridiculous. That's all I have to say. It's ridiculous. He needs to learn to accept defeat."
Another complaint Sciaraffa is bringing forward is the issue of residency, claiming Montemayor does not live in the precinct. But today Montemayor extends an invitation to Sciaraffa to prove where he lives.
"I'd love to invite him so he can see exactly where I live. He's more than welcome to go too."
Meanwhile the democratic chair says there's no telling as to how long the petition process will take in court, but Montemayor adds he's not worried about his victory being taken away.
"Myself and my people and everybody that helped us out in my precinct, we earned that win."
We tried to contact frank Sciaraffa today, but our calls were not returned.