Attorney Asks for Contribution Back from Judicial Candidate

An attorney working in the County Attorney's Office, Amy Monsisvais, has asked Felix Castañon, judicial candidate for the 243rd Judicial District Court, for her money back.

Castañon says its political payback.

Monsisvais made a contribution to Castañon earlier this election cycle in his bid, who along with Selena Solis and Robert Ramos, are trying to unseat Judge Luis Aguilar. Aguilar has since purchased ads, but not spoken to media, indicating that he does not want people to vote for him and that he is not actively seeking the seat despite his name still being on the ballot.

Monsisvais said in a social media post that she was no longer supporting Castañon and laid out the reasons why.

In a phone interview she also indicated that she had reached out to Castañon's campaign team to ask for her money back. I don't recall a candidate being asked to return a contribution by the person who made the contribution in recent memory.

Here is part of what Monsisvais said in her social media post.

"During his campaign, Felix has criticized Judge Aguilar for engaging in disrespectful treatment of litigants in his courtroom (Watch "Felix Castañon ESD" on YouTube https://youtu.be/cHkGpfLnauc), and this was part of the basis of my grievance against Judge Aguilar. Felix, nevertheless, provided an affidavit to the Commission defending and supporting Judge Aguilar. The statements contained in Felix’s affidavit regarding my conduct were untrue and unsupported by the record. You can decide for yourself by obtaining a copy of the affidavit and record of the Commission’s proceedings, as I did, by filing a Public Information Act request at www.scjc.texas.gov."

Castañon says this is all a matter of political payback. 

The issue stems from a complaint that Monsisvais made against Judge Luis Aguilar for his treatment of her that day. Ultimately Judge Aguilar received a public reprimand from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for a myriad of reasons, one of which being the way he treats people in his courtroom. It was not, however, related to Monsisvais' complaint. Her complaint was dismissed, which she says was the reason she FOIA'd the records regarding the complaint  

In response to her request, she obtained a copy of the affidavit submitted by Mr. Castañon in which he appears to defend the actions of Judge Aguilar. 

He says that in his recollection of the events that led up to Monsisvais' complaint against Aguilar, "She was unprofessional." And Castañon says "another attorney said the same thing, 'she was disrespectful'".

Castañon went on to say, "She says its not payback, but in her post, she doesn't mention the other attorney. This is a former colleague of hers."

Here is the affidavit from Castañon about his account of what transpired that day with Judge Aguilar.

"I disagree with a lot of judges, this one and GG, but when he tells you this is what it is, at some point you accept rulings. At some point, you accept rulings. Its part of being a lawyer in a court room."

However, Castañon later indicated that he only gave the affidavit under pressure from Judge Luis Aguilar. "You can imagine, I have to report to this court day after day."

Earlier in the interview Castañon gave this account of why he supplied the affidavit.

"The judge was on my ass and another public defender's ass to make a statement...he was like, 'give me an affidavit, you were there.' I kept putting off, kept putting off and it got to the point where I went to my boss, Jaime Gandara...He told me that they could compel my testimony..."

Castañon continued, "We try not go against judges. Because politically we have no political power. If we piss off a judge at the Public Defenders office, they can just take away our cases and you know, mess with us." 

The other attorney mentioned by Castañon gave an account that was somewhat similar to his.

However, Castañon's and the other attorney's account of what transpired that day in which Castañon appears to have defended Aguilar, differs greatly from the record taken by the court reporter in real time.

I asked Castañon why his account laid out in the affidavit didn't match what the court reporter recorded in real time. He responded, "yeah, thats my recollection. It happens in the court room. Recollections are different, but that is my recollection of what happened...They are trying to build a conspiracy, I wrote it like I remembered it."

During a candidate forum over the weekend, one of his opponents, Selena Solis was critical of the fact that Castañon was a public defender assigned to Aguilar's court, and he has been critical of Aguilar's conduct while on the campaign trail, yet never filed a complaint.

When Monsisvais saw video of Castañon's comments she said, "not only did he do nothing about it, he actually defended Aguilar in an affidavit".