Constable race gets nasty

It may be dry in West Texas, but there’s definitely some mud being tossed about in the Precinct 1 race for constable.

What started as a normal political debate with little or no drama ended Tuesday night with accusations that Precinct 1 Constable Steven Brennan had a criminal record. The accusations came from Jeff Schwende, Brennan’s only opponent, during closing statements.

Scwhende said he was the only person running for Precinct 1 who did not have a criminal record.

"I’ve warn a badge for 30 years, and it’s never been tarnished before," Schwende said.

Schwende said he discovered Brennan’s "criminal history" using a website that searches public data.

Brennan said Wednesday that he was arrested 30 years ago on a charge of evading arrest, a Class C misdemeanor.

"My brother had just been killed in the oilfield, saving two Odessa residents’ lives," Brennan said. "I was out on Andrews Highway pretty upset, running up the road."

Officers stopped Brennan and told him to go home, he said.

"I said I would, and I didn’t," he said. "They placed me in custody after that."

Brennan was put on six months probation for the offense in 1978.

Brennan was arrested under the name Steven Cupp, the name he was given when he was adopted.

"When I turned 21, I went to the Ector County Courthouse and took my birth name back," Steven Brennan, the incumbent constable, said.

Brennan took issue with Schwende’s comments, saying "there’s no place in Ector County for his kind of politics."

Brennan and Schwende will face off in the March 4 primary. Whether or not Brennans’ criminal past will affect his re-election bid is up to the voters.

"The voters know me, and I know the voters — they put me here four times," Brennan said. "They will see through his cheap politics, and they will return me for a fifth term as their constable."