Illustration by Jeremiah TeutschIt was a hot lazy Sunday in the middle of July when Democratic candidate for House District 117 Tina Torres and her boyfriend returned to the house she owns in Gold Canyon near Stone Oak. As Torres stepped out of her car holding a shopping bag and wearing sweat pants with a white T-shirt, a private investigator hired by her political opponent was sitting in a car across the street, shooting video.
“We just followed her on public streets, everything we did was in public,” said Kelly Riddle, a licensed PI and owner of Kelmar and Associates, the company hired by Torres’s opponent, former San Antonio Councilman Philip Cortez.
The week-long surveillance cost Cortez around $5,000. It was apparently money well spent. Torres was officially "residing" in the district in a rented apartment, but the video of Torres staying at her home outside House District 117 contributed to her resounding loss in the July 31 runoff election, according to political consultant Colin Strother.
“It was a godsend and it won the race for him. There’s no doubt about it,” Strother said. “Her biggest mistake was assuming that no one was watching. And that it didn’t matter.”
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