Naked City

In the end, Gisela Triana successfully hammered home her campaign message that Gus Garcia Jr. is not the same Gus Garcia that the whole town knows. Triana, who emptied her own pockets into her campaign war chest to take her "what's in a name?" campaign theme to the airwaves, captured 21,603 votes -- 66.37% -- in the countywide race to win the Democratic nomination for County Court-at-Law No. 5 over Garcia Jr., a criminal defense lawyer and the son of popular City Council Member Gus Garcia.

Triana celebrated her victory at Miguel's La Bodega on Colorado St., and never made an appearance at the Coliseum's election central. But suffice it to say, the candidate was sweating bullets up until primary election day, fearing that the power of the Garcia name might turn her out of the office she secured by virtue of appointment by the Travis County Commissioners Court. Commissioners selected Triana, a former justice of the peace, to the county court post to serve out the remainder of the term of former Judge Wilfred Aguilar, who resigned from the bench late last year. Triana faces GOP hopeful Grant Goodwin in November.