By
Juan Montoya![]()
As the news about the use of a Political Action Committee involving the realty company of a Brownsville Independent School District teacher and the political contributions of her brother – the district's general counsel – to incumbent trustees and the targeting of specific candidates, questions are being raised on whether public funds are being used for political purposes.
The so-called Brownsville Taxpayers PAC whose treasurer – one Juan Leal Flores – lists his business and/or residential address in a vacant lot at 925 N. Iowa. That lot turned out to be owned by Marser Corp., whose corporate offices are listed at 7941 Southmost Road. (See graphic below)
That address is that of a vacant house that's also up for sale.
The common thread is that the realty company that has both properties for sale – Liz Realty – is owned by Liz Vera, the sister of BISD general counsel Baltazar Salazar. Salazar makes $265,000 a year from the district.
This leads some people to ask whether his involvement in BISD politics is being financed by the district taxpayers.
"That's like city attorney Mark Sossi making political contributions to city candidates or using ti to go against them," said a City of Brownsville official.
Add the fact that n November 2014, the board majority – with the exception of Catalina Presas-Garcia – extended Salazar's contract for three years and increased his $240,000 annual salary by 10 percent to $264,000. He was also elevated from board counsel to general counsel.
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A "Gifts to Public Servants Clause" in Salazar's contract reads:
"General Counsel warrants that he has not given, nor does he intend to give, at any time hereafter, any economic opportunity, future employment, gift, loan, gratuity, special discounts, trips, favors, or service to a public servant in connection with the award of this agreement."Yet, on the 30-Days Before Election Report filed by Cesar Lopez in the last BISD election he reported that Salazar gave:
*$2,500 to Lopez June 23
*and another $1,500 to Lopez again on July 18
According to Salazar, his $4,000 in cash donations to Lopez is not in any way connected to that public servant's aye vote for his contract or his raise.
“The reason
‘in connection with’ is so important because if you read the whole paragraph, the idea is that if somebody were to give a campaign contribution in exchange for a contract or exchange for an extension then that would be illegal," Salazar told News Central (Channel 4).
This year, Salazar uses the same convoluted justification for making political contributions to varying candidates.
Both Salazar and sister Liz Vera have made cash political contributions to one of Garcia-Presas' opponents Laura Perez-Reyes. On August 1, she reported receiving a $2,000 cash contribution from the general counsel. Then, on Sept. 6, she reported that he again gave her another $2,000.
Besides Perez-Reyes, Erasmo Castro is also in the ballot as is Laura Castro.
On Sept. 1, Liz Vera (also a BIS teacher) made a $400 in-kind contribution in furniture to the Perez-Reyes campaign. How was it that two of the properties in her listings ended up linked to the BTPAC and how did anyone know the properties were both for sale?
Salzar has also given money to Minerva Peña and Sylvia Atkinson. But his connection to the PAC and its dubious treasurer indicates that he has targeted Presas-Garcia for his particular attention.
A Texas Ethics Commission legal staff member has said that the fact that treasurer Juan Leal Flores – if indeed he exists – listed his offie or residence on the vacant lot on N. Iowa constitutes a violation of the TEC's requirements that the PAC be specific about what it lists on its finance reports. That fact alone, he said, could be grounds for a complaint and possible removal of its PAC status with the state.
"At this point, the PAC has already mailed thousands of anti-Presas-Garcia campaign literature," said a Presas-Garcia supporter. "The damage, if any, has already been done. There is still a website being operated by the PAC and we're moving to make the search engines aware of the nature of the PAC."
"We all wanna clear everything up especially myself as I have already decided to discontinue the service I am providing them," wrote a commenter who said he was owner Jesus Molina, whose business operates the packing and shipping company and said he was unaware one of the rented mail box was listed as the mailing address of the BTPAC.
Without a legitimate mailing address, the BTPAC may also be lacking a required mailing address, said the TEC legal staffer.
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A reading of the cards flip side indicates that the mailing permit of the ad agency that designed them (though perhaps not printed them) is out of McAllen with a permit number of 417. That is the same miling permit number of MindShare Marketing & Advertising owned by Ben Guerrero, who also happens to be “The Fred Loya Guy” of television, billboard, print and social media ads for El Paso-based Fred Loya Insurance.
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And who paid them and approved the final product all in less than two weeks? In its last (and only) finance report, Flores stated that the PAC had not received or spent any assets prior to Sept. 29. The cards started arriving in the mail by the week of October 10.
It's hard to think that Mindshares was able to
1. get the contract from BTPAC,
2. do the legal research,
3. formulate the campaign and images,
4. come up with the design,
5. and order the printing and mass mailing all in less than two weeks between Sept. 29 and October 10 when the cards stating showing up in local BISD voters' mailboxes.
Guerrero, by the way, was the moderator of a debate for Place 5 candidates in which both Presas-Garcia and Perez Reyes participated. At one point in the debate, when Perez-Reyes was getting flustered, Guerrero whispered to Presas-Garcia to "take it easy on her."
Guerreo's MindShare's also happens to have the Cameron County Mobile Authority and other local entities and has as one of his clients Mike Hernandez's OP 10.33 organization.
A commenter to blog said that a Guerrero-owned company was tapped to provide the BISD with $1.5 million in computer tabletss before the district found that as categorical federal funds, it was required to place them up for bids.
In fact, the mailing permit (417) that appeared on the anti-Presas-Garcia cards is the same one that appeared on the mass mailings of OP 10.33 Navigation District candidates Ed Rivera and Raul Villanueva.
OP 10.33 founder Mike Hernandez has said that his organization played no role in the campaign against Presas-Garcia.
