Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Now the truth has come out.
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A motion to terminate Baltazar Salazar, board counsel of the Brownsville Independent School District by trustee Laura Perez-Reyes met with stiff resistance by board president Minerva Peña and even indicted member Dr. Sylvia Atkinson.
Perez-Reyes said case files indicate that he is a convicted felon and that he failed to expunge the convictions and failed.
Pena tried to downplay it by comparing them to writing three checks with insufficient funds and Atkinson wanted to see the proof. Phil Cowen said he believed it involved deferred adjudication cases and that the cases were dismissed.
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That was disingenuous.
All of them know he had three felony convictions and they can make believe they are not. The Texas Department of Public Safety did not agree that they were minor issues. They were felony crimes and he was not allowed to erase them.
Perez-Reyes outlined a record of behavior that she said included lying, cheating and that she had witnessed him manipulating the board to his convenience, formed a PAC to unseat board members, and has done this in other districts such as San Benito, Rio Grande City and Houston.
Trustee Eddie Garcia, a 30-year Brownsville Police Department veteran, said he had problems with Salazar saying he only worked for a board majority and in the amount of work he outsourced at a cost to the district. Baltazar, as board counsel, is paid $188,000 a year by the BISD.
Even after she had been informed them that he had failed to erase the convictions, Peña got on her high horse and defended Salazar saying it was not fair to him and tried to cite Scripture. She said she had received phone calls that made her angry and that she would vote her "conscience." Peña often mentions her background as a DPS employee. Will she stick by a convicted felon?
Salazar again claimed, as he did in his expunction motion before the 13th Court of Appeals, that the convictions had been "dismissed and set aside" by the local courts and that he had even been cleared to own a handgun. The appeals court was not convinced and revered the erasure of his criminal record. (See link below post.)
In the face of this reluctance, Perez-Reyes, with trustee Eddie Garcia seconding, and amended the motion to terminate moved to table until the October 6 meeting. The motion passed by a 7-0 vote.
The link below is Salazar's attempt to erase his three felony convictions.
The 13th Court of Appeals made the ruling in August 2013, just one month after he was hired by the BISD in July, and overturned the expunction granted by a local court and reinstated the three felony convictions. Is the 13th Court of Appeals in error by affirming that he is a convicted felon?
The court said:
"We reverse the trial court's order and render judgment denying the petition for expunction as to all three (felony) offenses. We order any documents surrendered to the trial court or to Salazar returned to the submitting agencies."
See you on October.
To read the entire ruling, click on link below.
https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/thirteenth-court-of-appeals/2013/13-12-00771-cv.html
Now the truth has come out.
A motion to terminate Baltazar Salazar, board counsel of the Brownsville Independent School District by trustee Laura Perez-Reyes met with stiff resistance by board president Minerva Peña and even indicted member Dr. Sylvia Atkinson.Perez-Reyes said case files indicate that he is a convicted felon and that he failed to expunge the convictions and failed.
Pena tried to downplay it by comparing them to writing three checks with insufficient funds and Atkinson wanted to see the proof. Phil Cowen said he believed it involved deferred adjudication cases and that the cases were dismissed.
That was disingenuous.All of them know he had three felony convictions and they can make believe they are not. The Texas Department of Public Safety did not agree that they were minor issues. They were felony crimes and he was not allowed to erase them.
Perez-Reyes outlined a record of behavior that she said included lying, cheating and that she had witnessed him manipulating the board to his convenience, formed a PAC to unseat board members, and has done this in other districts such as San Benito, Rio Grande City and Houston.
Trustee Eddie Garcia, a 30-year Brownsville Police Department veteran, said he had problems with Salazar saying he only worked for a board majority and in the amount of work he outsourced at a cost to the district. Baltazar, as board counsel, is paid $188,000 a year by the BISD.
Even after she had been informed them that he had failed to erase the convictions, Peña got on her high horse and defended Salazar saying it was not fair to him and tried to cite Scripture. She said she had received phone calls that made her angry and that she would vote her "conscience." Peña often mentions her background as a DPS employee. Will she stick by a convicted felon?
Salazar again claimed, as he did in his expunction motion before the 13th Court of Appeals, that the convictions had been "dismissed and set aside" by the local courts and that he had even been cleared to own a handgun. The appeals court was not convinced and revered the erasure of his criminal record. (See link below post.)
In the face of this reluctance, Perez-Reyes, with trustee Eddie Garcia seconding, and amended the motion to terminate moved to table until the October 6 meeting. The motion passed by a 7-0 vote.
The link below is Salazar's attempt to erase his three felony convictions.
The 13th Court of Appeals made the ruling in August 2013, just one month after he was hired by the BISD in July, and overturned the expunction granted by a local court and reinstated the three felony convictions. Is the 13th Court of Appeals in error by affirming that he is a convicted felon?
The court said:
"We reverse the trial court's order and render judgment denying the petition for expunction as to all three (felony) offenses. We order any documents surrendered to the trial court or to Salazar returned to the submitting agencies."
See you on October.
To read the entire ruling, click on link below.
https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/thirteenth-court-of-appeals/2013/13-12-00771-cv.html