AT THE BISD, INTRIGUE AND BIG BUCKS UNDER THE RADAR

By Juan Montoya
In surreptitious gatherings in ranches around Cameron County, a small group of lawyers and candidates to the Brownsville Independent School District have gathered to formulate a plan and funnel money to take over the financial plums of the $520 million district budget.
The campaign finance reports that would normally alert investigators and voting fraud sleuths are fantasies. Except for candidate Cesar Lopez, most don't show what some of our sources tell us is big money coming from law firms from out of the county to fund the campaigns of those they consider friendly to their designs.
Again and again, the name of Steve Mostyn, a Houston lawyer specializing in hurricane damage claims keeps popping up among the conspirators.
The scuttlebutt is that money from different sources is being funneled without any of the required reporting. They speak of bundles of cash handed out in desolate ranches to aid specific candidates.
The BISD has by far the biggest budget for those who want to line their pockets. Whether it's the lucrative insurance health and legal contracts, the sale of services or goods such as gasoline for its vehicle and school bus fleet, athletic equipment, or a myriad of other goods and services, the money is there for the taking if the right people are on the board.
Lopez, by the way, is named in a federal lawsuit as having helped the nlate board president Enrique Escobedo and his brother Jaime to get the lucrative surveillance contract with the Mercedes ISD for which he worked as a purchasing agent. When he was named to replace Christina Saavedra as trustee, red flags went up from here to Hidalgo County.
Some of the firms who were rejected in favor of American Surveillance cried foul and went to state and federal authorities with their complaint.
Lopez now works for the State of Texas Buy Board and has a direct role in where local school districts buy the various services and supplies. We hear that he is pushing for the BISD to purchase its gasoline and other fuels through the Buy Board for which he works.
Aside from Lopez – who so far has reported receiving $4,000 in contributions from the board attorney and thousands more from other attorneys and vendors – the name of Joe Rodriguez, a former coach, athletic director and trustee, is also mentioned as a benefactor of the group.
There is no question that Rodriguez – a vendor for sports equipment – made thousands of dollars in commissions from his sales. At least three audits – two performed by the district and one by a forensic auditor from Dallas, indicated numerous fiscal irregularities in his various financial endeavors while he was with the district.
A previous board sympathetic to Coach Joe even went as far as to legally contest a Texas Attorney General's opinion that the audits could be released to the local newspaper. The audits eventually were released, much to the discomfort of Rodriguez and his supporters on the board then.
The hiring of Salazar as a board attorney in April 2013 added a new twist to the BISD dynamics.
Although his firm ranked last of the eight law firms that replied to the BISD Request For Proposals, the new board majority awarded him the legal contract at a hefty $240,000 annual retainer. In effect, Salazar is making more than the superintendent and is only required to attend one monthly meeting.
But Salazar is the quintessential rainmaker of Girsham novels. He has dispensed the legal goodies far and wide. When trustees Catalina Presas-Garcia and Luci Longoria sued the board members of the majority, he enlisted the law firm of Chaney, Colvin, Saenz and Rodriguez to defend the district.
It just so happened that the "Rodriguez" partner turns out to be the son of candidate Joe Rodriguez who is facing Shirley La Bowman and Mary Rey for a spot on the board.
Rodriguez also has a lawsuit pending against the district over the release of the forensic audit that questioned the selection of his sports equipment company by then-AD and Rodriguez  protege Tom Chavez.
Embroiled as he is in litigation with the district and with his son's firm having been paid nearly $200,000 so far to defend against the Presas-Garcia-Longoria lawsuit, Rodriguez has an obvious personal stake in getting elected to the board.
Salazar has hedged his bets by not only financially supporting Lopez whose fourth vote insures him a majority and his bloated salary, but also by giving two other candidates running for the same position $2,000 each in this reporting period.
There's more where that came from, we're sure. As the goal toward the Nov. 4 general election draws near, we're sure that more big money will flow from Salazar toward his candidates in the races. How much will show up in the campaign finance reports is anybody's guess.
However, so far those reports are the best-selling fiction going around.