FAKE P.A.C. SENDS 1,000s ANTI-CATY MAILOUTS, DISAPPEARS

By Juan Montoya
The Brownsville Taxpayers Political Action Committee (PAC), which sent thousands of mail outs and had a Facebook page attacking Brownsville Independent School District Place 5 incumbent trustee Caty Presas-Garcia, has turned out to be fake front for her political opponents.

With mail outs appearing all over the city accusing Presas-Garcia of costing the BISD thousands of dollars in lawsuits and arriving at mailboxes all over town, the Texas Ethics Commission now reports that the folder where the PAC was registered is now "empty."
The Brownsville Taxpayers PAC had carried on an aggressive campaign against Presas-Garcia.



However, when inquiries were made to the BISD, the Cameron County Elections Office, the Texas Secretary of State and the Ethics Commission, the first three said they had no information on the PAC.


A consultation with the Texas Ethics Commission earlier today opened up  campaign finance page that identified its treasurer, his address, the address of the PAC office, and the amount of contributions and expenditures it had made.

The PAC reported its treasurer was one Juan Flores Leal, with an address of 925 N. Iowa Ave. A Google map search and physical verification indicated the address listed was an empty lot. The address is listed as Flores' "residence or business."(See graphic).

The mailing address given for the PAC office was 400 E. Alton Gloor, Ste. B, #222. hat turned out to be a Pro Pack and Ship, a Fed Ex franchise where one can also rent a mailbox address.
Workers there refused to identify the person who had rented the box with the #222. There is no indication that the business was used to mail out the campaign material or that it knew of the PAC's activities.

The Ethics Commission account number for the PAC was listed as Acct. # 80081082.
The PAC had reported zero contributions and expenditures on October 11, 2016, the last reporting period. So who paid for the design, printing and mail delivery of the mail out?
Curiously, just about an hour after we first visited the page using both the PAC name and the account number, the page was identified as being empty. (See graphics. Click to enlarge).
 The same thing happened to the Facebook page that the Brownsville Taxpayer PAC was using to post negative comments and graphics against Presas-Garcia. Where before it was announcing its existence in other Internet sites and "friends" were distributing its posts, the site has now been rendered inactive.


The use of a fake PAC to discredit a candidate using a non-existing treasurer, a non-existing address, and a none-existing office as well as the filing of false campaign reports is considered a serious violation of the Texas Election Code and possibly criminal statutes such as tampering with a government document and perhaps even postal regulations.

Followers of political movement in the city speculate that it could have been either candidates or Presas-Garcia's political opponents.
Close supporters of Laura Perez-Reyes, one of the three candidates challenging Presas-Garcia strongly denied any involvement in the formation of the PAC or in the posting of the Facebook site or the mass mailings.
Candidate Erasmo Castro also denied any involvement in the fake PAC or the mail-out.
And we could not find candidate Laura Castro to ask her about the isssue.

However, heretofore reliable sources indicate that the masterminds behind the establishment of the fake PAC may have been none other than Presas-Garcia's longtime opponents. The setting up of a PAC requires no small degree of legal knowledge and the Brownsville Taxpayer PAC was registered electronically.

Sources speculate that former BISD trustee Rick Zayas and Elia Cornejo-Lopez have an ax to grind against her and made made it clear that they are strongly against Presas-Garcia remaining on the BISD board.
Cornjeo-Lopez withdrew from the Place 5 race after Democratic Party officials told her it was against the law for one's name to appear in two ballots in one election. Cornejo-is on the November ballot as the only candidate for the 404th District Court. At least two complaints – one by Presas-Garcia – have been filed against Cornejo-Lopez charging that the law governing judges require her to resign her judicial seat as soon as she declares herself a candidate for another elective office. She has instead remained in office and presided over numerous cases, including the Marco Antonio Gonzalez case where he was charged with aggravated assault of eight law enforcement officers and was sentenced to five years in prison.

We understand that a third complaint against Cornejo-Lopez is on the way to the judicial commission.
And Zayas, who has been a thorn on Presas-Garcia's side after his defeat in the 2010 BISD election when she ran on a ticket with Lucy Longoria who beat him in the election, has represented her opponents in a number of lawsuits against her.

The offending Brownsville Taxpayer PAC mail-outs do not identify the place where they were printed. And inquiries into the identity of the person renting the mailbox from Pro Pack and Ship yielded negative results.
With its disappearance, will the acts of the fake PAC go unpunished? Or will the proper authorities step in and flush out the culprits?