CORTEZ, ZAYAS GO BALLISTIC ON ACCION AMERICA

By Juan Montoya

Fresh from losing the fight to keep two reports on potential malfeasance by Brownsville Independent School District Athletic Director Joe Rodriguez under wraps, Rick Zayas and Ruben Cortez –acknowledged leaders of then $4 majority on the board of trustees – have sued Accion America and its president Carlos Quintanilla for defamation and libel.

El Rrun-Rrun is still trying to get more details of the lawsuit, but early indications are that both of the BISD members allege that Quintanilla defamed them and committed libel per se against them when he and local critics called the actions surrounding the awarding of a $40 million insurance contract to local insurance mogul Johnny Cavazos and HealthSmart "corrupt."

Additionally, the duo claims that Quintanilla hurt their feelings – and their reputations – when Quintanilla and members of Care Brownsville criticized them over the firing of BISD's former superintendent Hector Gonzalez and questioned their motives.

Quintanilla, speaking to ER from Dallas, was defiant in the face of the new assault by Zayas-Cortez.

"This is about par for the course with them," he said. "They tried to intimidate Cata (Presas-Garcia) when the school board decided they wouldn't defend her against Joe Rodriguez and she had to hire her own lawyer," he said. "We stepped in to help and in the end they withdrew their actions. I want the people of Brownsville to know that we won't be intimidated by their legal bullying. This actually gives us an opportunity through the discovery process to find out everything they've done."

As details of the lawsuit become available, we will provide more details of the duo's legal lamentations. However, we do know this: If they believe Quintanilla and his organization are going to roll over and play dead, they've got another thing coming.

"These people are used to intimidating people who question their actions," Quintanilla said. "We are looking forward to defending ourselves against this lawsuit and they can expect us to file counter suits of our own."