BULLETIN: ORTIZ CRUSADES AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE

By Juan Montoya
You've got to be kidding.
How can U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz's press flacks keep a straight face when they pen his press releases in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary?
I refer the July 15 press release announcing to the world that Ortiz was against government waste and useless spending?
In his release, Ortiz informs us that he voted for the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act that will "reduce and eliminate improper payments, as well as recover lost funds that federal agencies have spent improperly."
“This bill is a critical step in cracking down on the waste of taxpayer dollars by helping identify and eliminate improper payments by federal agencies,” Ortiz said. “The bill provides the transparency and accountability that the American people deserve, and I stand behind it.”
“This bill is about holding the federal government responsible,” Ortiz said. “In today’s economy, we understand the importance of being fiscally responsible. This Congress is working to combats wasteful spending and ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently.”
Now, let's see if we got this straight.
Is this the same guy who – along with his former administrative assistant Lencho Rendon – thought nothing of wining and dining at our expense when they were making noises about helping the Brownsville Navigation District spend $21 million to build a non-existing truck and rail bridge?
Is this the same guy who wined and dined at our expense at Rancho Viejo Resort and charged it on the port's credit card as an expense associated with the famous "Bridge to Nowhere?"
Is this the same guy whose office was accused by former port commissioners of recommending contractors on the Mexican side who turned out to be flim-flam artists and never produced any work product for the bridge?
Why didn't Ortiz rouse himself from the sumptuous meals at our expense and complain to the late Port Director Raul Besteiro when he hosted the likes of engineer Louis Jones with Houston's Dannenbaum Engineering Inc., lobbyist Randy DeLay, and Ortiz himself?
Why didn't he crow when the port hosted free meals for Texas Sen. Eddie Lucio, his assistant Paul Cowen and engineer James Dannenbaum, owner of Dannenbaum Engineering Inc., consultants on the bridge project?
His former assistant Rendon, frequently ate with the portly and affable (and malleable) Besteiro. In fact, the local daily found out that Rendon co-owned property with Ortiz, and was his former partner in a security business that did business with tenants at the port that had to be sold after conflict of interest questions were raised
The Brownsville Herald , quoting port expense reports, noted that just one lunch at the Ranchero Room with Ortiz, Rendon, DeLay, and Dennis Linsky, the U.S.-Mexico Border Affairs coordinator for the U.S. State Department, cost local taxpayers $86.10.
A brunch the next day with Ortiz, Rendon and staff members cost $89.10. The purpose of the meal? To "discuss" yet another "announcement" that Mexico and the BND had inked a deal to build a rail/truck bridge.
Emma Perez-Trevino reported in her groundbreaking stories on the port that "a $362.57 meal at Rancho Viejo's Casa Grande included four Angus tenderloin steaks, five Crown Royal drinks, two ceviches, an order of escargot (that's snails, y'all) and a cherries jubilee. The tip for the server who waited on Besteiro, Rendon, Ortiz, and two Mexican officials, was $53.98."
Then, in yet another wine-and-dine escapade by these fine eaters, the tab amounted to $1,012.30.
"That day," Emma reported, "Besteiro, Ortiz, Rendon, DeLay, Jones, two of Ortizs staffers, two Mexico bridge consultants and board Commissioner Carl Joe Gayman dined at Mr. Ks in Washington, D.C. The meal cost $857.30."
A generous $155 tip compliments of you and me was added.
And now our congressman says he is worried about government waste?
Give me a break.