COLUNGA WANTS IT BOTH WAYS: NO VOTE, BUT PLENTY OF GRIPING

By Juan Montoya
Even after he conveniently didn't attend the meeting where Deffenbaugh and Associates were awarded the contract by the Brownsville Independent School District to conduct a forensic audit into the district finances for the past three years, Joe Colunga has now resorted to calling people griping that hiring the ex-FBI Supervisor and his company constitutes a "conflict of interest."
Colunga, if you will remember, was one of the board members absent (as was trustee Minerva Peña) during last week's meeting where the competing firms were competing for the year-long contract.
The purpose of the audit was so that the current board can discover if any hanky-panky was involved in several important areas of the district;'s operations.
The term forensic audit refers to “an examination and evaluation of a firm’s or individual’s financial information for use as evidence in court. A forensic audit can be conducted in order to prosecute a party for fraud, embezzlement or other financial claims.”
BISD Board Chairwoman Catalina Presas-Garcia characterized such an audit as “an investment” and said the district could recoup funds.
Trustees generally agreed that the audit should be completed in three to four months and specifically address:
*The BISD’s self-funded employee health plan, which generates about $40 million a year in claims. Projections by the district's consultant indicate that the costs for the program for the 2010-2011 year will climb from $37 million to $46 million, and to an estimated $51 million for 2011-2012. At the time that MAA (the insurance company) was chosen, one trustee, Rolando Aguilar, claimed it would save the district $9 million a year in costs. Now the projections indicate that the costs to the district will rise $14 million in the two years since the company took over from HealthSmart, the previous provider.
*The flurry in school construction financed by a $136 million bond issue in 2006, as well as about $40 million in recent projects paid for through federal stimulus funds and qualified school construction bonds. The construction frenzy was accompanied by a spate of change orders that increased the estimated cost of most projects beyond their initial quote. For example, the Veterans Memorial High School was initially listed to cost $12 million but soared to $16 million plus as a result of poor planning. Or was it? Some suspect that the additional costs might have a result of deliberate bad designs that made the inevitable change orders necessary.
Additionally, what was sold to the BISD board as free money by financial consultants who pushed for the $25 million qualified school construction bond issue turned out to be a bait and switch that is going to cost the district more than $800,000 a year in debt payments for that issue alone. Did the financial consul ants, former superintendent and chief financial officer mislead the board to sign on the dotted line after they were warned by the state not to expect the "free money" by double-dipping into federal and state funds as they (and other districts) had done the previous year?
*BISD’s participation in the federal government’s E-Rate program to finance construction of computer networks and other information technology applications across the district. The program has long lagged behind in its delivery of the goods it promised. In a passionate appeal for understanding, its director said the changing federal rules made it almost impossible to expect anything from the program without a three-year lag. Makes people wonder why.
Those are just a few of the issues involved that the majority of the trustees thought could be addresses with the audit to clear the air and start from scratch.
In the insurance issue, both Aguilar and Colunga are well known to be supporters of local insurance broker Johnny Cavazos, whose brokerage fee of the district's insurance has made him a millionaire. His take when the insurance contract reaches $50 million at 10 percent could potentially earn their compadre as much as $5 million.
Colunga can shout "conflict of interest" from behind his rock all he wants, but many BISD administrators are miffed that he doesn't specify where the alleged conflict lies. If he claims that Deffenabugh at one time worked for attorney John Barr on behalf of HealthSmart in Lubbock, how does that generate a conflict in Brownsville? He's not working for them now. As far as we know, professionals can pick and choose who their employers are.
Most senior federal law enforcement agents at the supervisory level are meticulous about not exposing themselves to such accusations. Does Colunga know anything specific about Deffenbaugh that he can make stick on the former FBI regional supervisor? If he does, he should come out and say it. If he doesn't he runs the risk of exposing himself to charges of defamation. He should also remember that he is cited in at least two federal lawsuits for exercising questionable behavior. Former CFO Tony Juarez taped former BISD trustee Otis Powers saying that he had spoken to a majority of the then-trustees, including Colunga, about encouraging Juarez to file a grievance against the former superintendent in a conspiracy to use the grievance to fire the former administrator.

A federal judge ruled that the tape could be allowed as evidence int he case, which the BISD appealed.

But more telling, however, is Colunga's reported interference with the Special Needs Department to acquire preferential treatment for his son.

In his lawsuit, former Special Needs Administrator Art Rendon tells the court that Colunga personally had the program's location moved several times at a cost to the district of tens of thousands of dollars.

His lawsuit states:

"53. At the conclusion of the 2007-2008 school year, Plaintiff (Rendon) had to make arrangements to accommodate trustee Joe Colunga’s special needs son in a program that had been in the same location for ten years.
54. Mr. Colunga did not approve of this program location, which was currently situated in a strip
center off of the North Expressway and Price. Colunga insisted Plaintiff move the program to a
new location.
55. The program was subsequently moved to the ITEC building, off of Mexico Boulevard. Two
months after the program was moved, Colunga contacted Plaintiff, complaining he wanted the
program relocated again.
56. Costing taxpayers an abundance of money, the program was relocated again, at the urging of
Colunga. Colunga’s constant harassment of Plaintiff was also witnesses by the BISD
maintenance director, Rey Arteaga, who complained on more than one occasion, about the
inappropriateness of Colunga’s behavior to Plaintiff, the Superintendent, and Dr. Sal Cavazos."

Rendon's case, represented by attoneys Frank Perez and Starr Jones, is still in federal court.

With so much cola que le pisen, how is it that Colunga still has the nerve to cry "conflict of interest" at others?

Could it be that his pal Johnny Cavazos sees the writing on the wall for his insurance brokerage gravy train and has Colunga trying to run interference for him to try to head it off?