IT LIVES! CORTEZ RUNNING FOR TEXAS BOARD OF EDUCATION

By Juan Montoya

We heard about the recent fundraiser and "greet and meet" that former Brownsville Independent School District trustee Ruben Cortez held at the popular eatery Ricardo's.
We also know that Cortez is currently named in at least two pending federal lawsuits where the plaintiffs – former Superintendent Hector Gonzalez and former Chief Financial Officer Tony Juarez – have charged him along with the former majority (Rolando Aguilar, Rick Zayas, and Joe Colunga) with retaliation and filed Whistle blower Act lawsuits claiming retaliation and firing as a result.
In at least another lawsuit filed against the former majority the BISD has opted to settle with former Special Needs Director Art Rendon for his termination by the four and the district for going to the federal authorities with evidence that when the four asked him to turn a blind eye to alleged wrongdoing, he refused and went to the FBI instead.
Ditto for Juarez.
Because of redistricting, all 15 seats on the Texas State Board of Education will be up for grabs in the November 2012 elections.
District 2, serves the counties of Aransas, Calhoun, Cameron, Goliad, Jackson, Kenedy, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, Wharton and Willacy, as well as parts of Hidalgo County.
And guess who's running for the seat now held by Mary Berlanga of Corpus Christi who has announced she will not seek reelection?
None other than our own Ruben Cortez, who was soundly defeated in the 2010 elections where the electorate threw out his business partner Zayas and rejected the candidacy of Otis Powers who tried to make a comeback.
In his statement to the Texas Freedom Network, Cortez states that:
“I believe in a common sense approach. We must keep politics out of the classroom and this includes textbooks."
Now, to all of us that are acquainted with Ruben, this is hilarious. If ever there was a political animal, that would be Ruben. His mom Linda used to be on the BISD school board and is now running for reelection as a Justice of the Peace. His partner and him now hold the commissary contract at the Cameron County Jail and until there was an outcry in the local newspaper, were awarded the contract without the benefit of competitive bidding. It just so happened that his cousin was chief deputy at the sheriff's department.
They still hold the contract and rake in more than $500,000 a year from their captive audience and charge prices to the prisoners twice or three times what they could buy from local retailers.
In the Rendon lawsuit, sworn depositions indicate that Cortez forced the administration there to overlook the fact that the application period for a position in the department had expired and insisted that they hire his relative. After browbeating (and with three witnesses present), he got his relative hired.
Meanwhile, the Juarez case where he alleges bid-rigging on an insurance contract and the abuse of the grievance process to terminate employees using one against the other is ongoing. So is the Gonzales case where the principals allege that Cortez and the others conspired to fire both men (Juarez and Gonzales when they didn't get their way on the insurance contract).
And still lurking out there are the allegations that Cortez has been delinquent on his property taxes for years. In fact, expect more on this topic as we clear up the mess involving his purchase of a home from among properties forfeited by the local D.A.
And this is the guy who wants us to elect him to the Texas State Board of Education?