IF ANYTHING, CORTEZ SHOWS HE'S THE ULTIMATE POLITICIAN

By Juan Montoya

Even as he defends himself and members of the former Brownsville Independent School District board majority for violating civil rights of former employees and conspiring to rig an insurance contract and steer it to his political supporters, former trustee Ruben Cortez continues to bamboozle voters in the northern reaches of the Texas State Board of Education's District 2.

Cortez, who was roundly rejected by BISD voters tired that he and the majority of which he formed part, pulled down the district from an all-time pinnacle of having been awarded the prestigious Broad Award and in two short years gobbled up a $175 million reserve fund to just under $68 million.

The district, which gained a $2 million student scholarship award as a result of the Broad, went literally as his detractors said, from "Broad to Broke."

And the firing of three major administrators – superintendent Hector Gonzales, Chief Financial Officer Tony Juarez, and Special Needs Director Art Rendon – sparked lawsuits in

state and federal court. A federal judge denied the four defendants – Cortez, Rick Zayas, Joe Colunga and Rolando Aguilar – qualified immunity meaning that they would have to answer the charges as elected officials and as individuals.

A federal appeals court upheld the local decision and later refused to reconsider.

Yet, still after all that, Cortez has somehow managed to convince the leadership of the Texas State Teachers Association, part of the National Education Association, and the Victoria, Texas, branch of the Service Employee International Union to endorse his candidacy over his two opponents, both highly-qualified and educated. One Larry Garza, is a Kingsville pharmacist with over a decade on the local school board, and the other Celste Sanchez, is an assistant superintendent of curriculum at the San Benito ISD where she was also a board member and a sitting city commissioner.

Cortez has only a high school diploma as his educational credentials.

"You have to give Cortez credits for his chutzpah," said a voter waiting outside the Central Blvd. Public Library in Brownsville during early voting. "But thinking it over carefully, the voters would be doing our schools and our children a disservice to reject these other highly qualified people and vote for a career politician."

Yet, that is the very choice that George Borrego, president elect of the Association of Brownsville Educators, is advocating.

"Ruben has supported educational issues and employees important to education," Borrego said."We feel we need someone with his view to represent us at the State Board of Education. We are out-numbered. We feel very secure that Ruben's going to win and represent us well."

To think that this professional union rep would pick Cortez, whose slogan "Keeping Politics out of the Classroom," goes contrary to what he did while on the BISD board defies belief.

Cortez was sued by former Special Needs Department Director Art Rendon, who stated in a sworn deposition in his case (Southern District of Texas 1:10-cv-00198) against Cortez and the board majority that:

"58. On or about June, 2008, Ruben Cortez, a sitting board member on BISD, contacted Plaintiff directly via telephone. He instructed Plaintiff to hire his sister, Linda Aguilar, for summer school employment as a Special Education teacher.

59. Plaintiff informed Mr. Cortez that BISD had hiring policies in place and instructed him that the hiring application for the summer of 2008 had already been accepted and processed.

60. Cortez sent Plaintiff his sister's application and insisted Plaintiff call her immediately and giver her a job. Plaintiff set up a meeting between Cortez's sister Linda, Ana Lerma, who was a Special Education supervisor, and Dr. Lee Garcia, Assistant Director for Special Services. At the meeting, Ruben Cortez's orders were followed, and Linda Aguilar was given a job for the summer of 2008.

And this is the kind of person the teachers union – whose members were probably elbowed out by Cortez's interference in the hiring process so the district could hire his ssiter – wants to represent us in Austin?