WIGHTMAN TAKES ROLE OF MR. AMIGO PLUMBER UNIT

By Juan Montoya
The Mr. Amigo Association is apparently under a full-court press damage control after revelations in this blog documented the clubby group's social incestuousness and spendthrift ways funded partially on outlays from public entities and unwary donors, some of who were shunned from high-brow social events open only to court favorites.
Now they have recruited local blogger Bobby Wightman to probe for the supposed mole that made the group's 2008-2012 financial income statement available to El Rrun-Rrun.
Wightman, a relatively recent arrival to our fair burg, immediately brught out his favorite ax to grind and started chopping away indiscriminately and set about to speculate and engage in his favorite past time: conjuring conspiracies.
No, Bobby, it wasn't the guys behind the grassy knoll. And it wasn't until you told your two readers that  former city commission candidate Zeke Silva had been booted out of the group (as had, by the way, Cindy Garcia), that we found out about it. As usual, Wightman put two and two together and came out with five.
Just a bit of journalism protocol for the uninitiated. When someone provides you with information in confidence, they do it with the assurance that the recipient will not divulge the source. To suddenly reveal the source is a non-no of the first magnitude and would have a chilling effect on the flow of information to the public. The recipient would lose all credibility.
Why should the public be made aware of what this "private" association does with its money? First of all, the Mr. Amigo Association has actively solicited (and received) money from taxpayer-funded entities. The fact that it is not a registered nonprofit has apparently not dawned on the public entities giving away the public's money. For example, it get a $10,000 annual donation from the Brownsville Public Utility Board, which is funded by ratepayers from throughout the city. Yet, its board of directors don;t feel they have to account to anyone for the way they spend their money.
The places the association uses to hold their fundraisers (Taste of La Fronters, Bienvenida y Despedida, Presidents Ball and Banquet, etc.) are held in public facilities (the Brownsville Events Center, Ft. Brown Civic Center, etc.) that are paid by the taxpayers and which are provided to the association as in-kind "contributions."
It piggybacks on the Charro Days festivities and parades and SombreroFest because it's much easier to have them gather the crowds than if the association had to do it on its own. That's why they changed their party from October to Charro Days a few years after they tried to do it on their own.
As usual, Wightman commits the novice's mistakes of confusing one character for another. Bobby, it was Joe Lee Rubio, not Silva, if we remember correctly, who has a "criminal Mexican past," who you claim was "hired by Saenz under the guise of community liaison.
"(DA) Saenz needs a professional con man to do his dirty work. This is why Zeke Silva, with a Mexican criminal past significant enough to keep him from running for public office in the United States, was hired by Saenz under the guise of community liaison."
Smells like a defamation lawsuit to me, even if an apology is forthcoming.
Anyway, that's no skin off my nose, although it my be a problem for someone else later on.
The problem with the Mr. Amigo Association has been festering for decades, long before Wightman or even Silva were in the mix.
Now he says that Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos is running interference for him with DA Luis Saenz.  We'll just take that with a grain of salt given the conspiracy theories and wild accusations Wightman has made against practically every pubic official from the lowest school board member to the president of the United States.
Let's see. I knew president-elect Luigi Cristiano when we both announced to run for the Port of Brownsville board of commissioners. I have known Robert Avitia when I worked for the Brownsville Herald as far back as the mid-1970s. And Who doesn't know past president Eliseo Davila, and current members Artemio Alvarez, Rolando Avitia (Robert's brother), Sergio Martinez,  Efrain Duran, Cindy Garcia, Nora G. Pompa.  Lucila Hernandez (former Herald colleague), Kevin Isbell (Bingo), Rafael Villalobos, and of course, my good buddy Rick Zayas?
Cindy Garcia, by the way, was held responsible for not being able to procure free performances by Jimmy Gonzales, of Super Grupo Mazz, by some executive board members. Jimmy went on to donate his performances to other groups and the Mr. Amigo crowd was miffed. Out went Garcia.
Everyone who knows Bob Torres Sr., Rachel Torres and Bobby Torres Jr. knows they are very upset about this latest turn of events concerning the organization they know and love. Eddie Hernandez Sr. (finance director of PUB) does the books. He and Lucila Hernandez were highly instrumental in acquiring the $10,000 donation from PUB. It is no secret Eddie Sr. and Eddie Jr don't like the way the organization has been run under outgoing president Yesenia or Sylvia Perez. Eddie Jr. is the customer service manager for PUB. Both he and his Dad are past presidents. Lucy Rodriguez is a current board member and also HR manager for PUB. Patiño has even wore out her welcome with affable Ralph Cowen, Brownsville's Ambassador of Goodwill and Port of Brownsville commissioner, who felt obliged to go along with her because he travels for free to Mexico. Still, Patiño baked in the glory and many felt Cowen was given short shrift when time came to extend members' contributions and give them the recognition for their efforts.
Want more suspects Mr. Plumber?
Eliseo Davil, also a past president, felt he got shafted with his pictures from Patiño after he gave her 1,200 pictures paid by the association to her when she was past president. Former U.S. Customs Director Jorge Flores, also a past president and a good friend, felt that he had been bad mouthed by Sylvia Perez when he complained of her manipulation of the board. How about past member Sergio Martinez, the UTB administrator who was upset that he wasn't elected on the executive board by Patiño even after he went with her and ran interference for her with UTB?
Kevin Isbell, from Bingo, is upset the association hasn't acquired the nonprofit status it promised as he has given donations for the last 15 years. It would not do for the IRS to audit those donations, would it? He was thrown a bone and made a member of the executive board to placate his mutterings and to have him continue to give Mr. Amigo thousands in donations.
Numerous past – and current – board members are very upset at what they see as Patiño and Perez's Patino outright abuse of power, almost bankrupting the association, and their total lack of respect for board members.
Now that the public has been made aware that the group has engaged in elitist "let them eat cake" politics to make themselves look good, the source of our information could be any or all of those who have been (and are)  involved in trying to reform this bunch.
(Clue: Without revealing our source, it is a current member or donor of the Mr. Amigo Association. Sniff them out Bobby.)