MARIN AND GARCIA PUT SQUEEZE ON TENASKA, TEE OFF MARTINEZ; LOOKING FOR BUCKS IN AL THE WRONG PLACES

By Juan Montoya
After the City of Brownsville and the Public Utility Board made the grand announcement through Mayor Tony Martinez that they had reached an agreement to partner to build an 800 megawatt electric generating plant, local movers and fixers saw visions of dollar bills ready for the taking.
Two of these visionaries – we are told – were none other than United Brownsville mastermind Carlos Marin and Oscar Garcia Jr., a PUB board member who works for Marin's wife at Su Clinica Familiar as operations manager.
Apparently, Marin and Garcia though that the latter's Palo Verde Consulting firm should get a piece of the Tenaska consulting pie being how they had close ties to Da Mayor and his cadre of insiders. Marin is an adviser to United Brownsville, Garcia is the son of UT-Brownsville Dr. Julieta Garcia, and has been mentioned as heir apparent to Charlie Cabler as the Brownsville city manager, or to replace John Bruciak as the manager of the PUB.
But, as we are told, the big boys at Tenaska wanted no part of it and felt that they were being strong-armed for the consulting buck simply because the purveyors had the family and political connections to the mayor. So they let Tony Da Mayor in no uncertain terms that they would pull stakes and take their ball home si no se los quitaba Willy de encima.
Push almost came to shove before the pair would relent and gave up chasing that bone. But we understand that the incident created a rift between Martinez and Marin. To have the duo almost derail his pet project was a bit much even for the likes of Martinez.

It is no secret that Marin's Ambiotec has had a lock on the city's engineering business and that the company is the engineering firm of record for the Brownsville Economic Development Council and the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation. He is listed as the secretary of the BEDC executive board.
The Marin gravy trial started in 1989 when – according to the BEDC's own web page – the Texas Legislature amended the Development Corporation Act by adding Section 4A, which allowed the creation of a new type of development corporation. The proceeds from the Section 4A sales tax were dedicated by statute to economic development projects to promote new and expanded industrial and manufacturing activities.
After the passage of the 4A Economic Development Sales Tax in 1992 came the subsequent funding of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC). Ten years later, the 4A Economic Development Sales Tax was split into a Type A and Type B, going from a half-cent sales tax towards Type A, to a quarter-cent sales tax towards each (Type A and Type B). The latter sales tax, Type B, is used for 'quality of life' projects, such as educational endeavors, parks, and museums."

Garcia took on as teammates the Guerrero Twins (one of who is Ruben "Ben" a partner in the Breeden McCumber Advertising agency) to tap into the millions in the economic development kitties administered by these corporations. Unfortunately, the medical billing enterprise they got funded for went belly up and nothing more was heard about the $250,000 that was blown in that endeavor. Guerrero, by the way, was the point man in procuring the contract for Breeden-McCumber to be named advertising agency of record for the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority.

Marin, who sits on the BEDC, was pushing for the job of clearing the land of the fabled new industrial park behind the abandoned Titan Tire building out toward Palo Alto on Paredes Line Road. Despite the claims by the BEDC that the industrial park would have throngs of tenants ready to rent from the BEDC, so far, there is nothing but empty space in the flood plain out there. 

Talk about trying to squeeze blood from a turnip.