MR. AMIGO SEEKS TO REINVENT ITSELF AFTER 2013 FIASCO

By Juan Montoya
Reacting to the growing wave of criticism over the alleged policies of mismanagement and favoritism carried out by former Mr. Amigo President Yesenia Patiño and her mentor former Brownsville Independent School District administrator Sylvia Perez, a group of  loyalists will reportedly take steps to change the direction of their 49-year-old organization.
The longtime supporters of Mr. Amigo – including at least four past presidents – are said to be considering banning the former president from further participation in the organization which hosts a Mexican personality annually in conjunction with the Charro Days and SombreoFest celebrations.
Many members of those two organizations say that the performance of the Mr. Amigo executive in 2012 left much to be desired.

Although ostensibly a private association which fills its ranks through nominations by its membership, the Mr. Amigo Association has long relied on public resources and private donations raised through solicitation and several major events such as the President's Ball and Banquet and the Taste de Frontera.

These two raised the group $38,460 of its $105,529 2013 Mr. Amigo budget ($21,120 in ticket sales for the banquet, $17,240 for Taste de la Frontera). The group's income statement for this year said it spent $99,700 for its events.

Among the other income for the 2013 bash featuring Mexican Televisa soap opera star Eduardo Yanez was $39,600 in donations from sponsors.

However, if you look closely at the income statement, you will see that the city kicked in thousands in "in-kind" contributions, including free access to the Brownsville Events Center ($2,684 for banquet, $1,740 for Taste) and the Ft. Brown Civic Center by the University. 

But what is not included is the "in-kind" security detail assigned by the Brownsville Police Department to provide round-the-clock protection to Mr. Amigo. An information request from El Rrun-Rrun to the Brownsville Police Department revealed that this year, the PD's security detail cost taxpayers $19,285 in overtime pay for the 18 officers and supervisors.

In some cases, the bill came to about $50 to $54 per hour for those lucky officers who were favored by Chief Orlando Rodriguez to serve on the detail.
This, however, is only the overtime pay for the 18 officers, which came in addition to the regular pay from department coffers.
Some of the questions that Patiño and Perez have yet to answer is the money spent on the lavish, invitation-only President's Ball blast. How about $4,900 for music, $3,100 for centerpiece and decorations, $14,102 for food, $600 for a sound system, $1,100 for linens and covers, and $609 for videos and photos?
And lurking in the wings are questions about the non-itemized spending by Patiño of $3,016  as "president's expenses" while on the trip to Mexico City to give Yanez the invite to come during the Charro Days events. We don't have an itemized invoice for Patiño, but we are told that the expense was racked up to purchase outfits for her and her hubby and kids. And the short bus ride that took the Mr. Amigo entourage from their hotel in Mexico City to the U.S.  embassy – 15 or 20 minutes away – cost $1,146.
In fact, the reception for Yanez cost $1,429, just $300 more than the short bus ride.
Perhaps most galling to the group's staunch supporters is the fact that the appearances by Mr. Amigo Yanez were badly coordinated with other groups and that Patiño and Perez excluded many donors to private events while favoring others.
In one telling instance, Patiño asked some individuals who had posted photos of the private bashes on their Facebook pages to remove them because some smaller donors would complain that they had not received a persona invitation to attend the parties.
Will Patiño be declared a persona non grata today and the organization take steps to contribute something back to the community that has paid for its weeklong parranda throughout the nearly half century of its existence.