A ROD (VILLALOBOS) WORKS THE COURTS REGARDLESS

By Juan Montoya
Remember the outrage at Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez being allowed to play while he appealed his 211-game suspension by major league baseball?
Guess what?
Cameron County has its own (albeit smaller) version of A Rod. It is convicted (and former ) Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos.
To the surprise of many local attorneys and courthouse regulars, Villalobos was seen this Friday representing clients in at least two district courts; the 357th and 445th.
In May, a federal jury convicted Villalobos of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering and five counts of extortion, while acquitting him of two other counts of extortion.
The jury convicted him on one extortion count involving $200,000 that ex-partner Eduardo Lucio received from a murder case, another count involving paying former state District Judge Abel C. Limas $9,600 to $9,700 to squelch the inquiry into the murder case and five other extortion counts.
He was found not guilty of extortion on a count alleging he received $5,000 in a series of payments for cases and another count that alleged he extorted attorney Oscar de la Fuente Jr. on seven cases.
He is currently appealing his convictions, a la A Rod.
His appearance in the courts has fueled a mounting surge of criticism from some attorneys and members of the public who feel that it is inappropriate for someone who used to be the top law enforcement official in the county and convicted of racketeering to go about his daily business exercising his profession.
"What kind of system do we have in this county?" asked one. "How can the State Bar allow this to happen?"
We have not learned who Mando's clients are or what the nature of the cases may be, but we were under the impression that federal judge Andrew Hanen had relayed all the information on the lawyers involved in the Abel Limas related racketeering cases to the Texas State bar for disciplinary consideration?
Could Mando have slipped through the cracks?
  

FREDDIE GOMEZ MEMORIAL IS WORKING MAN'S HOLIDAY

By Juan Montoya

I may be dating myself a bit here, but back in the day when cotton was the king of agriculture in South Texas, our parents used to send us kids with a local truck driver (contratista) to pick cotton in fields around Brownsville.
The work was hot, low-paying and tiring. But it was also a kind of adventure. The money we made during the week (between $10 to $15 ) would be used to buy clothes for school. A dollar went a long way back then.
A lot of the neighborhood kids of the Las Prietas and Southmost areas would be out in the fields and to pass the time, we'd sing the favorites songs of the day.
Inevitably, the songs made popular by Freddie Gomez would reverberate across the fields, the sound of youthful voices losing themselves over the mirages of heat across the green and white expanse of the endless cotton rows.
One particular favorite at the time (the Vietnam War was on) was "El Soldado Raso," that dealt with a soldier (a private) leaving for the war and leaving behind his family and friends. It was a somewhat melodramatic tune but it conveyed the feelings of many young soldiers and the families they left behind.




Me voy de soldado raso
voy a ingresar a las filas
con los valientes muchachos
que dejan madres queridas
que dejan novias llorando
llorando su despedida. 


Mañana salgo temprano
al despuntar nuevo dia
y aqui va otro mexicano
que va a jugarse la vida
que se despide cantando
que viva la patria mia.

Now, Freddie wasn't the first singer to interpret this song. But his high nasal voice and accordion gave the song a distinctive sound that earned him fame as the "Cyclon del Valle."
Ask any Hispanic veterans of the time who the artist was who sang that song and inevitably, Freddie's name will be the first from their lips.
Many probably remember him from other songs such as "No Supe Comprender," "Un Mal Viento," "Yo Te Quiero a Ti," and many others too numerous to mention, including a selection of polkas pa los bailadores.
If you are like many others of us who grew up on his music and appreciate the memories he left behind, Timo Ruedas a retired U.S. Customs office and conjunto aficionado from Brownsville, the South Texas Conjunto Association and the Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts are inviting the public to join them today to to remember his music.
The event will be held at the old Capitol Theater on Levee Street.
The event is free in celebration of Labor Day, the working man's holiday..
Freddie Gomez was a simple man, and singing with a conjunto was a side gig (he worked at J.C. Penney's in Brownsville and retired from there without ever missing a day of work.) One can only imagine what he could have achieved is he had devoted his full time to his musical pursuits.
See you there.

3RD ANNUAL FREDDIE GOMEZ MEMORIAL CONCERT TODAY

By Ty Johnson

The Brownsville Herald
When 11-year-old Juan Duenes Jr. takes the stage tonight ahead of the conjunto marathon dance competition at the Freddie Gomez Memorial Concert, he’ll be performing in front of a large crowd.
But in his mind, as he’s squeezing sweet strains from his accordion, he’s performing for himself.
“I try to imagine that they’re not there,” the shy sixth-grader says of how he deals with the nerves of performing in large venues.
That tactic seems to be working, as Duenes earned semi-finalist honors at this year’s Texas Folklife Squeeze Box competition in Austin.

Soft-spoken, he comes to life as he grips the accordion, bobbing his head slightly to the beat in his mind. A wry smile spreads across his face as his normally stoic expression melts away to the tune of the music.
Duenes will share that award-winning talent with Brownsville this evening alongside performers from across the Rio Grande Valley as part of the festivities, which are scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Capitol Theatre downtown on East Levee Street.
The dance marathon will begin at 8:30 p.m. and last until midnight as dancers in four age divisions show off their conjunto skills.
The event is free and will feature vendors offering food and beverages. Because there will be limited seating, those attending are encouraged to bring their own folding or lounge chairs.
The competition will feature eight rhythms that will quicken as the night passes, beginning with a Vals and transitioning through Bolero, Danzon, Redova, Shotiz, Cumbia and Polka before ending with Huapango.
The event, in its third year, is held in memory of legendary conjunto artist Freddie Gomez, who adopted Brownsville as his hometown shortly after retiring from a storied musical career.
Headlining the event and leading off the competition performers is Brownsville native Bene Medina.
Medina, 74, sometimes referred to as “El Maestro,” Raul Torres and other legends of conjunto will be in the audience watching Duenes, Juan Hernandez and Eddie Rodriguez Jr. perform on accordion alongside vocalist Katie Lee, all of whom have been hailed as the next generation of conjunto in the Valley.
Duenes’ father said the previous generation of accordionists had a distinct impact on his son, especially his grandfather and uncle, who he credits with inspiring Juan Jr. to take up the art.
“It runs in the family,” he said.
And the young musician has come a long way from performing birthday tunes with his 10-year-old brother, Leonardo, who soon will begin playing the accordion.

ADIOS TO EL SIETE MARES, A 14TH STREET INSTITUTION

By Juan Montoya
At one time, a friend was telling me that his dad would take him (as did dads of other kids) to the strip of blue-collar bars on the stretch roughly between the intersection of Southmost Road and 14th Street, La Catorce.
There, while his dad socialized with his friends, he would either sit outside in the truck or sit in a nearby table while his father spent time drinking beer with his compadres.
"That was more than 40 years ago," he said. "Other guys would also take their kids and we would wait for them playing or drinking cokes. There were bars lined up all the way to La Resaca Bar on the (US 77) frontage road."
It's a lot different now. There are maybe 10 bars left on that strip, and the number is dwindling. Known as a favorite spot for local cops to rack up Public Intoxication and Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) violations, many patrons now go elsewhere or simply stay at home.
But in its heyday, some people remember as many as 20 or 30 bars competing for the poor man's dollar. Some of the bars that were legend are but dim memories now; El Domino, El Tenampa, Mi Tejana Bar.., the list just goes on and on.
Add to that disappearing collection El Siete Mares Bar, a classic working man's joint that appealed to customers not so much for its name, but for the fact that it had a regular set of patrons who had known each other for years and often helped each other through rough spots.
Someone reminded me that in the heyday of the shrimping industry and the seafood processors, the place was thriving, especially when the shrimpers came in for the season. Then followed the pre-cartel days when jewel-bedecked narcos in ostrich-skin boots and hot pickups would order the place shut down (Mamy's) and wouldn't allow anyone to leave until they decided they could. The place was a veritable barometer for the local economy with the peso devaluation, the Border Patrol crackdown, the national recession, all stamping their mark on the customer flow.
The El Siete Mares bar owner was the late Meme Flores, who was a Coors Beer distributor. He, in turn, had his longtime assistant and trusted friend Maria Gonzalez operate it until he died. Years later, she also succumbed to cancer. For years, a lighted votive candle flickered before his photo. In the last few months, there was also a photo of Maria with her own candle.
Later, when her daughter took over and she sublet the place to friends, the writing was on the wall. Customers died, new ones came by, but something was missing. It just wasn't the same as when Meme and Maria greeted everyone by their first name.
In the case of this particular cantina, the license had been issued under the grandfather clause that allowed a bar just a block away from an elementary (Victoria) school. That will be the end of a bar on that corner of Taft and 14th. The new owner, we understand, wants to put a drive-through instead.
But within these four walls – and over the years – Maria's customers gave her enough to keep the place going, to buy a home that she left to her children upon her death, and to leave a small, but thriving business for them when she passed away. Also within these walls birthday fiestas were held, jealousies over women (and men) fueled fights, births were celebrated, and the passing away of friends resulted in de facto wakes to be observed. Customers asked about others' kids, the health of the mate, and romances blossomed and some marriages ended. People became comadres and compadres over a cold beer.
This last Wednesday, a goodbye bash for El Siete Mares was held and included  a karaoke DJ. Of course, someone sang Me Dicen El Siete Mares.
When a customer met another somewhere else and asked whether he had been at El Siete Mares, the standard reply was:
"It's now called El Seis Mares now because I think we dank one (nos tomamos uno) sea last night."

GARCIA, GARZA IN FULL DAMAGE-CONTROL MODE

By Juan Montoya
Apparently, Cameron County's overpaid Administrator assistant David Garcia ($115,000) hadn't read the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority's (his side gig at and additional $75,000) agenda that included an item relating to his part-time salary there.
Wit Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza – his benefactor on the commissioners' court – out of town, he never expected that the CCRMA would remove his $75,000 lump of gravy from the 2013-2014 budget.
But that's what they did and after Garza returned form one of his many trips out of the county, both are said to be hopping to see if they can rescind the budget and amend it so that poor David can get back the cash.
After all, how does one expect anyone to live on a measly $115,000 – more than the county judge, commissioners, and department heads make  make – when one has gotten used to raking in the candy money from the CCRMA.
The report of the double dipping had apparently reached proportions that had become politically untenable, court observers say.
"As soon as Garza came back, he started calling CCRMA board members and asking what can be done to get David back some of the extra $75,000," said one. "They are trying to get the board to see if they can change it."
Cameron County and the CCRMA, in response to criticism of the peculiar salary arrangements, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on future work done by county employees for the authority. With this MOU, they hope to prevent the kind of double-, triple and quadruple-dipping that had developed over time that allowed Garcia to get paid more for a side gig than a county commission gets paid for full-time work.
Now the CCRMA will have to reimburse the county for work its employees perform for the regional authority, and not the employees who are on county time.
According to the salary schedule listed with the county auditor's office, this (minus benefits) is what Garcia is taking home.

Planning and Inspection (asst.): $56,089

Veterans Bridge (Assistant): $16,222

Los Indios Bridge (Asst.): $16,222

Gateway Bridge (Asst.): $17,121

Total (County) $105,654
With the additional $75,000, he was making about $185,000 a year. Now, can anyone really believe that one person can handle all those responsibilities and do a good job?
We'll keep you posted on whether commissioner Garza is able to twist a few arms and get poor David his cash back.

POPE LUIGI SEEKS TO CHANGE THE MR. AMIGO CALENDAR

By Juan Montoya
 In 1582, the Catholic Church – to make sure Easter came in April – established the Gregorian calendar as a reform to the Julian Calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named.
The motivation for the reform was to counteract the steady drift in the date of Easter which had been associated with the spring equinox.
So they changed the dates, skipped 10 days, and inserted a leap year to make sure Easter stayed where they put it.
Well, guess who's following in the footsteps of Gregory?
Would you believe Luigi Cristiano, the former Port of Brownsville commissioner and newly-anointed president of the Mr. Amigo Association?
Luigi, as his friends call him, has apparently decided that since he's president he will reign over the 50th anniversary of the first time that the Mr. Amigo Association brought its first personality to Brownsville .
Let's do the math.
The Mr. Amigo Association was incorporated in early 1964. The first Mr. Amigo celebration was held on October 12, 1964 at the Fort Brown Memorial Center and honored former President of Mexico, Lic. Miguel Aleman.
The 2012 Mr. Amigo was Eduardo Yanez, who visited Brownsville in February 2013.
Why Mr. Amigo 2012?
There was a skip of the Mr. Amigo Association's annual event in 1967, when nasty Hurricane Beulah blew into South Texas and reconfigured the geography and many other things. Even though the storm bit Brownsville in September, the immediacy of focusing on rebuilding from the hurricane threw a monkey wrench on the organization's plans for next February. So they skipped a year.
Now, with the 2014 Charros looming ahead, Luigi feels its time to pull a Gregorian sleigh-of-hand and celebrate a 50th Anniversary on his watch, even though it'll only be the 49th year of the organization's celebration.
Many members aren't taking this kindly and we received a report that at least four of the dwindling herd had resigned over the sleight-of-hand by Pope Luigi.
It was bad enough, they said, that the organization had taken a torrent of criticism over the imperious nature of Yesenia Patiño, the Mr. Amigo past president. Her detractors say that she did things on her own and didn't consult with the membership over where their money was being spent, who rated an invitation to private events held by the group, etc.
Well, it looks like Luigi is taking the same road because we hear that he has already approved the printing of 50th Anniversary Mr. Amigo logos to be used for 2014, conveniently skipping over the lost year as Gregory XIII did in 1582. Could it have been the plan when he decided to push forward time and count 50 instead of 49?
We will await the papal bull from Pope Luigi if he deigns to explain.
   

BINGO GOON UNLEASHED ON CATHOLIC BINGO PLAYERS

By Juan Montoya
Wherever playing people congregate to watch a sporting event – even at local bingos – there is always some side action going on.
People bet on just about everything. Will the Astros score a run now that there's two men on base and their cleanup hitter is coming on? Will the Cowboys score with 15 seconds to go and the ball on the five-yard line?
The possibilities, as the man likes to say, are endless. It's not just the big pot on whether the Pokes win or lose the game. It could also be the margin of the win-loss, handicapped points, points by the quarter, etc.

The same goes for church bingos. For years, players among the faithful at St, Joseph Catholic Church and at the Knights of Columbus had side bets (caballitos) on the order the numbers appeared on the big board as a side bet.
No more say the Catholic Bigwigs.
You can play bingo here, but we don't allow any other action going on, they said.
So now parishioners at St. Joseph and at the KofC are under watch by an enforcer named "Felo," who has been appointed to keep an eagle-eye on the players to prevent and side bets while they play bingo.
Why?
Who knows, maybe they feel that they have a monopoly and only their action is permitted there.
Nonetheless, this Felo has taken it upon himself to ask people who are talking together whether they are playing a side bet and if he thinks they are, snitches to the bingo game operator or the priest and even has helped to remove them bodily from the premises. He has even threatened to report them to the police. And don't even think of having a side raffle, as many people do. That's a no-no, too.
This is not sitting well with the bingo-playing public. The majority are note well-to-do. In fact, most of the players are elderly on a limited income who look at these side bets as an opportunity to invest a buck in the hopes that they can take home some money in case they don't win at bingo.
In an email to this blog, they are hoping that the bingo managers reel in Felo so he can stop snooping and harassing people at these games. After all, if they don't attend the bingos, where will the church and KofC get their money?
Will the Catholic Bigwigs listen?

AT SOLIS' ARRAIGNMENT, WHETTING THE SCANDAL APPETITE

By Juan Montoya
By all accounts, the arraignment of accused serial mail-in abuse voter Sonia Leticia Solis was a ho-hum affair.
She and her attorney Rey Cantu pleaded not guilty, the bond was set, and everyone went on their merry way.
But the real story lurks just beneath the miasma of nonchalance and perfunctory attention to due process. The ugly head of entrenched corruption of the electoral process by ambitious politicians paying brazen abusers of the voting rights of the elderly, mentally impaired, illiterate to gain and remain in elective office.
These tendrils of corruption and deceit were not apparent in the pleading of Solis on Wednesday. In fact, they will only become evident as prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Texas Attorney General's Office began to peel back the layers of concealment that has protected the perpetrators of these purchased votes that have made a mockery of the democratic process and have imposed upon South Texas a distorted view of what the democratic process really is.
It isn't a vote for a tray of sweet bread during early voting; it isn't a half-dozen tamales in return for an open and signed mail-in ballot; a vote in return for a promise of a BBQ chicken plate; etc.,
It also isn't a blank mail-in ballot for a rise to the store, a good word to the sheriff for favored treatment for your incarcerated son, a justice of the peace to dismiss a traffic ticket, etc.
It has gotten to be so bad that any candidate that didn't figure the bought mail-in vote in the election equation knew he couldn't win because they would determine the outcome of any election in south Cameron County. As a result, politicians like Ernie Hernandez and his fixer wife Norma felt entitled to a position on the public dole. Anyone who dared to question their entitlement to the public through became a life-and-death enemy to their interests. With their Ponzi pyramid scheme of politiqueras and capos, they felt they could just about crown any candidate they wished.
In their daughter Erin's election, it became personal if anyone expressed even indifferent support for any other candidate.
"You know how mothers are," Ernie told a county worker after Norma hit up on him when she appeared at the Dancy Building seeking financial support.
But it was precisely this desperation to place their daughter in office that made them reveal their hand so blatantly and out in the open.
All this will be peeled back, layer by layer, and will reveal that the pretty peacock politicians indeed have muddy, scum-stained feet and talons with which they keep their stranglehold on the levers of power and patronage. The best is yet to come.

CITY ADMINISTRATION HUNKERS DOWN ON LOONY LENNY

By Juan Montoya
You gotta hand it to Mayor Tony Martinez and City Manager Charlie Cabler.
If anything, they are loyal to those loyal to them.
Never mind that Brownsville Fire Chief Lenny Perez has shown himself to be a vainglorious, petty and back-stabbing bureaucracy survivor. Never mind that current and former firefighters have testified before the city commission that they don't respect or trust him as a leader. Never mind that he has shown more than once
that he is not above stealing the plaudits of valor he never earned.
Lenny, who will do as the administration bids, is their boy.
He has always been the consummate Brownsville bureaucracy survivor. He know just what buttons to push and his unerring sense of tells him just where to put his nose and kiss up to the brass. He's their kind of guy.
But those who know Lenny up close and personal know he's a vindictive, vicious little man who has clawed up his way to the top of the fire ladder stepping on those he can, and discarding the principles that make a fire department a band of brothers. Lenny has none.
We have, in the past, outlined our complaints – as did the firefighters union Tuesday before the city commission – of his foibles and vanity. They are the stuff of squalor and backbiting associated with little people stealing the spotlight from the people who actually perform the deeds.
Thirteen years ago, after the collapse of the Queen Isabella causeway, and when plaudits rained down upon the firefighters and EMS personnel who rescued the victims from the drink below, Perez proudly received recognition in the form of a congressional resolution from then-U.S. Congressman Solomon Ortiz for his personnel and other entities for the gallant rescue of the victims.
Perez accepted the congressional resolution for the firefighters and EMS personnel but failed to mention to the assembled crowd that they hadn't been notified of the impending ceremony and he unilaterally decided to accept it in public on their behalf.
Partly as a result of the media coverage, Perez was elevated from interim chief and selected from among four others to head the BFD.
"He said that if they recognized one or two the rest of the firefighters would be resentful so he decided to receive the recognition himself," said a firefighter who was at the rescue scene. "They claimed they couldn't locate them, when in fact some of them were on duty at the time."
In fact, one of them was given the resolution in his name when he came back to the station after having applied life-saving techniques to an elderly victim of a massive cardiac arrest.
"My supervisor just handed it to me in the hallway and said that Lenny had accepted it on my behalf," said the hero. "He knew exactly where I was because he assigned me there so I wouldn't be able to receive the award."
That same firefigher and paramedic left the BFD and worked in Kosovo and elsewhere and when he returned to Brownsville, Perez refused to rehire him even though he had rehired others who left on bad terms.
This is the same Loony Lenny who never advised the rank and file firefighters and EMS personnel about a ceremony to honor their brothers who fell in the line of duty. But Lenny did make it in time to get a photo taken with Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez and Cheezmeh poster girl Linda Dragustinovis. Ah, the perks of leadership!

You remember Lenny. He's the same Lenny that allowed his underlings to send Station 6 personnel and fire trucks to Vela Intermediate for a Fire Prevention Week presentation only to have a fire break out in an apartment in nearby Coffeeport (now on the stretch renamed Jaime Zapata) that led to the death of a child.

Since the crews were making a presentation at Vela, the fire crew from the station on Old Alice Road had to be sent there, only to arrive too late to prevent the fatality. That resulted in a lawsuit being filed against the city and a settlement paid to the family.
Then there was the occasion where Perez issued an indefinite leave of absence as a disciplinary action to firefighter Marco Longoria after he refused to submit to having a drug test performed on him by an authoritative clinic technician but had it performed at another site by certified personnel that same day.

Lenny took umbrage at Longoria and issued the edict. After costing the city thousands to defend his actions, a panel ruled against the city and Longoria was given his job back and stayed with the department until he retired earlier this year.
Lenny took that to Ric Navarro – the city's Harlingen contract attorney making a mint off mediation – and lost. Navarro smiled all the way to the bank, and still is.
Then there was the case of the pet dog adopted by the firefighters at Station 6 that caused Perez to go ballistic, and he personally went to the station to take custody of the offensive pooch. Even though there was a whole station crew there, Perez singled out members of the union and sought to write them up for the incident.

He lost that one, too.
The latest foible wasn't the one that involved Juan Pablo Casanova, who died after suffering a heart attack at the fire station. Lenny backpedaled from his earlier statements that he would deny his widow compensation and called on his buddy in Austin to cover his back. Everyone else knows what he said and that he only changed his tune when the heat got unbearable. But what would he know about heat? Local firefighters know Perez and the number of fires he has under his belt can be counted on one hand.
But if Cabler and Martinez are willing to overlook those as personal quirks, how about Lenny's recommendation that the city hire a firm to teach a basic paramedic course to 15 firefighters at a cost of $67,000 that turned out not to be certified by the state to teach it? Fifteen firefighters are out of four months of training with nothing to show for it and the city $67,000. The publiccannot count on 15 firefighters to provide their life-saving services.
Just what is the city's threshold on incompetence by this man? Or do they even care as long as he does what he is told?

Y. DE LEON'S HYPOCRITICAL CHEST BEATING NOT CREDIBLE, ATTORNEY MOSBACKER REPRESENTED HER AND THEN SOLIS

By Juan Montoya
An unexpected side story has emerged from the fallout following the sentencing for racketeering of former 404th District Judge Abel Limas and former state representative Jim Solis.
As part of the sentencing for each of these men, federal judge Andrew Hanen also imposed fines upon these two for their role in other cases. For example, Hanen ordered Limas to pay restitution to Metro Aviation of $5.9 million, $23,000 to Patrick Kornegay; and $162,005 to USAIG, an aviation insurance company."
He also sentenced him to pay former Cameron County DA Yolanda De Leon $39,207, $38,920 to attorney Peter Zavaletta; and $40,000 to Freedom Communication, the former owners of The Brownsville Herald.
Likewise, at Solis' sentencing, Hanen ordered him to make restitution of approximately $40,000 each to Yolanda De Leon, Peter Zavaletta, and Freedom Communication, former owners of the Brownsville Herald and Valley Morning Star. 
If you'll remember,  De Leon, a former Cameron County District Attorney, was indicted after information was allegedly released by De Leon before the March 2008 primary election to district attorney candidate Peter
Zavaletta relating to the DA’s handling of formal complaints of sexual and other abuse of children. Then-District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos claimed that the information was confidential.
That information was used in political advertisements that appeared in newspapers, including The Brownsville Herald and the Valley Morning Star.
The information belonged to Cameron County’s Children’s Advocacy Center and was not for publication, Villalobos had charged. Zavaletta was Villaobos' opponent in the election.
The DA cited the state’s Family Code on misuse of official information. The code states that “the files, reports, records, communications, and working paper used or developed in providing services under this chapter are confidential and not subject to public release.”
De Leon served on the board of the advocacy center. She resigned from her position after the charges were filed.
Zavaletta was to be indicted also, but his name was removed because he agreed to be a witness in the case. He also entered a pre-trial diversion agreement with the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office in July 2008.
(Coincidentally, [or was it?], the attorney pictured with De Leon in the photo above is none other than Mervyn Mosbacker, the same attorney who defended Solis in the racketeering trial. Now, how is it that Mosbacker can defend De Leon , defend Solis, and then the federal judge awards his former client $80,000 from Limas and Solis [his current client])?
De Leon was initially charged with 10 counts of tampering with governmental records and two counts of aggravated perjury in July of 2008 for her role in the release of confidential information regarding alleged child abuse defendants.
Villalobos agreed to dismiss the charges just two days before the trial was to begin agreeing with her defense attorney that dropping the charges would be a a “just resolution” to the cases.
Villalobos charged that she passed protected records to challenger Zavaletta which were later used in an political advertisement in the Freedom Newspapers' Brownsville Herald and the Valley Morning Star.

As a result, four of the persons named in the advertisement – Juan Antonio Coronado, Francisco Solis Ramirez, Roberto Rivera II, and Ruben Contreras – sued De Leon, Zavaletta, the Brownsville Herald and the Valley Morning Star.

At the time that the records were released De Leon was on the board of directors of Monica’s House, a child abuse advocacy organization.

By entering into the agreement on April 9, 2010, De Leon avoided prosecution and the substantial risk of a conviction at trial before 404th Judicial District Court Judge Elia Cornejo. It was never revealed what the details of that agreement were, except for a vague statement issued by her where she claimed that the charges could be disputed as "a genuine issue of fact."
In a contradictory two-page statement after her agreement with Villallobos, she acknowledged that reports of child abuse are confidential and that the records are created and used to prosecute defendants, but also stated there is “a genuine issue of fact as to whether these documents constitute such records.”

After a series of legal twists and turns which included charges that Limas had issued favorable rulings to the plaintiffs in exchange for cash, a civil case against De Leon and her co-defendants continued through the legal process. Just about three months ago, word got out that De Leon, through her insurance coverage, had reached a hefty settlement in the case with the four defendants.
No details of that agreement have been made available, either, except for rumors that it totaled in the $100,000s.Yet, if one was to listen to her speak about the way Limas managed his court, one would think that she herself was against reproach.

"His court was a sham," De Leon said.

"Judge Limas had been denying victims justice before then," she said, noting that many decisions took place in closed chambers.
Judge Hanen asked De Leon if Limas encouraged corruption? "They encouraged graft," she answered.
The twists and turns of the local legal system sometimes often seem byzantine, with the goal of equal justice just a tantalizing reach away.
In this case, De Leon has managed to conveniently overlook the fact that she may have been a part of a legal system that adhered to the letter, and not the spirit, of the law. In fact, the federal government – in ordering both awards – may be guilty of the same error.

SOFIA, COMMISSIONERS VOTE JUDGES INCREASE, HAVE JAIL MAGISTRATES IN THEIR SIGHTS

By Juan Montoya
District Judges (and county-courts-at-law judges by edict) got their legislatively mandated raises by a 3-0-1 vote of the Cameron County Commissioner's court.
Commissioners Sofia Benavides (Pct. 1), Ernie Hernandez (Pct. 2) and David Garza (Pct. 3) voted to approve the raises that will see the judge's salary increase to $140,000 with the county supplement rising and additional $3,000 to $15,000.

Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos had to leave early before vote was taken and did cast his vote. Commissioner Dan Sanchez abstained from the vote.
By state law, the three county-courts-at-law judges will see their salaries increase to within $1,000 of the district judges' salary of $140,000, or $139,000.
It will be the first time since 2005 that the district and county-court-at-law judges have received a raise.
At first Cascos had said that the legislation did not specifically mandate that the county supplement be raised to the $18,000 cap, and indicated he might suggest that the money necessary to bring the county court-at-law salaries up to the required $1,000 less than the district judges might be taken from the county supplement. However, the district judges – and chief district judge Rolando Olvera, in particular – wrote the commissioners court and vigorously told them that interpreting the new laws passed by the state legislators would go against the obvious legislative intent.
The commissioners also discussed the performance (and compensation) of the two jail magistrates at the Rucker-Carrizales corrections unit. Reports that a cursory review of the time they spent at their job through their punching of the clock there indicated that in a five month period, their combined time on the bench approached some 83 hours. A breakdown of their compensation for that time indicated it amounted to some $429 per hour. The costs did not include the court administrator's $32,000 salary or part-time clerk's.
The court decided to have a district judge, a commissioner and administrator hold a workshop to determine the best way to utilize the magistrates and control their expenses.

WILL IT BE STANDING-ROOM ONLY FOR SOLIS ARRAIGNMENT?

By Juan Montoya 
Th arraignment of Sonia Leticia Solis, the 54-year-old woman accused of voting five times in the 2012 runoff election, will be held Wednesday at 1:30 before U.S.Magistrate Ronald G. Morgan in Courtroom 2 at the federal courthouse on Harrison Street in Brownsville.
The court has appointed local attorney Rey Cantu as her public defender. Cantu is a former Cameron County DA and well acquainted with vote-harvesting in the southeast part of the county.
According to the federal government, Solis is accused of filling and mailing five mail-in ballots from a one-bedroom apartment on Shidler Drive where the five disabled voters allegedly lived.
She faces five year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine if convicted of the offense.
There has been much speculation about her political alliances, some going as far as suggesting that the hiring of one of her relatives by a local law enforcement elected official was as a result of her casting the allegedly illegal mail-in ballots on behalf of the five voters. That remains, however, pure speculation.
However, there are other issues behind the Solis indictment that will come out during the depositions and trial if it gets that far. What is known, for example, is that there are serious questions about the time sequence of the filing for the the applications for the mail-in ballots and even more questions surrounding the identity of the person filling out the applications and mailing in the ballot.
And, apparently, these are not the only mail-in ballots during that election where her name appeared.
She has been linked, variously, to Constable Abelardo Gomez, DA candidate Carlos Masso and J.P. Erin Hernandez. All were running as a ticket and some of their votes could have overlapped onto the others'.
This does not mean that the candidates condoned the actions of these political operatives, but let's face it, these people wouldn't take these chances for mere political loyalty.
Solis herself has been around the block a time or two. Her record lists a conviction for possession of marijuana in 2005 and she is awaiting trial for giving a false statement to a police officer in County-court-at-law.
The issue becomes curiouser and curiouser because of the political alliances that existed during the last runoff election.
When former candidate for city commissioner Zeke Silva reported to police that his father was involuntarily being led out of his adult day care center to vote in a van operated by politiqueros aligned with Norma Hernandez, he retrieved a filled-out sample ballot that each of the elderly day-care clients who was being herded into the vans were given.
He gave police a copy of the ballot which the Hernandez minions were handing out and showed them that they had filled in the ovals for Gomez, Erin Hernandez. and Carlos Masso.
If these candidates were working as a ticket, one would expect that the mail-in votes that were harvested during that run-off election would also overlap among all three. Only later, almost at the end of the voting cycle, Denise Blanchard, a Democratic congressional candidate, was added to the slate by the vote-harvesting machine. However, since the offenses occurred when a federal rep was being elected, this opened the door for the government to step in.
We hope that this case doesn't go the way of the Texas Attorney General's Office prosecution of Margarita Ozuna where the state accepted a no-contest plea and the defendant received a fine and a one-year probated sentence. Because of the plea, local residents were denied knowledge of the details surrounding her acquisition of not just one vote, but the scores of votes which she is reported to control.
Tuesday will only see Solis' arraignment. What follows and what chips may fall as she goes through the trial process may open a window into those who have manipulated the voted for decades.


 

FOR RUBINSTEIN, THE TOP POST AT TEXAS WATER BOARD

By Juan Montoya

In the wake of the shakeup of the Texas Water Development Board by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Brownsville got a chairman and lost a member of this agency Critical to agriculture and the fast-developing Rio Grande Valley.

Brownsville TWDB Member Billy Bradford was one casualty of the shakeup while former Brownsville City Manager Carlos Rubinstein was appointed chairman of the three-member board. Unlike the former members of the board, Rubinstein, Bech Bruun, and Mary Ann Williamson will get a $150,000 salary in contrast to the former members who served on a voluntary basis.

We understand that Bradford was miffed at the sudden changes imposed by Perry and hinted to friends that something other than increased efficiency and streamlining the agency was at work. But being a circumspect sort, he declined to enumerate his concerns.

For Rubinstein, it's been a long heady ride to the top of the water chain ever since he left the lower end of the Rio Grande watershed. Rubinstein's rise was accelerated by the passage of the board of House Bill 4 by the 83rd Legislature tat establishes the new full-time, three-member board effective Sept. 1, 2013. Rubinstein will oversee the new board to "provide leadership, planning, and financial and technical assistance for the responsible development of water for Texas."
It wasn't that long ago that Rubinstein was involved in the delicious local scandals only our local pols can contrive. Take, for example, when he was city manager and he tangled with resident racist Bud Richards, then a commissioner, who was after him to punish some local cops for some imagined slight.
The year was 1998.
If you think politics is hot in the City of Brownsville now, you should have been in town that torrid summer.

At the time a commissioner named Bud Richards was at odds with the City of Brownsville police union and in a conversation with then-city manager Carlos Rubinstein, complained the union was acting like "the Gestapo" and suggested he "treat them like Hitler would" in his dealing with them.

Richards knew Rubinstein was Jewish and he referred to him in a letter as "a Jew boy" and other choice ethnic slurs.
Rubinstein made the contents of the letter available and also disclosed the substance of a March 30, 1998, phone conversation where similar sentiments were made by Richards to the other city commissioners. After Richards apologized to Rubinstein for his remarks, Rubinstein withdrew the letter, but alas, city gremlins had already distributed the letter far and wide.
The resulting controversy gained the attention of the Texas and U.S. media and Brownsville was again catapulted into the national limelight as a result.

The situation was rendered into an eye-opening caricature by Crossroads Weekly newspaper by artist/contributor Joaquin Ribera. It showed Rubinstein defending the police who are depicted wearing concentration-camp garb standing behind a barbed-wire pen.

McNair and Hernandez are wearing Nazi-like uniforms and stand timidly behind Richards, who is seen giving the Nazi salute.
A local group headed by Bill Hudson (yeah, our Paseo de la Resaca Bill) launched a recall movement that ended going nowhere and Richards ended his term.

McNair went back to being a local businessman. Hernandez resurfaced and got elected to another public office, and Rubinstein was appointed to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Richards went back to whatever hole he came from and disappeared from public view. In his case, good riddance.

Before his appointment to the Water Development Board, Rubinstein was a commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), a position he has held since his appointment in August 2009. He is a member of the Texas Environmental Flows Advisory Group and is the Texas representative to the Western States Water Council, the Border Governors Conference Sustainable Development worktable, the Environmental Council of the States, the Good Neighbor Environmental Board, an independent federal advisory committee that assists the president and Congress on environmental infrastructure needs along the U.S. border with Mexico, and the Governmental Advisory Committee, which advises the EPA Administrator on environmental concerns regarding NAFTA, the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, and the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. Prior to his appointment, Rubinstein served as deputy executive director of TCEQ and as Rio Grande Watermaster. He is also the past Texas representative to the Border Governors Conference Water worktable and a former city manager for the City of Brownsville. Rubinstein received a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Pan American University.
Our congratulations to him.

URESTI: YOUR COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE AT WORK

By Juan Montoya
For months the chain-link fence on the south end of the parking lot of the Central Public Library was so overgrown with bushes that cars could not help but push against their branches to stay in the parking space and not butt out into the drive.
Patrons would park and forget about it until they got back out and complained to each other about the overgrowth.
Step in former city commission candidate Robert Uresti who can be feisty, indignant, and sarcastic to the point of almost being a smartass.
Well, Uresti had had enough of the overgrowth and having to park right against the vegetation. He manages a car wash so there might have been a smattering of indignance at having his freshly-detailed ride scratched and its finish tarnished by the overhang into the parking spaces.
So he marched off to talk to library staff and ended up talking to an assistant to the director who sprang into action and had the lawn and palm service guys come in and clear out the offending shrubbery.
Uresti says he is not entirely satisfied with the job but concedes that at least it's better than before. We ran into him the other day and he says that he has enrolled at the new leaner and meaner Texas Southmost College and that he still has some veterans benefits to pay for it. He started to tell us about some of the hurdles he had to go through and now warns that TSC students who use the Ebooks to read their assignments run the danger of having their computer habits tracked by the NSA equivalent out at TSC. We also understand that he has made his concerns known at the highest levels of the community college.
We would have loved to hear more of his take on the subject but we had a few chores to do. Maybe we can get more on the TSC student spying scandal at a late date.    

WE STAND CORRECTED: IT'S WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT

By Juan Montoya
If you are one of our three readers you might remember the post of a few days ago where we estimated that the taxpayers of Cameron County were paying its two magistrates about $200 per hour based on their punching in and out of the clock at the Rucker-Carrizales Corrections Unit in Olmito.
We asked how you would like to have a gig where in five months you work less than a 40 hour week and get paid $8,332 for it?
Nice work if you can get it, uh?
Or how about if you really put your nose to the grindstone and tally up 46 hours for the same period for the same amount of pay ($8,300)?
If you paid those two people $16,664 for the 83 hours they actually work, you'd be paying them about $200 an hour.

The hell with that, you say?
Well, according to records at the Rucker-Carrizales unit of the Cameron County corrections department, those are the hours punched in by our two magistrates at the calaboose from April to August. Their salaries are set at $25,000 a year.
RED FLAG!
We have been told that in our haste we scribbled down the wrong numbers. It's not $25,000 a year each that the two magistrates are making, but rather the princely sum of $42,500 a piece for a grand total of  $85,000 a year for both. Divide that by 12 months and you get $7,083 a month, Multiply that by five months and you get. $35,415. Divide $35,415 by the 83 hours they actually clocked in those five months (April thru August), and instead of about $200 per hour, it's more like $426 per hour.
And that's not all. Not only do these two magistrates (Adolfo E. Cordova and Alfredo Padilla) punch in as little as seven minutes a day (Padilla, April 13) but they also apparently worked out a system where both of them don't have to be there at the same time. On a day when Padilla shows up to do the heavy lifting, Cordova didn't show. Vice versa, when Cordova showed up, Padilla didn't. Pretty sweet, uh?
And, in order to handle the overwhelming paper work, court administrator Dora A. Guzman (at $32,000) has the assistance of a part-time clerk to keep her company.
And even though their office website lists their office hours as Monday thru Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.,and Saturday and Sunday 8:00 am to 1:00 pm, it is a rare day when the magistrates and administrative assistants are there for even one hour on any given day.
Jail administrators were wary of how they spent their time and (being cops at heart) set up a surveillance on the court administrator and part-time clerk Venessa Juarez to see just what it was that they did on county time and found that the girls dis just about everything that a person does when they are not on the public dime.You know, go to the store, take a walk in the mall, visit mom and dad, etc.
Well, we all know it's budget time at Cameron County and that usually means that cuts are made here and there. After being made aware of the sweet deal these two legal eagles have been handed by the county, the district judges at Tuesday's meeting are being let know in no uncertain terms that this situation cannot continue, despite their protests that having two magistrates out there is saving the county money.
Not all the commissioners knew this was happening so hopefully there will be enough votes (all it takes is three, remember?) to make the change so that county taxpayers can get some relief from this legal gravy train. Now, if the county judges get their raises, will they also go along with correcting this obvious abuse of the taxpayers of the county?

TIME FOR CITY TO SAY: NO MORE SOUP FOR YOU, TONY!

By Juan Montoya
There are two items on Tuesday's City of Brownsville commission agenda that should make local taxpayers take notice.
The first one is: 5. FIRST Public Hearing to discuss the 2013 Ad Valorem Tax Rate (Fiscal Year 2014) of $.700613 per $100 valuation, which is 2.44 percent above the effective tax rate of $.683932 per $100 valuation. (Pete Gonzalez – Deputy City Manager)
What this basically says is that the Cameron County Appraisal District property valuations have increased to the point where even keeping the same tax rate the city will gain about 2.44 percent, a rate that can be passed without having to go to the voters for a tax increase or trigger a "rollback." It is, in effect, a tax increase without calling it one.
The next item is: 6. Public Hearing to discuss the City’s proposed Fiscal Year 2014 Budget. (Pete Gonzalez – Deputy City Manager)
In this year's budget, there are the usual items that have continually dragged the finances of the city: the debt service on $13 million of certificates of obligation that Mayor Tony Martinez and a pliant city commission approved to speculate heavily on downtown real estate, the "donation of 48 acres of city-owned land and buildings to the University of Texas System, the annual $25,000 to IBC President Fred Rusteberg's United Brownsville, and all the other fluff and pet projects of the individual commissioners.
Someone suggested that perhaps Martinez could donate the "profit" made from his privately-attended State of the City, restrict the in-kind donations to Mr. Amigo Association for their week-long parranda every Charro Days, reassess the investment for the "Wow" PR blitz by the Brownsville Conventions  and Visitors Bureau, or sell the subsidized golf course instead of raising taxes.
Or perhaps we can put a stop to the spending of administrative monies just below the $35,000 limit before it has to go through the purchasing process. You know, the ones Martinez used to pay consultant upon consultant to enlighten us to what Brownsville cum Austin could be one fine day.
Maybe it's time to tell the freebie boys as did the Soup Nazi: "No Job For You, Next!"

SOFIE VS CARLOS: SHOWDOWN OVER JUDGES' SALARIES LOOMING

By Juan Montoya
There is a showdown in the making in the commissioners' court over the Texas Legislative mandated hike of judge's salaries coming up on Tuesday meeting at the Dancy Building.
One one side will be the commissioners who think that the county should pass the increases for the judges passed by the legislature and increase the $15,000 county supplement by $3,000 to reach the $18,000 cap approved by the legislature.
The previous $125,000 a year salary and the $15,000 cap was passed by the legislature in 2005 and local judges believe that the salary hike is long overdue.
The new legislation mandates raises to $140,000 for the district judges and indirectly raises the county-court-at-law salaries as well.
On the other side, Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos has said that despite the obvious legislative intent, commissioners should decrease the county supplement in the name of fiscal frugality between $3,000 to $4,500. Cascos cites the other legislation that dictates that county-court-at- law judges must be paid within $1,000 as district judges, necessitating that the commissioners fork out some $45,000 to meet that mandate.
Championing the proposal to award the legislatively-mandated increases is Precinct 1 commissioner Sofie Benavides and Pct. 4 commissioner Dan Sanchez. Although Sanchez's motives for his advocacy  – he is an attorney who practices before the judges in question – may be an issue, it is nonetheless clear that the district judges and county-court-at-law may prevail with the court and get the votes to award the increases.
445th District Judge Rolando Olvera – writing August 9 from Houston where he is receiving medical treatment – asks the court to award the increases and says that cutting the supplement instead of increasing it be $3,000 would fly in the face of legislative intent.
"-Texas has the lowest paid judiciary of all the major urban states. The last Texas judicial pay raise and county supplement increase was in 2005. The judiciary has taken no part in any Cameron County raise granted to other county employees since 2005. The manner in which judicial raises are chronologically delayed over years in Texas forces the Texas judiciary to request all available funds when approved.
-The TX Legislature factors in county supplements as an integral part of establishing judicial salaries. The 2013 TX Legislature approved a 12 percent judicial raise and $3,000 county judicial supplement, to become effective Sept. 1, 2013.
The Senate had proposed a 21 percent increase, with the House proposing 10 percent; the compromised result was a 12 percent judicial raise, along with a $3,000 county supplement factored into the salary equation. The idea that a county would attempt to cut the 2005 county supplement violates the legislative intent of the 2013 judicial raise; after eight years, the state did not intend for counties to unilaterally manufacture relative 2005 pay rates."
Olvera then goes on to point out the actions by the judges to save the county money in then form of orders that ease jail overcrowding, and limiting court-appointed attorneys fees. He writes:
"Though not required to do so, but in the spirit of cooperation with the county, our judiciary actively pursues countless steps to assist the Cameron County budget, including but not limited to the following examples: assisting county with jail overcrowding through numerous forms of judicial orders, allowing the existence and expansion of duties of the magistrates to assist in avoiding or reducing inmate jail time, monitoring and even cutting court appointed attorney fees to be paid by the county."
And tacitly acknowledging that each of the judges has a constituency that put elected them to office, he writes the commissioners that the county has a $380,000 budget surplus to play with and states that:
"The Cameron County Judiciary has a long standing history and relationship of professionalism and cooperation with the Cameron County Commissioners' Court. The proposed cut of the 2005 judicial county supplement would be a severe blow to said relationship and counterproductive. Furthermore, it is possible that any proposed cut of a judicial supplement in place since 2005 may not be legal. Regardless, given the general strength of the upcoming county budget, there is no valid basis for such a drastic option...A vote in favor of the 2013 judicial county supplement is a vote in support of our local judiciary."
It is expected that at least another of the commissioners – Pct. 2 Ernie Hernandez or David Garza – will join Dan and Sofie to award what Olvera calls "long overdue" increases in the salary and county supplement. The bout is set for Tuesday in commissioners court.

VALLEY TO GET SCREWED BY TDOT'S "TURNBACK"

By Texas Municipal League
As reported in last week’s Legislative Update, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has sent a letter to cities with a population of more than 50,000 – as well as select smaller cities adjoining or surrounded by those larger cities– informing them that TxDOT intends to consider transferring all maintenance of certain non-controlled-access state highways to the cities in which they are located. TxDOT has dubbed the proposal “turnback.”
News agencies around the state have been reporting on the proposal. The League issued a press release on the issue, and since that time dozens of newspapers and television stations have picked up the story.
The League filed an open records request for and received maps from TxDOT identifying the cities and roads proposed for turnback. The yearly maintenance bill for these roads is estimated at $165 million statewide. 

From TML’s legal perspective, it appears that TxDOT probably can’t unilaterally turn over title of state-owned roads to cities, though TxDOT may disagree. Even without “turnover,” however, TxDOT might simply reduce or end state maintenance funding for those roads, or attempt to renegotiate a city’s “municipal maintenance agreement” to require exclusive city maintenance. (City attorneys or others interested in the League’s legal analysis of the issue can contact Scott Houston, the League’s General Counsel, at  shouston@tml.org.)
Many unanswered questions and issues are yet to be addressed by TxDOT. Chief among municipal concerns is simply the principal of fairness: City residents pay the lion’s share of the state’s gas tax, and expect that a proportionate amount of that money will be spent for their benefit. The turnback proposal would appear to take their money and spend it elsewhere.
The turnback proposal will be discussed by the Texas Transportation Commission at its August 29th meeting. League representatives will participate in that meeting and submit comments. Additionally, several mayors – including TML President John Monaco of Mesquite– in the affected cities have expressed concerns and may speak at the meeting.
Considering that cities contribute millions in cash, right-of-way donations, and in-kind services to state highway construction, any city official with concerns about the TxDOT proposal should plan to attend the meeting and testify against the proposal or submit written comments. (For a good letter addressing the topic, see Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price’s open letter to fellow mayors regarding the proposal.)
The hearing will take place on August 29, 2013, beginning at 9:00 a.m. The location is 125 East 11thStreet in Austin.The agenda is available at: http://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/administration/commission/2013-meetings.html.

Written comments may be sent to:
Mr. Phil Wilson
Executive Director
Texas Department of Transportation
125 East 11th Street
Austin, TX 78701

UNITED BROWNSVILLE WORMING ITS WAY IN THE REGION; RUSTEBERG FORGES LINK WITH SERGIO ARGUELLES IN MATA

By Juan Montoya

In an ambitious move to further control the political direction of the region, United Brownsville operatives that included Mayor Tony Martinez, IBC President Fred Rusteberg, congressman Filemon Vlea, and United Brownsville and Uni-Trade representative Carlos Marin held a meeting in a private home in Brownsville with governmental representatives from northern Mexico.

Among those meeting with Martinez, Vela, Rusteberg andf Marin, among others, Leticia Salazar, mayor-elect of Matamoros, Carlos Cantú-Rosas, mayor-elect of Nuevo Laredo, Carlos García, Tamaulipas federal representative, Belén Rosales, congresswoman-elect, Ivett Bermea, alternate mayor-elect of Matamoros, Rubén Bazán, mayor alternate-elect of  Nuevo Laredo, Enrique Rivas, state congressman-elect of Nuevo Laredo, and Luis Biasi, alderman-elect of Matamoros.

The presence of these Mexican officials at a private home discussing the issues that affect both sides of the border should give us room to pause. We know that United Brownsville is not a governing entity and that its funding is provided by at least eight "members" who pay $25,000 in public funds for it to operate.

Rsuteberg, one of three co-chairs of United Brownsville, has just gone before the Brownsville Independent School District to help United Brownsville CEO Mike Gonzalez make a pitch for the bucks. Accompanying them was Port of Brownsville Director Eddie Campirano.

According to a report in a Mexican daily, the meeting was "without precedence where agreements were developed in the search for mutual benefits and synergy based on cooperation, economic development, and principally to stretch the ties and relationship between the regions that make up the border between Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo and their sister cities across the Rio Grande."
Martinez, who has never attended public functions with his counterparts in Matamoros, probably preferred to stay safely on the U.S. side.
When people start throwing around Marin buzzwords like "building synergies," "stretch the bonds," etc., watch your wallet.

Martinez, we assume, was acting on behalf of the city of Brownsville, although there was no official public notice that he would conduct city business. We know what Rusteberg and Marin are after, they make no bones about doing business for themselves. But what Vela was doing representing the U.S. Congress at the affair is more cloudy.

Attending with Martínez, mayor of Brownsville, was Raúl G. Salinas, Mayor of Laredo, Laredo city manager Carlos Villarreal, Vela, U.S. Congressman, Richard Peña Raymond, Texas state representative, Rustenberg, I.B.C President-United Brownsville, Gerardo González, I.B.C., Marín, United Brownsville y Eduardo Garza, of an outfit called Uni-Trade, a new vehicle formed specially for the occasion, we're sure. 

In the florid style of the Mexican press release, it was reported that the themes that pervaded the private meeting "was to stretch the bonds by each of the representatives within their jurisdictions, and responsibly, form common objectives that will last for the duration of their terms with the ends of establishing a significant precedence in the generation of accords that will benefit the regions on both sides of the Rio Grande..."

Those attending the meeting agreed to meet on a monthly basis – next time in both Laredos – in order to give the relationship continuity and continue building the movement.

The reporter (or press release) states that there was enthusiasm about "the unity and building of synergies" which is just what residents of both sides of the border have wanted for many years."
This "synergy" apparently wouldn't be available without the participation of Imagina Matamoros honcho Sergio Arguelles. You know Arguelles. He has been linked in various media accounts to former Tamaulipas governor (and Matamoros mayor before that). Even as Yarrington denies the accusations he profited from drug runners while in office and purchased numerous properties held by straw "prestanombres," at least two of them – in at SPI and another in McAllen – were auctioned as forfeitures by the U.S. Government.
Now Arguelles, who purchased a large chunk of Ranco Viejo is the anchor for United Brownsville on the Mexican side of the river. Go figure.

Will the entities that pay United Brownsville have a say so in what direction this "building of synergies" will require from each of them? Will Rusteberg's shadow government now operate on both sides of the border without having to account to anyone?

And why was the meeting not held at a public building? The city has just spent $500,000 to purchase the Cueto building. That wasn't good enough? Or was it too public? Were any city commissioners told about this meeting? Just what was discussed on our behalf?

We're sure that the Mexican counterparts do not know that they were not dealing with an elected body, but rather a gab-bag of manipulators and money men interested in promoting their own interest who have been allowed a free hand from docile city commissioners and members of the other boards that put up the ante to fund their schemes.
Those giving entities are the City of Brownsville, the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, the Brownsville Navigation District, The University of Texas at Brownsville, Texas Southmost College, the BISD, and the Brownsville Public Utilities Board.
Only Cameron County has refused to fork over the $25,000 "partnership" fees to this bunch.

FOR "DO NOTHING" GARCIA, THE UNKINDEST $75,000 CUT

By Juan Montoya
Apparently, the heat got to be too much for the board of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority and they passed their 2013-2014 budget minus a $75,000 salary supplement paid to assistant Cameron County administrator David Garcia.
But not to worry that poor Garcia won;t be able to draw on that beer money anymore, he still has a few places where he can collect his cash in the form of five departments in the county.
Garcia, being a man of many talents, can still draw a pretty penny from other departments in the county. He, of a charmed existence, has this (give or take a couple of bucks) at his disposal:

Planning and Inspection (asst.): $56,089

Veterans Bridge (Assistant): $16,222

Los Indios Bridge (Asst.): $16,222

Gateway Bridge (Asst.): $17,121

Total (County) $105,654

Now, losing a $75,000 piece of cash is not a nice thing, we're sure. But the question now is: What is he going to do now that he has to put in his time at doing something?  He won;t need to travel anymore as he did for the CCRMA. He might even have to (gasp) work for a change. We understand Arnold Flores, a former legislative assistant to the senator, has the legislative angle covered. Maybe we can build another bridge to give the man something to do. On the other hand, maybe he can continue doing what he does best: nothing.
Garcia's bloated salary has apparently irked some elected officials and judges who say that if the county can pay someone that kind of dough, why not them. A case in point is Sheriff Omar Lucio, who oversees some 500 employees and receives much less than Garcia or his boss Pete Sepulveda.
Lucio and some of the judges will go before the salary grievance committee to make their case for additional compensation. County commissioners, who have been aware of the double dipping by Garcia, Sepulveda and at least three other county employees with the CCRMA will be hard pressed to explain why they have been paying Garcia what to many seems exorbitant amounts of money while others – like Lucio with much more responsibilities – is not.
"The sheriff almost went through the roof when he found out what Garcia was getting paid," said a county staffer. "Even without the $75,000 from the CCRMA, he's getting paid more than all the commissioners, the county judge, and Lucio. That's been carrying on from administration to administration and no one has done anything about it. It could be that the time has come."

MAGISTRATES MAKING A MINT OFF A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE

By Juan Montoya
How would you like a gig where in five months you work less than a 40 hour week and get paid $8,332 for it?
Nice work if you can get it, uh?
Or how about if you really put your nose to the grindstone and tally up 46 hours for the same amount of pay ($8,300).
If you paid those two people $16,664 for the 83 hours they actually work, you'd be paying them about $200 an hour.

The hell with that, you say?
Well, according to records at the Rucker-Carrizales unit of the Cameron County corrections department, those are the hours punched in by our two magistrates at the calaboose from April to August. Their salaries are set at $25,000 a year.
And that's not all. Not only do these two magistrates (Adolfo E. Cordova and Alfredo Padilla) punch in as little as seven minutes a day (Padilla, April 13) but they also have clerical and administrative assistants to help them bear their heavy load. And even though their office website lists their office hours as Monday thru Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.,and Saturday and Sunday 8:00 am to 1:00 pm, it is a rare day when the magistrates are there for even one hour on any given day.
Jail administrators were wary of how they spent their time and (being cops at heart) set up a surveillance on court administrator Dora A. Guzman, and part-time clerk Venessa Juarez to see just what it was that they did on county time and found that the girls dis just about everything that a person does when they are not on the public dime.You know, go to the store, take a walk in the mall, visit mom and dad, etc.
Well, we all know it's budget time at Cameron Couonty and that usually means that cuts are made here and there. After being made aware of the sweet deal these two legal eagles have been handed by the county, the move is on to place the new justice of the peace position at Carrizales to lighten the load on the taxpayer. Not all the commissioners knew this was happening so hopefully there will be enough votes (all it takes is three, remember?) to make the change so that county taxpayers can get some relief from this legal gravy train.

FIREFIGHTERS: UNANIMOUS VOTE OF NON-CONFIDENCE AGAINST CHIEF

By Jim Barton
www.meanmisterbrownsville.blogspot.com 

The Only Reason the City Commission Would Consider Terminating Fire Chief Lenny Perez~MONEY!

An adversarial relationship between Brownsville firefighters and paramedics and Fire Chief Lenny Perez will not matter to the city.  Just as in the corporate world, government entities care little if you don't like your boss.  Even the recent, unfortunate handling of the death benefits seemingly due the family of Juan Pablo Casanova, who suffered a massive heart attack while working at Brownsville Fire Station #2,later dying in a Houston hospital, will not give the mayor or city commission pause.  Even if the city sticks to its position that Casanova does not qualify as a fallen firefighter, it only stands to save a $10,000 stipend to the deceased's family.  It does jeopardize the $250,000 authorized by the State of Texas to firefighters dying in the line of duty and a matching $250,000 from the federal government, but Lenny Perez may simply say his hands are tied.(In cynical contrast, Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army Major charged with killing 13 and injuring 32 in a Fort Hood shooting spree, has so far received $278,000 salary plus health and educational benefits since his arrest.)

Fire Chief Lenny Perez

While we could reiterate the juvenile, petty, vindictive way Chief Perez has dealt with his subordinates, none of that really matters to city officials.  Far more critical to the city's interests is the simple fact that the tandem of Fire Chief Lenny Perez and City Manager Charlie Cabler is dramatically and steadily sabotaging the city's financial future.  No, we're not referring to Cabler and Perez's respective salaries of $168,810 and $98,801 nor Perez' alleged permission of the selling of so-called "sick days" on his watch.  


Simply put, Cabler and Perez are foolishly racking up thousands of dollars in legal fees by refusing to negotiate on a managerial level grievances and benefits requests, but routinely sending every case into expensive arbitration.  While this greatly benefits labor Attorney Ricardo Navarro, it makes zero sense for the city.  Perez and Cabler stand as the last line of defense for the city against such unnecessary legal fees, but they are simply too inept or incompetent to do their respective jobs.  Mean Mister Brownsvillemade this observation in a March 21, 2013 article:

"Ricardo Navarro, a lawyer specializing in labor arbitration continues to rake in huge fees from the City of Brownsville working unwinnable arbitration cases involving city paramedics and firefighters.  Navarro is batting a bush league .092, losing 24 out of the last 26 cases.  Shed no tears for Navarro who gets paid whether he succeeds or fails.  Incredibly, dumbass city officials consult Navarro before pursuing arbitration.  The last two tiers of appeal before going to arbitration are Fire Chief Lenny Perez and City Manager Charlie Cabler.  Neither has a lick of common sense and foolishly choose time and again to waste taxpayer dollars fighting obviously unwinnable arbitration cases." 

Why would the mayor and city commission stand for such an obvious waste of city funds?  Perhaps, the table is set by an innocuously named group, the Texas Municipal League, a group so named to give the impression that it is a coalition of Texas cities, when in fact it represents insurance interests.  Annually, the TML offers "free" training seminars to city commissioners in the state.  Here is our observation from the March 21, 2013 article:

"It's a beautiful scam, though.  The Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool(TML-IRP) sends the city commissioners to a training session that emphasizes holding down firefighter, police and paramedic labor costs.  The training emphasizes consulting labor attorneys at every juncture, setting the commission up to be played by lawyers like Navarro.  The training is subtly anti-union.  We do not know if the administrative group backs commissioners financially, but the "education" is obvious."

So, city officials are given the impression that by fighting every claim, they are holding down costs, when, in many cases, the exact opposite is true.  Settling cases at the managerial level, without expensive arbitration, in over 90% of recent cases, would have been by far the least expensive option.  The fact that Chief Perez and City Manager Charlie Cabler continue to expose the city to  the extraordinary legal fees associated with unnecessary, foolish arbitration cases, is the real nuts-and-bolts reason both men should be relieved of their duties.

LENNY SHIFTS GEARS; SAYS CASANOVA DIED IN LINE OF DUTY

(Ed.'s Note: After reports surfaced that Fire Department Chief Lenny Perez was challenging the finding that deceased fire fighter Juan Pablo Casanova had died in the line of duty and that his widow would not be eligible to receive widow's benefits, Perez apparently felt the heat and had a sudden change of heart. He mailed this to all firefighters.) 

From: Leonardo Perez
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 2:09 PM
To: Fire Dept
Subject: Juan Casanova
We have been hearing rumors that Juan Casanova’s passing was not reported as a Line of Duty Death. On Sunday after his death, I contact Chris Conneally with The State Fire Marshals Office at 512-961-2999 to report his death as a Line of Duty Death and am awaiting further instructions from his Office. The department will be working on filling out the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit application for his family… Please contact my office if any clarifications on issues are needed. Thank You…..…....Chief

Leonardo L. Perez
Fire Chief
Brownsville Fire Department
1150 East Adams Street
Brownsville, Texas 78520
956-546-3195
956-546-8539 (fax)