When Baltazar Salazar came to the Brownsville Independent School District board podium to make his pitch for the lucrative legal gig, he stressed the fact that he was a straight shooter who would "stab you in the front" in contract to others who would stab you in the back.
He looked at trustee Minerva Peña and said pointedly: "I've known some of you since I was a kid," and said his goal was "not to make money."
He promised he would "tone down your legal expenses" and bring "stability, because you have chaos, and when there's chaos, lawyers make money."The school district, he told them, had "become a cash cow" because the district did not follow procedure and said he was there "to serve the board as a whole."Well, it appears that despite his Herculean efforts to keep down legal costs as promised, ion the first 10 months that he has been the BISD's legal counsel, the district has forked over $508,712 in legal costs to a number of firms.
At the top is Salazar himself who has drawn $200,000 since May 2013 to February 2014. That is the rate of pay ($20,000 a month) that the board majority who voted to hire him set his salary at. Ironically, that same majority – Otis Powers, Minerva Peña, the late Enrique Escobedo, and Jose Chirinos – also voted to limit meetings of the board to once a month.
Only trustees Longoria and Presas-Garcia objected to the speed with which the selection was made and to the fact that Salazar's firm had less experience in defending school district than at least five others.
Still, the lure of lower legal fees apparently won over the majority.
Some of the fees have started to go again to attorneys who specialize in due-process hearings for Special Needs students. If you remember, ti was that hemorrhaging of legal fees which led to the turmoil over then-director Art Rendon and Superintendent Hector Gonzales when they sought to stanch it. (More on that in a future post.)
However, some of that $500,000 has gone to firms referred to BISD cases by Salazar. For instance, the firm Hartline, Dacus, Barger, Dryer LLP, with offices in Houston, Dallas and Corpus Christi, has received some 32,300. It's interesting to note that before he came to Brownsville, Salazar had offices in Houston.
Other firms outside firms include the Hudgins Law Firm PC, which has charged about $22,000 in the same time period.
Salazar has even made use of the former BISD law firm of Thompson and Horton LLP, which he replaced when he got the nod.
The former BISD counsel got more than $53,000 after they stopped being the BISD counsel.
And fees paid to local attorneys such as Hodge and Shergold pale in comparison. They only got $22,500.
It is abundantly clear that Salazar's promises to the board that he would keep legal costs down have not materialized. Now, with a growing number of legal issues facing the board, it is apparent that the continuing farming out of cases to outside counsel may continue to keep the cash registers ringing across the state.
13 comments:
The BISD Trustees treat our tax dollars like it was Monopoly money and they act like children when they play the games. The have no respect for our tax dollars and use it wildly for irreverently to serve their own personal and political agendas. All of the BISD Trustees should be fired....but as long as we have poor voter turnout, the prevailing public ignorance, and public apathy.....those assholes will continue to waste our money.
Well when you have money hungry Cata and Lucy suing for 2 million…what do you expect? Someone has to do the job, they are upset it's not someone of their choosing that's all.
Hector Gonzalez, Tony Juarez, and Arturo Rendon with the "Guidance" of Frank Perez and some flim flam from Dallas, RAKED IN 1.6 MILLION in settling lawsuits. PLUS another $900,000 worth of 2 years contracts.on each, hence Hector Ginzakez pay per month is well over $24,000, and he's not even a paralegal. LOL!! These three ungrateful clowns sued a district which had put food on their tables, and a roof over their heads.
So u see; $20,000 on Baltazar is NOTHING........He's only getting paid for his work. And not very well paid, I must add........
This indicates that all of these incompetents should be thrown out. Who is to blame? The Voters. !!!
The mouth piece they have should go too. He couldn't win a dog-catcher race on the outside. Worthless piece of fertilizer!
What are we surprise LOW INFORMATION IDIOT DEMOCRATS ARE IN CONTROL.
Wow…so is H. Gonzalez and T. Juarez still going to be employed by BISD (2yr contract up?) Free money down the drain to those guys that are milking our Tax Payers money!
Does a tax payer have standing to sue Presas and Lucy to get them removed? They work for BISD and are suing BISD? ESAS SI SON PINCHES MAMADAS!!! Pinches viejas puercas.
To 11:13am is the mouth piece Otis?
Presas and Lucy aren't your problem, idiots. Did you forget what was done to them to justify their lawsuit? It was the "majority" Montoya keeps referring to that is your problem. Not only are these "majority" less qualified to be on the BISD but they also clearly lack the mental capacity to understand their role. This is their personal piggy bank. They were elected by BISD employees who only care about their paycheck, not the good of the district. They brought in their buddy lawyer to do their bidding and the puppet is getting rich off of your tax dollars at the expense of your children.
Elections have consequences.
Nothing "was done to them" that they hadn't done to others. Hello???
Go back and see a few meetings.... specifically Nov. 15, 2011
Do this mean Minerva can also sue for.....A million????
Oh well, thanks for clarifying. If Minerva was only "getting back" at Pressas for something, I guess it makes it OK to waste everyone's time and money.
Minerva?? Why?
Alli LA unica que esta loca es cata LA rata!!!!!!
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