LAWYER SALAZAR SPREADS $$$ AROUND TO KEEP $240,000; BUT IS HE ACTING IN VIOLATION OF HIS BISD CONTRACT?

"General Counsel warrants that he has not given, nor does he intend to give, at any time hereafter, any economic opportunity, future employment, gift, loan, gratuity, special discounts, trips, favors, or service to a public servant in connection with the award of this agreement."
Contract between BISD General Counsel Baltazar Salazar and the district

By Juan Montoya
Not long ago, a majority of the Brownsville Independent School District board of trustees voted to extend the contract of board attorney Baltazar Salazar and make him General Counsel for the district with a 10 percent salary increase.
At $240,000 a year, it is a plum many local attorneys would love to have. With that kind of cash, one has to keep a majority of the board happy.
Those who voted for the extension and the raise were Otis Powers, Minerva Peña, Jose Chirinos and Cesar Lopez.
Only Catalina Presas-Garcia and Luci Longoria voted against the measure and have been calling for a review of his performance.
However, since the rules were changed and now three signatures from the sitting board members are required to place items on the agenda, it is highly unlikely that the item will see the light of day. Numerous emails to the rest of the board for a review have been ignored by the four making up the majority.
At the top of that review is a scrutiny of Salazar's application to the district to see if he omitted to include the fact that he had been arrested three times on felony theft charges – convicted once – and of his failed attempt to expunge his record even as he was applying for the legal contract. Theft is listed as a crime of moral turpitude and will automatically keep an applicant from employment with the BISD. Omission of the crime is grounds for immediate termination.
Well, the campaign finance reports for the Nov. 4 elections are in and guess who is listed as one of the top contributors for certain candidates in the election?
Would you believe Salazar?
Salazar has four sure supporters on the board. And with Carlos Elizondo and Robert Rodriguez fighting for the fifth spot (Place 2), it 's always prudent to hedge your bet that Cesar Lopez will beat Luci Longoria for Place 1, you know, just in case. Powers, Peña and Chirinos aren't running. But Longoria is.
Salazar is listed in the 30-day before the election report as giving at least $8,000 in contributions.
He gave:
*$2,500 to Lopez June 23
*$1,500 to Lopez again on July 18

*$2,000 to Carlos Elizondo on August 9, for Place 2

*$2,000 to Robert Rodriguez on Sept. 3, also for Place 2
*$0 to Luci Longoria

We're kind of used by now to Linebarger, Goggan, Blair and Sampson (the delinquent tax collection attorneys) giving money to candidates and this time it's no different. They gave

*$1,500 to Lopez Sept. 22
*$1,000 to Elizondo July 27
*$1,000 to Longoria August 22
Lopez, by far, has been the largest recipient of contributions with $20,485 reported for the period, including (if we are to believe this) $8,6000 in contributions under $50 that don't have to be itemized.
It is obvious that Lopez has become the favorite of the power elite (including Salazar) who want to take over the BISD and its lucrative legal and insurance contracts.
For example, Lopez has received:
*$500 from Mitchell Chaney. Chaney is a partner in Colvin, Chaney, Saenz and Rodriguez, the law firm that has been paid almost $200,000 to defend the district against a First Amendment lawsuit filed by Presas-Garcia and Longoria. Tony Rodriguez, his law partner, is "Coach" Joe Rodriguez's son. If we are to believe the Rodriguez fictionalized campaign report, his son has not contributed to his campaign and neither has his partner Chaney or any of the principals in the firm.
*$500 from Aizar Karam, of McAllen. Karam is a principal attorney with the firm who Salazar chose to hire to litigate the HealthSmart lawsuit after a new majority took over the board. One good turn deserves another.
*$500 from Carlos Marin, of United Brownsville (and Ambiotec owner). Marin is a principal in United Brownsville which receives a $25,000 annual "membership" fee from the district for unspecified services.
*$200 from Joey Lopez, owner of Lopez Supermarkets and now recipient of the wind-damage insurance contact with the district.
Notable for their absence from any report are the contributions of Joey Salazar (Colonial Life Insurance) and Jaime Escobedo, owner of American Surveillance.
But all these pale in comparison to counsel Baltazar, who is making sure he has the four votes to keep on riding the gravy train at the BISD.
There is only the slight matter of the propriety of Salazar's campaign contributions. The new contract he was awarded promotes him from school board counsel to General Counsel of the BISD, along with the 10 percent raise.
But there is also a clause in that contract that reads:
"GIFT TO PUBLIC SERVANT:
General Counsel warrants that he has not given, nor does he intend to give, at any time hereafter, any economic opportunity, future employment, gift, loan, gratuity, special discounts, trips, favors, or service to a public servant in connection the award of this agreement."
Are Salazar's contributions to Lopez – who voted for the extension and raise – proper and in compliance with his contract with the district? And does anyone care?
And the hits just keep on coming...
(To see all the campaign reports – Mary Rey's isn't posted – click on the following link.)

http://www.bisd.us/html/08_Extra_HTML/11_Elections.html