EMMA, THE WHOLE COUNTY IS ONE BIG CONFLICT OF INTEREST

(Ed.'s Note: After out original post, we were informed that some of the situations involving county elected officials and/or employees had changed. We thank our sources for pointing them out and include the corrections in this post.)
By Juan Montoya
We are being treated again to one of Emma Perez-Trevino's journalistic productions deluxe.
This time it's not Austin lawyer Rosenthal purchasing the goodwill of yet another local judge like Abel Limas or a district attorney like Armando Villalobos.

This time it's the machinations of scammers using inside information from the delinquent-tax property rolls of the Cameron County Appraisal District or the Tax Assessor's Office to acquire properties for a song and resell them for a huge profit.

About the only connection to the county tax-assessor collector's office so far is that one worked with that office before and was charged with tampering with a government record in connection with a property deed.

That would be Tony Menchaca, who left the tax office in April 2014. Emma's stories say that he moved on to form a hugely successful real estate company named LomaAlta Investments LLC. That company is listed on 3,835 property accounts throughout Cameron County.

Emma wrote that he is also named as a defendant in a lawsuit where the victim claims she was victimized min a real estate scheme.

Aside from that, Yzaguirre's involvement with Menchaca is that a LLC he owns is renting a home to Menchaca and an employee of his tax office.

The one area where Yzaguirre may have suffered a slight lapse in judgment was that while Menchaca was in the county's employ, he allowed him to bid on tax foreclosures by approving leave for him to go next door to the front of the judicial wing where the sheriff conducted delinquent tax sales of properties.

The tax office does not choose the properties that are sold at the steps of the courthouse. The delinquent tax attorneys do that. But it's not beyond someone's imagination to think that when Menchaca was at the tax office he would have inside information on delinquent properties whose owners he could approach even before the auction. However, this has never been mentioned and all he has is the one charge.
Having county employees or officials profit from their positions is nothing new here.
People remember former commissioner John Wood (who partnered with Realtor Larry Jokl) acquiring properties, there, too. Now, no one is saying Wood used inside information, but as a commissioner, he was privy to many real estate situations where it could have happened. As a Realtor, he was engaged in a legitimate business.
Likewise, spouses of county employees such as Alberto Matamoros, husband of Patricia Matamoros, Pct. 1 secretary to commissioner Sofia Benavides, have gained properties as a result of the sales sales. The Cameron County Appraisal District lists several properties – including an apartment complex bought at the sales – under both their names. There is even property listed as theirs near or adjacent to the future SpaceX vertical launch pad. Sources say that although they may not have bid on them themselves, they later acquired them through transfers from other parties.
Emma's article mentions that Menchaca engaged in s similar move regarding the old Dolly Vinsant property which he purchased at the auction only to transfer the property to another party a few days later. 
There is nothing, as Yzaguirre has pointed out, illegal about these type of acquisitions by one party for another.
Menchaca also purchased properties there at the tax sales. With SpaceX coming, they probably see the area (and their properties) soaring in value as the facility takes off.
In fact, the commissioners court in their upcoming meeting will be asked to approve a delinquent-tax property bid by City of Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez that made for a downtown Brownsville property at a July 7 resale.
Everyone, and their brother (in-laws and outlaws) seems to want to enter the real-estate speculation business.
Potential conflict of interest doesn't just apply to delinquent tax sales.
Many county employees and officials have outside businesses at the same time they hold their county jobs. Pct. 1 administrative assistant Gabino Vasquez owns a tire shop where his county truck is often seen during the day, and County Engineer employee Daniel Orive, owner of Orive Surveying, has his surveyor's license paid by the county. In all fairness, it should be noted that Vasquez's tire shop ( or Mr. Coffee as he is known among county wags) is located along the way from his home to the precinct office.
Likewise, Emergency Coordinator Tom Hushen has an emergency services consulting business that he carries on along with his county duties. Likewise, Blanca Betancourt, wife of Treasurer David Betancourt, is county judge Pete Sepulveda's executive secretary and has a family business as well.
And until the business was sold to an in-law some years ago, Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides had a driving school family business that indirectly benefited from tickets given to county resident who need to take corrective driving courses. Since then, Sofie has devoted her full time to being a county commissioner. Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza is a pharmacist and spends most of his time at that business.
And even before that, many county departments used to fill orders for flower arrangements from Rosenbaum Flowers when Lucino Rosenbaum was in office at the same precinct. District Clerk Aurora de la Garza and County Clerk Joe Rivera were some of Rosenbaum's steady customers.
Yet, all this pales in comparison when one thinks back of the shell game that former Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez played switching ownership of the family vending machine company between himself, wife Norma and even daughter Erin before she became a justice of the peace. This allowed him to claim he had not part in the business and the company could do business with the county.
Come to think of it, just about everyone on the county commission has an outside gig. Two – Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez and Pct. 4 commissioner Dan Sanchez – are attorneys and often make decisions involving the local courts and staff before which they practice.
While Dominguez plies his profession with his clients, Sanchez's role is a bit more iffy. Sanchez has a bother who is a district judge and has in the past voted to give 10 percent raises to district and county court-at-law staff and voted to allow the entire staff of his brother's curt to attend a conference out of state despite the questions raised by other commissioners about the cost.
And what can you say about law enforcement officers and constables moonlighting as security at bars and local businesses?
We were intrigued to read in Emma's story that Sepulveda was saying it did not seem right to him that county employees bid on delinquent-tax properties.
That's why some people find it curious that as CEO of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority he would not tell Emma that it was Menchaca's company that was hired by the authority to remodel its new offices in Rancho Viejo. In fact, the county also hired Menchaca's company to rmodel the new tax offices in downtown Brownsville. As county judge we'd think he's be aware of that also.
And if ever there was a conflict of interest, his own job is highly questionable.
Sepulveda was appointed to county judge. He does not get paid his $230,000 salary by the county, so he is not really accountable to the commissioners. Neither is he accountable to the voters, since they can't really vote him out.
The fact that he is the chief executive of the county and the CEO of the CCRMA which has its own board, certainly raises questions of conflict of interest if and when the aims of the county and the CCRMA might come at odds. Whose side would he take, the one of the entity that pays him, or the one that doesn't??
So there you have it. Where do we start?