THE PORT ELECTION: THE OP 10.33 FACES BEHIND THE SCAM

By Juan Montoya
As admitted by the spokesman for OP 10.33, the group, headed by millionaire Mike Hernadez III and his job developer Carlos Marin want to take over the Port of Brownsville.
Toward that end, they will spend $100,000s to achieve the goal of defeating incumbents Tito Lopez and Ralph Cowen and replace them with their pliant candidates Ed Rivera and Raul Villanueva.
But who are these nice folks who want to lead us to the land of wealth and nirvana?
We know Marin all too well.
He has managed to squeeze the turnip of eight publicly-funded entities at a cool $25,000 per year for "a seat at the table" of United Brownsville. In case you've never heard of this no-profit, it is an invention that was created  by Marin and a gaggle of local movers and shakers who have succeeded in replacing the representation of the people with their own cadre of yes-men (and women) to steer the economic, educational and social development to their own ends and that of their cronies.
Those on this United Brownsville Coordinating Committee are IBC President Fred Rusteberg, former UTB President Julieta Garcia and UTB VP Irv Downing.
Their mission statements includes a phrase that they are willing to take over some of the onerous tasks of elected officials to "lessen the burden of government," for a slight fee, of course.
Up to now, they have collected some $1.4 million without having to account to anyone on what the money was used or who has benefited from it. So far, not one job has been created by this group aside from several "plans" put together by former planners of United Brownsville's director Mike Gonzalez ($50,000) and Julieta's son Oscar Garcia Jr. ($185,000).
They have teamed up with Hernandez's OP 10.33 through the participation of job developer Marin, the link between United Brownsville and this new group. The group says it is seeking to eradicate poverty through the creation of a technical training center coupled with aggressive political action to place its candidates on boards like the Port of Brownsville, Texas Southmost College and other public entities.

OP 10.33 lists Hernandez as its executive director and lists his home in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Cameron County and Starr County.
His  Education Initiative Director is one Carlos (Carli) Strength, also of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and his Community Organization Director is Jose Angel Gutierrez of Raza Unida fame. He was also residing in Dallas before moving to Brownsville to hook up with Hernandez and Marin.
Their Director of Communications in one Roger Roger Lee, also of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area (Colleyville). Aside from his 32 years in marketing, his only other claim to fame is that he was the New York Mets 11th round draft choice in 1980, some 36 years ago.  (That's Mike and the ace Roger at right.)
OP 10.33 makes much of its trade school which will prepare students with the needed skills to enter and be competitive in the global market.
The linchpin to this endeavor is Strength, who claims he "led and managed all business operations for $300 million educational service system, spanning 23 campuses from Texas to Florida." He left that the ATI gig in Nov. 2011 for no apparent reason.
 In fact, he was so "successful" at his educational system that it caught the notice of the U.S. Dept. of Justice which in August 2012 filed a complaint against the Dallas-area for-profit chain schools under the False Claims Violations.

The government’s complaint alleges that from 2007 through 2010 (when "Carli" was one of its CEOs), at three campuses in Dallas and North Richland Hills, Texas, ATI Enterprises knowingly misrepresented its job placement statistics to the Texas Workforce Commission in order to maintain its state licensure, and therefore its eligibility for federal financial aid under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. On Aug. 9, 2011, the Texas Workforce Commission revoked licenses for several of ATI’s programs at the three campuses after a third party audit of ATI’s reported placement statistics.
The government intervened and filed a complaint against  ATI Enterprises Inc. based in North Richland, Texas, which does business as ATI Technical Training Center, ATI Career Training Center and ATI Career Training, operates career college campuses in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
"The government’s complaint alleges that from 2007 through 2010, at three campuses in Dallas and North Richland Hills, Texas, ATI Enterprises knowingly misrepresented its job placement statistics to the Texas Workforce Commission in order to maintain its state licensure, and therefore its eligibility for federal financial aid under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. On Aug. 9, 2011, the Texas Workforce Commission revoked licenses for several of ATI’s programs at the three campuses after a third party audit of ATI’s reported placement statistics.
Furthermore, the complaint alleged that ATI employees at the three campuses knowingly enrolled students who were ineligible because they did not have high school diplomas or recognized equivalents; falsified high school diplomas, including five Dallas Independent School District diplomas for students who later defaulted on their federal student loans; fraudulently kept students enrolled even though they should have been dropped because they had poor grades or attendance; and made knowing misrepresentations to students about their future employability.
The alleged misrepresentations included telling students that a criminal record would not prevent them from getting jobs in their fields of study, quoting higher salaries than the students would be likely to earn and reporting inflated job placement statistics both to the students and the Texas Workforce Commission. The complaint alleges that the executive directors at each campus, as well as various ATI corporate officers, including the chief operating officer, chief executive officer, executive vice president of operations, national director of career services, regional director of education, regional director of career placements and vice president of recruitment were aware of and in some cases encouraged the alleged conduct.
The complaint further alleged that ATI engaged in these practices in order to induce students to enroll and thereby increase the school’s receipt of federal dollars at the expense of students, who incurred long-term debt, and the taxpayers."
Is it any wonder that Carli left "for unknown reasons" and alighted here to dispense his brand of knowledge under the auspices of Hernandez's OP 10.33?
And are we going to let his bunch of carpetbaggers take over the Port of Brownsville just after they have recorded a record cargo year under Lopez ands Cowen?