In the blink of an eye, a majority of the board of trustees of the Brownsville Independent School District handed general counsel Baltazar Salazar a $25,000 raise – to $264,000 a year – and extended his contract for another three years.
With only trustee Catalina Presas-Garcia voting against rewarding Salazar so magnanimously, the board's majority showed their approval of his questionable legal talents and voted to bump him up a notch.
With the raise, Salazar now earns more than BISD Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas.
Let's see.
Salazar gave Cesar Lopez $4,000 in donations for his campaign, amove made in apparent violation of a clause in his contract that prohibits him from giving money to his employers.
He also earned the gratitude of trustee Joe Rodriguez, whose son's law firm is one of Salazar's favorites to farm out juicy legal contracts to defend the district.
On September 22, 2015, Judge Andrew Hanen ruled that evidence in the $1 million lawsuit brought against the Brownsville Independent School by Lucy Longoria and Catalina Presas-Garcia did not meet the requirements necessary to prove First Amendment violations and retaliation, but that the defamation allegations by Presas-Garcia against two trustees and the district's legal counsel can continue.
Yet, nine months after Hanen's decision, the attorneys hired to defend the BISD and the trustees are still getting paid to represent two trustees (Cesar Lopez and Minerva Peña) for their alleged defamation of Presas-Garcia even though neither Salazar nor the trustees could submit proof that the defamation was in the course of their official duties.
In meeting after meeting since Hanen's decision, agenda items to pay Colvin, Chaney, Saenz and Rodriguez, LLP, for legal representation in the case have been dutifully passed by teh board majority.
But now that the district is off the hook and a question exists on whether the two trustees were acting in their official capacity, why should the BISD taxpayers foot the bill for their questionable acts?
Lawyers often speak out of both sides of their mouths, and Salazar is no exception.
On April 1, 2013, appropriately, April Fools' Day, Salazar was first hired at BISD.
Salazar was making his pitch to be hired by the district from among six other firms that had made the cut.
When Salazar came to the podium to make his presentation, he stressed the fact that he was a straight shooter who would "stab you in the front" in contrast 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."
He may have said it and meant it at that time, but since then he has served his friends – and himself – "con la cuchara grande."
8 comments:
LOts of people, elected and appointed, who laugh all the way to the banks. Our boards are very generous....too generous...with tax dollars. We can only wonder how much of this money gets "kicked back" to unpaid elected officials.
In Brownsville, the rotten, week-old tamale is not necessarily a bad meal. And any stray dog will tell you that sometimes all you have to do is be there to be noticed and rewarded. Baltazar epitomizes the ugly Mexican.
Juan, at least Salazar is a Mexican! Better the ignoble be one of our own than members of the White race. Those years are long gone, bro
No wonder he can afford to pay for Cesar's tab at shennanigans...
Blog war between Jim Barton and Bobby Wightman-Cervantes being labeled Battle of The Bulge. It's meat on meat, lard on lard and jelly belly on jelly belly!
Zeke
"to serve the board as a whole". I think he meant "to serve the board as a whore".
juan it don't matter because at the end of the day its only taxpayers monies, not the boards pocket money or change, so go ahead and give it away, remember the budget is only $538 million that's a little over half a billion plus or minus, that I am sure gets plenty of bribes for many of these elected school board trustees if not all, just ask joe rod, and come on don't tell me it aint so. Why else would any one run for a position that does not pay and spend plenty of cash during that campaign run????? Go figure.CCA
Why do you think he graciously donated to carlos Elizondo, joe Rodriguez and Cesar Lopez campaigns, to secure his contract for another 3 years. Baltazar and all these idiots are the worse corrupt whores and scum of the earth. Hopefully soon they will be locked up in prison where they belong!
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