WILL D.A. PROSECUTE MARTINEZ? DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH

By Juan Montoya
The sitting in of an elected official in executive session of the City of Brownsville commission, voting to approve accepting a bid on a tax-delinquent property , and then signing as the chief executive of the city while he was the buying one of the properties auctioned off at a tax resale would get anyone indicted.

But will the current Cameron County District Attorney prosecute everyone equally given the political ties that bind him to City of Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez?


Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz – as a special prosecutor – indicted and prosecuted Harlingen city commissioner Kori Marra for much less. She sat in on the discussion of an downtown revitalization district that would assess property and business owners an tax for improvements. She did not vote.

Now that is has come to light that Martinez had bought a rear lot adjoining his law office at 1206 E. Van Buren in a July 2015 tax resale, then sat in a vote held during a regular meeting on Nov. 3 that approved his own bid of $5,200 on a property assessed at $13,500.


The Texas Local  §§ 171.001-.010.  states that: A public official who has such interest is required to file, before a vote or decision on any matter involving the business entity or real property, an affidavit with the city’s official record keeper, stating the nature and extent of the interest. Id. §171.004(b).

In addition, a public official is required to abstain from further participation in the matter. Id. However, a public official that is required to file an affidavit is not required to abstain from participating in the matter if a majority of the members of the governing body have a substantial interest and are required to file and do file affidavits of similar interests on the same official matter. Id. §171.004(c).

There were no affidavits filed in the city binder for the item or conflict of interest statements on the record.

The property in downtown Brownsville described as 2015-071 –the rear one half (1/2) lot No. 3 in Block One Hundred and fifty-three (153) of the City of Brownsville, together with any or all improvements therein (01-0000-1530-0030-00)
The street address, according to the Cameron County Appraisal District (CCAD), was 1242 E. Van Buren St. (rear).

It is, in fact, a parking lot addition to the existing Tony Martinez law offices.

Already, loose tongues are saying that the DA's
Office dares not prosecute Martinez since Tony Martinez's son Trey (Benigno) Martinez held Saenz's announcement of his candidacy for DA and also held his victory party in the office Trey shares with his father Tony Martinez, the mayor of Brownsville.

There is no record in Saenz's expenditures report for 2016 of any political contributions, in-kind or otherwise, from the Martinez Law Firm.