During the November 2016 elections for the board of trustees of the Brownsville Independent School District, a specific purpose Political Action Committee filed with the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) with the sole intent to help challenger Laura Castro defeat incumbent Catalina Presas-Garcia in their runoff race.
No one knew who was behind the Brownsville Taxpayers PAC and a search for its treasurer's address – one Juan Flores Leal – turned out to be a vacant lot at 925 N. Iowa Road up for sale by a local Realty company. That company belonged to Liz Vera, the sister of BISD general counsel Baltazar Salazar. Then it turned out that the BT PAC's P.O. Box was a rented box from a package delivery service on Alton Gloor.
And the TEC report indicated that the sole in-kind contributor to the PAC was Salazar, with $13,200 for advertising and web design (800), mailing services ($5,340 twice), and $420 for legal consulting services. The suppliers of these services were not included.
Upon publication of the PAC treasurer's address in the vacant lot, the next report with the TEC showed that the treasurer's address was now in Houston, in a vacant house at 5974 Revensworth Drive.
That was also the BT PAC's new address as well. How incongruous is it that a PAC for Brownsville Taxpayers is in Houston?
Well, coincidence of coincidences, the Harris County Appraisal District listed that property for 2015 and 2016 as belonging to Baltazar and Maria Salazar. The other address for the couple is 8814 Brae Acres Rd., the same address listed for Salazar when he makes political contributions.
A google search of the Ravensworth address showed it to be vacant, and without a light meter,
indicating that there was no electricity at the house where Flores (the phantom treasurer) was supposed to live. The PAC also sent thousands of mailouts to district voters alleging that Presas-Garcia had cost the taxpayers millions and that she had gotten sued for not paying property taxes.
After Presas-Garcia lost the election, she filed a lawsuit in state court that included not only Salazar, but also his wife Maria and the phantom Flores. The PAC now reports that Flores no longer lives in the vacant lot or house, but has now moved to a suburb in Ft. Worth. Presas-Garcia's lawyers are now trying to serve the elusive Leal in Ft. Worth. In court today, Presas-Garcia's attorneys said they suspect Flores doesn't exist and was invented to cover up the real force behind the PAC, namely Salazar.
Presas-Garcia filed a complaint with the TSC which was denied, but she is now filing an appeal, pointing out the inconsistencies.
This morning, the lawyers for Maria Salazar filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against her claiming she was only engaging in the free exercise of her constitutional rights of free speech. However, the question remains: If she is removed from the lawsuit as an individual, is she still considered part of the PAC because the house is considered community property?
A decision on the motion to dismiss was reset for Friday in Judge Migdalia Lopez's 197th District Court.
7 comments:
Who is LAURA CASTRO, you fuckup!
Just glad Cata is outside the grown-ups room.
Laura Castro was a candidate for BISD running against Cata. The question remains, "Who is
Laura Castro?" Is this "person" even a real person?
wasn't it laura perez-reyes who ran against Cata? Shit!
Bola de ratas, comenzando con Balta who thinks his blank does not stink since he has so much money that he makes for doing nothing at BISD for he doesn't even know how to keep time for the speakers. He doesn't pay attention and they catch him off guard in many situation. Hope Migdalia sees pass him and his chingaderas with Cati. Go Cati, ne te dejes de ese carbon.
He might have ADD - better hope no flies get in the room or you can kiss his attention goodbye.
Laura Castro was an actual person on the ballot for the BISD race. No one ever saw her or even remembers what she looks like but, she was on the ballot, along with Laura Perez-Reyes.
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