BISD COUNSEL SALAZAR IN CHARGE OF BARBACOA PROBE

"Good morning, Mr. Montoya – The follow-up investigation is being handled by BISD Board counsel Baltazar Salazar. We do not have documentation to share at the moment." BISD PIO

By Juan Montoya

And so the Brownsville Independent School District board's general counsel Baltazar Salazar has been put in charge of the district's follow-up investigation of the rotten barbacoa involving Valco and the probe into Grafik Spot that came to light in the wake of the suicide death of former BISD Food and Nutrition Service director Silverio Capistran.

This is the same Salazar who was hired by a former BISD board even after it was revealed that the 13th District Court of Appeals had revoked the expungement of three felony counts of theft when he owned an optometry service and before he got his law license. A majority of the BISD trustees at the time disregarded the evidence and hired him over more qualified firms anyway. He now draws a $280,000 salary at the district. 

He is also the same Salazar who was named in a Texas Ethics Commission complaint for being the sole financial contributor to a Political Action Committee which funded a successful campaign to defeat Catalina Presas-Garcia in the last BISD elections.

That PAC listed its treasurer's address at an Iowa Road vacant lot that just happened to be listed as a property for sale under his sisters' realty company. The mailing address was a rented P.O. Box at a local Federal Express outlet. The treasurer later amended his address to a Houston home. That turned out to be a vacant house listed to Salazar and his wife. The house had been empty for some time and had no utilities. The case filed by Presas-Garcia in local courts is ongoing.

The BISD FNS case drew wide attention because it involved a company named Valco – a TASB Buy Board vendor – that was selling meat processed in Mexico to Region 1 school districts including the BISD and La Joya ISD.

After the spoiled barbacoa was detected in the BISD's cafeterias, the late FNS director, for some unexplained reason, had the meat in storage sent to La Joya. Meanwhile, the district asked Valco to refund them the value of the meat to no avail. The board continues to deliberate on filing a lawsuit to recover the value of the barbacoa returned. Valco, meanwhile, has gone out of business. 

And who's in charge of recommending whether the district should pursue its legal remedies or not? Would you believe Salazar?

We first made the request for information from the BISD January 11 as follows :

Please consider this a formal request for information.
1. A copy of all reports, documents, etc. related to the investigation into potential fraud and criminal violations in the Food and Nutrition Service by the BISD, Texas Rangers, FBI, etc., that may be available to the district.

2. The name of the person placed in charge of the investigation into Valco, Grafik Spot, or any other companies investigated in connection with possible fraud against the district, the State of Texas or the U.S. government

3. Any correspondence to the board from attorneys, law enforcement or monitors concerning those matters, including the consideration of pursuing legal action against these vendors

I thank you in advance for your positive attention to this request

We are not fortune tellers here, but given Salazar's track record, something tells us that this will end in nothing and that BISD will just have to eat the loss of the spoiled barbacoa, again.