In looking over the social and mass media advertisements by the candidates of the Brownsville Navigation District, it is evident that some have chosen to weasel-word their claims of their concerns for the Port.
There's for example, Place 4 candidate Javier Vera, the employee of John Cowen at Rose and J. Cowen brokers. That firm does extensive business with the port and the principal's brother, John Cowen, also on the Grater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, is none other than sitting commissioner Ralph Cowen.
Yet, he says he's "The only independent candidate, not beholden to any individual or interest group." Really? He must not remember who he works for.
With that obvious self-interest of the Cowens at the port, it is improbable that Vera will have the independence to cast a vote on an issue which will affect the interest of his boss, the guy who signs his paycheck.The major stevedore at the port that does extensive business with broker Cowen (commissioner Cowen's bro) is none other than Gulf Stream Marine managed by Mark Hoskins, the bother-in-law of commissioner John Reed. Gulf Stream Marine broke the longshoremen's union and drove wages down for the workers at this dangerous occupation.
Everybody – brokers, stevedores, Reed, and CPAs like Vera – pocket their profits while workers get paid the lowest of all on the Gulf Coast and suffer fatal accidents periodically. How clubby can you get?
The issue of independence notwithstanding, Vera is running ads vaunting his accounting prowess, but also taking credit for the coming of Big River Steel to the port. Let's get this right off the table. Vera had nothing to do with Big Steel accepting the offer on the option to lease 800 from the port for its steel plant, if it ever decides to move here.
It is not a done deal. In its press release, the port (not the company) said Big River still has to do its "due diligence" before making its decision to come to Brownsville. Vera's slogan that it's time for us to elect him so he can get going and "now the real work begins." sounds hollow because it was the port who offered them the option, not the other way around.
And Vera, as the Cowens' boy, can't "start working" on anything until the papers are signed. In fact, the leasing department has not even started negotiations with the company over the "option" they gave the port. Vera is running against Los Fresnos ISD teacher Patrick Anderson and local businessman Steve Guerra.
Likewise, Anderson, a teacher who should know better than to fudge the truth, has been sending post messages (and his supporters) claiming that if your property taxes from the port seem higher, maybe they wouldn't have if the LNG companies at the port of Brownsville paid their fair share of taxes.
Like Vera, Anderson and his supporters are placing the cart before the horse. As far as we know, there is no LNG plant construction underway at the port and if taxes went up, it might have been because the commissioners – for the first time in more than a decade – passed a slight tax increase to be eligible for federal funds and debt service.
The tax abatements that were passed by the Cameron County Commissioners Court and do not kick in until there is actually something out at the port to tax. To scare the voters with a tax scare is not legit.
It is these claims made by these candidates that are muddying the port waters and stirring the silty channel. With Cowen lapdog Vera declaring his prowess bring Big River here and Anderson claiming the LNGs are driving up your taxes, this is a disservice to the voters, who might be gullible enough to believe their claims.
If they are doing this now, what can we expect down the road?
10 comments:
So you are endorsing lopez?
It's like the MUD's (Municipal Utility Districts) all run by whites and hire their families as office workers and managers. This needs to stop. They ALL need to be investigated. The Port and all MUD's.
No tax scare is in place but the citizens of Cameron County should not have to pay taxes to the Port; LNG or no LNG. It is time to end that tax. The Port CEO learned from his friend Juliet Garcia that having "free" money is money to waste. She wasted our tax dollars and now the Port is willing to give out our tax dollars. NO MORE PROPERTY TAXES TO BND!
It's a shame that the best candidate will possibly get defeated.
the feds are coming, the feds are coming, the feds are coming
The port is the last place where the gringos hold any ground, but the water is spinning around the drain. It was a trap to get the last of them and it WORKED! Watchale gringo!
The port and the MUD's need to be investigated.
Wait a second. So my taxes go up 15%... And the tax abatements haven't kicked in yet? HOW MUCH MORE WILL MY TAXES GOING UP THEN!!!! This is insane. The county should have NEVER given LNG a tax break. They were already coming here. And the port takes ZERO responsibility for bringing in these beggar companies. Unbelievable!!!
I don't believe Anderson himself has ever blamed the present Cameron County property tax rate on tax cuts for any of the three LNG export companies targeting our Port.
During the 04-17-2018 Commissioner Candidate Forum, which I attended, one guy attending the event said he got a recent tax notice that indicated a rate increase. He blamed the increase on tax cuts for the LNG operations.
But Anderson didn't.
Anderson focused on how tax cuts for LNG operations would be unfair for the average tax payer (future tense, not present or past tense).
The issue's confusing because the Cameron County Commissioners' Court (in a 4 to 1 vote, the County Judge voting no) approved a tax abatement package for Rio Grande LNG to go into effect only after the company starts construction, hires a certain number of local workers, and meets other requirements.
There's plenty of room for confusion, especially considering the confusing way the tax abatement package is written.
Will the tax cut deal our Commissioners made with Rio Grande LNG be better than or as bad as the deal Cameron Parish, Louisiana, worked out with Cameron LNG? See "No Strings Attached: Thanks to tax breaks, Cameron Parish government struggles amid industrial boom," Rebekah Allen, 12-17-2017, http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_5333b8fc-cb23-11e7-8b31-37b36a5b0b1d.html.
I'd say the issue and the forum were confusing, rather than accuse Anderson of deception.
When I first met him 2015/2016, he was spending a lot of personal time and personal energy learning about and fighting the LNG companies targeting our Port. When I suggested he run for office, he wasn't interested. Then he ran for a Port Commissioner position in 2016, put up a website, did a better job of getting the word out about the election than the Port did, and committed to a couple of candidate forums that fizzled due to the disinterest of the other candidates.
Check out Anderson's website (https://www.andersonforbnd.com/) and his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/andersonforbnd/). He's NOT a single issue candidate. His vested interests include clean government, clean air, and growing the Port in more promising directions.
If I lived in the Brownsville Navigation District, I'd vote for Anderson and for John Wood. Yes, I know, Wood favors LNG. But I first met him in 2007 when, as a County Commissioner, he helped start the Cameron County Mental Health Task Force. I respect his dedication to clean government and public service.
That's why we need to re-elect all the port commissioners over and over again. Until our taxes go up 110%. Specially the cowens and woods.
Wish we could pay off some debt of City PUB and BISD by sellibg the port
Then we could eliminate property and sales tax
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