ELIZONDO'S SLEIGHT-OF-HAND REVEALS HIS SUBTERFUGE

By Juan Montoya

In 2014, Brownsville Independent School District board member Minerva Peña decided she was going to run for the newly-created Cameron County Justice of the Peace Precinct 2, Place 3 position.

There were two other candidates running were former Pct. 2 Constable Pete Avila and the eventual winner Mary Esther Sorola (formerly Garcia.)

The results for the March 4, 2014 primary showed Garcia had 2,628 votes compared to 2,489 for Avila. Peña was not far behind with 2,381 votes, 108 votes behind runner-up Avila.

Avila and Peña had tied in the early vote with 1,423 apiece. Avila's election day total of 1,045 carried him over Peña's 951.

According to Election Department rules, each candidate requesting a recount was to be charged $100 per precinct and the early vote. In Peña's case, it was total 45 precincts for a total cost of $4,500. Adjustments could be made if the recount was a hand recount or a machine recount. Nonetheless, it would cost at least $2,000 for Peña to get her recount.


Now, everyone knows that an 108-vote difference is difficult, if not impossible, to overcome in a recount. Yet, Peña said she owed it to her supporters to make the effort.

But first she had to come up with the cash, and she turned to her colleagues on the BISD board to see whether – as the candidates they had been before – they would help out a friend in need.

At the time, the BISD was trying to establish a Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)/firefighter training program and trustee Carlos Elizondo was in the forefront of trying to get it set up. Elizondo is a certified nurse and a firefighter who was eventually suspended as fire chief. But at the time it seemed to be a good idea to enlist his services to set up the program for BISD students.

(What the BISD administration did not know was that Elizondo was a principal actor in the company that was being considered for the programs. That company was International Academy of Emergency Medical Technology (IAEMT), which eventually got the contract to teach both BISD and Texas Southmost College students.)

So on the day of the recount, he and a fellow firefighter drove over to the to the Elections Office to ask about the cost. They found out that the cost would be $2,000. Little did the other firefighter know that Elizondo had already written out the check and simply signed it and delivered it to help out his fellow board member.

The check had been drawn from the Brownsville Firefighters for Responsible Government account, a general purpose political action committee (GPAC) of the Brownsville Firefighters Association Local #970. Up until that time – March 2014 – everyone thought that Elizondo, who had been appointed treasurer of the PAC in 2008, was still registered as the treasurer.

But no one knew that the Texas Ethics Commission – citing the PAC treasurer's failure to submit reports on its contributions and expenditures – had removed him as treasurer. In fact, the TEC terminated his treasurer appointment on May 21, 2010. But since he was the contact person for the PAC, he kept the notice of termination and sanctions to himself and remained as the PAC's treasurer with access to the PAC's bank account.


Through May 21, 2010 through February 28, 2017, no committee campaign treasurer appointment had been filed by the PAC and no campaign finance reports had been filed with the TEC.

On May 16, 2016, then-City Manager Charlie Cabler named Elizondo as the city's new fire chief and he had to give up the labor association position. When the firefighters checked the PAC account, they found that more than $8,000 in ATM withdrawals had been made by Elizondo. And bank records only covered two years, with the period from 2010 to 20140 still missing.

Yet, when Elizondo was pushing for the establishing of the EMT program run by his close associates, he expected that Peña would be one of the supporters of the program given the fact that the firefighters had help to pay for the recount.

"Carlos was pissed when Peña started asking a lot of questions about the program that he was supporting," said a former colleague. "I gave that p---che vieja $2,000 for her recount and look how she pays me back," he was said to have fumed.

El Rrrun-Rrun has learned that Cameron County District Office investigators have already questioned some of the principals about the $2,000 PAC check. Each year, the firefighter donate an average of $8,000 to the PAC through paycheck donations. How much is missing counting all the years under the control of Elizondo will take some time to discover.

In fact, the DA has amended the initial charge and upgraded it to a third-degree felony because the person – Elizondo –  was a public servant at the time of the offense and the property appropriated came into the actor's custody, possession, or control by virtue of his status as a public servant and he was in a contractual relationship with government at the time of the offense. Elizondo was a firefighter and acted as treasurer for the firefighters' PAC.

Authorities arrested Elizondo in  October on accusations that he stole $8,000 from the Brownsville Firefighters Association Political Action Committee through unauthorized ATM withdrawals, according to a police report. The formal name of the PAC is Brownsville Firefighters For Responsible Government.

The other new indictment of misapplication of fiduciary property or property of financial institutions bases the higher offense– a felony of the third degree – because the value of the property misapplied is $30,000 or more but less than $150,000.

Elizondo is set to go to trial later this summer.

Meanwhile, and inquiry to the Cameron County Elections Office has revealed that Peña did not file a finance contribution report due July 15, 2014 that covered the period when she received the $2,000 for the recount from the PAC.

Despite that, Elizondo has been very visible during recent graduation and scholarship BISD events and held up as an example for students. And even though he was suspended as fire chief and is under indictment, IAEMT named him firefighter of the year.

This Tuesday, Elizondo abstained on the vote to award a two-year extension of the contracts to IAEMT for EMT/Firefighter training. Both contracts total $478,660 through June 2019. Why?

The agenda items read:

1. Recommend approval to continue training with the International Academy of Emergency Medical Technology (IAEMT) to perform Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Basic Certification training curricula for students in the Brownsville Independent School District beginning August 2018 and ending June 2019 in the amount of $148,660.00 per year. Services will be rendered based on the needs and services of the District.

2. Recommend approval to continue training with the International Academy of Emergency Medical Technology (IAEMT) to perform Basic Fire Suppression Certification training for students enrolled in the Fire Fighter Program of Study beginning August 2018 and ending June 2019 in the amount not to exceed $330,000.00. Services will be rendered based on the needs and services to the District.

We have requested any affidavit of conflict of interest from the BISD and will see whether he had filed it back in 2014 when he pushed it through the board.