"The people will live on.
The learning and blundering people will live on.
They will be tricked and sold and again sold.
And go back to the nourishing earth for rootholds....
This old anvil laughs at many broken hammers.
There are men who can't be bought..."
From: "The People, Yes," by Carl Sandburg
By Juan Montoya
Each time a new candidate - or an elected official seeks reelection - they promise to represent the voters and to look out for their interests.
Catchwords like "accountability" and "transparency" bounce like ping pong balls against the candidate debate chambers, and the walls echo with the beating of palms against chests as gestures of truthfulness. and when someone gets appointed to a aboard they, too, promise to represent the interests of "the people."
But recent events and performances of some local boards has shown all too plainly that the promises were just for show. We'll take a look at but a few recent examples to illustrate this.
THE P.U.B. 1.3 MILLION HEIST
DUPES: COB COMMISSION, P.U.B. BOARD, THE PEOPLE
Last February, an email was sent to the Brownsville Public Utility Board's Finance Dept. under the leadership of CFO Leandro Garcia and under the overall command of CEO John Bruciak.
The email - which purportedly originated from Texas Noble Builders' owner Rene Capistran - directed the PUB to direct its bank (Wells Fargo) to send the next payroll check for $1.3 million due in March to a new account at Bank Of America instead of to the usual account at Lone Star National Bank.
Thi should have raised red flags at once, if not to the lowly clerks at Finance, then to the overpaid underachievers Bruciak, Garcia and Ass. GM Fernando Saenz ( $303,576, $273,613, and $263,286, respectively) who knew Capistran is also the president of the Lone Star National Bank. Why would he hand over the PUB business to a competitor?
It wasn't until the payroll was due that the fuckup was "discovered" after Wells Fargo had made the transfer to the Bank of America account instead to Capistran's bank. Only when Capistran told them the email and direct deposit authorization forms were forgeries did the PUB brass realize they had been scammed. Only then - a month after the trap was laid - did they realize they were out $1.3 million of the people's money.
The Brownsville Police Dept., The Cameron County District Attorney's Office and the FBI were alerted and the investigation began. Meanwhile, under threat of litigation from Noble Builders (State Rep. Eddie Lucio III is on their board as legal counsel), PUB dutifully wrote them another check to replace the lost dough and ordered an audit to find out the chink in the PUB financial armor.
For weeks Bruciak held up release of the audit from the PUB board, the city commission, and public looking for a scapegoat among the finance department underlings to cover up their fuckup under the pretense that the report had not been "accepted" by the PUB board.
The money has never been recovered, but Bruciak and his clowns knew they had nothing to worry about when one of the city commissioners (District 1's Nurith Galonsky) said it was a small matter since PUB's insurance would pay up for the loss. Only District 4 Commissioner Ben Neece pressed the issue, going as far as moving for the city's Oversight and Audit Committee to step in and review the PUB performance vis-a-vis the scam.
It wasn't until last week (June 25) that Bruciak announced that the Bank of America had replaced the $1,321,610 it had received from Wells Fargo and that everything was hunky-dory. No harm, no foul, right? Not really. Here's what Bruciak told the public about his and his cadre's dismal performance in this debacle:
"PUB management credits the fast action from the PUB's finance personnel along with the hard work done by federal and local law enforcement and the Cameron County DA's Office and the successful recovery of the funds...BPUB gives a big thank you to the professionals working within our company who first discovered (?) the fraud and all the law enforcement personnel who have worked on this case. All of their dedication made this possible."
So far, no suspects have been named or arrests made in this case. So who is Bruciak congratulating and for what? And apparently, Mayor Trey Mendez (an ex oficio member of the PUB board) and the rest of the city commission are swallowing Bruciak's drivel. Why?
Let's not forget that this is the same "team" of energy gurus that pushed for the Tenaska $500 million gas-generated electric power plant that resulted in utility increases of more than 36 percent since 2013 promising that the plant would be in operation by 2017. There's will be no plant and the rate increases are still in effect putting more than $100 million in the PUB coffers paid by the residents of the nation's poorest city.
The learning and blundering people will live on...
Next: BISD board keeps vendor despite losing $2.4 million
It wasn't until the payroll was due that the fuckup was "discovered" after Wells Fargo had made the transfer to the Bank of America account instead to Capistran's bank. Only when Capistran told them the email and direct deposit authorization forms were forgeries did the PUB brass realize they had been scammed. Only then - a month after the trap was laid - did they realize they were out $1.3 million of the people's money.
The Brownsville Police Dept., The Cameron County District Attorney's Office and the FBI were alerted and the investigation began. Meanwhile, under threat of litigation from Noble Builders (State Rep. Eddie Lucio III is on their board as legal counsel), PUB dutifully wrote them another check to replace the lost dough and ordered an audit to find out the chink in the PUB financial armor.
For weeks Bruciak held up release of the audit from the PUB board, the city commission, and public looking for a scapegoat among the finance department underlings to cover up their fuckup under the pretense that the report had not been "accepted" by the PUB board.
The money has never been recovered, but Bruciak and his clowns knew they had nothing to worry about when one of the city commissioners (District 1's Nurith Galonsky) said it was a small matter since PUB's insurance would pay up for the loss. Only District 4 Commissioner Ben Neece pressed the issue, going as far as moving for the city's Oversight and Audit Committee to step in and review the PUB performance vis-a-vis the scam.
It wasn't until last week (June 25) that Bruciak announced that the Bank of America had replaced the $1,321,610 it had received from Wells Fargo and that everything was hunky-dory. No harm, no foul, right? Not really. Here's what Bruciak told the public about his and his cadre's dismal performance in this debacle:
"PUB management credits the fast action from the PUB's finance personnel along with the hard work done by federal and local law enforcement and the Cameron County DA's Office and the successful recovery of the funds...BPUB gives a big thank you to the professionals working within our company who first discovered (?) the fraud and all the law enforcement personnel who have worked on this case. All of their dedication made this possible."
So far, no suspects have been named or arrests made in this case. So who is Bruciak congratulating and for what? And apparently, Mayor Trey Mendez (an ex oficio member of the PUB board) and the rest of the city commission are swallowing Bruciak's drivel. Why?
Let's not forget that this is the same "team" of energy gurus that pushed for the Tenaska $500 million gas-generated electric power plant that resulted in utility increases of more than 36 percent since 2013 promising that the plant would be in operation by 2017. There's will be no plant and the rate increases are still in effect putting more than $100 million in the PUB coffers paid by the residents of the nation's poorest city.
The learning and blundering people will live on...
Next: BISD board keeps vendor despite losing $2.4 million
5 comments:
Americans not welcome: E.U. bars U.S. travelers over coronavirus who the hell wants to got to cockroach europe only the cockroaches that's who...
Speaking of elected officials, what do you suggest? Sometime back a judge told Sylvia Atkinson to stay away from any BISD communication. Today's paper tells us that she is still in direct communication with the board, it's president and the superintendent. So what gives? She is not keeping with the restrictions placed on her and it is flaunted all over the paper like making fun of us idiots who voted for these idiots. She is breaking for bond restrictions and should be placed in jail and all monies revoked. This has gone far enough and nothing is being done, Corona or no corona! Pass the corona cha-cha-cha!
Juan reminds me of an old song, Bachman-turner overdrive group; Looking out for number 1, yes indeed, im looking out for number one. yea baby
Concerning the $1.3 million Heist, how much in legal fees has PUB had to pay out to persue the $1.3 million? And if so, did the bank(s) reimburse PUB?
Not sure but they probably recieved the money from someone's insurance carrier.Bruisicak is trying to cover up the ineptness of himself and his staff.Why does the city commissioners and Mayor just sit on thier hands on Tenaska and this theft.We citizens of Brownsville need to speak up and be heard these politicians think they own our city. Enough is enough the country is speaking out and we must do the same down here it's been going on far to long.
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