Sometime back – before this year's March primaries –we were intrigued to hear that one of the people then thinking of running for Cameron County Sheriff had approached 404th District Judge asking for her political support in case they decided to throw their hat in that contentious ring.
They were stunned when they heard what she wanted in return: They could get her political support if they promised her one thing, the lucrative jail commissary contract.
That contract is easily worth more than $750,000 in profit to the holde and is awarded at the sheriff's discretion without the necessity of a Request For Proposals (RFPs) or bids. Historically, past and currents sheriffs use that contract to elicit strong financial and political support from the eventual awardee. The candidate, we are told, rejected Cornejo-Lopez's condition for her support out of hand.
(Cronejo-Lopez knew first-hand just what a plum that commissary contract was. Her "compadre"attorney Rick Zayas and his sidekick Ruben Cortez – cousin of the Reynas at the sheriff's dept. – had held it for years. Cortez is now a member of the Texas State Board of Education.)
That's why it didn't surprise us when reports from the trial of Dr. Sylvia P. Atkinson on bribery and conspiracy charges indicated the ubiquitous presence of the portly district judge behind the scenes.
Prosecutors told federal judge U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. that Brownsville school board Trustee Laura Perez-Reyes – a witness in the Atkinson case – was also involved in a separate federal investigation that targeted Cornejo-Lopez.
Cornejo-Lopez allegedly promised her support for Perez-Reyes' run for Cameron County District Clerk if she would agree to settle a federal lawsuit the judge had filed on behalf of her two children alleging a trove of constitutional rights violations. That case has been languishing on the federal docket since it was filed November 2017 and the district has refused to settle with Cornejo-Lopez on the advice of the district's lawyers. (Styled #1:17-cv-00240 Lopez vs. BISD)
And who was the go-between on the proposed political support for a vote to settle? Would you believe Atkinson? If and when Perez-Reyes had agreed to consider the settlement of the Cornejo-Lopez lawsuit, would she have teamed up with Atkinson to force the other district board members to settle the lawsuit and leave a good chunk of money in the district judge's pockets?
To her credit, just as the sheriff candidate thought better about accepting Cornejo-Lopez's offer of support in return for the commissary contract, Perez-Reyes also decided to forego the judge's support in return for "fixing" the lawsuit.
The children have moved on to college or university since, but apparently the judge believes that she could find someone – with Atkinson as go-between – that might see things her way in return for her support. And many are asking whether the candidacy of her court administrator Frankie Joe Olivo to the BISD board just one more back-door strategy by the judge to settle her lawsuit with the district?
Or is it, as others say, that she sees herself as a prime candidate for the $300,000 legal counsel gig now held by lawyer Baltazar Salazar and wants her protege to have a say so in the selection of board counsel?
The settlement of lawsuits, career promotions to cushy jobs, and favored treatment in their jobs are the coin of the realm in the BISD. As someone who has been – at one time or another – Acting Special Needs Services director, the head of BISD Human Resources, and well versed in the ins-and-outs of legal machinations in the courts, Atkinson was seen as the go-to administrator to get things done in the district.
What other deals were brokered with her help? Cornejo-Lopez might not have been able to convince Perez-Reyes to go along with her designs, but will we learn of others that might have swallowed the bait?
Testimony in Atkinson's trial continues today.
44 comments:
The FBI goes on the stand today. People hear FBI and think they are honest people they are not. Just like in any field of work you have some not so honest people. Get informed, this Ramos guy (and I don’t know and have never met Sylvia or Ramos) sounds like a snake. His back is against the wall looking at deportation. I hope Noe and Dale take it to him and the agent and I would like to see Sylvia come clean and spill the beans on everyone. BISD is corrupted!
University of Arkansas
12:39 PM ET
Oct. 9-21, 591 L.V.
Trump +33
Stupid hillbillys!
To munch corruption in BISD with this WOMEN.
BISD HR office administrators need to be remove to munch under the table hiring of jobs positions.
We need new blood to run BISD.
Where is TEA ???
BISD IS WHO YOU SUCK UP TO, YOU NO MINERVA PENA GOD BLESS YOU IN PRISON WITH SPA.
Too much speculation, Montoya. Report on the trial's actual doings. Why throw shade on other people when it's only in your head. Proof?
As a 65-year-old man who has voted in all presidential elections since I was old enough, I have respect for the office of president as well. However, I believe there is a difference between having respect for the office as compared to the individual who holds the office. The individual who holds the office should himself have respect for the office.
Unfortunately, the individual who holds the office at present has, in my humble opinion, brought shame, disrespect and made a mockery of the office, as well as used the office for his own personal financial gain. I will continue to respect the office, not the man.
Pinche gordiflona apestosa!!! She adopted those 2 kids n trying to make money off of them. What a role model using her position to make transas. Culera handing out jail sentences to convicted felons when she herself es transera. Pinche mamona
At this point we all know that Atkinson's time is up. She will be found guilty. But she will not go down alone! She has hurt so many people along the way that she probably doesn't remember.
No to the "Pig" Cornejo-Lopez; she's such a conniving bitch. Screwing people over and over. Now it makes sense that she covered up for her "Frankie Olivo" and got him Pre-Trial Diversion and he didn't qualify. Trying to cover up all the wrong doings that her sorry ass children did; feeling and acting like Privileged children. Oh, don't forget when her son while in BISD was caught doing the same thing that her beloved Frankie did.. Yes, He sent a "Dick Pic" to females at his Middle School!!!
I'm sure she has been involved in so many wrong doings along her collogues Limas, Villalobos, Marchan, L. Sorola just to name a few. Of course this pig wants to become the Attorney for BISD and that's why she wants Frankie in there!!
So do you all see the big picture!!!!! That your Criminal Slate will not be exposing any wrong doings....I will take it back. They will expose other peoples wrong doings. But they will do their own wrong doings and will hide it and lie to us. They don't have the best interest in BISD they just want their hand in the cookie jar. They will leave us with less than crumbs!!!
WAKE UP Community! They are stabbing us on the back laughing so hard at all of us.
We Want Better and We Deserve Better!
Say No to the CRIMINAL SLATE!
No To Erasmo, Frankie, Carlos, Marisa, Viro, Miller, Rodriguez
They are all worthless pieces of SHIT!!!
This town is full of crooked politicians they need to be (all of them) held accountable and made an example out of all of them. Sent them ALL to jail.
$300 Million Telemarketing Scheme Preyed on Older People, U.S. Says
“When you pick up that phone and you try to contact a senior citizen from one of these lead lists,” she said, “you may unwittingly not realize you’re contacting a federal agent acting in an undercover capacity as a susceptible senior citizen. Be warned.”
This is only one way to bust crooked people there is another way to bust crooked politicians and we here are seeing one done by the FBI. Beware crooked elected politicians FBI is looking for you. We have a bunch of them here in Brownsville, TEXAS.
A judge asking for something in return for something ah Limas anyone remember him?
And they are all Democrats. What a coincidence. AND WE KEEP VOTING FOR THEM. WE SURE ARE SMART.
When one domino falls...another one falls and another one falls; there will be many more GOIN’ DOWN! The FBI is going to fuck your up!
Juan Montoya:
Take care of yourself. You are helping the community by sharing this information.
They are like ant, cockroaches, flies, fleas you leave some food and they attack it with a vengeance. Elected politicians and their cronys do the same thing but not for food but money. Pinches ambrientos y lambiscones.
Bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influence peddling, graft, and embezzlement down here we are all familiar with those word, we see them everyday. When will this stop. Even new comers and old politicians, just look at the mayor and look at the ex-county judge. They are all involved.
Only the Feds go after our giant crowd of crooked politicians. We hear nada from local law enforcement. I wonder why? Could they be part of the Border Crooks party as well?
6:30 AM = If you declare that BISD is corrupt, do you not recognize that SPA is right in the middle of it? She leads, guide and directs everyone she feels like doing and I guess you feel that the corruption does not include her. There are thousands of great honest workers at BISD so don't generalize. You may want to refer to all of SPA's cronies.
Let's not be too cruel to Minnie and her involvement in all this. If Minnie were to be given an intelligence test she would grade out somewhere between the 5th and 6th grade level. Her defense basically is that her lack of intelligence prevents her from developing the requisite criminal state of mind to appreciate the fact she was being bribed. Her limited cognitive abilities may end up saving her from prosecution. What is sad, however, is that the people of Brownsville keep supporting this substandard level of leadership. Ni Modo.
Women run politics like they run the kitchen sink.
6:30 AM? pendeja
Introduced as evidence photos of Atkinson making a cash deposit at a Wells Fargo ATM the same day.
What about the mayor and the the others? No pictures?
Its all coming out in the wash lets see who else is going down in the ship
Wasn't this corrupt judge singled out by convicted Abel Limas as being just like him? In my honest opinion I don't believe there is an honest judge that presides in "Cameron County". The sheriff, the district clerks are right there behind all the corruption to fetch whatever crumbs of shit they can use to later run for that position themselves. Check out her attorney Noe Garza, high profile so called attorney who protects criminals like this so called judge and Sylvia Atkinson. This is my opinion
Keep voting for democrats imbecils!!!
Sounds like Sylvia is going down. Fajita bandit ain’t got nothing like this.
Hey didn't Luis Saenz have a white collar unit, I guess that white collar got soiled and he can't get it clean cause there sure is a lot of dirt sticking to that white collar.
Democrats are very happy to have stupid people in Brownsville to vote for them. The biggest stupid people are teachers in the BISD because the teachers are also doing the same thing. No work, late for work, leaving early from work, been on their cell phones all the time. Close BISD and give it to idea schools.
Viva Trump... why are Hispanics supporting him... because they see a winner
So all this forcing the hand and bribing going on and no one could say no at BISD? Only Erasmo? Everyone wanted a payday from Atkinson with favors, promotions, positions, moves. Horrible toxic place at the Glass Palace. Even the Finance Director, a Minnie Pena worshiper, did agenda items as per Atkinson. The Garza woman is horrible to work for just like Atkinson. The Garza Finance Director does whatever Minerva Pena says and needs be investigated. An independent audit please Erasmo.
United Brownsville brought politicians together to move Brownsville forward. Politicians were ask to consolidate resources to better utilize public monies. Different entities coming together and working on projects together is nothing new. ONe question I want your readers to contemplate Montoya is why, if Sylvia took a bribe, did she drive to Wells fargo and deposit the money in her bank account. CROOKED people would have taken the money and hid it under their mattress instead of her bank where the FBI could look it up? SHe was in the hole 25K as told by the FBI undercover agent because she invested in a movie. She was given 10K so that means she was still in debt 15K so how did she steal from our children at BISD like Erasmo claims? You invest money to make money and she lost 15k so what was illegal about taking some of your own investment back? The defense needs to bring that out. As far as voting to allow a film crew to film on BISD property, there was no need to get board approval. Everyone knows all you have to do is go to CFO's office and fill out a REQUEST FOR FACILITY USE form and the principal at that campus approves it. When you see little leagues or club Basketball and Softball teams on BISD property they usually have filled out this form. I think she has a good chance to state her case and win. I wish her luck!
C Atkinson
It's going to take someone from the inside to burn it all down. Let the SPA and ECL put their asses out in front of themselves. Both of the have bought into their own hype and will take the whole shitmess down with them.
Now makes sense why Frankie is running for BISD. His boss has big interest in the matter of her lawsuit. How much has she promised, Frankie?
Charlie,
Nobody gives a shit about
What Erasmo says.
It's not Erasmo that has planed your sister's fat ass in court, it's the fucking Federal Bureau of Investigation you dumb shit.
BTW it's not ok to get a bribe to payoff a stupid investment.
Fucking Atkinson's think whatever is good for them is good for everyone.
Charlie, she is your sister and I guess it is your obligation to support and back her up, but your arguments are so senseless. She stole money from all of us, including you, who pay our school taxes. You, Atkinson's are so smart, so use your head for the right argument or defense - not personal vendettas. Let's see how good a brother you turn out to be if or when you go visit her at her new residence. If there was nothing wrong with her investing (conflict of interest) in the movie, why did she not disclose what was going on. Then she is now making sure she drags everyone down with her. Maybe they can room together in the future?
The BISD self-insured health plan has been controlled by the highest bidder for the last several decades, costing taxpayers millions. Employees know what’s been going on, yet no one says anything for fear of getting their necks chopped off. For at least 20 years, this plan was controlled by Johnny”Caliche” Cavazos. When he died, we thought things would finally change. As an employee, it really sucks to know we could have had better plans ball these years. Enter Joe Salazar. He has taken over the the same back room deals that Cavazos got away with all that time. Sylvia has been his instigator from the inside. Sylvia has directed the strategy as to who needed to get moved and who needed to get hired to facilitate this multi-million dollar transa. It’s sickening!
Sylvia has a brother in law, Otis Powers, and another relative who has facilitated to payments behind the scenes involving Vegas trips that have called for Salazar to lose large amounts and Powers to surprisingly come back a winner every time.
In the mean time, they play with our paychecks and try to poke us in the eyes with visions of pseudo raises. And, now they also want us to rusk our lives by going back to work.
PUB IS NEXT THAT "TENASKA" MONEY IS MISSING THEY USED UP MORE THAN $70MILLION OF RATE PAYERS MONEY'S DESIGNATED TO A PROJECT TO HELP LOWER OUR UTILITY RATES.FBI PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS THE CITY COMMISSION STARTING WITH GOWEN ARE TRYING TO COVER THIS UP BY DOING AN AUDIT WITH A CITY OF BROWNSVILLE EMPLOYEE.THEY WERE THAT STUPID TO BELIEVE IN THEM NOW.TAKE ALL THE RATS OUT OF HERE.
Will the mayor resign, will the ex county judge retire, are the people that accepted knowlingly money they knew came from a kick-back going to be arrested or indicted?
WHERE IS THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY? IS HE GOING TO INVESTIGATE ALL OF THEM?
Lets hope that the Feds will go after this fat cornhole C@#$! This lard ass bully has gotten away with so much shit and only because of her political ties and family! This fat C@#$ ruined the girl scouts, got plenty of houses using her position and that bail bond company from defendants and their families. The pig needs to be skewered and slaughtered! Keeping my fingers crossed!
juan el DA bigote grande es puro pedo tambien, crooked as a mesquite tree in cameron county, (Son los DemocRATS) he will not investigate shit cuz he has a looooonnnggg cola himself, so how can he point a finger at someone when you have several fingers pointing back at you? remember that county settlement some years ago for sexual harrasment him and Gavito el culito did too? And you all say Trump is bad, wow VIVA TRUMP bola de PUTOS.
Trump and corruption exists because the good people do not vote and are not informed.
Good people are not into politics... because there is no money there....unless you are corrupt.
The mayor needs to resign now! RESIGN! pinche joto!
Where's the DA?
Did the mayor and all the others that got 2k from the kick-back scam deposited that money in a bank???
Where's the DA?
So, to the Feds? When does the fat pig in cornhole get arrested after being indicted by a federal grand jury? For that matter, how does one get the lucrative contract for the food restaurant in the CC court house? Aren't they related to the "naca" JP linda salazar? yea, we know that its all about money in certain pockets in CC BUT when does it stop? Of course, these are democRATS who love to put as much money in their pocket and don't care if they are chastised for it in public or private! Hope more indictments come down and especially on that fat pig cornhole!
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