INFORMANT WHO HELPED CONVICT DALLAS MAYOR REAPPEARS

 By Juan Montoya

In a sheriff's race tinged with hints and accusations of questionable cash contributions and possible links to drug cartels on the part of one candidate and the legal travails of another, a name has appeared on the campaign contributions of the Democratic candidate that has piqued the interest of local pundits.

Republican John Chambers – opponent of  former Cameron District Clerk District Eric Garza – has pointed out that two individuals, "business owners" Robert Gracia and Mark Johnson, have single-handedly pumped some $85,000 into the Garza campaign. That didn't change in this reporting period. 

In Garza's 30-day before the election report filed October 5, both chipped in a few more dollars – another $2,500 from Johnson and $1,000 from Gracia – but it was a $1,500 cash contribution from a Bill Fisher from Dallas that caught their attention.

Fisher, whose fame (or notoriety) came to the attention of the FBI and the Dallas Observer, has been active in supporting some local politicians and specializes in building low-income housing and apartment complexes using federal tax credits to entice investors who use their investments to offset their current or future taxes.

We first wrote about Fisher back in 2003 when he was actively contributing in local political races and traced his role in bringing down the mayor and some city officials in Dallas after they demanded increasingly large amounts of extortion money to approve one of his housing projects and he went to the FBI. https://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-forces-behind-country-club-120.html

A Dallas Observer article contains much more in-depth coverage on the background on this man and traces his 1995 federal conviction for conspiracy to defraud– later overturned – and found not guilty in a retrial in 1998 of conspiracy to defraud investors in a Florida land deal. By then he had spent more than a year in a federal prison. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/bill-fisher-handed-the-fbi-a-chance-to-clean-up-city-hall-does-that-make-fisher-mr-clean-6421758

Around July 2009, an FBI agent testified in the Dallas City Hall corruption trial that an investigation into corruption in Dallas began with allegations that associates of a top city official were trying to solicit bribes from a developer. In his testimony during the trial, Fisher was a key government witness against former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and others after he agreed to become an informant and wear a wire to record them. The prosecution said that black leaders solicited bribes from white developers, with black leaders saying it was time for the white developers to pay.

Later that year, in August, Fisher admitted he had made several "contributions" to former council member Maxine Thornton-Reese. Fisher had projects in Reese's council district. Apparently Fisher had sent Reese three checks for $1,000 each, described as campaign contributions. All three had bounced.

When he heard details of her conversation, Fisher immediately sent cashier's checks to Reese by messenger.

If Fisher is interested in using the tax-credit formula for low-income housing in Cameron County – a perfectly legal enterprise – what interest would he have in the sheriff's race, people are asking? Did some city official or someone in one of the city's housing boards convince him that making a contribution to a candidate for sheriff would make things go easier for his projects here?

Either way, in a race where the hushed whispers hint of unsavory association by the Garza campaign with dirty campaign money and links to the former disgraced sheriff Conrado Cantu, this type of association with Fisher and his political contributions only adds tinder to the flames. 

Does Garza need the $1,500 so badly that he is willing to fan the flames of rumor?