IS SPACEX MORDIDITA BUFFET EATING UP SMALL BUSINESSES?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Just days after one of our contributors under the "Special to El Rrun-Rrun" byline complained that SpaceX's Director Hospitality purchases Jose Edgar Garza was operating a system of "pay-to-play" mordida, or outright extortion to do business with Elon Musk's Starbase village, more and more vendors are coming forward to confirm it's still in place.

"If you want to do business with SpaceX selling them food, say 800 to 1,000 plates at $9 each, you are expected to pay him (Garcia) a $2 "commission," said one. With the plates that low, and the costs associated with taking them out 22 miles to Boca Chica, it quickly eats into any profit you might expect to make. It's destroying small businesses."

One vendor – or should we now call him an ex-vendor? – says his son  who runs a restaurant claims it has cost him some $70,000 over  a year in kickbacks to do business with SpaceX.

"I don't care who knows," said former City of Brownsville and Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Ernie Hernandez. "He was basically working for Garza."

    
The tip of this iceberg came to the public knowledge in the guise of a Herald business article praising SpaceX for helping small businesses, specifically food vevndors. Or was it a shot across Garcia's bow?

Local struggling small businesses were offered the opportunity to do a lot of business with SpaceX. All you had to do was show the proper gratuity and you would get in. 

Take, for example, Maiz, one of many local restaurants who were called by SpaceX for their fare. Business was in the dumps thanks to the pandemic, until a representative of a certain rocket company called one day in early June 2020, its owners told the local daily

“Business just kind of came to a halt,” co-owner Steve Torres told the Brownsville Herald. “We were fortunate to get that great call from SpaceX that they needed food. That’s truthfully what propelled us to another level at that point. We were here, stagnant, like super flat-lined, and then they called us and said hey can you deliver us a 100 plates?”

The next order was for 200, then 300, 400 all the way up to 800 at its peak, Torres said, adding that the company patronizes many small, independent restaurants around as well as corporate chains like Whataburger.

“They’ve used us. They’ve used Mr. Taco. They’ve used a ton of restaurants here in Brownsville. They’ve used Main Street Deli. They’ve used New York Deli. They’ll just call you. Hey, can you send us 500 sandwiches?”

Torres said he knew the orders would stop coming at some point, though he believes Maíz is still in the rotation. At any rate, SpaceX was a lifeline at a critical juncture, he said. 

“We knew it would eventually come to a halt, but fortunately we didn’t have to go after loans or anything,” Torres said. “We were paying everybody still. Even though work was slow, we were still able to pay everybody and not have to go to unemployment.”

It probably didn't hurt that co-owner Ruben O'Bell knows a little something about doing business the border way. Or that Da Mayor was his friend. And people like Viro Cardenas, Ernie Elizondo (of Elizondo Second-Hand Store on whose walls Elon Musk's mural was painted), have all crowded around and jumped on the SpaceX gravy train already.

During the pandemic and shelter-in-place in the poorest city in the U.S.A., local businesses were desperate to stay in business and had to do whatever it took to keep your people working so as not to close their doors.  

Did O’Bell get upset because SpaceX stopped using them and then went crying to the Brownsville Herald to do an article about him and his partners?  It is one thing to thank SpaceX for giving them business and it is another thing to know who gets what and how many for how much. How did Ruben O’Bell know who sells to SpaceX? 

Unless he is part of the elite politicians that used their position to get favoritism to who SpaceX will buy from and from whom they will not? Everyone knows Ruben has always used his position with Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. and state rep. son Eddie Lucio III to get inside deals and hide behind the "I am a consultant" ruse.

Did he purposely say only a few names to the Brownsville Herald to kind of remind Edgar Garza that he knows more than what he said? He did say “I know we are in the rotation like the other restaurants are.” Was this a warning shot over the bow to the SpaceX purchasing hospitality director? Either his restaurant Maiz gets back to selling food to SpaceX or else an anonymous letter will go to his Garza's bosses?

Tomorrow is a new month for purchase orders (P.O.s) at SpaceX. If you are doing business or selling to SpaceX via Edgar Garza, will you or will you not be getting a P.O.? And if you do get it, did it require a Morse secretive code as to how much the hand will be greased to continue to do business with SpaceX?

Another vendor puts it even more clearly:

"I am writing this letter as a concerned small business owner trying to make a living in these rough times, and I am not the first person to present the harsh reality of dealing with Space X and its employees. 

The main issue is with Jose Edgar Garza, the food and beverage director for SpaceX, who is offering a “pay to play” contract to small businesses that appears to be an economic lifesaver. However, he then personally demands his own share in order for myself, and others, to not lose the contract and ultimately financially drown. 

The food vendors are required to pay a $2 stipend, a personal compensation to Garza, on every plate they sell on the day they deliver; if they refuse to pay the stipend, they lose the contract with Space X. 

The small business owners accepting Garza’s stipend are just little guys trying to make a living and feed their families to avoid their businesses being closed during these difficult times. 

And at such a financially tough time, it is hard to imagine being squeezed for a bribe if they want to sell to Space X. It is simple “no pay, no business” for the small business owners. Unfortunately, because of the hardships of the pandemic, these small companies have no choice but to pay. This is all done after hours away from Space X. 

All bribes are paid in cash so that Garza does not have to report it. There is no doubt that all the vendors have paid Garza well over $100,000 in bribes over the last year. I believe Elon Musk has done a wonderful thing for our area. We are now a destination. Our economy is starting to boom, and Brownsville may soon reach its full potential. "

Someone pointed out that SpaceX may not keep up with local issues or has heard vendors' complaints, but some of the funds SpaceX uses to feed its people may be from the huge federal supports paid to private aerospace companies competing for the NASA projects.

Since SpaceX has been getting support from both the City of Brownsville and Cameron County, will Mayor Trey Garza (himself a beneficiary as a food vendor to SpaceX) and county judge Eddie Treviño step forward and put an end to this scheme that is hurting local small businesses so much?