WILL BISD BOARD OFFICERS ELECTION THIS THURSDAY BE DECIDED BY AN UNHOLY ELIZONDO-PENA ALLIANCE? DARK HORSE GONZALEZ MAY EMERGE AS BOARD PRESIDENT

November 17, 2022 at 5:30 PM - Special Called Board Meeting

VIII.A. Discussion, consideration and possible action for Re-Organization of Board of Trustee Officers including President, Vice-President, Secretary and Assistant Secretary.

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

With his re-election to the board of the Brownsville Independent School District, Carlos Elizondo – facing two felony theft counts in district court – could potentially be elected president of that body if he can persuade three members to give him their votes on Thursday.

Currently the score card, according to some BISD observers, stands at three to three, with current president Eddie Garcia enjoying the support of Daniella Lopez-Valdez, Denise Garza and himself. 

They say that Elizondo could probably count on his fellow board member Frank Ortiz – with whom he ran on a ticket along with Victor Caballero, who came up short against Garza in the November 8 election – and perhaps Minerva Peña, a sitting board member.

The swing vote – for both possible candidates to win – might hinge on board member Jessica G. Gonzalez. Or will she demand that they give her their vote to make her board president and have them bide their turn?

Don't laugh. As of press time, all indications are that Gonzalez has reached a modus vivendi with Elizondo, Peña, and Ortiz to maker her president, if in name only. And some district staffers say she has already started hinting of replacing the current board counsel, raising red flags of the possible reemergence of former board counsel Baltazar Salazar.

But it is the potential of Peña's vote if Elizondo places his name for president that troubles most BISD board followers.

The former Porter High School Belles member is not reluctant to tell anyone and everyone within earshot that she is also a former Texas Department of Safety trooper (at a desk job) and of course, a bible-thumping, born-again Christian.

However, in one of the theft cases awaiting setting in a district court, Peña is said to have been the beneficiary of a contribution from Elizondo totaling several thousands of dollars that were withdrawn from the account of the Brownsville Firefighters Association Political Action Committee, also known as the Brownsville Firefighters for Responsible Government Political Action Committee.

The Texas Ethics Commission had removed Elizondo as the secretary/treasurer of the union and fined him after he had failed to file the reports required by the TEC and was not authorized to manage the fund.

The money, according to firefighters who were present when it was withdrawn, was then given to Minerva Peña at Elizondo's urging to pay for a recount of a J.P. election race.  The "contribution" was never reported in her campaign finance reports. If the charges against Elizondo are proven true in court, then Peña willingly became the beneficiary of the proceeds of an allegedly illegal act. 

In most likelihood, it will be Gonzalez – who has made her deal with the three new devils – replacing Garcia as president of the board and allowing the new majority to take the district back to the Bad Old Days, with former BISD board counsel Salazar waiting in the wings to return to his $325,000 gig.

"She's already asking about replacing our board counsel," said a district staffer from the main office. 

Are you watching your examples on the BISD board, kids?