BISD BOARD TO CONSIDER INVESTIGATING EDDIE GARCIA FOR ALLEGED USE OF HIS INFLUENCE TO GET A WOMAN PROMOTED

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

It took nearly a month, but after getting support from fellow Brownsville Independent School District board member Frank Ortiz, Carlos Elizondo was able to place an item on the board's agenda for Tuesday's rescheduled regular meeting to determine whether a majority will approve an investigation into alleged influence peddling against fellow board member Eddie Garcia.

The agenda item provides no back up to the alleged offense – Garcia reportedly using his influence as a board member to get a Food and Nutrition Services Department employee, a woman, a promotion within the department outside of the regular process.

It is, in a way, a tit-for-tat because it was Garcia and BISD board president Jessica Gonzalez who placed an item on the October 3 regular meeting's agenda to censure Elizondo for being rude and insulting toward the chair and denigrating a consultant speaking before the board. In that vote, a majority made up of Garcia, Gonzalez, Daniella Lopez-Valdez, and Denise Garza voted to censure Elizondo. Elizondo was supported by a minority made up of Ortiz and Minerva Peña. 

Elizondo had been trying to place the item on the agenda since October 13, but it took  board member  support from Ortiz before president Gonzalez placed it on Tuesday's meeting agenda. Under local board policy, a member is allowed to place one item on the agenda per month.

This is not the first time that Garcia has been the object of accusations involving alleged influence peddling involving the woman. In a past social media posting, none other than Frankie Olivo, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for the BISD board, said another woman who used to work at FNS had provided him with proof – emails and photos – that he said showed that the woman had been in an improper relationship with Garcia. 

The woman, who later moved from the BISD to the Cameron County Auditor's office, had allegedly shared the incriminating evidence and was willing to share it on Olivo's podcast. Olivo claimed that she got angry when Garcia could not deliver on getting her job back with the BISD.

Garcia at that time, an now, has denied any improper involvement with that employee and said she was willing to speak to the media about the alleged relationship to deny any suggestion of  impropriety.

"It is political," he countered. "I have nothing to worry about. There's nothing to worry about."

The identity of the woman covered by the agenda item on Tuesday's meeting, is unknown.

But talk about throwing stones while living in a glass house. Olivo was himself indicted and pleaded guilty to sending unsolicited pictures of his private parts and suggestive texts to  the secretary of a local attorney when he was a court administrator for 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez. 

In that case, in 2018, he was charged with stalking and sexual harassment. The victim was a married woman and a mom. At the time, Olivo controlled the administration of a district court, a position of the highest sobriety and responsibility. Officers arrested him hauled him off for booking following the issuance of the indictment by a grand jury.

He was given pre-trial diversion where the state agrees to remove the defendant from the ordinary channels of prosecution so that he may complete certain conditions. Once the defendant met the conditions, either the prosecutor or the court will dismiss the charges.

And Elizondo, of course, has had several brushes with the law. As a former Brownsville Fire Department Chief, he had theft charges filed against him way back in 2002 after he reportedly stole a $1,500 wheelchair which were dismissed after he paid restitution. His lawyer was court-appointed Armando Villalobos before he himself was nailed for corruption and sent to the pokey. The case was before 404th District Judge Abel Limas, who also served time for judicial corruption.

Elizondo was found not guilty Sept. 18, 2019 of computer security breach of the Brownsville Fire Department emergency reporting system. The following October District Judge Benjamin Euresti of the 107th state District Court granted Elizondo's motion for an expunction from the record of all the offenses of which he was acquitted. The courts and state agencies were ordered to remove any records of the charges or release them to the public.

But he's not out of the monte yet. He is still awaiting trial on felony theft which charges him with one count of theft by a public servant and one count of misapplication of fiduciary property for allegedly stealing money from the Firefighters union. 

On at least one occasion he was said to have paid the filing fee for fellow BISD trustee Minerva Peña's bid to run for a justice of the peace office with union funds.

He also played a role in releasing secretly recorded audio tapes where a former city commissioner used the "N" word toward two Cameron County Assistant District Attorneys. At the time, Elizondo was the target of an audit to determine whether he had committed any wrongdoings in relation to the city's ambulance system to steer clients to a private ambulance firm with which he had a personal connections. 

Peña, of course, has had her own troubles. She was censured by the board for  alleged nepotism as a result of her appointing or voting for the appointment of her late daughter-in-law to a teaching position at Veterans Memorial Early College High School between June and August 2021. When given a choice between stepping down from the board or having her daughter-in-law terminated, Peña opted to stay on the board and her daughter-in-law resigned. The woman later committed suicide and the trial court's ruling to quash the indictment was upheld by the 13th Court of Appeals.

 And a challenge to her 2020 election is still making its way through the courts. This past Friday the Texas Supreme Court voided her election in 2020 and ordered the BISD to hold a new election.

Of course, there are always political aspects to anything that happens in this city. Garcia is one of several candidates for the Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office now held by Tony Yzaguirre, who has held it for the better part of three decades (almost 30 years). The Democratic Party primary will determine the party's candidate and will be held in March, only about four months from now.

The ball is now on the BISD board's court. If a majority votes against the investigation, will it appear like they are trying to cover up inappropriate behavior by one of its members? And if a majority of the board approves the investigation and hires an outside investigator to determine if there is anything there, will it influence the outcome of the primary and derail Garcia's candidacy?