AT THE PORT OF BROWNSVILLE, DID CHAIRMAN GUERRA AND DIETRICH USE POSITIONS TO PUNISH POLITICAL FOES?

Special to El RrunRrun

After 23 years of leasing and operating warehouses at the Port of Brownsville, Beto Torres's nightmare began when he ran for a seat on the board of the Brownsville Navigation District against the wishes of current board chairman Esteban Guerra.

Guerra is currently running for Cameron County judge against incumbent Eddie Treviño and former county sheriff Eric Garza. Garza is sen as a "stalking horse" candidate thrown in the race as a way to draw votes from the incumbent and insure a runoff between Treviño and Guerra. 

Torres, who had announced for Place 1 at the port in the last election, thought he had the blessing and support of Guerra until the board chairman announced his support – and campaigned for  Ernesto "Ernie" Gutierrez – a partner in  Brownsville Gulfside Warehouse Inc., which also leases land from the port and subleases warehouse space there. 

In items that have come before the board, the commissioners have approved purpose clause amendments for them and other lessees, in contrast to denying Torres's requests to even get an item for consideration on the board's agenda. In fact, Gutierrez's Gulfside had a lease amendment agenda item also for the board's consideration which was routinely approved, while Torres' lease request was denied.

Torres's problems came even after Port Director William Dietrich assured him – before witnesses –  that his B & L Freight Service LLC could rent his warehouse space to anyone he wished. After the election results came in, Dietrich, in a meeting called with port staff and Torres, denied that he had ever told Torres any such thing and stormed out of a meeting he called to iron out his stand on the requests. 

"Dietrich called me after the election and told me that he wanted me to be happy," Torres recalled. "He said he wanted me to make a million dollars. He said that as long as I didn't use the word sublease, I could rent to anyone I wanted and that the port wouldn't care. Then he denied he ever told me anything. and I was told that Guerra was doing this because I needed to be punished for going against his candidate. Se tiene que castigar."

Dietrich's actions against Torres has raised eyebrows at the port given that the port director's personal

romantic relationship with one of Guerra's female relatives. Dietrich – a retired Brownsville Police Department commander – was picked by Guerra to be interim port director after Eddie Campirano retired, and after a pro-forma national search, was appointed permanent port director by the board. 

Despite the fact that he came in third in the four-man race for Place 1 on the board, and behind eventual winner – and current incumbent Gutierrez who was supported by Guerra – his efforts to amend his purpose clause on his lease to allow him to sublease or rent to tenants has been removed from the port's agenda time after time since he first submitted it last February. In fact, Torres said that  Gutierrez called him and offered to pay his campaign expenses if he would withdraw from the Place 1 race.

The authority to place or remove items on the BND 's board agenda is delegated to the chairman and the port director. 

And even after the BND's Leasing Committee then chaired by commissioner Tito Lopez reviewed Torres'  proposed lease and sublease amendments and determined that he had complied with with the BND's leasing policies, the board's counsel determined that it is up to Guerra to ultimately decide the timing and placement of items on the agenda. So far, Guerra had refused to place the item on the agenda. It was only after Torres procured legal counsel that the item was placed on the port commissioners' agenda. He said that the possibility of him filing a lawsuit over the chairman and port director's actions is still in the works today.

In frustration that the recommendations that his leasing committee made to allow the B & L Freight Service to amend his lease and sublease on his two warehouses had been ignored by the director and board chairman, Lopez resigned as its chair. Lopez's frustrations with Guerra and the port's director came to a head during a September 18th meeting, when Lopez openly questioned the motives behind the negative consideration of Torres's request  

Since then, the officers of Bureau Veritas – the company who has been trying to sublease from Torres to expand its business –  have had to wait for the item to be placed on the agenda and get the approval of the sublease before the commission. 

The animosity by Guerra and port director Dietrich toward Torres has been increasing as time went on. One of the issues that the port has raised is the use of B&L Freight Service – a trucking company – to allow third-party parking of trucks awaiting to load their cargoes before departing to Matamoros. The port director – Dietrich – determined that allowing trucks to park in his yard constituted "unauthorized use of third-party truck parking and staging" alleging that such use posed a "grave safety and security risk."

That "risk," the port said, required he get a $3 million liability policy, which he did.

Yet, after he was prevented from using his yard to park third-party trucks, video footage taken by Torres as late as November 8 showed that the trucks were allowed to use ROBCO LLC, in which Guerra has an interest, and at commissioner Gutierrez's lease, and in the lease of former port commissioner Ralph Cowen. At first it was just third-party tanker trucks, but soon even flatbeds were prohibited in Torres's yard, but are now welcome at Guerra's and Gutierrez's companies, putting $1,000s in their pockets at $20 a day. Do they have the $3 million liability policy that was required from Torres? Somehow, he seriously doubts it.

"And supposedly they don't want any third-party parking," Torres said. "Those trucks used to be in my yard." 

In fact, there were repeated letters warning Torres about using his yard or subleasing (or renting) to tenants without the board's approval, and even threatening possible termination of his leases.

The request clearly states that he will not be authorized to permit third-party trucks parking or staging or transloading and storage of hazardous materials on the premises. Given the chairman and port director's animosity toward Torres, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the item would not get their recommendation for approval. Is it pay to play, then?

It is interesting to note that the BND's Code of Ethics clearly prohibits such conduct from commissioners. It states that:

"No Commissioner shall: 

1. Participate in a vote or decision on a matter involving a business, contract or real property in which the Commissioner has a substantial interest if it is reasonably foreseeable that an action on the matter would confer a special economic effect, distinguishable from its effect on the public, on the business, contract or property involved."

Is the port's code of ethics merely words on paper to be ignored by the chairman and the port director and the other commissioners to retaliate and satisfy a whim for political revenge? Is this any way to run an international industrial port?