Wednesday, April 18, 2012

More Meanness from Mean Mister Brownsville~Scattered Thoughts


IS LINEBARGER SNIFFING AROUND THE CITY COMMISSION AGAIN FOR COLLECTION CONTRACT?

The huge Linebarger law firm works the political game so well. They win contracts again and again, not on merit, but on influence. They recently garnered the contract for delinquent tax collection at BISD despite charging more for the service and having a poorer collection record than at least one of the competing bidders.

Recently, though, the City Commission, at the urging of Mayor Tony Martinez, threw us a curve. It was decided to try doing collections in house, thus saving citizens a 30% recovery fee tacked on top of their fines. The move seemed benevolent and citizen-oriented, although I was cynically warned at the time that it was just a ploy to fail at collections and fall back to the open arms of Linebarger. Here is part of the Mean Mister Brownsville report published 1/18/12:

Tony Martinez made a proposal at the 1/17/12 City Commission meeting that could make past due traffic citations less costly for those ticketed in Brownsville. Martinez spoke of "hard times" and the need not to put an excessive burden on locals who had difficulty paying traffic fines. Martinez explained that the current practice has been to ad a 30% administrative fee to all citations after 60 days, providing revenue to an outside collection firm collecting payments. He stated that the collection rate was still rather small, perhaps as low as 22% on delinquent fines.



Now, we learn that Linebarger PR man Mark Moody is sniffing around the City Commission, angling for the collection contract. Actually, nothing has been put out for bids. The in-house experiment is still in progress. But protocol has never been Linebarger's long suit.

State Representative Rene Oliveira has done stellar work for Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, L.L.P., but nothing for the citizens of the district. As we detailed in a Mean Mister Brownsville article dated 3/07/12:

Rene Oliveira's salary as a "Representative" of District 37 which includes Brownsville and Cameron County is said to be $7,200. He is also retained by the Brownsville Independent School District as interim counsel. But it is his work for Linebarger, Goggan, Blair and Sampson, LLP that gives his employer the most bang for the buck. First, a little historical perspective: In 2001 Oliveira spearheaded a committee to remove a line in section 3308 of the tax code limiting the delinquent tax collection fee to 15%, subsequently including language allowing a tax collection fee rate of 20%. That bill sailed through the Ways & Means Committee of which Rene was chairman and was passed by the entire house. Considering Linebarger's near statewide presence in tax collection, how many millions of dollars did this sleight of hand add to the agency's coffers? Now, fast forward to 2012. With Rene Oliveira retained by BISD as interim counsel, but still connected to Linebarger, the February 2, 2012 board meeting agenda contains an action item INCREASING the tax collection rate by 2.5%, netting the collection firm an extra $125,000. And who is that newly named firm? Linebarger, Goggan, Blair and Sampson LLP. (Please note: As documented by Bobby Wightman-Cervantes, Linebarger was a substantial contributor to the campaigns of BISD board members Longoria, Escobedo and Saavedra.) Who pays this extra fee and the millions of dollars collected since 2001 by the passage Rene Oliveira's house bill? The tax payers, the very people Representative Rene Oliveira claims to represent. We must not limit Oliveira's traitorous betrayal of Brownsville and Cameron County to tax matters. . . . . . Yes, Rene Oliveira is a representative, but not of the people of Brownsville, Cameron County and District 37.



WHY DOES EVERYONE WANT TO BUY IT FROM THE ESCOBEDO BROTHERS~CITY OF BROWNSVILLE, BISD, THE PORT?



Robert C. Luna, Purchasing Manager for the City of Brownsville is the Escobedo brothers head cheerleader. Ben Medina, the City Planning Director, leads the pep squad. Time and again the Escobedo company "American Surveillance" was introduced to the City Commission by Luna as a "sole source supplier" on surveillance and security equipment. They bilked the city for approximately $200,000 for the cameras at the sports park. I was told they eventually billed the city jail for 39 cameras, but may have installed as few as 13. Someone also tipped me off that the bids for the security cameras at the multi-modal facility would come in at around $200,000 since the sports park had set the bar at what the city could stomach. That proved to be true as bids were separated in two, each around $100,000 for the multi-modal bus station.

More recently, a proposal came before the commission for demolition services. Mr. Flim Flam, Robert C. Luna, presented a very disjointed, conflicting offering of approved contractors before the City Commission for approval. So ludicrous was the Luna presentation that the agenda item, although, not huge financially, was tabled. In the subsequent resubmission, the Escobedo brothers new demolition company, "American Contractors", was not among those contractors recommended. There was simply too much heat and light for the Escobedos.


But it's not just surveillance cameras and demolition. Now, all of a sudden, the Escobedos are sole suppliers of the kind of huge generators needed at the Port of Brownsville.


Carlos Masso, a candidate for district attorney, but still involved in the Brownsville Navigation District was asked on this blog why the Port was dealing exclusively with the Escobedo brothers in purchasing a new generator for the Port of Brownsville. Here is Masso's reply as it appeared on this blog:


"Regarding the contract with the Escobedos, I was not aware they owned the company. I do know that one of the Escobedos owns a security company named "American Security and Surveillance." The name of the company on the agenda was Valley American Contractors. Neither the agenda nor the backup to our agenda indicated that they were the owners. The company was the only bidder. Based on the information that was presented, if we didnt secure this generator now that it would cost us about 40% more if we waited to get a 2012 version which are not currently available. This generator would not have only been capable of meeting our power needs for the administrative building but also for the adjacent building. Furthermore, it was part of our security grant and the Port was putting in a matching contribution of 25%. Those were my reasons for voting for it. Not because it was the Escobedos company."

As many former salesman know, telling a customer that next year's model will increase greatly in price is frequently a sales gimmick to convince the naive to buy now. Fortunately, the Escobedo proposal did not go through.

STILL, IT'S SCARY!


So, thus far, our city, county, BISD and the port have incredibly loyal ties to primarily one law firm, Linebarger, for delinquent tax recovery and anything from the corrupt Escobedo brothers they can front a company to sell. It's not supposed to work that way.

8 comments:

  1. This whole thing is disgusting; all these people in it for themselves and their buddies. Makes you want to sell your property and move the hell out of this city/county where the majority of the politicians are dirty and bloodsuckers laughing all the way to the bank with our hard earned tax dollars. I'm particularly disappointed in Rene; I used to think he was one of the good guys who really gave a damn...apparently not.

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  2. Because the Escobedo leeches are paying to BISD trustees, city commissioners, port of Brownsville commissioners, and now couty commissioners. THAT'S WHY

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  3. Que Triste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No Vale Madre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. What happened to the Watch dog group? Brownsville Cheezmah should be all over this. Oh I forgot they helping find shampoo, lost dogs and humping Zeke…...

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  5. What about BISD security contract?

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  6. Carlos Masso also did nothing for the Bridge to Nowhere at The Port of Brownsville . 27 million of tax payers money lost. He is allegegeldy highly bank rolled by illegal gambling. They want him as a DA to get a free out of jail pass. He has allegedly paid thousands of dollars for exclusive rights for the New Online Politiqueras of Browsnville known as Brownsville Cheezmeh. Brownsville Cheezmeh has won the Dumb Ass Award of Being The First Online Politiqueras with a recognized side award of being the The Brownsville Prostitutes sold to the Highest Bidder. And the award goes to......

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  7. Sabal Tech on International is a reliable CCTV installer who could probably do the same work as American.

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  8. Rene Oliveira makes me want to puke.

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