Monday, April 7, 2014

With the GBIC Operating Illegally Since 11/14/13, Is Sossi Due His $5,000 per Month Stipend?



City Attorney Mark Sossi, receiving $5,000 per month from
the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, an entity
operating on 4A tax dollars, that has been terminated by
the State of Texas for noncompliance.


We waited for the staff at El Rrun Rrun to break the story on the Greater Brownsville Incentive Corporation's termination as a board, effective November 14, 2013, before pursuing the Sossi angle to this turn of events. Certainly, the GBIC board not being "legal" reflects on the non-performance of its legal eagle, City Attorney Mark Sossi, who must feel he earns his $5,000 per month by simply depositing his rear end in a seat at the board once a month.

Perhaps, we should allow former Mayor Pat Ahumada, who has been writing bits of his memoirs in blog comments recently, not
Former Mayor Pat Ahumada
simply defending his tenure as mayor, but giving us some history along with it, to characterize Sossi's performance as City Attorney since he was hired during Ahumada's term of office. Ahumada claims Sossi does/did "zilch" as City Attorney and blames Sossi for the banning of the broadcast of public comment at city commission meetings.(In a future blog we will put Ahumada's recent blog offerings next to known facts, while still recalling what Bob Marley taught us, that history is merely "his-story.")

 But, this morning we learned through El Rrun Rrun, evidently a document-driven blog, that the Texas Secretary of State has terminated the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation for basically not registering despite several requests for compliance. Brian Janis is still listed with the State of Texas as the GBIC's legal representative, which indicates Sossi has been lax in making certain the 4A taxpayer entity stays legal with respect to state requirements.  
All of this puts into question expenditures made since 11/14/2013, including hundreds of thousands of dollars to V.I.D.A., a charitable entity with extraordinary claims of taking Brownsville citizens off
Carlos Marin's "Photo" on the V.I.D.A. website
welfare, placing them in jobs "averaging a salary of $35,000 per year." When we asked the Director of V.I.D.A. for evidence of the group's claims, she resigned. On V.I.D.A.'s board of directors, as listed on their website, is a faceless image of Carlos Marin, rumored to be the primary manipulator behind the GBIC's dispersal of several milliion taxpayer dollars annually for "economic development."

The GBIC also pays Mark Sossi $5,000 per month to make certain everything the group does is legal and above board. What an embarrassment this latest revelation must be to the City of Brownsville and those paid handsomely to give legal guidance.






Posted by Jim Barton at 8:41 AM


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2 comments:
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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 7, 2014 at 6:45 PM

    The Brownsville Herald is calling for entries for its first-ever poetry contest. Poets are invited to submit one original piece, either in English or in Spanish, that hasn’t been published before and hasn’t previously won awards or prizes. Topics must be suitable for a general audience and may not be longer than 30 lines. Any style of poetry is permissible. Poems will be judged on creativity and artistic quality. The deadline to enter is 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 16. Winners will be announced in the Sunday edition of The Brown sville Herald on April 27. First, second, and third-place prizes will be awarded.
    Enter one of two ways:
    Mail entries to Poetry Contest, The Brownsville Herald, 1135 E. Van Buren, Brownsville, TX, 78520. Make sure to include your name, address, daytime telephone number, email address and title of the entry; or
    Submit your poem online

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pat AhumadaApril 7, 2014 at 9:24 PM

    Proving me right or wrong does not matter, the matter was brought to the commission by Sossi based on legal concerns he brought to our attention. Now, if you want to blame me for the removal go ahead, but I am no longer their. So, get them reinstated. I love to see some of the looney's we had on TV from the perspective of a spectator. I am not longer mayor, so who is blocking the return of the televised comments?

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  3. Jim BartonApril 7, 2014 at 9:42 PM

    Yes, who initiated the undemocratic broadcast ban on public comment is irrelevant. As I recall, so-called liability issues were included in the rationale. Actually, it takes a certain skill set to interact with citizens questioning, even getting loud and John F. Kennedy or Bill Clinton are not coming through the city commission doors.

    I can't think of a current commissioner mature or articulate enough to push for reinstatement of the broadcast, but the reasoned, thoughtful comments made by the 20 commenters at the town hall on the proposed parking meter increase was a near perfect model of how it COULD work.

    Of course, Tony made sure he was "out of town," and the city commission ignored the taxpayers.

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  4. Pat AhumadaApril 7, 2014 at 11:05 PM

    And, I totally agree! Like many good things, some people go out of their way to undermine the intent of the purpose of what is afforded to us all. Just so you know and you can check it out with Bill Young, I was the one who initiated the City Meetings to be televised on my first day on the job back in 1991 and introduced prayer at our meetings. The intent was to bring transparency and it worked very good when I was mayor the first time. Prayer was to bring a conscious awareness that we are here to serve our Lord by doing what is right. As cornie as it may seem to some, this is why I introduced the televising of our meetings when no one was doing it before us and prayer, which I am a firm believer in. Moving fast forward to this period in time, you must admit, the intent was thrown out the window when you would get people to speak during public comments and some were off the wall with allegations, literal attacks and not very constructive. I remember telling Euresti, Grazoria, Ruiz, and others, to get their information first and check out their facts before speaking. I afforded them by instructing the city manager to be open to them when they had issues to be addressed. I clearly told them, please sit down with the director of the department first and discuss the issue, then go speak on the issue, but other than Letty no one really wanted to go that route. They just wanted to blast away. Letty, bless her heart, did take us up on it and constantly took up the Finance Department's time on many issues and they would go over her concerns at the city and PUB. After having gone through the process, then she was better informed to have an opinion regardless whether we agreed or not, because she atleast took the time to discuss the subject matter with people who were related to the matter in the department corresponding her concern. Just my thoughts!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pat AhumadaApril 8, 2014 at 12:40 AM

    Jim, the problem was not the public speaking forum, but those who seized the pulpit to be bullies knowing no one on the commission could respond. Some just wanted their 5 minutes of fame, while some did provide insight and beneficial comments. Just like your blog and the intent to allow an exchange of comments that is constructive, some people like Chris Valadez who would hide under the pen name Annonymous and would take liberties that were very damaging with no benefit for anyone, the same was occuring during the public comment period at the city. People like Chris and some of the looneys that would go to the city to get on TV and just promote venom ruins the intent of the forum. It gets to the point people get turned off and stop interacting via the blogs, which undermines the original intent of the blogs. I think the blogs should not allow people like Chris to hide behind Anonymous, but should be forced to use their names, otherwise they should be blocked.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousApril 8, 2014 at 1:22 AM

    Hey Pat, so what's up?

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousApril 8, 2014 at 9:19 AM

    Anything to take the attention off of you and your upcoming criminal trial, right Pat?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Pat AhumadaApril 8, 2014 at 8:53 PM

    Annon you really believe what you sa?. I am no longer mayor, so what? They cannot do more damage, so what do I have to deflect attention from? You are nuts!

    ReplyDelete

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