Mayor Tony Martinez Continues Pattern of Dishonesty, Misuse of Funds, Scams

Mayor Tony Martinez

In most U.S. cities, our mayor's record would have him facing recall. But, in our sleepy city, "on the border, by the sea," where a tiny fraction of registered voters actually vote and even fewer keep up with city government, Martinez' job is safe.

Tony Martinez' tenure as mayor has been marked by misuse of taxpayer funds, improper handling of bids and bypassing the City Commission for expenditures.  

Dr. Oziel Davilla Robles

An early scam, kept hush-hush by the city was the fraudulent billing by Dr. Oziel Davilla Robles, reportedly for over $400,000 in bogus dental charges for city employees. The money had allegedly been funneled into a night club at the convergence of FM 802 and Hwy 48.
Robles did not even have an office in Brownsville, only a mail box at a rundown, closed strip mall.  Astonishingly, the city settled for only $70,000 or just .17 on the dollar, in a special meeting 1/24/12.  A city employee remembered the dentist frequenting the office of City Purchasing Director Roberto C. Luna with the two seemingly on very good terms.

Also in 2012, the mayor, likely under direction by former UTB President Juliet Garcia, purchased 12 downtown buildings for $3,500,000.  Although the mayor does not have the intestinal fortitude to admit it, the purchases were likely made under the misguided notion that the University of Texas would utilize these third tier edifices for its campus or administration.  The double wammy for the taxpayers is that, while all the buildings were taken off the tax rolls, the city has no actual use for any of them.(In a token effort, one small brick building at 7th and Ringgold was converted into a secondary tourist office, but with no actual tourist traffic.)

The flagship of this boondoggle is La Casa del Nylon, purchased for $2,300,000, triple its appraised value, from Martinez' friend Abraham Galonsky, in a deal "negotiated" by Martinez' law partner, Horacio Barrera.   Barrera is either a total dimwit or solidly part of the corruption.

In 2013 Mayor Martinez was once again caught with his hand in the cookie jar, this time unlawfully using $700,000 of the Texas AEP refund of $3,060,000.  By the time two alert city commissioners caught Martinez, only $2.3 million remained in the fund.  

In 2014, after the city had offered one of two tracts of land to the ultra-rich University of Texas system, Martinez claimed that someone represent UT(likely Juliet Garcia) had requested the city's Lincoln Park instead.  Once again, Martinez failed to act in the city's interest, protecting city assets.(Lincoln Park has still not been officially taken "off the table," and is in jeopardy of being included in a gift package to UT.)

The article below, by El Rrun Rrun's Juan Montoya, shows that Martinez' squandering of taxpayer funds, keeping commissioners out of the loop continues.