BEDC Responds to Our Public Information Request for Travel Expenses. . . Sort of

BEDC President/CEO Jason Hilts

The hardworking taxpayers of this poorest city in the United States pay a heavy stipend so their city commissioners, port officials, economic development gurus and associates can travel throughout the world wining, dining and lodging themselves in the style of Jackie and Aristotle Onassis.

Who can forget the gluttonous, "fuck you, taxpayers" meals of the Port of Brownsville commissioners when the obese Ralph Cowen and a couple of other port commissioners gorged themselves on consecutive meals costing Brownsville taxpayers $1,600 and $1,800 each?

Recently we've been alerted to "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in travel expenses by the Brownsville Economic Development Council in their feigned pursuit of businesses desirous of locating or relocating in Brownsville.  (The BEDC has largely been unsuccessful.  Yes, there is SpaceX, but Elon Musk CHOSE Boca Chica as a launch site because of latitude, not the BEDC. The empty Titan Tire building and desolate North Brownsville Industrial Site scream the economic failure of this board.  The agenda of the next BEDC meeting is dotted with Carlos Marin pet projects; Jacobs Engineering and VIDA.)

With that backdrop we sent a Public Information Request to the BEDC simply asking for the amount of taxpayer money spent on travel for 2013-5, the cost of each trip and a list of those who went. BEDC Executive Vice President Gilbert Salinas responded, indicating the search for information would be time-consuming, possibly taking the requisite ten business days or more.

Near the deadline for response, we received a note from the BEDC signed by Jason Hilts indicating the total amount spent for travel during 2013-5, $312,541,  Hilts wanted an additional fee of $270 to tell us the cost of each trip.(I can buy my grandson a new laptop for that amount.)  Here is the "Response to Barton" as the BEDC called it:

Dear Mr. Barton, 

In response to your public information request received via email January 4, 2016 pertaining to the number of trips by the BEDC 2013-15 and pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act are the following responses numbered 1-3 and Appendix A.

1. Total number of trips of the BEDC.
     1. Please see Appendix A.
2. Cost of each trip.
     1. Annual expenditures for all BEDC travel per the follow years:
         FY 2013- $109,615
         FY 2014- $108,401
         FY 2015-  $94,525(unaudited)
3. Names of those traveling
     1. Please see Appendix A.

Despite stonewalling on the cost of each trip, Hilts or actually his secretary told us who went where during 2013-15.  Tony Martinez, for one, took full advantage of traveling, wining and dining on taxpayer money.