Carl Starr, the civic activist who filed the motion, said that he did it after reading an El Paso Times story on the fact that most of the files in the public corruption case were sealed.
"I agreed that it was wrong and so I went and did some legal research and then went to Pacer (legal document system) to try to look at the docket and virtually everything was sealed and I didn’t see any findings about sealing," Starr said. "He (the judge) didn't make any findings explaining why he was sealing this and that's what those cases I cite explain."
The motion can be viewed via the link below.
Starr said he didn't want to "burden the court, but if he has to go through each (document) and redact names so be it."
The judge, he said, "needs to make findings and not just be conclusory. He has to make findings and enter it in an order to where the public can see that."
Starr said he thought that nobody had challenged the sealed records yet because "we're isolated and there's a lot of disenfranchisement in El Paso, and the government tries to get by things they wouldn’t in Dallas or New York, somewhere where there are a lot of people who would speak out."
Seven people have pleaded guilty via a document called an "information. The first information, containing the guilty plea of former County Judge Chief of Staff Travis Ketner, was comparatively detailed, as the successive documents made public contained less and less background and specifics. Ketner's plea was in June, almost a year ago.
Attempts to reach the U.S. Attorney's office for comment were unsuccessful. U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo, who has presided over the court activity, typically does not speak with the press, and was in court at the time of this story posting.
Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, was quoted in the Times article.
In an interview Wednesday (March 26, 2008), she said that the time has long past for unsealing documents.
"I'm pleased to hear that someone has some sense of public responsibility here and they're willing to spend the time and money to intervene on the public's behalf to figure out what is going on with all these public officials," she said of Starr's action.
"I am sympathetic with the need for grand jury secrecy,
but when you get a situation where multiple folks are pleading guilty in secret and you don't know the scope of what is going on in the city, obviously this is very important and (the public) should have the ability to engage in some oversight," Dalglish said.
"You have seven people you know who pleaded guilty and no one's been allowed to hear what is going on. You can't have an unending grand jury. Enough is enough -- it's time for the public to start finding out," she said.
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Background
On March 14, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton announced that 51-year-old Raymond Telles was charged by Information with two counts of Conspiracy to commit Mail Fraud, Wire Fraud and the Deprivation of Honest Services.
From the news release sent out that day:
"By pleading guilty to count one, Telles admitted to conspiring with others to devise a scheme to defraud the Socorro Independent School District (SISD) and the citizens of El Paso living in the SISD of the right to honest services of elected SISD Trustees in the affairs of the SISD. It further alleges that the defendant attempted to bribe the elected Trustees of SISD, in exchange for their support and vote in their official capacity as SISD Trustees, in violation of their fiduciary duty as elected SISD Trustees, for agreements between SISD and vendors seeking business with the SISD.
"By pleading guilty to count two, Telles admitted to conspiring with others to devise a scheme to defraud the County of El Paso and the citizens of the County of El Paso of the right to the honest services of elected members of the El Paso County Commissioner’s Court, in the affairs of El Paso County by also attempting to bribe members of the El Paso County Commissioner’s Court for their support and vote in their official capacity as members of the El Paso County Commissioner’s Court. Telles faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine per count.
"No sentencing date has been scheduled. This is an ongoing investigation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted for the government by Assistant United States Attorney Debra Kanof."
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The information, the legal document with which Telles pleaded guilty, alleges that Telles arranged with elected officials to exchange votes for payoffs in the Socorro school district between 2002 and 2007, and the County Commissioners Court from Jan.1-May 17, 2007.
The document, four pages in total, states that Telles "and his co-conspirators sent and caused to be sent and delivered .. pricing trip letters, Preliminary Official Statements, Official Statements, Proposals and other correspondence required as a result of contracts ... [and] transmitted and caused the transmission by wire, in interstate and foreign commerce, writings, signs, signals, pictures and sounds including electornic mailings of funding analyses and wiring instructions and the wire transmission of large sums of money."
The document stated that Telles violated Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1349, 1341, 1343 and 1346.
It stated that the actions took place between Sept. 29, 2002 and June 2007 in the SISD, and Jan. 1 to May 17, 2007 in the county. It does not specify the actions or actors involved.
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Context
Telles' was the most recent plea in the public corruption case, a very complex investigation that involves the legal, political and business communities of El Paso.
Officials in the county and the EPISD have pleaded guilty, and businessmen who have pleaded guilty thus far have implicated the El Paso Community College and the Socorro School District.
The first three guilty pleas, filed in the form of a document called an "information":
-- Betti Flores
Here are the NPT stories regarding the guilty pleas:
-- Travis Ketner, June 8, 2007
-- Betti Flores, July 7, 2007
-- Bernardo Lucero, Aug. 17, 2007
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Some of the other court action revolves around efforts to disqualify one lawyer, and efforts by another lawyer to disqualify the judge hearing the cases:
-- Lawyer Martie Jobe filed a lawsuit against Travis Ketner, claiming he defamed her in his guilty plea. Then she tried to force recusal of District Judge Frank Montalvo, who is hearing the public corruption cases. [Aug. 7, 2007, Jobe argument] [Aug. 10, 2007, decision on the issue]
-- Montalvo disqualified lawyer Mary Stillinger from representing three clients who were called targets. They were Ysleta school district Trustee Mickey Duntley, El Paso school district trustee Charles Roark, and NCED Chief Operating Officer Ernie Lopez. [July 27, 2007, disqualification] [Aug. 8, 2007, clarification of issues]
***
NPT stories on various events and issues:
-- May 16, 2007, FBI raids county
-- June 14, 2007, FBI focuses on district clerk
-- May 18, 2007, explanation of search warrant process
-- June 29, 2007, business as (mostly) usual in the County Courthouse
-- Aug. 10, 2007, interview with District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez
-- Aug. 21, 2007, interview with FBI SAC Manuel Mora
***
Public corruption is prevalent in the United States, most often appearing in the news in relation to local politics. Some stories to provide context:
-- Christian Science Monitor writing in 2005 about Chicago
-- Wikipediapage on Orlando politician Ernest Page
-- Times-Picayune 2007 story about New Orleans
-- American Heritage magazine history of New York City corruption
-- Memphis Commercial Appeal writing in 2007 about a "culture of corruption" in Memphis
Related Documents:
LisaT
March 26, 2008
Carl Starr knows better than this. To open documents while the investigation is ongoing will solve nothing. People need to sit back and let the FBI do it's job and quit interfering with their investigation.
CK
March 26, 2008
I, for one, want the Federal Prosecutor and all her staff to take their time and make the charges stick. Dot all the i's and cross all the t's. I am sure that when the FBI started peeling the investigative onion, more and more people began to appear. It is imperative that those involved in corruption in El Paso be exposed, but not at the expense of a chance of getting off. Are there businessmen, politicians, judges, and lawyers involved? So far the Feds have batted 100%.
I have full confidence in their ability to prosecute these cases.
Raul Valdez
March 27, 2008
Is it a crime to not report an attempt to bribe some official? The idea that someone was approached and the attempt was not reported is an indication someone is hiding evidence. When Telles sang, he mentioned names. Well, didn't other people know what was happening? I am sure officials are approched all the time, but shouldn't this attempts be reported? Redo the ethics code and make bribe attempts a reportable requirement.
Daniel Solis
March 27, 2008
As voters and as citizens we have a right to be informed, we voted for some of these people (politicos), our hard earned money goes to paying for their salaries and except for the ones that have pleaded guilty everything else is a mystery. Montalvo has a responsability to those being investigated but he also has a responsability to us the citizens of El Paso. OFF WITH THE CLOAK!
Manuel
March 27, 2008
While the argument in favor of sealing the documents appear well intentioned, it is deceiving since it also gives the unnamed people more time to negotiate behind closed doors for more lenient sentences or no consequences at all. Everyone know that the FBI is sniffing everywhere and that the relevant files have been confiscated. All the rats have scattered and trying to act as respectable citizens. It is time for the government to publicly vent all the foul events so we can begin to digest the causes and avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Ray
March 27, 2008
I feel that when the files are unsealed that we will not rerally want to hear who was involved. The idea that deals are being made is absured.. Lert the inveastigation continue and see who pops-up next in the news?
Ken G
March 30, 2008
Keep digging. The truth will out.
Gloria Alvarez
May 7, 2008
In all this "Public Corruption", my question is are any of the afore mentioned in jail. So why is Fernando Parra being kept locked up and the likes of Betty Flores, Ketner, Raymond Telles can roam the streets? It's time to bring this whole incident to the forefront and find out exactly who is guilty and punish them. It is not fair that one young man should be held, when all those other "criminals" are out are they not a threat to society?!