This week in Odds and Ends, we look at:
* * *
We start with the quote of the week, something to lighten the mood. It comes from Lozano, and was said at the June 21 council meeting, just before he voted to fire former City Attorney Lisa Elizondo.
The motion was made by Rep. Susannah Byrd, and seconded by Rep. Steve Ortega, "To remove Lisa Elizondo from the position of City Attorney and that any administrative leave, sick leave, or vacation that is due to Ms. Elizondo be afforded to her."
Ann Lilly and Byrd, in district 1 and 2 respectively, voted in favor of the motion. Lozano, in District 3, was the third vote. He explained himself thusly: "And for Ms. Elizondo, I think she did a fabulous job. You know, she was moving in the right directions [sic]. And I wish we would continue in the same manner. So, 'Aye'."
With that, we begin Odds and Ends.
* * *
LOZANO CREDIT CARD: TOTAL BALANCE PAID 'UNDER PROTEST'
City Council members will use a new policy when dealing with city credit cards, following the discovery of several thousand dollars in disputed credit card bills generated by Lozano.
Newspaper Tree reported in the last issue that Lozano used his city credit card for a number of questionable charges [odds & ends]. One of those was $743.56 for a cruise on Norwegian Spirit. Lozano claimed he had paid the amount back, a claim verified by a second set of records released to Newspaper Tree regarding Lozano's credit card use. [link]
However, those records show that Lozano paid the city $3,399.99 -- "Under Protest," as noted in the subject line on his check to the city, dated June 8 -- for other charges, primarily travel, that he could not prove were related to city business. If he did not pay, he would not have been allowed to take office.
The charges disallowed included: $28.04 for a meal at his restaurant Oct. 23, 2003; trips to Mexico, Seattle, Dallas, and Houston in 2004 and 2005; and $165.90 spent for Verbal Advantage Jan. 4.
Lozano told Newspaper Tree that he thought his activities justified city expense, particularly those having to do with his role promoting economic development on his trips to Mexico.
City Manager Joyce Wilson said the incident spurred creation of a new policy for use of city credit cards.
"The mayor's office controlled accounts and billing," Wilson said. "I did not become aware of certain charges that had not been reconciled until earlier this year."
She said from now on, one person in each council member's office would handle credit card charges, which will be reconciled with the comptroller every 30 days. In addition, the staff member will fill out travel plans in advance, and reconcile those upon return, Wilson said.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated matter, police said they still are investigating whether Lozano broke any campaign laws by having political material stored on his City Hall computer. That issue also was discussed in the last issue of Newspaper Tree. [odds & ends]
* * *
BOB COOK: "IT'S ALWAYS THE CLIENT'S CALL"
Last issue, we followed [odds & ends] the front-page coverage in the El Paso Times and El Paso Inc. of the Aerospace Missions Corp. (ASMC) announcement it was opening shop in El Paso. The story in the Times, accompanied by an editorial, claimed the company would bring a $35 million annual impact and more than 100 high-paying jobs. The story appeared just before the municipal elections. A week later, the Times did a sort of make-up story, calling ASMC a startup.
Newspaper Tree attempted to speak with Bob Cook, interim president of the private economic development company Redco, and with Ricky James Morgan, the CEO of ASMC. Morgan has not been available to Newspaper Tree, but Cook did speak to us.
Cook, who in 2003, just before the mayoral election, gave an interview to Channel 7 in which he said then-Mayor Ray Caballero turned down an important economic development opportunity, said the fact that he was involved in another important-sounding announcement days before an election was not an indication either incident was politically motivated.
"I personally am, and Redco is, apolitical. We don't endorse candidates nor do we do things to try to influence elections," Cook said. "It's always the client's call as to timing, whether we have a press conference and the venue."
Cook said, "in the case of ASMC, the company, a legitimate company by the way with a legitimate business plan, the company had a contract they were trying to finalize with the Department of the Army."
He said the contract was signed May 11, and the company did not want to conflict with the Base Realignment Commission recommendations May 13. The company also wanted to make its announcement when Congressman Silvestre Reyes would be available, Cook said, because Reyes was instrumental in bringing the company to El Paso. Reyes, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, helped the company gain its military contract.
In the case of the 2003 election, Cook said, "I didn't seek that interview, it was an interview I granted and I established clear ground rules as to what questions I would or would not answer. They asked questions and I answered truthfully and did not elaborate."
When asked why he did not turn the station down on the interview, Cook said, "I didn't know what they were going to talk about ahead of time other than they wanted to talk about my experience with mayoral candidates, plural, and their role in economic development."
Cook acknowledged such questions were fair: "I can see how someone would perceive there is political motivation. I don't think they're unfair questions at all."
He explained that Redco's goal is to recruit companies to El Paso, and it does not charge companies for its services.
"We first do verification to make sure they're a legitimate company," he said. "Minimally, we do background checks through the Internet. Oftentimes we will go to sources the individual company claims they have relationships with, (such as) banks ... or a report like Dunn and Bradstreet."
Cook said in the case of ASMC, the referral came from Reyes' office.
"Often when we get a referral like that coming directly from a federal official such as a congressman there's an awful lot of credibility that comes with that," Cook said. "We did verify via an Internet search that the company had contract with NASA."
He said he had seen the company's business plan, but could not comment on it because of a non-disclosure agreement.
Cook said he was not embarrassed about the gushing coverage of what essentially is a startup company, "but I did call (Times Executive Editor) Bob Moore a few days after the article came out to really only correct one fact -- they stated the company had been around for 30 years ... the management team had 30 years of experience. ... The company was very clear at the press conference it was a startup."
* * *
The El Paso Holocaust Museum [website], which announced to great fanfare the plan for an architecturally unique, nearly $3 million museum next to the freeway on donated land in Sunset Heights, now has a different move in mind.
The museum, which has raised about $600,000 so far, hopes to move into the former offices of Lauterbach and Borschow, at Yandell and Oregon across the street from the KTSM offices.
"The decision was made by the board that it was more realistic to build a smaller museum than what was originally planned, and therefore the new location was more practical," said Jimmy Rogers Jr., a museum board member and co-chair of the capital campaign.
"It still will be built in a first class manner, and I think the community will be very pleased," Rogers said. He said the museum is about to start fund-raising again, at the end of the summer.
Rogers said that he understands some people may be disappointed that the larger project will not go forward. He said the scaled-down project was to cost up to $2 million.
"Anybody is entitled to their opinion but the final decision was made by the majority of the board," Rogers said. "Some people might have had higher aspirations or hopes but there is no question the decision made was a majority decision."
* * *
LARRY MEDINA ON THE HOUSING AUTHORITY
Larry Medina, a former city councilman and unsuccessful candidate to regain his District 2 seat from Lozano, was named to the El Paso Housing Authority [website] board of commissioners.
At his first meeting, he successfully fought to keep the board from hiring Assistant City Attorney James Martinez, who likely will be gone from the city of El Paso by next week (week of June 27).
Medina said the board was little-known but very important.
"It's got 400 to 450 employees ... it's the second largest housing authority in Texas and one of the largest in the country," Medina said. "The largest (in Texas) is San Antonio. On a per capita basis we're larger."
He said the choice of who runs it is key: "The right president and CEO can take us to the next level. The money and resources the Housing Authority brings to the table can be expanded, and the current service and benefits can be improved."
The Housing Authority has been a source of political tension since 2003, when Mayor Joe Wardy tried to replace the board because of disagreements.
Mayor John Cook sent a letter to each of the commissioners asking them not to name a new executive director. "I will be making appointments to the Board for the two board positions that have already expired on July 25, 2004," he wrote in one of the letters, to Bertha A. Gallardo [link].
Medina said he was pleased with the appointment.
"It makes me feel like I'm going back to my roots," he said. "I was raised in the Alamito projects, apartment 108 and later on apartment 258."
* * *
HIRING JAIME, AND TAXING MEMOS
New Rep. Eddie Holguin wanted to split Jaime Perez [odds & ends] with Lozano, with each paying half a $50,000 salary for the campaign strategist to become a policy analyst. Wilson said such a hire would fall under the civil service system and refused to hire Perez, who worked briefly in City Hall for Lozano.
But each new representative is allowed one hire, a precedent set by the outgoing administration, and Wilson said two chose to hire new people -- Rep. Ann Lilly and Holguin.
The Civil Service Commission last week (June 23) approved Perez at a biweekly salary of $1,269.23.
Holguin exchanged a series of memos [link] with Wilson leading up to the hire, and in those also sought to create a tax freeze and budget-cutting ordinance in his first meeting.
"Provide me with a template so that I may introduce an ordinance at my first official June 14th meeting to Freeze taxes for the elderly at age 65 and disabled according to Social Security definition consistent with state law," Holguin wrote June 6, two days after his election.
In addition, he demanded, "I want you to draft a possible plan to include a directive that would not lay off personnel but rather eliminate overtime, freeze hiring in 2005-2006 and permit individual departments the flexibility to reduce the total man hours for departmental personnel from 40 to 32 hours a week to accomplish the cuts."
Wilson responded: "This is premature given that council has just increased the exemption, so I would advise you to wait until we present the FY 2006 budget."
As for the cost-cutting plan, Wilson wrote: "It would be impossible to reduce the police and fire by 5% and not lay off police and firefighters. Also, the union contracts would preclude reducing to a 32-hour work shift. Again, you need to go thru the orientation, particularly on the financial management side, before jumping to these conclusions."
* * *
