June 21, 2008
Nearly one year ago, I wrote, “El Pasoans today are seeing the most stunning case of political corruption in the history of El Paso County. Ordinary citizens, public officials, business leaders – all are shocked at the extent of the corruption made pubic Friday in documents filed in Federal court by the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas.”
That was before U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo delivered his recent order that revealed 80 “persons of interest” in the ongoing corruption scandal, 35 of whom are present or former elected officials. This makes El Paso’s public corruption cases among the largest in America outside of New York and Chicago.
With the recent guilty plea by Tony Dill, longtime political consultant to former mayors Larry Francis and Joe Wardy, County Judge Anthony Cobos, County Commissioner Miguel Terán and others, the question arises: “Where is the business community?”
Public corruption is paid for by business bribes. Corruption of governmental institutions by those seeking to enrich themselves must stop. When legitimate El Paso businesses must compete with bribes, not quality, all El Pasoans suffer.
Honest businessmen will not come to a city where the only way to do business is to bribe public officials. El Paso deserves better.
The time has come to ask, "Who are the prime movers behind the fiasco of corruption we see today? Who benefits from illegal bribery and other nefarious schemes? How did a value system based on corruption grow like a cancer?”
And now, most of all, we need to ask, “What is the business community going to do to change ‘business as usual.’”
Two years ago, Dee Margo, as Chair of the Greater Chamber of Commerce, honored Bob Jones – then president of the National Center for Employment of the Disabled -- as “Entrepreneur of the Year.” In other words, the man whose business model was to cheat the U.S. government was the model of how to do business in El Paso.
Not long before, Joe Wardy’s Administration proposed a $25-million subsidy to Eddie De Bartolo and his partners to develop a high-end shopping mall at the abandoned Farah plant. De Bartolo was a convicted felon who bribed former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. Today, new players are asking for another public subsidy on the same private property.
There is a key statement in the original information filed against Travis Ketner, Anthony Cobos' former chief of staff, that no doubt we will see again and again as additional indictments are handed up. Ketner was told that his "primary job responsibility would be to find opportunities in which John CC-5, John CC-1 and John CC-2 could receive compensation from vendors seeking contracts with the county, regardless of non-performance or lack of competence."
The document is written in such a way as to make clear that the allegations are against County Judge Anthony Cobos (John CC-5), and lawyers Luther Jones and David Escobar.
In the recent plea involving Raymond Telles, to explain his bribe, Telles said, “I thought that was the only way to do business in El Paso.” An anonymous El Paso lobbyist compared Tony Dill to Jack Abramoff, a convicted Washington lobbyist now in federal prison.
For the next several years, the most dramatic public corruption cases ever will unfold in El Paso’s federal courts. With guilty pleas by two Bear Sterns’ officials, Ketner, Telles, Flores and now Dill, the circle of corruption appears to be closing in on key County players.
Per Judge Montalvo’s order, the FBI is now investigating twelve or more criminal transactions. The El Paso Times reported more than 200 people had their telephone conversations recorded.
Public corruption devastates a community. When private gain is valued over public good, the public suffers. A cycle of corruption is difficult to overcome. Bribes ultimately are paid by taxpayers, making less money available for public goods and services. Inevitably, bribes go up and government quality goes down. The public loses trust in elected officials. People stop voting. Government finally grinds to a halt.
If that sounds familiar, it is what is happening right now in El Paso County, which is paralyzed by a business community hip-deep in unsavory practices. Instead of reform, instead of adopting business ethics, key elements of the business community have created a “Veritas” Business PAC to expand private control over public officials.
To affect substantial change, leadership starts with a business community willing to compete with quality, not buy influence with bribes; to promote the public good, not private gain.
It is past time for El Paso’s honest businesspeople to put an end to government-by-bribery.
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Don Kirkpatrick has been an El Paso resident for more than 45 years and is the former executive editor of the Texas Democratic Times. He received the George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.