August 10, 2007
Among the names being thrown about in the FBI’s investigation into corruption within county government is that of Gilbert Sanchez, District Clerk for El Paso County. Former county judge chief of staff Travis Ketner accused Sanchez, who isn’t expressly named in Ketner’s information, accused Sanchez of rigging district clerk computers so that case assignments would land in courts with more favorable judges.
Since May, when the allegations were made, Sanchez said there has not been much of a change in his office. He said that initially there was a mood of disbelief, but now employees are back to their routines and his office is moving forward. But the finger-pointing has left lingering emotions and may lead to future causes of action for the second-term politician.
Before the Storm
Sanchez was first elected as district clerk in 2002, after his position as a court administrator with the 383rd District Court was no longer available after Judge Reed Leverton lost his bid for re-election.
It was then that Sanchez decided he would run for office. “When I was with the 383rd I had seen a lot of issues with the office – a lot of flaws – and it was basically a ‘put up or shut up’ type of thing,” Sanchez said. “I constantly had been at odds with the administration of my predecessor as to the running of the office and the efficiency of the office, and at the point I decided to go ahead and run.”
Since then, Sanchez has made attempts to modernize an office that before was technologically deficient. “When I came in, my predecessor didn’t have the technological initiative or know how,” said Sanchez. “Literally, there were six typewriters in a box when I came into this office,” he added, “and we both know that we are long-since past typewriters.”
Sanchez is also looking into posting all court documents in his office’s possession online so that anyone can access them over the Internet. But that initiative is waiting for the issuance of an attorney general’s opinion. Sanchez argues that since those documents are available to anyone who walks into the District Clerk’s office and asks to see them, then why not allow them to be accessed over the Internet?
Once that attorney general’s opinion is issued, Sanchez said it would only take a “flip of a switch” to have those documents available for all to see online. “It’s already ready, and you can just turn it on and you can start viewing and downloading the documents,” he said.
While the issue of bringing technology to a previously un-advanced office is one of Sanchez’ motivations for braggadocio, there are other issues that are still a cause of concern for his office, such as the mountains of unidentifiable evidence currently sitting in county storage.
Sitting on Sanchez’ desk is a military-green , sheathed bayonet, which he claims is an original from 1943. As he removed the sheath, a sticker visible on the blade reads only “State’s Exhibit: S-1.” That is the only thing with which Sanchez may be able to identify its origins. “It (the bayonet) is one of our evidence that we have and we cannot attach it to a case,” he said. The same goes for a hallowed-out grenade sitting on his desk, which only has the number “1” attached to the pin of the ancient explosive. “I think it’s pretty cool; it’s a good conversation piece,” Sanchez said. “I think it just shows you how our office is.”
Allegations of Manipulation
Those untraceable weapons are not the biggest of Sanchez’ problems, though. Most recently, he has found himself dealing with the accusations made by Ketner.
Recently, Sanchez has requested a formal audit of his office in hopes that that audit will help to clear his name. The audit, which will be conducted by the National Center of State Courts, is set to take place in October of this year. Sanchez will soon present a request to the Commissioner’s Court for funding for the audit. “The audit will bring a more clear understanding of what this office does,” Sanchez claims.
That audit, Sanchez is hoping, will prove that he did not engage in any wrong doing in the way courts are selected by the District Clerk’s office. Sanchez said that process to select courts is complicated, though it can be manipulated in certain cases, which is not illegal.
The Council of Judges determines what percentages of cases the various courts are supposed to be given. Those percentages are then entered into what Sanchez calls “the wheel,” which is the computer program that randomly assigns cases to the courts.
“People need to understand that it is not illegal and it is not improper for (me) to place a case in a court that I deem necessary for the management of this office,” Sanchez said. He then opened a small metal box that contained several numbered keys which Sanchez said is the official method of randomly selecting courts when the office’s computer system is down.
“The time when it becomes illegal is when I receive a bribe,” Sanchez stated hypothetically, attempting to discern between the occasions when it is necessary for him to manipulate the system and when that manipulation would be improper."'If you make it fall in the 65th (district court), I’ll pay you money,' then that of course is a bribe and that’s illegal,” Sanchez said. He then gave an example of when court assignment manipulation is necessary, such as when a protective order needs to be signed by a judge but that judge has left for the day. That’s when Sanchez will say, “OK, because this is a dire need situation” then the case can go to another court.
Sanchez said that the program “wheel” will then adjust case assignments to continue to meet the percentages dictated by the Council of Judges. “The impression is that that is illegal and is improper, and it’s not,” Sanchez added.
Sanchez said complaints about wrongly-manipulated court assignments would have arisen from attorneys involved in those cases if that allegation were true. “No attorney has come up and questioned this independently,” he said. “They are probably our best check and balance.”
Pointing out another situation when court cases need to be manually assigned by the clerk, Sanchez suggested that it would be improper to allow an attorney’s case to be assigned to a court if that attorney were to be campaigning against that court’s judge for election to the bench. “Would you want that individual to be in that court knowing they are campaigning against each other,” Sanchez asked. “Would it be fair to the parties to be in that court? Of course not.”
A Family Affected
After pausing to contemplate how his family has been affected by the allegations made by Ketner, Sanchez said his mother was in tears when she heard the accusations against her son. “She didn’t know, when the FBI basically threatened my family, whether I was going to go to jail,” Sanchez said. “It was right before or right after Mother’s Day,” he added.
Sanchez said the ordeal has been difficult on his wife as well. “I’ve had very many sleepless nights,” he said, “which means my wife doesn’t sleep.” Sanchez admitted that his situation has led to arguments between the couple. “It’s been hard for her.”
He said that the allegations have also affected his children, noting that his daughter has woken up in the middle of the night and asked, “Dad, are they going to take you away?” He added that there have been times when the family’s doorbell has rang and they reacted with apprehension, not knowing if the person is a friend or family member or if it may be FBI agents coming to the home.
Sanchez’ father and brothers, he said, are very worried, adding that they feel that the FBI has tarnished his family’s name. “It’s been out in the press,” he said, “and I could stand on the mountain and scream out ‘I’m innocent, I’ve done nothing wrong,’ but it’s already been published what these idiots (Ketner and former County Commissioner Betti Flores) have pled to.”
“How do I change maybe half a million people’s minds that I’ve done nothing wrong,” Sanchez asked, noting that even with the upcoming audit, some minds may not change. He acknowledged that when all is said and done and when the investigation is over, he may not even receive an apology from federal authorities.
While the charges are affecting his family, Sanchez also said his relationships with people outside his family have also changed. “People seem to keep their distance” he said. He added that he tries to maintain professional relationships with the attorneys he interacts with in his duties as district clerk, though he admits that he has to be “on his toes.”
In referring to local attorney Martie Jobe, who has filed a federal lawsuit to fight allegations made against her by Ketner, Sanchez said, “we kind of feel sorry for each other that we have to go through this and that we’ll eventually be cleared of this.” Sanchez added that he and Jobe still try to maintain a professional relationship, though he has not seen her at public events since the allegations broke nearly three months ago.
“My attorneys have said we have to live life as if nothing has changed,” Sanchez said, He noted that his is a difficult situation, with people either thinking that withdrawing from the public eye may be an expression of guilt or that continuing to interact with others who have been accused shows that he may be guilty. “I’m kind of in a catch-22,” he stated.
While he acknowledges that a resolution to the investigation may not come in the near future, Sanchez said he wishes for the ordeal to end because it is not only affecting his family, but also his staff. He described one instance when his office’s computer system failed and his staff was forced to second-guess their procedures in regards to manually assigning court cases and even as to whether they should continue to collect money from people doing business with the office. “We had set policies and procedures in place for such an event,” Sanchez stated, but he said everyone thought in their mind “OK, what is the FBI going to come in and say.”
“It’s been difficult in my shoes,” Sanchez said. “I just want it over.”
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Rene Leon can be contacted at rene@newspapertree.com, or at 915.351.0605.