Posted on 02/06/2018 6:55:27 AM PST by Elderberry
A local official in Hidalgo, Texas, cajoled company executives to hire a firm owned by his family in exchange for a cut of lucrative construction contracts, an investigation from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found. Claims against that official and his family were made last year in a lawsuit by the county. The kickback scheme started during a discussion at a steakhouse near the US-Mexico border in Texas. The kickback scheme was allegedly hashed out over weeknight drinks at a steakhouse in a border county in south Texas.
Amid surf and turf and expensive scotch, a Hidalgo County official said he would meet with contractors in the clubby confines of the restaurant in a strip mall in McAllen.
There, Godfrey Garza Jr., director of the county’s drainage district, cajoled company executives to hire a firm owned by his family in exchange for a cut of lucrative construction contracts, according to new documents filed in state district court in Hidalgo County.
The target of the plan: a $232 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the county to build a border fence and rehabilitate aging dirt levees along the Rio Grande.
The previously unreported details of Garza’s alleged scheme emerged last week in an ongoing lawsuit in which the county has sued companies owned by Garza, his wife and their two sons for fraud during the construction of the combined levee-fence. The new filings also implicate one of Texas’ most powerful engineering firms, Dannenbaum Engineering, as a participant in the scheme.
“[T]he deeper we look into this case the more troubling facts we discover,” said Michael J. Blanchard, the county’s lawyer. “As evidence develops, it is increasingly clear that the wrongdoing in this case rose beyond the level of simple fraud.”
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
So typical, and what I saw in a similar government funded construction project in the 1990’s was flocks of Democrat birds of prey picking the bones of every cent they could steal from the taxpayers.
Democrats are a species of Vulture.
This all happened starting before or in 2007, was obviously part of the Secure Fence Act and contracts were out under the Bush administration, likely continued in some form or was being completed under the Obama administration. It has just taken all this time for the corruption to come to light and lawsuits to be filed.
The article was written as it was with no dates of when all this played out to give the impression this has something to do with President Trump. What a sleazy reporter!! No intent to inform, only to confuse something that happened years ago and lay it on the Trump administration!
If I had to guess I would say this from 2016 was used by this reporter for most of this story:
NOVEMBER 29, 2016 4B Drainage district lawsuit MONITOR EDITORIAL It’s taken years to get to this point, and undoubtedly it could take years more for this case to go forward, but it appears that Hidalgo County offi cials have fi nally put into motion a possible lawsuit against former Drainage District Manager Godfrey Garza in connection with $3.73 million in commission fees that his company, Integ Inc., earned while he worked for the county. In 2015, Corpus Christi lawyer Michael Lee, who was hired by Hidalgo County Commissioners as an independent investigator, issued a report that found Integ was paid $3.73 million in commission fees for the border levee project, which involved federal and local funds from a $100 million county bond issue. And earlier this month, Lee issued another report in which he found a confl ict of interest regarding contracts awarded to Integ Corp., and to Valley Data Collection Specialist Inc., which Garza’s wife, Annie Garza, served as president and director, and which received contracts of $1.1 million from the drainage district. County Judge Ramon Garcia, who chairs the Hidalgo County Drainage District Board, has long publicly stated that he believes Godfrey Garza should not have been entitled to any such commissions while working as director of the district and overseeing contracts and its funds. Garcia was not in offi ce in 2007 when Garza’s management contract with the county was amended and adjusted to allow a 1.5 percent construction commission to Integ, in addition to a monthly $9,500 salary paid to Integ, according to the contract, which The Monitor has reviewed. That change came after construction of the border wall — the Hidalgo County Border Infrastructure Improvement Project — was ordered using $100 million in taxpayer funds. Earlier this year, Garza fought attempts to be deposed on these allegations, prompting The Monitor’s editorial board to demand he answer the questions. Last week, Hidalgo County Commissioners (who make up the Drainage District Board) voted to “hire a lawyer to proceed to enforce and prosecute any and all remedies that are available to the district,” Garcia said. Commissioners went into executive session for almost an hour over this issue and when they fi nally emerged they agreed to hire a lawyer on a contingency fee basis — meaning the lawyer will only be paid if the county collects on the case. “The district is not going to be out any more money,” Garcia vowed. We hope so and we hope that whoever is hired in the upcoming weeks will help the district to collect on whatever it is due. Furthermore, we hope this case will serve as an example to all area elected boards on how they must act with scrupulous intent when awarding contracts with taxpayers’ money.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/286310005/
OMG! A drainage district official (insert your choice of METRO, County Judge, whatever) guilty of bribes and malfeasance? Please tell me it isn’t so. /s
Just another day in South Texas.
Do bees buzz?
W was not a native Texan. The Valley is full of demonrat Mexican officials. Like Mexico all government is full of graft and corruption.
The rest of your post is rambling. Texans are strong, but not perfect. We are a different breed, Hurricane Harvey showed that to the world.
Illegal immigration sucks and is a draining on our resources, but when the federated don’t do shit, we have to rely on our own abilities.
Abbott is very popular and so is Cruz. Most of us hate Corny with a passion.
True. Conservative Texans do NOT want illegal immigration. I am not sure where some here have gotten the opposite idea, but they are wrong. Rats want it no matter what state they are from. And, I despise Cornyn, too.
Godfrey Garza Jr., director of the county’s drainage district, cajoled company executives to hire a firm owned by his family in exchange for a cut of lucrative construction contracts, according to new documents filed in state district court in Hidalgo County. The target of the plan: a $232 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the county to build a border fence and rehabilitate aging dirt levees along the Rio Grande. The previously unreported details of Garza’s alleged scheme emerged last week in an ongoing lawsuit in which the county has sued companies owned by Garza, his wife and their two sons for fraud during the construction of the combined levee-fence. The new filings also implicate one of Texas’ most powerful engineering firms, Dannenbaum Engineering, as a participant in the scheme.
My post IS rambling. I let auto correct take over and I’m miffed. Look at that blue and red map, all that blue is in the cities and on the border. I live in one of those cities. I see antiamerican pro illegal every day all day
Your points are well taken
My point was that people need to get ready for Democrat Texans they are there and they have power. How did W get elected to the governorship not being a native Texan, for instance
All of his political contributions are to liberal, racist, Texas democrats. But I repeat myself.
How did W get elected to the governorship
not being a native Texan, for instance
****************
You are correct that he wasn’t a native Texan but he became a
Texan when he was two years old.
Well now you’re helping with my original point which was countered with “W is not a native Texan”. Which is what Texans will do
Point is, people should not be surprised when we get closer to building the wall when some powerful or numerous Texans are found to be the ones blocking it
They are replacing walls that are no good.
The true answer to your question is you don’t have to be a
native Texan to become governor.
To serve as Governor of Texas, a person must be at least
thirty years old, a United States citizen, and a resident of
Texas for at least five years preceding his or her election.
These are the only legal requirements to hold the office.
Oh I know that. I meant that Texans are very proud
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