I would like to apologize for my
absence of late. Events presented themselves which I needed to attend. In no
way did my silence signal an end to my resolve to expose a pattern of
corruption within the City and among elected official, nor did it mean I had
exhausted my personal knowledge of corrupted practices. In order to exhaust my
knowledge of corruption, the municipal government, as we know it, would have to
be abolished and rebuilt. In the spirit of the Holidays, let us move on to our
next subject of questionable legitimacy…
Yes
Virginia, there is a Casa Laredo
In
2012, during budget workshops for City of Laredo Departments, I became aware
that the Laredo Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) were operating an office
in Monterrey, Mexico. I became intensely interested in this because during the
presentation I thought I heard the department director requested $780k to
budget Casa Laredo’s operation. The figures I received for the operating costs
for that fiscal year (FY 12-13), through an open records request, are listed as
$155,750. However, the proposed amount to be budgeted for contractual
obligations for this department for this same fiscal year is listed as
$1,933,798.00. I have petitioned for an
open records request for an itemized list to detail where this money is going
and to whom.
OK,
so what? The CVB operates an office in Mexico!
First,
in response to this question, I would like to know has anyone ever visited this
office, besides city officials. If anyone has please email me to the address
below; a picture of you there or just of the office would be greatly appreciated.
Second and this is in tandem with the first question, how do the majority of us
know this place exists? I mean how do we know this is not just some table set up
with pamphlets and a telephone, such as they have done in the Mall del
Norte? Last, does a municipal government
have the right to operate a satellite office in a foreign country? According to
Art.1 section 10 of the U.S. Constitution,
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or
Confederation; grant Letters of Marquis and Reprisal. In other words,
these archaic terms mean that no state, let alone some dinky department of a
municipality, is allowed to have a privateer act on behalf of that party. I am
not quite sure, but if a city department is operating in a foreign country and
no city worker representing the City of Laredo in that office is present then
it stands to reason that a foreign national is acting on behalf of the City of
Laredo’s CVB. Surely there must be a technical foul somewhere in this charade.
Who is paying for the staff of that office?
Assuming a municipality can
operate a satellite office for
one of its departments in a foreign country, how are they paying the staff and
who was responsible for hiring them in the first place? Is the city paying them directly through the
City of Laredo payroll office? Have they contracted an employment agency to act
as a middleman? If so, did the city follow its own purchasing policy and
receive quotes from more than one source? I really do not know the answers to
these questions. I have heard that there are ten employees who work for Casa
Laredo, and it receives less than 10 visitors per week. At this point, there
are some who might feel this is no big deal, however, I believe it is because
how do we, as taxpayers, verify the existence, legitimacy, and effectiveness of
such an entity? Transparency is key to accountability, but since so few people
have heard of Casa Laredo, how can anyone be held accountable for this endeavor
and how do the taxpayers gauge its effectiveness; assuming taxpayers disregard
the premise it may be operating afoul of the law. As demonstrated in my prior entries, there
must be someone or multiple persons benefitting from this Casa Laredo
arrangement, it is just the modus operandi of Laredo politics.
What is the Laredo Connection?
The operating of this satellite
office in Monterrey, Mexico seems almost a clandestine operation. According to
the City of Laredo web site, the address of Casa Laredo is: Plaza Fiesta San Agustin in Monterrey, Mexico. The real key to this whole endeavor is to
ascertain where the Laredo Connection lies. If we search hard enough, I am sure
there is a connection back to Laredo. I know since November 8, 2013, when the
City entertained my open records request regarding Casa Laredo, the City
website has added two pictures of city employees who are a part of Casa Laredo,
where no pictures were shown prior to my request. To me, this makes the whole
issue even more suspect than when just a number for Casa Laredo was listed on
the web site. Until I can get more open records requests answered, this alleged
Laredo connection will have to remain unknown, but I am positive one exists.
The reason I believe this so strongly is tied to First Recycling and Councilman
Narvaez. I remember how he was the one lobbying for a private company to profit
from the recycling program which the city could have managed without a third
party. It appears the connection lies within The International Business
Advisors, LLC. Two members of this business, Saul Villarreal and Neal Garcia,
have business interests here in Laredo; further, Villarreal is a member of
First Recycling, LLC. So what is the connection? It would seem Villarreal’s
fellow member of Business Advisors International LLC, Neal Garcia, is a nephew
of Councilman Narvaez. Is this all a happy coincidence? I doubt it, but
apparently, because of the structures of these businesses, they have avoided a
conflict with the city’s ethics ordinances. I digress, back to the topic at
hand. I imagine having an office in another country could be beneficial. After
all, it could serve as a retreat for the elected city officials and department
directors, it could be a nice place to hide funds within the budget, or it
could be a good place to launder money. Yes, I went there! I am not saying that
city officials or local business owners for that matter are doing anything of
the sort. However, where no transparency exists, people can suppose all sorts
of misdeeds are being perpetrated.
Does Casa Laredo exist?
Still,
after all we have examined, we know some people say Casa Laredo exists. Money
is allotted for its operation, and more importantly, city officials assure us
it does indeed exist. I very much want to believe, but still remain somewhat skeptical because of the trauma I experienced in childhood when reality chased away my mythical friends, but I want to believe! However, the problem is, much like Santa Claus, I
was assured he existed. Adults told me he did, and he showed up for appearances
and photo ops. The fact I was told he lived in a dangerous and faraway land
which the majority of people were unwilling to travel to verify his existence
did not shake my sincere belief in his existence. Given all these parallels between
Santa and Casa Laredo, I must say, “Yes Virginia, there is a Casa Laredo.
Happy Holidays to everyone!
As always, anyone wanting to contact me
may do so at: darrell.mills@yahoo.com
