MCALLEN ISD BOND VILLALOBOS IN OPPOSITION?

Flash alert: the Transform McAllen Political Action Committee (PAC), which was formed earlier this year by McAllen ISD’s Facility’s Forecast Advisory Committee, is not hiring politiqueras to help get its $297 million bond passed. Repeat, not hiring politiqueras. In case you haven’t yet heard, that’s one of the rumors going around town as of late: the PAC is hiring politiqueras by the hundreds to get this big bond issue passed May 9th. In fact, when I phoned Mike Blum this week, who served as a co-chair of the McAllen ISD Facilities Forecast Advisory Committee, and asked him to confirm or deny the rumor -- the Transform McAllen PAC is hiring politiqueras, he said, “No way. We are not hiring politiqueras.” Blum isn’t working directly with the PAC, but he knows enough about it to know it’s not hiring paid political votegetters, AKA, politiqueras, who are known to invade nursing homes and anywhere else voters may be found. Awake or asleep. Doesn’t matter. As long as they can be wheeled to the polls, they’re good to go. In Texas, if the voter asks for help inside the voting booth, the poll watchers have to let the politiquera accompany them. “No, sweetie, you want to pull this handle. That’s a girl.” For added confirmation on this no-politiquera business, I called my buddy Brian Godinez, who’s working with the PAC, trying to get the big bond deal floated. And I asked him about the politiquera rumor. “Politiqueras? Where did you hear that from?” He sounded a little outraged. “The rumor’s on the street,” I said. “You know how rumors go.” “Why don’t you go over to Pharr and do a story about the politiqueras there,” he said. “I know they’re in Pharr,” I told him. “But I was surprised to hear they’re in McAllen.” “Well, they’re not,” he said.” As far as I know, politiqueras haven’t been used in McAllen before during elections. And if they have, they’ve been kept undercover. And by the way, since the feds busted some politiqueras in the past year or so, more than a few who have since copped a plea to vote buying, politiqueras now go by the name: “paid political contract workers.” In fact, the politicians still using these paid political mercenaries are making them sign independent contracts, promising not to do anything illegal, etc. Politicians are more wary of them than ever before. Because once they’re out in the field, so to speak, tracking down votes, if they do anything illegal – exchange a dime bag of coke for some votes, for example, that sort of thing, maybe trade a taco or two for three votes – and the feds later indict them, then guess who they’re going to point their fingers at to cut the best deal with federal prosecutors: the politicians who hired them. That hasn’t happened. Yet. Politicians getting arrested. But clearly it’s a worry today in campaign circles. And it’s got more than a few politicos I’ve spoken to more wary than ever before of hiring los politiqueros. THE BOND PAC How much has the McAllen ISD Bond PAC raised and spent so far? Blum didn’t know, but he said the first campaign expense report will be released this week. Godinez later confirmed it should be this Thursday. Both Blum and Godinez, by the way, have taken some heat this bond election. Some people out there in the public forum have accused them of supporting the $297 million bond for personal financial gain. Both men have denied it. Blum’s a commercial real estate broker who says he’s never made money off of schoolrelated real-estate transactions. “So if someone said you’re into this bond deal because you stand to gain personally, that would be false?” I asked him. “That’s true,” he said.’ “And that’s true of past bond elections, too,” I asked him. “You have never made money off of school real-estate transactions. And the only reason you’re supporting this bond and past school bonds is because you believe educationis key to a community, and to facilitate that, the district needs top-notch facilities, correct?” “That’s right,” he said. So when people accuse Mike Blum of being “on the take,” so to speak, it’s clear that it annoys him. He says he’s built his reputation on honesty and it upsets him (more than a little) when people smear that longbuilt reputation with no shred of evidence by suggesting he’s supporting this school bond for his own personal financial gain. Same thing can be said of Brian Godinez, according to the man himself. Like Blum, Godinez is also a big supporter of the school bond. He and his business partner, Eli Ochoa, both principals of the local architectural firm, ERO Architects, have been accused in the public forum of promoting this bond election for selfish interests, i.e. they stand to make money from school construction work if the multimillion- dollar bond gets passed. But according to an email sent by Godinez late last month: “Last November, when I was asked to assist the FFAC (Facilities Forecast Advisory Committee) and (McAllen ISD) with communication services, my partner, Eli Ochoa, and I decided not to submit for architectural services for bond projects whenever the School District decided to issue a request for qualifications for architectural services.” The two men did that, Godinez wrote, so that no one in the community could accuse them of supporting the bond for their own “self-serving interests.” Instead, he wrote, they, like Blum, believe in McAllen ISD, have children in the district, and believe the bond beneficial for the continued success of the district. “We are financial and resource supporters of the Transform McAllen PAC,” wrote Godinez, “and I am not receiving any fees for coleading its effort. We back the volunteers and supporters of the bond because we know that there is no other way to deal with the great need in front of us. We hope you believe as we do that this bond will pass and make McAllen a stronger community.” Blum says he’s encouraged the bond will pass because he sees no “groundswell of opposition to it.” The PAC’s original fundraising goal was $75,000. As of this Tuesday, Godinez said he’s not sure how close the PAC is to that goal. But there was another fundraiser scheduled for this Tuesday. The PAC’s expense report will be presented to the McAllen ISD Board of Trustees later this week. For more about the bond, and why McAllen voters should approve it, according to Blum and Godinez, the best info can be found at www. mcallenisdbond.com. BOND OPPOSITION Blum’s assumption, however, that no groundswell of opposition has arisen may be about to change. And that opposition is coming in the form of Javier Villalobos, fresh off his campaign for McAllen District 1 City Commissioner. In a four-candidate field, Villalobos placed third, with 474 votes garnered vs. that of the firstplace winner, Richard Cortez, who won 829 votes. Villalobos is an attorney based in McAllen who also has expertise in floating bonds, so to speak, having served as bond counsel for several public entities in the past. He’s not going to publicly support either Cortez or Aliseda in the runoff election. “My supporters aren’t simply pawns who will follow whatever I tell them to do,” he said earlier this week. “Some will vote for one candidate, while others will vote for the other.” In the meantime, however, he’s throwing his full weight in opposition against McAllen ISD’s $297 million bond election. “I hear a few bleeding hearts talking about the children,” he said this week. “What I say is, ‘Hey, let’s consider the entire family.’ Because if the home is foreclosed on because the family can’t pay the taxes, what happens to the children then?” Villalobos said he agrees McAllen students deserve the best. But he doesn’t believe a “Band-aid approach” to the issue is the answer. “Our children deserve new facilities, not rehabilitated schools that will need repairs again within the near future. In the long run, new facilities will be less expensive than rehabilitating the old ones. This bond issue will bury future generations in debt.” And according to Villalobos, this school facilities’ problem should have been confronted and planned for decades ago. He said he’s in the process of turning his Facebook campaign page – Javier Villalobos Campaign – into an anti-bond page. In fact, if you visit his FB page today, he’s already started his anti-bond crusade: “It is time to start formulating a plan to defeat the proposed $297 million bond. Please check and invite friends to join as we inform why this issuance is not good for our residents.” According to Villalobos, when the $297 million bond is fully paid out in 30 years, it will cost taxpayers $499 million (based on the added interest). Final note from Villalobos: “The issuance of $297 in bonds is not the final recommended bond number. The district is looking to also do a Tax Ratification Election (TRE) for the purpose of reaching the original $440 million initial proposal. The TRE can raise our taxes up to a total of 17 points and cost an estimated $240 million.” Add to that the county’s desire for a new courthouse and the possibility of the proposed Hospital District getting passed by county voters, and more families will lose their homes to foreclosure, said Villalobos. “So you tell me how that is beneficial to our children?” he said.