This morning while on the Jay StJohn radio show, he discussed a man who said he had been a victim of bid-rigging, or at a minimum, of an unethical act by Laredo city staff. This man said he was the low bidder, and was not awarded a bid because those city staffers reviewing the bid decided he was ineligible because he "leased" his landscaping equipment. In other words they changed the specifications of the bid after the bids had been submitted in a effort to change the outcome of the bid. An ethics violation if ever there was one.
I suggested that as a first step this gentleman might take is to present a complaint to the shiny, new, never been used (that I am aware of) Ethics Commission put in place by city council last year.
But, lo and behold, the things you have to do to even file a complaint might scare off most folks. Below is a screen shot of the instructions on how to file an ethics complaint taken from the City of Laredo's website.
If you read this, you notice the very first thing you are told in bold red letters is that you better be sure your complaint is not a "FRIVOLOUS ETHICS COMPLAINT." If you do file a frivolous complaint you will be subject to lawsuits, fines, criminal prosecution, stoning, electrocution, and no Christmas presents for a year.....OK, I added the last three, but you get the point. Kind of threatening, right?
What we have here folks, is OUR (well the city council appointed) Ethics Commission, that is to be the communities watchdog in preventing unethical behavior by our elected officials and the public employees we hire at the city, is doing everything they can to scare the citizens into not filing an ethics complaint.
How dare anyone at the city threaten a citizen into not complaining about an ethics violation, be it an actual violation or a perceived violation? This is wrong on so many levels that it is just hard to comprehend the thinking of those that wrote this ordinance.
That the city would act in this manner is wrong. Filing an ethics complaint should not be that burdensome or have such serious consequences for filing a complaint not found valid by the Ethics Commission.
Remember this mayor, city council, and employees of the City of Laredo, YOU WORK FOR US.
We pay the salaries, we allow you to write ordinances. We will not allow you to create a government that will not let the people file complaints.
Forward to State Attorneys Office.
ReplyDeleteI do believe your are mistaking frivolous with actual or perceived violations. Nowhere does it state you can't file a complaint. It's there to insure that the accusations you are about to so casually throw at someone have a basis in fact. Whether or not it turns out to be a violation will be determined. Just don't come here with chickenshit accusations because you have a personal beef with someone. Did someone say VIDA. But I digress.
ReplyDeleteYour kidding, right? You don't agree that the very first thing a person wishing to file a complaint see's is a threat that if the committee feels this is a "frivolous" complaint that the citizen would be held criminally and financially liable.
DeleteIf you don't see this, then you need to spend some real time in the private sector with a company that takes these things serious. In my company, the persons name was kept confidential if they made an ethics complaint against anyone, at any level in the company. And if you did make many frivolous complaints that were not substantiated, that person was then punished, but never, was there a threat of any kind issued in any written document about the filing of a complaint.
If this is a regular practice in Laredo, be it with this ordinance, or reporting the misdeeds of a police officer, or whatever, then the State Attorney General needs to be advised.
NOTE: Read today's blog, as I commend the city for rapid response on this one case of potential bid rigging.
If the complaint you wish to file is not frivolous, in your good faith estimate, then you have nothing to worry about. This prevents the wind bags from filing complaints that have no merit other than to grab headlines. Can you say VIDA? If thier complaints have merit then why haven't they been able to follow through on any of thier complaints. Is the entire machine stacked against them. Every time thier complaints about CSM and nepotism were shot down they could not accept the final ruling. It just shows that they had an agenda that went nowhere and they used the council pulpit to pontificate. Do you want open season on politicians to file complaints on their religious views, perceived disses because they don't answer your dumb phone calls, etc. this is standard practice across government ethics commissions. Nothing new here.
DeleteAnything sent to the City Attorney.if you can call Raul Casso an attorney, will either be thrown out, ignored, or deemed frivolous. Raul Casso is Carlos Villarreal's puppet and will do absolutely everything the "God Father" says. If you had a "do nothing" job making upwards of $100,000 dollars would you rock the boat? Money IS TH ROOT OF ALL EVIL and no relief is available at a local level. We can only hope that outside interference that by-passes Chilo Alaniz will come
ReplyDeleteThey were all caught of guard (council and city manager) when bidder announced his findings of a relative. whether it be a close friend, brother in law, compadre etc....Nick Benavides (person of interest )should not be qualified to even bid anything under this department due to favoritism. Nick Benavides and the City of Laredo, council and Dept heads should be held accountable. Nick Benavides, pay us back the taxpayers for all those years you were given a free check from this department and Laredo. This is ridiculous. I know they will try to discredit all three low bidders but this is Laredo politics to get what they want. They will pull strings, ask favors from council to vote a certain way. I saw the City council meeting and all i have to say is Shame on you the council. You didn't even question the city manager, the dept head, or even asked the attorney anything. Looked liked you had an agenda that went wrong!!!!! SHAME ON YOU ALL COUNCIL MEMBERS, CITY MANAGER!!! people wake up and take a good look at the leaders of laredo who claimed they will work for the people and they sit there like they deer in headlights.
ReplyDeletethe ethics committee formed by Laredos own City Officials!!! hahahaha, to funny. Ya lets see how fair they will be with someone filing a complaint.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to note that Nick Benavides sits on the City Environmental Action Committee appointed by Cindy Liendo Espinosa, as does Mr Venegas a Mike Garza appointee, who by the way has the Port-a-Potty business exclusively with the City of Laredo and obviously has a say on who can or rather CAN'T provide a similar service to the city and of course Mr Judd Gilpin who facilitated a contract for his cousin (Select Energy Services) and generous tax abatements granted to him by the city. The Ethics commission better get ready for a long list of complaints.
ReplyDeleteI hope the people see past the threatening opening on how to file a complaint.
DeleteDoesn't surprise me that Ms Liendo is corruped too. How disappointinng.
DeleteSo if you have all these facts handy why haven't you filed your complaints yet?
DeleteOne thing I hate about the ethics ordinance is that you can not file an anonymous complaint. I wanted to report a violation occurring at our work place but fear retaliation from both administration and fellow co-workers. I understand that accepting anonymous complaints will open the flood gates, but some protection has to be afforded those wishing to remain anonymous.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. The city, or your company, should have an outside source to report these types of violations. That takes the fear out of the process.
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