http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/
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WHO'S GIVING LIMAS CALBAZAS FOR HIS HELP AGAINST ROSENTHAL AND FOR MIGDALIA LOPEZ?
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<div>By<b> Juan Montoya</b></div><div>If you have been keeping up with the articles by Emma Perez-Treviño on the ongoing fray between Austin attorney Marc Rosenthal versus the federal government, the law firm of Chaney, Saenz, & Rodriguez and Union Pacific and 197th State District Curt Judge Migdalia Lopez, one thing becomes abundantly clear: the feds and the law firm defending the railroad are trotting out disgraced 404th District judge Abel C. Limas â€" now a convicted felon â€" as a character witness for Migdalia.</div><div>This absurd turn of events came to light when Mitchell C. Chaney, representing Union Pacific, said he had a letter from Limas denying he heard Judge Lopez tell Rosenthal during a meeting at a Brownsville restaurant that his firm had already donated about $1,000 tow</div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3oIiUUrvb4wEBhtGyOTvX6y0ejel65Wj5Vze7FOVo2RY60OERYIE2nA7QVuVFzNIKagBtWG0mocy6ipZsZUH4zgyPX_bEYkFC4q22H8QC8pCceubJAS_MAw2CUoJfOVAgeFP8d34WnXE/s400/crook.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722095826320056450" style="float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 400px; " /><div>ard the judge's re-election campaign and asking him to pitch in $2,500.</div><div>While on the stand on his motion to have Lopez recuse herself from the case involving the railroad which Chaney's firm represents, Rosenthal said on the stand that both Limas and Chaney's firm were helping Lopez fight off allegations of "criminal acts she committed" while on the bench.</div><div><div><span>During that conversation, Rosenthal said Limas was sitting across the table and listened to what Lopez had said. Limas, while admitting he had arranged for the meeting between the two, denied having heard any of the conversation. </span><span>Also, during the testimony, Rosenthal has charged that Lopez felt she had a f</span><span>uture at Chaney's law firm when she sought "other endeavors" after her term in office expired.</span></div><div>Now, if you know the layout of the restaurant in question â€" the 77 Restaurant near Four Corners â€" you know it is almost impossible for Limas not to have heard what the other two were saying since it is a scant two or three feet across from the table. For him not to have heard the conversation defies belief.</div><div>And how, indeed, did Chaney's firm attain the letter with Limas' denials when the former judge is awaiting sentencing on his plea bargain agreement with the federal government that he had accepted bribes for rendering orders favoring the bribing attorneys, including former state representative Jim Solis who also has pleaded guilty to the same offenses?</div><div>If you read the plea agreement Limas signed with the federal government, you find it hard to believe that he would do anything for free. Is it money, or time of his sentence that is prompting his cooperation now?</div><div>Those questions have not been answered. Rosenthal charges that Cheney's law firm and the federal prosecutors are playing footsies and working in tandem to have the lawsuit against the railroad dismissed and to gather (fabricate?) evidence for use by the government to prosecute him in his upcoming trial on racketeering charges. He had asked the courts to have Lopez recuse herself from the case. In the end, Appeals Court Judge Linda Yanez denied the motion.</div><div>Some say that the very fact that we have to have judges run for office opens the door to if not corruption, then the appearance of it. A cursory look at the campaign reports of Migdalia Lopez indicates that some of the contributors are now embroiled in the federal investigation or have themselves been convicted in related cases.</div><div><br /></div><div>The reports indicate that Lopez received contributions from (convicted) Abel C. Limas on:</div><div>1-27-2010 = $750</div><div>12-03-2009= $500</div><div><br /></div><div>From Mitch Chaney (Union Pacific lawyer):</div><div>8-05-2009 = $870</div><div><br /></div><div>From Ray Marchan (also charged in Limas case but has pleaded not guilty):</div><div>2-07-2010: $500</div><div>7-17-2009= $1,500</div><div><br /></div><div>From Joe Valle (pleaded guilty in a case involving Limas):</div><div>7-17-2009= $1,000</div><div><br /></div><div>From Marc Rosenthal:</div><div>8-05-2009= $2,500</div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-1008123810342236501?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/03/whos-giving-limas-calbazas-for-his-help.html
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BISD CONTRACT LAWYERS: SNATCHING BIG BUCKS FROM JAWS OF DEFEAT
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<div>By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong></div><br /><div>What happens if you are an attorney for a high-priced law firm on contract with the Brownsville Independent School District and:</div><br /><div>1. lose in the local federal judge's decision to grant summary judgement on your request for qualified immunity for four school board trustees and,<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgACJsIzYnHWPggddczTAgZNXAjsey-QcyspJSWAVMNOky5sV6N1vWbtpthyxocdJG-fBAd4XsfKzq9H_snoRqUGQA9IjEe_hp7MjdUrjYMaEumW0mo6W_N22snKlIb-NxLUuoacv93OIw/s1600/good+money.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 315px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 402px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722058630828823858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgACJsIzYnHWPggddczTAgZNXAjsey-QcyspJSWAVMNOky5sV6N1vWbtpthyxocdJG-fBAd4XsfKzq9H_snoRqUGQA9IjEe_hp7MjdUrjYMaEumW0mo6W_N22snKlIb-NxLUuoacv93OIw/s400/good+money.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div>2. Convince the current board of trustee to appeal the ruling to the Fifth Court of Appeals on that issue, only to lose there as well and,</div><br /><div>3. Despite the board's reluctance to file for a rehearing before the same court, you go ahead and file for it, and...lose again?</div><br /><div>Would you believe you walk away with a $52,880 payday for your losing efforts?</div><br /><div>That's exactly what happened in the case involving two current and two former members of the BISD board in the ongoing lawsuit between the district, Rick Zayas, Ruben Cortez, Rolando Aguilar and Joe Colunga against former BISD Chief Financial Officer Tony Juarez.</div><br /><div>After U.S. Southern District Judge Andrew Hanen denied the four immunity as individuals, their attorney Craig H. Vittitoe and Roger W. Hughes, with Adams & Graham LLP, of Harlingen, appealed his decision and lost. Then, when they ignored the current board's wishes to put the matter to rest, they nonetheless proceeded to ask for a rehearing on the matter before the same court and lost again.</div><br /><div>Finally, after the Appeals Court refused the rehearing without comment, the duo filed a motion for withdrawal and substitution of counsel on March 1. Instead, they informed the court that replacing them in representing the BISD will be Frank Garza, of Garza and Peña, of Weslaco and that Anthony B. James, of the law firm Hodge and James, of Harlingen, will be representing the four current and former trustees.</div><br /><div>The BISD is a veritable feeding trough for law firms and attorneys from throughout South Texas and beyond. Remember that they paid Nic Navarro, of Harlingen, some $400,000 to find the dirt on former Special Services Director Art Rendon and former Superintendent Hector Gonzales only to settle with Rendon and get sued by Gonzales in state district court?</div><br /><div>What good did that $400,000 do?</div><br /><div>For that matter, what good did the $52,880 paid to Vittitoe and Hughes get the district?</div><br /><div>While we're at it, remember the fiasco when Gonzales, through his attorneys, first filed suit in the 357th District Court back in Sept. 16, 2011?</div><br /><div>The BISD attorneys, after being served four days later (Sept. 20), answered the complaint on Oct. 28. Then, on Nov. 16, the BISD sought to remove the lawsuit to federal court.</div><br /><div>Even if you're a layman, as we are, we can understand that under federal procedure, the defendant (BISD) has 30 days after they were served to ask that the case be removed (therefore the term "removal") to federal court. </div><br /><div>Why the BISD attorneys wanted to go to federal court instead of the 357th is anybody's guess. Now, remember that the BISD was served on on Sept. 20. Their motion to remove wasn't filed until Nov. 16, 2011, almost two months after service and way past the 30 day limit to request that the case be removed to federal court.</div><br /><div>In light of this, Hanen could do nothing else than to order that the case be remanded to the 357th. </div><br /><div>In fact, lead BISD attorney Heidi J. Gumienny admitted as much when she said in a response that "BISD cannot in good faith object" to Gonzales' motion. </div><br /><div>We don't know how much Gumienny, of Gordon & Rees, LLP, of Houston, or her firm is getting paid for this work, but if this is an example of their level of their representation, something is amiss.</div><br /><div>\For example, in the defense response filed Nov. 16 to the initial Gonzales complaint filed in the 357th, Gumienny said BISD was served on Oct. 21, instead of Sept. 20. And then, in her motion to remove the case to federal court, she wrote that: "Wherefore, defendant the City of Conroe(?), requests that the action...be removed..."</div><br /><div>If past efforts by the contract attorneys for the district is used as a gauge to measure the cost-effect ratio of the current ones, it can be assumed that the cash register will keep ringing as the cases are dragged out to an unforeseeable future.</div><br /><div>Ka-ching! Ka-ching!</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-7413662415394288665?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/03/bisd-contract-lawyers-snatching-big.html
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ARGUELLES, PERSON OF INTEREST ON MEXICAN CORRUPTION LIST FETED AT UTB
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br />Just last month the Mexican Procuradoria General de la Repubica (PGR), the equivalent of the U.S. Dept. of Justice, issued a directive restricting the movement out of the country of three former Tamaulipas governors and 43 other people for their alleged connections to organized crime.<br />The list included many prominent former government bureaucrats and not a few businessmen.<br />Among those was Sergio Ramon Arguelles Gutierrez, known as the "King of the Maquilas," one of Matamoros' most prominent businessmen with extensive business and real estate holdings in Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley, including numerous properties in Rancho Viejo, South Padre Island and McAllen.<br />All that notwithstanding, on Friday, March 23, the The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College School of Business will honor Arguelles and two other area business leaders at the Business Appreciation Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. in the Student Union El Gran Salón.<br />Ray Hunt Chairman, President and CEO Hunt Consolidated, Inc., will be the keynote speaker.<br />Besides Arguelles, area businessmen Jo Rae Wagner, of Harlingen, and and Rene Capistran, of SpawGlass fame from Brownsville, will be honored at the event.<br />According to the news release by the UTB-TSC School of Business, Arguelles, a native of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, attended Texas Southmost College as a young man. He founded his firm, FINSA, 35 years ago to provide Mexico’s emerging maquiladoras with the manufacturing facilities and services they needed to grow.<br />"Sergio and his son, Sergio Argüelles Jr., have led FINSA in the development of 14 Industrial Parks containing 60 million square feet of manufacturing space serving approximately 1,600 firms employing 200,000 people.<br />The recent acquisition of Rancho Viejo Country Club increases FINSA’s presence in the U.S. Argüelles and his family have created FINSA Foundation which provides scholarships to children and young adults in various cities in Mexico."<br />However, the Mexican media and PGR are not as charitable as UTB-TSC.<br />Various news accounts say that the elder Arguelles is known in narcopolitico circles as "El Cucaracho," and that his $4 million purchase of Ranco Viejo, where he lives now, was made with proceeds from questionable sources.<br />He was one of those connected with former Tamaulipas Governor Tomas Yarrington by the PGR and his movement ordered restricted.<br />However, according to the breakfast coordinator, the event has been sold out two weeks ago. The price, $20 per person, apparently was of no concern to the companies that purchased the 220 seats available.<br />Among the sponsors listed on the program are none other than Brownsville's Public Utility Board, the Brownsville Economic Development Corporation (BEDC), Ambiotech, Burton, McCumber and Cortez, Cardenas Development, Fred Rusteberg's International Bank of Commerce (listed in a DEA complaint as one of the banks that funneled millions in drug profits from Matamoros to San Antonio), FINSA, and Gobar Systems, among others.<br />The invocation will be delivered by the Rev. Armand Matthew and the greeting and introduction of honerees will be given by UTB-TSC President Julirt Garcia.<br />So as the Mexican authorities continue to seek the prosecution of the three former governors and those identified on the list for alleged corruption â€" including Arguelles â€" this has not deterred the UTB-TSC Business School administrators or the Garcia administration from recognizing him for his "achievements."<br />As the news rlease states at the bottom of the annoncement: "The School of Business, which has over 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the spring 2012 semester, is committed to providing graduates with the education and training needed to successfully lead the region’s businesses and launch new enterprises that will grow the economy."<br />Onward through the fog.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-5809771571978702731?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/03/arguelees-listed-as-person-of-interest.html
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