INSIDE INFORMATION IS MORE POWERFUL THAN MONEY MY FRIENDS

Thursday, March 13, 2008

THE REAL POLITICAL PULSE: THE POWER STRUGGLE BETWEEN LENCHO VERSUS THE EDC



HOW THINGS WORK. LET'S BREAK THIS VERY COMPLEX BEAST OF THE EDC (POWER GROUP A) AND LENCHO (POWER GROUP B) AND THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER IN NUECES COUNTY FOR ALL OF US TO UNDERSTAND. UNDERSTAND THE PLAYERS AND THE POWERSTRUCTURE. WE NEED TO KNOW THE SET UP AND WHY THINGS HAPPEN HERE IN TOWN.










CONNECTIONS: EDC, HUGO BERLANGA, RUBEN BONILLA.























THE ENEMIES TO EDC: LENCHO RENDON TRYING TO UNDERMINE EDC. LENCHO AND KAELIN REAL CLOSE. WILLIE VADEN AND LENCHO RENDON RUNNING PIPELINE FROM MEXICO TO U.S.


LENCHO WHEELING AND DEALING WITH REPUBLICANS?

LENCHO THE STAUNCH DEMOCRAT! WILLIE JUST HIRED HIM IN INGLESIDE. WHAT'S GOING ON? LENCHO IS TRYING TO CONTROL THE PORT. THE PORT COMMISSION IS NEEDED FOR SHAMSIE TO REPLACE ONE OF THE PORT MEMBERS. THE EDC HAS THE MIKE CARROLL ISSUE TO CONTEND WITH. THERE ARE 7 MEMBERS: 4 CONTROLLED EDC AND 3 BY LENCHO AND SOLOMONISTAS. THEY ARE GOING AFTER MONEY, OF COURSE. LENCHO CONTROLLING COUNTY. OSCAR ORTIZ IS PRETTY MUCH COUNTY JUDGE AND SHAMSIE IS STILL PULLING STRINGS ON THE COMMISSIONERS COURT. BUT AS FAR AS THE PORT RUBEN BONILLA, JUDY HOLLY(?), MIKE CARROLL (HEAD OF FROST BANK AND MEMBER OF EDC WAS MOVED OVER TO THE PORT), AND THE ELDERLY ANGLO GENTLEMAN WHO'S NAME ESCAPES ME IS APPOINTED BY THE CITY. AN APPOINTMENT IS PENDING AT THE END OF THIS YEAR. THE CONTROVERSY IS THAT MIKE CARROLL (HENRY GARRETT APPOINTED MIKE CARROLL PRIOR TO THE ELECTION ON THE CITY COUNCIL). EDC FEARED THE BALANCE OF POWER WOULD HAVE BEEN AFFECTED. NOW, THE OTHER PEOPLE OF LENCHO, YOLANDO OLIVAREZ (SOLOMON ORTIZ HELPS HER WITH CONTRACTS), KEN BERRY, BOBBY GONZALEZ. LOOKS LIKE BOBBY GONZALEZ WILL BE REAPPOINTED. YOLANDA WILL LEAVE SO THEY ARE TRYING TO PUT SHAMSIE (HE HAS JUST PUT IN AN APPLICATION). KEEP IN MIND THAT RENE RODRIGUEZ HAS SUBMITTED AN APPLICATION.

THE OTHER ISSUE IS THAT SHAMSIE IS WANTED ON THERE BECAUSE HE IS WITH LENCHO. NOW, OSCAR ORTIZ CONTROLS PEGGY BANALES AND BETTY JEAN. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COMMISSIONERS COURT YOU HAVE CAZALES AND NEIL. BUT STRANGELY CAZALES HAS BEEN VOTING WITH ORTIZ. MIKE HUMMELL ON THE CITY COUNCIL SIDE IS FRIENDLY WITH LENCHO SO THEY WILL TRY TO GET ANOTHER MEMBER ON THE PORT APPOINTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE REASON THE PEGGY BANALES RACE WAS SO IMPORTANT WAS TO GET THE PORT.



NOW, LETS LOOK AT THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: TERRY CARTER IS RUMORED TO HAVE HIS DAYS NUMBERED ON THERE. EDC CONTROLS PORT NOW BUT LENCHO IS PUSHING TO CONTROL THE PORT. THE MAIN ENGINE THAT CONTROLS THE ECONOMY IS THE PORT SO THAT IS WHY SHAMSIE AND LENCHO COVET IT.



HUERTA CONNECTION: HUERTA IS TIED IN WITH MIKAL WATTS. THEY SIT ON SEVERAL BOARDS THAT THE EDC CONTROLS. MIKAL WATTS IS IN THERE. WHAT REMAINS UNCLEAR IS WHETHER LENCHO HAS ALLIANCES WITH WATTS.
BONILLA CONNECTION: BY RUBEN BONILLA GETTING HALF A MILLION FROM ONE, A QUARTER OF MILLION FOR FEES OF CITY ENTITIES FOR LEGAL FEES (FED TO SHAMSIE AND RENE RODRIGUEZ BACK WHEN TERRY SHAMSIE RAN). THAT IS WHY RUBEN BONILLA AND SHAMSIE NOT ON FRIENDLY TERMS BECAUSE RUBEN WAS RAKING IT IN. WHEN SHAMSIE CAME IN AS COUNTY JUDGE HE WAS IDEALISTIC AND WAS LOOKING AT THE FUNDS AND MONEY. RUBEN BONILLA MAKING OVER A MILLION FOR REPRESENTING SEVERAL ENTITIES.
NOW EDC AND RENDON/SHAMSIE FACTION: BOTH GROUPS ARE EXCLUSIVE.
LENCHO GROUP IS SO CLOSEKNIT. THE GROUP DYNAMICS IS THAT THEY ARE NOT INCLUSIVE. THE CIRCLE IS TIGHT. WHEN HILLARY CAME IT WAS EVIDENT. THEY CONTROLLED THE MEDIA WHICH ANGERED THE MAINSTREAM. IN THE LENCHO CIRCLE MIKE RENDON AND SARAH SALDIVAR (WHO WORKED WITH SOLOMONS DAUGHTER) ARE A PART OF THE GROUP.


THE BROTHER IN LAW DAVID MARTINEZ IS IN RTA, NOW SARAH LEAVING SO JOSEPH RAMIREZ IS ENTERING RTA. WHO APPOINTS THE RTA PEOPLE? THE MAYOR OF ROBSTOWN THROUGH THE SMALL APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE. NOW DO WE UNDERSTAND HOW THE COMMUNITY CAN GROW WITH THIS OLIGARCHY? IT IS TOO EXCLUSIVE. THEY DON'T SHARE THE WEALTH WITH ANYONE.


SHAMSIE IS TIED IN WITH ALL THESE BIG DOLLARS, CONSULTANT WITH THE CITY OF ROBSTOWN, THE SCHOOL BOARD BUDGET OF ROBSTOWN.THE SHAMSIES AND LENCHOS DO THE PATH OF PAST RESISTANCE. SHAMSIE FIRST LATCHED ON TO FIL VELA, THEN RENE RODRIGUEZ, NOW LENCHO. SHAMSIE TRIED TO BE VERY ACCOMMODATING WITH EDC BUT THEY REJECTED HIM SO THAT IS WHY HE STARTED AWARDING THINGS TO DOS LOGISTICS AND OMEGA TO CURRY FAVOR WITH LENCHO AND NOW IS TRYING TO HELP MORE OF LENCHOS COMPANIES WHICH IS THE NEW ONE LR GLOBAL AND ASSOCIATES. REMEMBER THAT LENCHO YOU NEVER SEE HIM MUCH IN PUBLIC.

RECENTLY HE HAD A SEMINAR CALLED OCEAN SECURITY CONFERNCE WITH 34 COUNTRIES AND BROUGHT IN MILITARY PEOPLE AND THERE ARE DOLLARS BEING PUT OUT BY THE GOVERNMENT. SOLOMON SITS ON COMMITTEE TO AWARD MONIES THROUGH CONTRACTS. BY BEING RETIRED MANY OF THESE GENERAL AVOID BEING CONFLICTED. THE GENERALS USE THEIR INFLUENCE TO INFLUENCE THE PRESENT MILITARY PEOPLE WHO REPLACES THEM AND LENCHO FINDS A WAY TO PAY THE RETIRED GENERALS AS CONSULTANTS. HE MADE IT LOOK LIKE HE BROKE UP WIHT SOLOMON IN 2006 BUT IT WAS TRULY TO AVOID THE CONFLICT. THAT IS WHY HE IS USING HIS NEPHEW JOSEPH...TO AVOID CONFLICTS. SHAMSIE: AS COUNTY JUDGE HE WAS IDEALISTIC AND THEN BECAME REALISTIC AFTER THE EDC REJECTION. HE SAID, PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE BUT HE WENT WITH LENCHO. HE IS LIKE A WILLOW. HE HAS THAT CLASSIC BEHAVIOR AND GIVE IN AND DIVIDE AND CONQUER INSTEAD OF CREATE. THAT IS WHY HE JOINED WITH LENCHO IN ORDER TO BE WITH SOMEONE STRONG. HE ACTS LIKE A DEMOCRAT BUT PRACTICALLY BEGGED TO BE WITH EDC AND THE WHITES BUT AGAIN, THEY SPURNED HIM. DOS LOGISTICS MADE MILLIONS. THEY BOUGHT SHAMSIE A HOUSE. HMMM. THINK ABOUT IT. DID HE ACCEPT GIFTS LIKE THIS WHILE IN OFFICE? NOW YOU ARE SEEING THE PAYBACK THEY OWE SHAMSIE.

LR GLOBAL OPERATES LIKE PART MARKETING PART BUSINESS (CONSTRUCTION, PUBLIC RELATIONS ETC). PARTICULARLY FOR MILITARY CONTRACTS. THEY ARE BRINGING IN SHAMSIE AS A CONSULTANT. THEY ARE CLEVER. SHAMSIE IS BEING PAID BY ENTITIES. THINK OF SOLOMON ORTIZ WHEN HE WAS YOUNG, GETS OUT OF ARMY, RUNS FOR CONTSTABLE, COMMISSIONER, SHERIFF, AND EVERY SINGLE PUBLIC POST IS ALWAYS PAYING MONEY. THEY NEVER HAVE SERVED ON SCHOOL BOARDS, CITY COUNCIL. THEIR WHOLE MENTALITY IS TO PIMP OFF SYSTEM. SAME WITH LENCHO. HE DOESNT HAVE TO PAY SHAMSIE, THE CITY AND SCHOOL BOARD OF ROBSTOWN FUNNELS MONEY. ROD RAMON AND ABEL HERRERO ARE A PART OF THE CLICK. NOW GRANTED, WE ARE ALL TRYING TO MAKE MONEY AND FEED OUR FAMILIES BUT THIS IS PIMPING OFF THE SYSTEM. THIS IS POLITICS.REMEMBER BORCHARD? HE APPOINTED TO THE PORT THE SAME BANKER WHO HIRED HIM. THE PEOPLE AT THE PORT NOW BUY THE INSURANCE IS BOUGHT WHICH BILL DODGE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH (BILL DODGE BANKER AT ROBSTOWN. SAME INSURANCE COMPANY IS BEING SUPPORTED BY LOBBYING EFFORTS OF HUGO BERLANGA AND RUBEN BONILLAS IS THE LAWYER! WHAT A RACKET!CONSULTANTS EVERYWHERE.
NOW EDC: PRIMARILY ANGLOS BUT CURIOUSLY MORE PLURALISTIC. THEY SHARE MORE OF THE WEALTH. THEY ARE MORE SOPHISTICATED AND NOT SO HEAVY HANDED AND PROJECT HIGHER STANDARDS. AL JONES, MIKE CARROLL, JOE FULTON, BERRY CONSTRUCTION AND ANYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF, BUT WHAT HAPPENS ITS A SMALL MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. ALTHOUGH NOT SO TIGHTKNIT AS LENCHOS THEY ARE STILL SOMEWHAT EXCLUSIVE.THE EDC'S FORMULA IS SIMPLE. ITS A SHADOW GOVERNMENT. ROOTS GO BACK TO HAYDEN HEAD. HAYDEN HEAD WAS AN ATTORNEY. NEVER RAN FOR OFFICE. HE WAS INVOLVED WITH THE PORT. HE MADE SURE THAT CITY COUNCILMAN WERE BUSINESSMAN. WHEN THINGS WANTED TO BE DONE, HE WOULD GET PEOPLE WHO WANTED A CONTRACT, AND THE MEETINGS (LIKE THE MARKETING PLAN FORWARD CORPUS CHRISTI) AND WOULD SAY THE CONTRACTORS WOULD PAY FOR THE MARKETING, LOOK FOR CERTIFICATES OF OBLIGATION FROM THE PUBLIC (HAYDEN HEAD STARTED AMERICAN BANK IN THE 1970'S WHICH AL JONES IS THE HEAD OF NOW). A THREE PART OPERATION BEGINS: YOUR BUILDERS(THEY PROVIDE THE FINANCING FOR THE MARKETING TO SELL THE PROJECT), THE POLITICIANS LIKE MAYOR (LOOK WHO CONTRIBUTES MONEY TO THE POLITICIANS DAVID ENGOLS TO JUAN GARCIA EXAMPLE) AND THEN THE BANKS FUNDS IT (AL JONES IS THE MODERN DAY HAYDEN HEAD, FINANCED PACKERY, AMERICAN BANK CENTER, WHATABURGER FIELD).POLITICAINS SELL IT, BUILDERS MARKET IT, BANKS FINANCE IT. ON THE FOOD CHAIN POLITICIANS ARE THE LOWEST. HERE YOU HAVE THE EDC (NONPROFIT) WHICH IS A DEFACTO POLITICAL MACHINE. THEY CAN'T BE AUDITED BY THE CITY!!! THE CITY CAN'T LOOK AT THEIR BOOKS. ANOTHER THING, THE CITY GIVES THEM AUTHORITY FOR THE EDC TO DECIDE WHERE ECONOMIC GROWTH IS BEST, WHERE LAND VALUE SHOULD BE RAISED. THESE GUYS ON EDC KNOW WHERE LAND WILL RAISE VALUE, THEN THEY GO BUY THE LAND! THIS IS INSIDER TRADING. OVERNIGHT A PIECE OF CRAP LAND BECOMES GOLD. (INSIDE INFORMATION IS MORE POWERFUL THAN MONEY MY FRIENDS). THE EDC IS A POLTICAL MACHINE. WHO GETS THE CONTRACTS? 90 PERCENT OF PROJECTS, WHATABURGER FIELD AND AMERICAN BANK CENTER: JOE FULTON! MIKE CARROLL, ED MARTIN (HEAD OF BERRY CONSTRUCTION) CHANGE LEADERSHIP ROLES (DON'T CONFUSE KEN BERRY THE SOLOMONISTA WITH THE MAIN FAMILY).
CITY AND COUNTY CONSTRUCTION PROJECT DIFFERENCES. JOE FULTON WAS LATE ON PROJECT HE UNDERBID EVERYONE ON. HE SAYS "I CAN'T DO IT WITH WHAT I BID, NEED MORE MONEY(THIS IS KNOWN AS COST OVERRUN). AMERICAN BANK CENTER, WHATABURGER FIELD. HE HAS SELDOM IF EVER COMPLETED A PROJECT ON TIME AND HAS DONE COST OVERRUN BIG TOWN. THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT THEY ARE ON, THE EDC ALLOW THESE COST OVERRUNS AND THE CITY HAS NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT.CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP: APPOINT PEOPLE ON EDC BECAUSE THE CITY AND COUNTY CAN ONLY APPOINT SO MANY.LET'S LOOK AT NUMBERS. LESS THAN 1 PERCENT JOB GROWTH (WORKSOURCE) THEY GET INSIDE INFORMATION AND EVERYONE MAKES MONEY AND THE COMMUNITY RARELY BENEFITS. IF YOU DESTROY THE EDC, THEY WILL JUST BUILD ANOTHER ORGANIZATION. LOOK AT THE AMERICAN BANK CENTER BOARD AND YOU WILL SEE MANY BIG PLAYER. THE HEAD OF CCISD IS THERE. WHERE DID HE WORK? AMERICAN BANK. WHO HAS MARKETING CONTRACT: CAROL SCOTT (WIFE OF MARK SCOTT). JOHN LONGORIA: HE SITS ON ADVISORY BOARD, NELDA MARTINEZ ON CITY COUNCIL SHE SITS ON ADVISORY BOARD OF AMERICAN BANK TOO.
SAME THAT SHAMSIE AND LENCHO DO THE EDC DOES. THEY GO AFTER ENTITIES OF GOVERNMENT AND GO AFTER PUBLIC DOLLARS (WE ARE CREATING JOBS SAYS JOE FULTON IF YOU BUILD WHATABURGER WITH CERTIFICATES OF OBLIGATION? YOU CREATE NOTHING.

YOU ARE PASSING ON A BILL TO FUTURE GENERATIONS. THIS IS WHAT LENCHO/SHAMSIE ARE DOING AND EDC IS DOING. LESS THAN 1 PERCENT JOB GROWTH. ALL THE TAXPAYERS MONEY WENT TO THESE PEOPLE THIS IS THE IGNORANCE OF THE TAXPAYERS OF NUECES COUNTY.
PACKERY CHANNEL: THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI BORROWED 9 MILLION. HOW MUCH INTEREST DID AMERICAN BANK CHARGE IN INTEREST? 99 PERCENT INTEREST AND YOU AND I ARE PAYING FOR IT. USURY, NO LESS. IT WAS ON LOYD NEILS WATCH.
CONCLUSION: THE FLOODGATES OF OPPORTUNITY. THESE GROUPS MONOPOLIZE POWER AND HOPE. THESE PEOPLE CREATE NOTHING AND PROFIT AMONG THEMSELVES.PEOPLE OF CORPUS CHRISTI, CHECK IT OUT. DO THE RESEARCH. YOU DON'T NEED A COLLEGE DEGREE TO COMPREHEND THESE THINGS. I CARE ABOUT MY COMMUNITY AND THESE GROUPS UNDERESTIMATE THE PEOPLE IN THIS COMMUNITY AND THEY THINK WE WOULD NEVER FIGURE IT OUT. BUT WE ARE FIGURING IT OUT.


MORE TO COME. COMMENTS PLEASE.

Posted by HOMERO VILLARREAL

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Economic development group's effectiveness is hard to measure

By Dan Kelley Caller-Times
March 25, 2007




Most folks want one. City government wants to create them. To do it, the city relies on the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit group it helped establish.

How is the EDC doing?

"If you judge the EDC by the number of new jobs, I don't know I'd call it a roaring success," said Al Jones, a former member of the EDC's board of directors. "We've not been successful in luring a large employer."

But if the EDC isn't doing a good job, how would the city or the taxpayers know?

Trying to understand the EDC can be like grasping the fog that shrouds its 13th-floor office in One Shoreline Plaza. Taxpayers spent more than $3.8 million supporting the organization since 2000. What taxpayers received for that investment is unclear because little public documentation exists.

The EDC is a nonprofit organization - not a city department - with a $1.5 million annual budget. In 2004 the city and Port of Corpus Christi paid the EDC $475,000 and $170,000, respectively. More than half of its funding historically has come from public sources, the rest from private industry donations. Slightly more than half of its board members are nominated by public agencies.

Critics say the organization is designed to sidestep accountability.

"It doesn't have transparency," said Butch Escobedo, an insurance broker and LULAC member. "It doesn't have oversight."

What critics call secrecy, EDC officials and authorities on the subject of economic development describe as confidentiality - a necessary ingredient, they say, in luring industries. Corporations depend on secrecy for competitive reasons, and oftentimes don't reveal their identities even to the EDC.

The EDC provided the Caller-Times with board meeting minutes, internal audits and other documents it believes it is not required to provide.

Whether those documents are public records depends on whether the EDC is considered a governmental body or a contractor. That decision depends on an interpretation of its contract. A 1993 attorney general's opinion states that the EDC's contract with the city has to show an "obligation to provide a measurable amount of service in exchange for a certain amount of money, as one would expect to find in a typical arms-length contract for services between a vendor and a purchaser."

"I'd be really surprised if they could really pass muster that it's a true contractual relation," said Charles Daughtry, a lawyer in the Houston-based firm of Daughtry and Jordan and a volunteer lawyer for The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.

According to its contract with the city, the EDC negotiates the use of monies from a one-eighth-cent sales tax. The group doesn't have to tell anyone whom it is negotiating with until those subsidies are sent to a city board for approval.

Five such agreements have been reached. Two companies accepted the subsidies, which could potentially total $685,000.

Little information

The city has never asked for a performance audit to find out if the EDC is doing a good job.

If it did, how far the city would get is unclear because in 2005, the city and the EDC entered an agreement limiting the scope of information the city could request.

On at least one occasion in 2005 the EDC sought and received an opinion from its accountants declaring that it did not have to account for its use of public funds. That opinion, contained in a review of accounting procedures given to the Caller-Times by the EDC, found that 38 percent of a sample of expenditures lacked authorization from management, and 26 percent lacked supporting documentation such as receipts or invoices. The review did not detail how much money was involved.

Donald Deis, a professor of accounting at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said knowing the amount of money involved in the transactions would help evaluate the importance of the auditor's finding, but "the rates themselves suggest something needs to be done."

The city's contract with the EDC requires it to give quarterly reports, and in the past it also issued annual reports.

The quarterly reports consist of an oral presentation to the City Council, and they are only required to contain the number of contacts the EDC has made. They don't appear in written form, according to Roland Mower, president and CEO of the organization.

The EDC no longer stands by its previous annual reports, which detailed explosive job growth.

Jobs did come to Corpus Christi between 2000 and 2005, but other jobs left almost at the same rate as the new ones were coming, a fact that was not listed in the reports. And some of the jobs were projected to materialize years in the future, according to Jim Barnette, immediate past chairman of the EDC's board and a longtime member of its hierarchy.

NEED FOR DISCRETION

Top directors in the organization are adamant about the need for discretion.

"Most corporations considering relocating or expanding require complete confidentiality either because of their competition or (Securities and Exchange Commission) rules regarding disclosure," said Barnette. "As a result, our EDC was organized as a private, not-for-profit corporation that would not be subject to the Open Meetings Act so that corporations could contact us regarding their plans and maintain their required confidentiality."

Mower said he might not know the identity of the companies considering the city for business opportunities, because the consultants hired by corporations to scout locations often refer to their clients under code names.

Mower gave the Caller-Times access to the organization's board minutes and provided an undated list of businesses - described only by code name and information on the type of business - and the results of the contacts.

Standard practice

Experts in the field of economic development say the need for secrecy is normal, and helps companies retain key employees during transition.

"When you announce a closure, your employees find new jobs or sabotage equipment," said Jeffrey Finkle, president and CEO of the International Economic Development Council, a Washington, D.C.-based economic development trade group. If that is done prematurely, Finkle said, site-selecting consultants may never deal with a city again.

But in the absence of public information, how do voters and the politicians they elect know whether they are getting their money's worth?

They could look at the numbers.

The number of jobs created in Corpus Christi grew by less than 1 percent annually between 2000 and 2004, and by approximately 1.9 percent between 2004 and 2005, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Those figures lag behind both the rest of Texas and the country as a whole.

But is that the EDC's fault?

Finkle said judging the success of an EDC depends on the community.

"In Youngstown, Ohio, which has lost half of its population since 1960, simply retaining an employer might be considered a success," Finkle said. "In Las Vegas, the question might be how to diversify the economy."

Typically, Finkle said, agencies have goals or studies that guide their thinking and allow observers to track their progress.

It appears that the only study detailing what projects the EDC should pursue since its re-formation in 2000 was released in 2006. When asked for other EDC studies, Mower pointed to a survey of the local workforce that made no overt recommendations as to the direction the organization should go.

Barnette said the goal in those early years was simply to get Corpus Christi noticed.

"We didn't have a bad reputation," Barnette said. "We had no reputation. Our goal in the first few years was to do nothing but get us on the map."

Tracing its own history, the EDC stops at 2000. But its genesis and many of its main players date back at least to 1986. It was the brainchild of an insurance agent named Loyd Neal, who later became mayor and now is the county judge. In 1986, he was chairman of the Chamber of Commerce.

About nine years later, the EDC merged with the Chamber of Commerce and the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau, as part of the group known as the Greater Corpus Christi Business Alliance. In 2000, the Business Alliance collapsed under a rash of audits and the EDC reorganized as a free-standing entity.

Through the years and several name changes - the Corpus Christi Area EDC, the Corpus Christi Business Alliance, the Greater Corpus Christi Business Alliance and, most recently, the Corpus Christi Regional EDC - the key players have remained largely the same. Jones has served on the board since the beginning. Barnette has served at various times, along with his longtime partner in the construction business, Joe Fulton.

In the past, the county government contributed $80,000 annually to the EDC, but it has halted that relationship. Some county officials question the EDC's effectiveness.

Singapore Technologies

In 2001, U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz brought in a strong lead - aircraft maintenance firm Singapore Technologies. The company seemed ready to come to the city. The city was required to offer subsidies to the company. In the end, the company bought a plant in San Antonio at bankruptcy auction. County officials blamed city officials for delaying the deal.

Two county officials, Tyner Little, executive assistant to the Commissioners Court, and Commissioner Oscar Ortiz, the congressman's brother, said the deal soured the county on the EDC.

Barnette said the Singapore Technologies situation wasn't the reason the county opted out.

"They found a facility that had a very favorable price," Barnette said. "It was not a result of a fight between the city and the county."

Former County Judge Terry Shamsie said the county stopped using the EDC because of a budget crunch.

Neal, who was mayor when the Singapore Technologies deal fell through, said the county is likely to begin participating with the EDC again, but is not able to do so this year. He did not say how much money he believed the county could give.

"I asked them to come up with a proposal to give to me after the second day of January," said Neal, who was sworn in as county judge that day. "Are we as happy as we could be on job creation? Of course not. It doesn't mean organizations like this don't have a place."

He said job creation figures would improve if local industries could find qualified applicants for open positions.

SLIP THROUGH CRACKS

Losing Singapore Technologies wasn't the first time the EDC saw a major project slip through the cracks.

In 1987, the EDC, under a slightly different name, pushed for a plan to lure a defense contractor making surveillance blimps. The project never materialized. That same year, McDonnell Douglas pulled back on plans to build an aircraft assembly plant here.

Again under a different name in 1999, the city lost a call center to Kingsville after that city offered a $100,000 subsidy and easy access to bilingual workers.

With that record comes criticism from the community, which can point to a long list of half-steps and failures.

Many fault former EDC CEO Ron Kitchens for overstating the performance of the local economy.

Kitchens says he was just repeating the information given to him by companies announcing new jobs.

Kitchens was in Corpus Christi from 2000 - after the loss of the call center prospect but in time for the Singapore Technologies campaign - until 2005. He took a job in Kalamazoo, Mich., as head of an economic development group he described as twice the size of the Corpus Christi EDC. In announcing Kitchens' departure, Barnette said the EDC's next task would be to find "another Ron Kitchens."

Irma Caballero, the city's lone employee - her title is director - of the city's economic development department, said that criticism may have been warranted in the past. It is, however, too early to judge Mower, who moved to take the job as the EDC's president in mid-2005. Her job includes coordinating city departments - like utilities, planning, zoning, and the board that gives final approval for subsidies - for prospective businesses. She also acts as the liaison between the city and the EDC.

"There was no economic development plan for the city," said Caballero, who is in charge of the department with a $184,000 annual budget. "By January (2006) we had a plan. One thing we all agreed on is the EDC needs to focus on higher-quality jobs."

Before his election in 2005, Councilman Jerry Garcia said he had questions about the EDC. He doubted the number of jobs the EDC claimed were created, but said he got a better picture of what was going on after talking with board members.

"I was hearing a lot of rhetoric from different factions," Garcia said. "Some of these men and women on the committee, I know them. I talked to them. I was saying, 'Why isn't this public, why don't people know this?' "

Contact Dan Kelley at 886-4316 or kelleyd@ caller.com
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)