It was reported today that the Office of the Inspector General of the United States of America Department of Justice is auditing the County of El Paso. Why? According to the news, County Attorney Jose Rodriguez and District Attorney Jaime Esparza have submitted bills to the federal government for prosecutions and the Feds say the bills are not warranted. The news said that the Department of Justice is asking the County (which would be Jaime Esparza and Jose Rodriguez) to justify, explain, and document $3.9 milllion extra paid to them in remibursements.
The Office of the Inspector General is, in my opinion, one of the last honest government offices left. It is the office that opened the investigation against former head of the El Paso FBI, Hardrick Crawford, who was ultimately indicted and convicted and sent to prison.

Esparza is now going to have to spend tax payer time trying to provide documentation to back up his bills to the feds. This is yet another scandal the community of El Paso is going to have to pay for because Esparza has a hard time doing things right the first time.

Also remarkable about the story is that County Attorney Jose Rodriguez, who is being questioned as to his bills to the feds, is also acting as the attorney for Jaime Esparza. Mr. Rodriguez was quoted in the news lauding Esparza for “‘forcing the federal government…’” to pay the county for prosecutions, in an attempt to make Esparza look like the hero in this mess. In this case, Mr. Rodriguez is acting like a good defense attorney for his client and trying to put the best face on an embrassing and politically costly matter. The question is, how are you a lawyer for someone and a co-auditee of the same someone at the same time? Let’s see if Esparza (who teaches ethics classes for CLE credit) and Mr. Rodriguez can figure out what they should do about this conflict of interest.

The article on this latest scandal was written by El Paso Times reporter David Crowder. Despite the gravity of the matter, the article was a soft ball one. Keep in mind that David Crowder was arrested over a year ago for DWI by the EPPD. The EPPD immediately called Esparza’s office after apprehending Crowder. Esparza declined Crowder’s charges ON THE SPOT. Crowder never saw the inside of the County Jail (it was a DIMS case). Does Dionicio Flores, who runs the paper, really think that we have forgotten that Esparza let his star reporter go? Does Flores also not recognize conflicts of interest? Given what Esparza did for Crowder, Crowder should not be covering this story. Will Dionicio Flores’ blindness to Crowder’s conflict of interest regarding this huge story not also convert into a blnd eye when it comes to the conflict of interest Esparza and Rodriguez have regarding the audit?

Money and women are usually what bring down a corrupt politician. Let’s see what the Feds find and how Esparza (mis)handles yet anther scandal. Esparza is already doing his usual dodge the ball. The reporter could not find him for comment on the small matter of a Federal Audit of his Accounts. Where was he? Was he in Mexico City campaigning (remember the $350.00 lunch at the Maria Isabella Sheraton in Mexico City he wrote off as a campaign expense)? Was his secretary Amy Lujan in Mexico City again with him working on International extraditions? Or was he at the golf course? Could he have been busy dismissing cases for the powerful and the connected, i.e. Dick Poe’s DWI dismissed (reference El Paso Times yesterday 10-12-07) or David Crowder’s DWI? Or was Esparza at the City asking for money from them to do a job he is already paid to do?

Elect someone who can be reached for comment and will answer directly to the press and not hide out or worse yet hide behind the skirts of a tax paid female PR person who is not a lawyer to boot. Elect someone who will prosecute cases right the first time. Elect someone who is not going to be taking her tax paid secretary on the taxpayer dime to Mexico City to work on “legal matters.” Elect someone who is not going to be in the news every three months for some allegation of dishonesty. Elect me, Theresa Caballero.