Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

EL PASO - State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, has strongly disputed a Houston Chronicle editorial claiming there is a culture of bribery along the border.

In a letter to the newspaper, Shapleigh says public corruption is a cancer – wherever it exists. “To say it is cultural is just plain racist,” Shapleigh said.

In the editorial, titled Bribery on the Border, the Chronicle says Mexico has many admirable facets that Americans might wish to import or assimilate. However, it says official bribery is not among them.

“The idea that slipping cash to a policeman can make a ticket go away isn't unique to Mexico. But in some parts of that country, bribery is endemic. Obtaining justice, a work contract, a look in the other direction or even telephone service are dependent on the little bite, the mordida,” the Chronicle opines.

Along with heightened sensitivity to border and immigration issues has come concern that lawlessness and corruption have crept onto the U.S. side of the border, the Chronicle states, pointing to the recent public corruption scandal that has rocked El Paso.

On May 15, the FBI conducted a raid on the office of El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos, El Paso County Commissioners Miguel Terán and Luis Sariñana, and Thomason Hospital board member and former U.S. International Boundary and Water Commissioner Arturo ‘Tury’ Duran.
 
Two days later, John "Travis" Ketner, chief of staff for Cobos, submitted a letter of resignation.

Earlier this month, Ketner pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said the case involves attempts to fraudulently secure vendor contracts with El Paso County.

Ketner was the only person directly named in an 18-page Information document submitted to U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo by Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof of El Paso.

However, 17 uncharged co-conspirators and two companies from outside El Paso are listed in the Information document under pseudonyms.

The document appears to implicate Cobos, Sariñana, Terán, Duran, County Clerk Gilbert Sanchez, and three prominent El Paso lawyers, Luther Jones, David Escobar and Martie Jobe. All have publicly protested their innocence.

The two companies listed under pseudonyms in the Information document are thought to be Valley Risk Consulting and Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation, both based in McAllen.

The Chronicle says the scope of the investigation “raises a disturbing picture of widespread corruption.” It says it is more disturbing than the headlines that appear a little too regularly about border agents allowing smugglers to cross.

“Smuggling goods and humans is illegal, and the corruption of law enforcement officers involves individual malfeasance,” the Chronicle states.

“What appears to be happening in El Paso, though, is a widespread culture of bribery that has penetrated many arenas of the city's legitimate government activity. This kind of corruption destroys trust and respect for law. It annihilates democracy.”

The Chronicle said cities on the border with Mexico “have a flavor all their own, unique to the blending of cultures, families and economies that cross a shared boundary.” It concludes that the flavor “cannot be allowed to take on the bitter aftertaste of the mordida. The FBI investigation is a needed intervention in a kind of assimilation that benefits no one.”

In response to the Chronicle editorial, Shapleigh said that for the last decade, he has been humbled to serve a community his family has called home for five generations.

“Ours is a proud, hard working, resilient community in the midst of a real renaissance,” wrote Shapleigh, in his letter to the paper. “Your editorial does us and all Hispanic communities a disservice. Corruption is not cultural—it is criminal.”

Shapleigh questioned whether double standards were at play.

“When San Diego’s Duke Cunningham, acting Mayor Michael Zucchet, and Councilman Ralph Inzunza got indicted, did you raise the culture issue about that “Border” town?” Shapleigh asked.

“When our community fought Jack Abramoff for stealing from the Tiguas was that a cultural issue?”

Shapleigh said the fact is that many of the alleged crimes in El Paso involve Anglos.

“Public corruption is a cancer—wherever it exists. We will fight it here just as we have in Austin and DC. But to say it is cultural is just plain racist,” Shapleigh concluded.

A Houston resident, Jose Rodriguez, also responded negatively to the Chronicle editorial. In a letter to the paper, Rodriguez said it has always interested him how the majority race of the nation, which includes most representatives in national government, can judge others, but then not judge themselves with the same standards.

“For example, our government criticizes other countries for human rights abuses, yet we continue to hold prisoners who have never been charged at Guantanamo Bay,” Rodriguez wrote.

“The editorial stated that Americans ‘might wish to import or assimilate’ many admirable facets of the Mexican culture, but not official bribery (the "mordida"). We again are judging others but refusing to judge ourselves.”

Rodriguez said he was not justifying what our government officials did in El Paso.

“If they took bribes, they should be punished to the fullest,” Rodriguez wrote. “However, mordida literally translated means bite. I do not believe that American officials need fear importing the "mordida" from Mexican culture. It is already here and has already bitten many of our officials in the behind.”