Jaime Esparza and the FBI Investigation

I will continue with the Nancy Hollebeke case in future blogs. There is much more to tell on that story. It is very long and must be divided into segments. However today I feel the need to address the ongoing FBI investigation into the offices of the County Judge and County Commissioners and the District Clerk, etc. This week we read in the El Diario of El Paso that the FBI conducted interviews of some employees of the District Clerk's office, interviews that were conducted in a space provided by County Attorney Jose Rodriguez who is, like my opponent, a prosecutor. Jose Rodriguez has stated publicly that he will be conducting his own investigation. This is food for thought on many different levels but let's just look at a couple today.

First of all Jose Rodriguez represents the county and its officials in civil matters. He advises Commissioner's Court, reviews and enters into and signs contracts on behalf of the county and represents county entities as well as individuals when they are sued. For example, when Jaime Esparza is sued (which is often) it is Jose Rodriguez' attorneys (usually attorney Anabelle Perez) who represent Esparza in the suits. Jose Rodriguez is also a prosecutor on criminal matters. He prosecutes juvenile cases and all of the hot check cases and deceptive trade practices and illegal dumping cases. Rodriguez is now donning his prosecutor's hat in all of this FBI business and saying that he is going to investigate as well. Investigate what, I am not sure. Is he going to investigate himself? Is he going to investigate his own clients, i.e. County Judge Anthony Cobos, Commissioners Teran and Sarinana, District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez, or contracts that he himself reviewed and entered into on behalf of the county? If these contracts were illegal then why did Rodriguez sign them? One of Mr. Rodriguez' primary responsibilties and duties as an attorney is to advise Commissioner's Court in advance, prior to, that is, whether a contract is legal or not. Naturally that includes reading it, understanding it, the process to award it and conducting his own investigation into it prior to signing it. So if the contracts later on turn out to be illegal, who is at fault? What do we think of attorney's who later say, "I didn't know?" Should Rodriguez be conducting his own investigation since he did sign them? Should Rodriguez be involved at all since the FBI investigation supposedly regards Luther Jones who supported and backed the only opponent Rodriguez has ever had, Rick Porras, and to whom Rodriguez nearly lost. Is this reasonable behavior on the part of Rodriguez?

If Rodriguez is doing this criminal investigation as a prosecutor with all of these conflicts of interest then the question is begged, where is the other Prosecutor in the County Court House, Jaime Esparza? Where has Esparza been? We know that physically he sits one floor below Commissioners' Court and one floor above the District Clerk's office. There has been innuendo that there was illegal maneuvering on the assignment of Betti Flores' case to a particular court. What is remarkable, according to the Diario, is that Esparza's top henchman Marcos Lizarraga was photographed at the Clerk's office where he was present for the actual court assignment. So aren't Esparza and his friend Marcos Lizarraga witnesses? So where is Mr. Texas lawman Esparza on all of this? Is there just nothing to investigate? Or is there and Esparza has turned a blind eye to it? Why the silence on Esparza's part either way?

What kind of maneuvering is going on? Why is no one asking these questions? Is Esparza once again going to be allowed by the press to slither off quietly toward the horizon leaving nothing but a slight single track in the sand in his wake? His silence is deafening.