The public policy agenda started by Ray Caballero and cronies and pushed forth by current elected officials, like Veronica Escobar, is based on the erroneous notion that if you “build it they will come.” The public policy based on spending your tax dollars on creating insolvent tax-backed entities artificially creates a sense of accomplishment in the community along with much-needed artificially induced community self-worth. However, like the “it’s all good” lie, it is all a façade based on dishonesty that would likely land a private individual in jail, if it were not for the government’s misuse of sovereign immunity.

Let’s get straight to the crux of the problem. The El Paso Children’s Hospital was built on taxpayer monies but without the scrutiny of public oversight. It was designed to avoid taxpayer accountability while using your tax dollars.

In its simplest terms, the Children’s Hospital is the same thing Bob Jones did with the misuse of federal monies by lying about what he has doing with the money. The only difference is that Bob Jones sits in jail while Veronica Escobar and her cohorts, who were the staunchest supporters of the children’s hospital fraud, are “worried” that children’s will be sold to someone else.

Let me explain my thought process before some of you get heartburn.

Bob Jones took money, set aside to help disabled job seekers improve their lives. Jones lied to the federal government by telling them that he was contracting disabled workers when he was not. In other words, Bob Jones misused taxpayer monies to make money.

The proponents of the El Paso Children’s Hospital did something very similar. Against the counsel of experts in the medical field, who told them the project was not economically feasible, they borrowed taxpayer monies and gave it to someone else – the El Paso Children’s Hospital.

Say what?

Yes, you read that right. Rather than get into the technical details about the whole debacle just take a moment to consider the following irrefutable fact.

Nowhere in the bankruptcy documents, in the public discussion or in the bond market expertise has anyone told the bondholders that they may lose the amount owed in the $120 million in bonds that were sold by the County in 2008.

All of the rhetoric is focused on the amounts of monies that the El Paso Children’s Hospital owes the University Medical Center (UMC) in rents. All of the political rhetoric is around the notion that the bankruptcy is a black eye for El Paso.

Yet, not once, has anyone asked or opined about the $120 million in bonds used to build the hospital building.

Why?

Because the swindle was to get the taxpayers to build a fancy building to house the children’s hospital, then turn around, and charge you, the taxpayer, rent money for the use of the building.

You, the taxpayer are paying twice!

First, you pay for the bonds through your taxes and then you will be levied fees to offset the losses from the El Paso Children’s Hospital inability to make payments.

I can see it now; the useful idiots are going to rally at the behest of Veronica Escobar and cohorts and proclaim how utterly wrong I am. They will attempt to reinforce the notion that the County has no authority over El Paso Children’s Hospital.

Guess what? They are partly right. The reason you, the taxpayer, has no authority over the El Paso Children’s Hospital is because, that is how Veronica Escobar and cohorts wanted it. It is part of the fraud of using your tax dollars to build monuments to themselves and the artificial “it’s all good” buildings of lies. Had they been above board with this swindle they would have built the children’s hospital as part of UMC since it was being built with taxpayer monies.

Think about it this way.

You buy a house with a mortgage.

You are fired from your job and you can no longer pay your mortgage. When you file your bankruptcy papers, you include a list of creditors you owe. Among them is, of course, the bank that holds your mortgage.

The bank holding your mortgage now has to figure out how to make sure it does not lose any money in your bankruptcy filing.

Where in the bankruptcy filing for the El Paso Children’s Hospital is the mortgage holders? You know the bondholders that are making interest on the $120 million you borrowed to build the building.

They are not listed and, more importantly, they are not worried about losing any of their money.

This is because Veronica Escobar championed a process whereby your money was given to someone that is not accountable to you. She took taxpayer monies and gave it away.

In my book, that is a fraud.

Now think about where else you were recently forced to do the exact same thing.

That would be the ballpark fiasco.

Like the children’s hospital, a private entity that is not subject to open records requests was given access to a building that you are paying for with your tax dollars.

If they cannot make their payments, guess who gets to make the payments to the bondholders?

That would be you. Think it can’t happen? That is what Veronica Escobar was telling you in 2007. As a matter of fact, she told you how wonderful the project was going to be. Escobar even told you that it would create jobs.