As you know Jesus “Jesse” Gandara Jr. was convicted of bribery in May of 2015. Gandara was convicted of bribing the Licon Diary owners by promising to have the City of Socorro promote the Licon Dairy using tourism tax dollars in exchange for the Licon’s supporting annexation of San Elizario by Socorro.
The local news media focused on a recording of Gandara surreptitiously made by the Licon family as Gandara took them on a sightseeing tour in his van. The night-time van ride and the secret recording made for movie night drama. The jury convicted Gandara as a result, but the Eighth Court of Appeals pointed out a glaring missing piece to the supposed Gandara bribery – who the bribe was supposed to benefit.
“Gandara’s conduct was not a betrayal of the public trust, precisely because he intended to benefit the public served.”
The issue with the Gandara bribery is that the bribe did not benefit Jesse Gandara. That fact was acknowledged by the Jaime Esparza prosecuting team, as well as by Gandara and his defense team. In other words, Jesse Gandara undertook an attempt to get support from the Licon family for an annexation that was intended to benefit the community that elected him into office. Yes, Esparaza’s prosecutors agreed that Gandara was not going to benefit from the bribe directly, but rather the community that elected him into office would be the beneficiary.
When voters cast a vote for a politician it is well understood that the system is expecting the recipient politician to work for the benefit of the electorate. The Jaime Esparza prosecutors knew that Gandara was not benefiting directly from the bribe and instead the successful annexation would likely benefit the voters who put him into office. Regardless, Jaime Esparza prosecuted Jesse Gandara, nonetheless.
The appeal’s court pointed out the obvious and reversed Jesse Gandara’s conviction.
In other words, the appeals court confirmed that politicians are elected to benefit their electorate.
The more important issue that this latest reversal brings up is what does this say about El Paso’s prosecutor; Jaime Esparza.
El Paso is notoriously corrupt. Many of its public officials have been convicted or pleaded guilty to public corruption in recent years. The successful prosecutions are prosecuted by the federal government. Of the many cases of public corruption that has been identified in El Paso, not one has been successfully prosecuted by Jaime Esparza. Esparza has failed in the very few cases that he has tried to prosecute and he was just reversed in the only one he successfully prosecuted because the appeals court pointed out that to prosecute a politician for advocating for its electorate goes against the basic definition of the US electoral system.
Yet, these basic facts keep Jaime Esparza as the guardian of public corruption in El Paso. What does that say about the electorate that has kept him in office for so many years?
However, there is an even more insidious problem. Look closely at the list of who has been prosecuted for public corruption in El Paso. Now compare that list to those who are in power today.
You can view the appeals court documents here.
I am surprised that Abeytia isn’t posting a rebuttal post to your post Martin. For a guy that claims that the rest of the bloggers are only relevant cause you all talk about El Gordo de Yselta he has been silent. As I have taken an interest in the Socorro Circo as many have come to know it I can tell you that Jaime and company have played a key role on getting the winners of the May 2013 election. I also think it’s kind of unethical at the very least that Jaime bash Jesse so much since apparently it’s they that have the audio tape to the local media. So if the water cooler gossip is correct Licon Dairy handed the audio to the commissioner and they handed it to the media. To prove it all you have to do is subpoena the news outlets that aired that audio and have them testify. Now the question is did someone edit the audio before handing it to the media. Interesting development here Martin.
That’s good Vendetta.
While the act may not be illegal it certainly smacks of unethical conduct. The El Paso region will overlook the issue because people still get it that one is as bad as the other, except one gets you in court and the other a board hearing.
The guy was released because if it doesn’t fit you must acquit. He has a good lawyer.
At the very least I think there should be an investigation as to who distributed the audio to the news outlets. Also to see if the audio was edited at all. Come don’t you think it’s kind of odd that Licon Dairy is behind Tommy’ s Auto Sales where Rene Rodriguez works for his father in law which by coincidence is the very individual along with Mia Sanchez that spearheaded the fight against annexation. I also heard that Jaime Abeytia attended some meetings held at Tommy’s Auto Sales. Talk about unethical behavior.
I am curious as to how far this unethical behavior goes aren’t you OJ?