This article was updated on January 29, 2021 at 15:10E to correct some grammatical errors.
On July 14, 2020, Vince Perez lost his county commissioner seat to Iliana Holguin in the runoff election. Up to that point, Vince Perez had $27,500 in loans he made to his own campaign. Texas is one of ten community property states. Property accumulated during the marriage is the property of the spouses. Likewise, debt incurred during the marriage in Texas is presumed to be community debt. Vince and Claudia Ordaz were married in 2016.
Claudia Ordaz Perez was elected to the Texas House of Representatives for District 76 in 2020.
For the 2020 election cycle, Vince Perez received $118,382 in campaign contributions. He spent $74,565.86, according to his campaign finance reports from January 15, 2020 through July 6, 2020.
The last campaign finance report filed by Vince Perez was on July 6, 2020.
Any expenses reported after that date will not appear until the next report due in July 2021.
For 2020, Vince Perez reported loaning himself $27,500. The first loan reported was on June 1, 2020 for $22,500. The second loan on June 15, 2020 was for $3,000. A final loan to himself was reported on July 1, 2020 for $2,000.
Vince Perez also reported $7,851.96 on Schedule G of his financial reports. Schedule G is used for “expenditures from personal funds.”
In total, Vince Perez seems to have loaned himself $35,351.96.
According to his last report of July 6, 2020, Vince Perez had $4,257.85 left in his campaign account and a “loan principal” of $1,100.
From the public reports, El Paso Politics was unable to determine what the $1,100 represented as he carried it forward in all his 2020 reports.
Although Vince Perez is not currently a candidate nor holds office, he can keep his campaign account open to continue to accept campaign donations. Even if Perez does not intend to run for office, he can collect campaign funds to settle his campaign debt.
Wife Claudia Gave Vince $9,500
According to Claudia Ordaz Perez’ campaign report from January 15, 2021, Claudia Perez gave her husband, Vince Perez $9,500 on December 28, 2020.
According to the statement on the financial disclosure form, Claudia Perez listed the campaign contribution from her campaign funds as a “campaign debt”. Ordaz Perez categorized the campaign expense as “Contributions/Donations Made By Candidate/Officeholder/Political Committee.”
Foster and Hunt Contribute $10,000
On her January 15, 2021, Claudia Ordaz Perez reported receiving $5,000 from Paul Foster on December 9, 2020 and another $5,000 from Woody Hunt on November 30, 2020. Foster and Hunt were her largest contributors at $5,000 each for that period. The next largest contribution was $2,500 from Maria Teran.
Claudia Ordaz Perez reported paying Smith Public Affairs $3,956.78 on November 5, 2020 as a “solicitation/fundraising expense, fundraising fee.” Mark Smith is a lobbyist whose client list includes Mountain Star Sports Group, owned by the Hunt & Foster families. Smith has also previously worked for the Forma Group which was involved in a secretive mailout in 2020 uncovered by the El Paso Politics.
Ordaz Perez reported having $55,129.71 left in campaign funds and zero outstanding loans on her latest report.
I’m glad you are pointing out the “scams” by both of the Perez’. She was useless as a City Council person, just as he was useless on the Court. Now people can see that they were both the puppets of Foster and Hunt. Bravo !!!!