El Paso County Commissioner Steps Down Amid Federal Probe

DALLAS — Miguel Teran, one of three members of the El Paso County Commissioners Court whose offices were searched in a widespread federal corruption investigation, is stepping down. After 12 years representing Precinct 3, Teran said he would not seek re-election in March.“I feel that responsible leadership also means knowing when to embrace new leadership,” Teran wrote in a letter to supporters.Teran’s announcement comes less than a week after two former Bear, Stearns & Co. executives pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges. Christopher Pak, former vice president in Bear Stearns’ Dallas office, pleaded guilty to a bribery scheme involving an unidentified county commissioner. Pak’s associate, former managing director Robert G. “Bobby” Ruiz, pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges involving local government. Bear Stearns has been involved in nearly $2 billion of bond deals in the county over the past eight years.Bear Stearns has issued no statement on the guilty pleas other than to say, “We hold our company and our employees to the highest business and ethical standards. Bear Stearns is not a subject of the inquiry; we will continue to cooperate with the authorities regarding this matter.”Pak admitted to bribing an elected county commissioner who was in office from May 2001 through December 2007.One former county commissioner, Betti Flores, pleaded guilty last summer to accepting bribes for her vote on bond issues for the county’s Thomason Hospital. However, her term ended in December 2006.John Travis Ketner, former chief of staff for County Judge Anthony Cobos, also pleaded guilty to seeking bribes for county officials.In the federal court document related to Ketner’s guilty plea, Ketner alleges that a bond executive offered bribes in exchange for hiring his company for a refunding deal. The county’s financial adviser at the time, First Southwest Co., refused to pay the “requisite bribes” to work on the deal, according to the document. First Southwest was fired as financial adviser in February, shortly before the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided homes and offices of county officials. First Southwest has not been identified as a target of the investigation. Hector Zavaleta, former managing director for First Southwest in El Paso, has resigned his position and has said through his attorney that he is cooperating with the investigation.El Paso County’s current financial adviser, Coastal Securities, was hired last summer under a new screening process.FBI agents searched Teran’s home and office as they also searched those of Cobos, County Commissioner Luis Sariñana, and Thomason Hospital board member Arturo Duran. None have been charged with wrongdoing.Thomason Hospital is operated by the county. While the hospital board hires its own financial advisers and underwriters, the county must approve any bond issues.In his letter to his supporters, Teran describes the dire straits the county was in when he arrived in office in 1996.“The county was broke and Thomason Hospital was on the brink of being sold and privatized,” he wrote. Since then, the hospital’s fiscal health has been restored and voters last November approved $120 million bond issue to build a children’s hospital to go with Thomason.Teran also notes that the county’s fund balance and bond rating have been “elevated to new heights.”Other guilty pleas in the widespread probe have come from former El Paso Independent School District trustee Carlos Villa “Coach” Cordova on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and deprivation of honest services.In August, an architect who had done business with the board, Bernardo Lucero Jr., pleaded guilty to helping to secure a fraudulent loan for one of EPISD trustee Sal Mena’s family members. Mena, who resigned the board along with Cordova, has not been charged with any crime. At the time, Lucero was under contract to build the recently opened Hut Brown Middle School.