El Paso County Seeks Voters’ OK $120M for Children’s Hospital

DALLAS — El Paso County will ask voters to approve a $120 million bond issue to build a long-sought children’s hospital, despite a financial scandal that has led to two convictions of county officials and cast a shadow over a previous hospital bond sale. In a unanimous vote Thursday, the El Paso County Commissioners agreed to put the bond proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot, prompting an outburst of applause from supporters of the project.“Members of this community have been pushing this for a decade and a half,” said Commissioner Veronica Escobar, a leading advocate for the hospital.Escobar and Commissioner Dan Haggerty are the only two members of the five-member county commissioners court not implicated in the federal investigation.James Valenti, president and chief executive officer of the county’s Thomason Hospital, has been given much of the credit for restoring credibility to the public health care facilities. Valenti convinced the El Paso County Hospital Board to seek voter approval for a $139 million bond issue for the hospital in 2005 and led the charge to build the proposed Children’s Hospital.“Since Mr. Valenti’s arrival, we have witnessed the hospital reverse years of fiscal irresponsibility and introduce a level of accountability previously unseen in the hospital’s history,” hospital employees wrote in support of Valenti in June.The letter was prompted by claims from hospital board member Arturo “Tury” Duran that hospital executives had made ethically questionable financial decisions. Duran has been under scrutiny in a federal bribery and fraud investigation that has targeted local government, a nonprofit, a health care services provider, the county court system, and a number of local attorneys.Also caught up in the investigation have been bond firms that have done business in the city, county, and with hospital and local school districts. Hector Zavaleta, a former vice president of First Southwest Co., resigned last week, and his attorney issued a statement that Zavaleta was assisting in the investigation “as it relates to various governmental entities and officials.”When Duran raised questions about the hospital’s finances, board chairman Ron Acton challenged Duran to bring the allegations to the hospital’s compliance committee. So far, Duran has not done so.Duran was appointed to the hospital board by former County Commissioner Elizabeth “Betti” Flores, who pleaded guilty last month to fraud charges and admitted taking “cash bribes” in exchange for her vote on financial services contracts related to the hospital’s bond issues.Duran was implicated in a court document filed against John Travis Ketner, former chief of staff for current County Judge Anthony Cobos. Ketner pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges for allegedly soliciting bribes from county vendors. Duran represented two vendors cited in the court document as offering campaign contributions in exchange for county business. Duran’s attorney said his client did nothing illegal.In response to Flores’ guilty plea, county attorney Jose R. Rodriguez said he was working with the hospital to investigate transactions involving Flores and any others that might seem questionable.“I want to acknowledge that the public has a right to question the integrity of all county officials and more specifically to question the validity of the transactions that have been tainted by Commissioners Flores’ criminal conduct,” Rodriguez said in the prepared statement.Those questions are likely to be front and center as the county seeks to educate voters on the value of the new children’s hospital, Escobar said. “We need to go before every public group that has questions about the public corruption scandal and ease concerns.”Escobar’s district includes Thomason Hospital and the site of the proposed children’s hospital. When Arturo Duran’s term on the hospital board ends next March, Escobar will appoint his replacement.She says she hopes voters will not reject the new hospital because of the scandal.