Democrat Dirty Laundry: Imperiled Ortiz Pays Himself Forward With Millions in Earmark Requests

“Our goal is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. To do so, we will create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts,” (Nancy Pelosi’s “A New Direction for America,” Page 21).

RINSE CYLCE: Texas Dem Requests Millions in Shady Earmarks for Former Security Firm:

Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) has requested millions of dollars in earmarks that may have benefited a security firm he founded.

Ortiz, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, helped direct earmarks and federal grants worth tens of millions of dollars to the Port of Corpus Christi, the nation’s fifth largest port. Since 1997, the port – which is in Ortiz’s district — has hired Amtex Global Services, Ortiz’s former firm, on contracts that have ranged from $900,0000 to more than $1 million annually. The company continues to pay Ortiz for the sale of his stake in it.

Ortiz sold his 55 percent ownership in the firm in late 2003 after media reports raised conflict-of-interest concerns and accusations of political retaliation against critics of Amtex Security. He noted the sale on his congressional financial disclosure forms for that year.

Yet financial disclosure reports filed by Ortiz between 2005 and 2010 show a $250,000 to $500,000 holding labeled Amtex Security, as well as $15,000 to $50,000 worth of annual “interest/capital gains.”

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Ethics watchdogs, however, said Ortiz still has a financial interest in the earmarks because the federal funds help provide work and a stream of income for Amtex.

“Whether or not they can afford to make those payments to him would rest on their continued viability…then he does have a financial interest [in the earmarks],” said Meredith McGehee, policy director of the Campaign Legal Center.

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The complaints come as Ortiz faces a difficult re-election race in a challenging cycle for Democrats across the country. Ortiz has carried his district easily in his last three campaigns, but analysts rate the 14-term incumbent’s race against Republican Blake Farenthold as competitive. RealClearPolitics categorizes he race as leaning Democrat. Other earmarks have been an issue in the race, but Ortiz’s ties to Amtex have not come up in the campaign.
Ortiz reported the income from Amtex in different ways from year to year on his campaign disclosure forms.

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Amtex has been providing security for the Port Aransas ferry since June 2005. In November 2005, Ortiz announced that the City of Port Aransas would receive a $320,000 earmark for a 28-car ferry and another $500,000 earmark to fund an additional ferryboat, as well as a $1.2 million earmark for the construction of a wetlands education center in the Port of Aransas, according to Ortiz’s press releases.

In June 2006, Ortiz announced another $750,000 earmark for the expansion of the ferry, and in 2007 he secured an additional $750,000, as well as $47,000 to purchase police communications equipment. He announced yet another grant in 2008 for more than $643,000 for the design and construction of a new ferryboat, and another $475,000 earmark for the ferry in 2009. He requested an additional $4.2 million for the ferry in the fiscal 2010 transportation appropriations bill.

In 1984, one year after entering Congress, Ortiz formed Amtex Security, Inc. with Florencio “Lencho” Rendon, his decades-long political strategist, confidante and chief of staff, according to articles of incorporation filed with the state. Ortiz served as Amtex’s president and Rendon as the vice president. Rendon’s brother, Miguel Rendon, served as the company’s manager in Corpus Christi, Texas. Lencho Rendon said he sold his stake in the firm at the same time Ortiz did and retired as Ortiz’s chief of staff in 2006.

As a former county sheriff, Ortiz has said that forming Amtex Security was a natural extension of his law enforcement background. He also acknowledged being compensated through dividends, not salary.

Between 2000 and 2003, Ortiz owned a $50,000 to $100,000 stake in Amtex, according to his financial disclosure records, and made between $15,000 to $50,000 in dividends each year.

Ortiz repeatedly has come under local scrutiny because of his relationship with the security firm. (Susan Crabtree, “Ortiz earmarks may have benefited former security firm,” The Hill, 10/20/2010)

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