Under scrutiny: Edinburg politiquero’s indictment raises questions about campaign ties

Earlier this week, Edinburg politiquero Miguel A. Garza went before a federal judge, pleading not guilty to allegations that he participated in a kickback scheme that allegedly involved former Edinburg officials and a business owner.

But while the exact nature of his role in the alleged scheme and the identities of his potential co-conspirators remain unknown, the indictment raises questions about his relationships with politicians.

From September 2018 to as recently as February 2022, Garza was paid for his work on different political campaigns by four different elected officials — Ruben Ramirez, who is currently running to be the next representative for Texas’ 15th Congressional District, Hidalgo County Commissioner Ellie Torres, who is running for reelection, former Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina and former Edinburg Councilman Jorge “Coach” Salinas.

While Garza made the most money from 2018 through early 2020, elected officials continued to hire him even after FBI agents raided his home the morning of Feb. 24, 2020, a clear signal that he was under investigation.

THE PAYMENTS

Despite that scrutiny, he went on to receive about $9,600, mostly for “contract labor,” from political campaigns from June 22, 2021 to Feb. 16 of this year. In total, he received $24,100 from campaign work since September 2018.

A review of campaign finance reports showed those payments were made either directly to him or through his company, Strong Blue RGV, which he established as a sole proprietorship in March 2019, according to Hidalgo County records.

The most recent campaign work for Strong Blue RGV came from the Ruben Ramirez campaign, which made three payments of $500 to Garza’s company for “consultant-field” work.

The first payment was made on Jan. 6, the second on Feb. 1 and the third was on Feb. 16, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

In a statement issued Thursday, Ramirez’s campaign said they had cut ties with Garza.

“The newly reported details are alarming and the campaign has terminated its relationship with Mike Garza,” the campaign said. “Corruption has no place in government and Ruben is committed to cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse in Congress.”

Garza was also hired by the Ellie Torres campaign, which reported a $1,000 payment to Strong Blue RGV for “contract labor” on Nov. 8, 2021.

Torres did not return a request for comment.

Garza received a lot more work from former Mayor Richard Molina, who reported paying Garza $7,100 leading up to the 2021 mayoral election.

Molina also hired Garza in 2019, paying him a total of $2,500 for “contract labor” over four payments from March 12, 2019 to Aug. 29, 2019.

But Garza made the most from working with Salinas, the former Edinburg city council member for Place 1. Salinas paid Garza a total of $12,000 from Sept. 23, 2018 to Feb. 13, 2020.

Salinas reported the payments were made for “contract labor,” but Salinas was not up for reelection until November 2021 and he ultimately opted to not run.

Neither Molina nor Salinas returned requests for comment.

THE CHARGES

Garza is facing a count of federal program bribery and a count of interstate travel in aid of racketeering, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday to which he pleaded not guilty later that afternoon.

Federal prosecutors accuse Garza of participating in a kickback scheme that ran from June 1, 2019 to about March 1, 2020 and involved two former elected officials and a business owner.

The two former officials are identified only as “Public Official A” and “Public Official B” in the indictment, while the business owner is identified as “Person 1.”

The indictment alleges Person 1 tried to obtain contracts and work agreements with the city, while also trying to maintain existing contracts and work agreements.

As part of the alleged scheme, Garza reportedly helped Public Official A and Public Official B accept bribes from the business owner, according to the indictment.

Both officials were in positions with the city of Edinburg where they each could vote on whether the city would award contracts and work agreements to Person 1’s business, or vote to modify or end those contracts.

Ramirez, the congressional candidate, was also involved with the city around that time as well, serving as interim executive director for the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation from July 2019 to January 2020.

However, a source close to his campaign said Ramirez did not work with Garza during that time and said Ramirez had no knowledge of the alleged illegal activity until he read about the indictment in the news.

During that time, Garza was consulting for three businesses with ties to the city of Edinburg, according to Robert Laurence Guerra, the federal prosecutor on the case.

“He was, shall we say, consulting on behalf of three businesses with ties to the city of Edinburg and all three of those businesses were paying him — either biweekly or monthly — thousands of dollars annually in order to pay him for his service,” Guerra told U.S. Magistrate Judge Nadia S. Medrano.

Guerra clarified, however, that the government is not alleging that all of his business during that time was illegal or illegitimate, but simply describing what type of business Garza conducted at the time.

“He was employed as a consultant with being able to connect people with businesses to public officials so that pitches could be made, and that’s not illegal,” Guerra said, “and during that period of time, he was receiving significant amounts of money for his consultation and his access to individuals throughout the Valley.

“He’s a consultant and coordinator of individuals and businesses,” Guerra summed up.

However, Garza, himself, said he really was a politiquero and mostly worked in putting up campaign signs.

When setting conditions for his pretrial release, Medrano directed him to stay away from working with politicians given the nature of the allegations against him.

“While this case is pending, it’s just better that we have some distance between what the allegations are,” Medrano said. “I understand that there’s legitimate business in putting up signs and doing all of that but because of the associations and the continued contacts with individuals, it’s better for you to distance yourself, at least at this point.”

Garza indicated that staying away from that type of work would not pose a challenge.

“I won’t even be hired anymore because I already came out in the paper, came out in the news, everywhere,” Garza told the judge. “I won’t mess with that.”

Garza posted bond Thursday and was released under conditions that he seek and maintain employment, restrict his travel to the Southern District of Texas, refrain from possessing firearms or other dangerous weapons, refrain from excessive use of alcohol, and refrain from unlawful possession or use of narcotics and controlled substances. He must also avoid contact with co-defendants, witnesses, and potential victims and abide by a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.