HOW LOW WILL GALO GO ...

By George Altgelt, Danny Lopez Jr., & Hector Cortez, candidates for Webb County Precinct 3 Commissioner

While we are trying our hardest to convince the voting public
that we have what it takes to be the next County Commissioner for
Precinct 3, John Galo is wearing his bad behaviors on the outside —
mean spirited bullying in person, intimidation, targeting the family
members of his opponents, and claiming to know what percentage of the
votes being cast went to him.
    Sir, what motivates you? Fear of losing again and to candidates far
more formidable than the one you faced in your last losing race?
Losing to four men who do not have the resources to run a campaign
replete with a greeter at early voting — a paid clerk who is taking
names and making lists at Providence and then reporting to you that a
certain number of votes went to you.
    And even as you behave this way, you still have the gall to expect a
peck on the cheek and an abrazo from our family members? Mr. Galo, not
everyone subscribes to the hypocrisy of your code of dishonorable
behavior.
    Dime con quien andas y te digo quien eres. On 5/16/2012 one of Galo’s
minions, un tal “Chuy,” cut down one of George Altgelt’s signs on the
empty lot on Springfield before Providence, and when confronted about
it said, “So what?”
    The most telling example of John Galo’s character is the incident on
the morning of 5/19/2012 when he stated to one of Mr. Cortez’s
youngest family members that they should just pack it up and leave
because he had had inside information that of the 75 votes cast at the
United 9th Grade Campus, 90 percent went to him. The next day Mr.
Cortez told Galo, “Family has always been off limits in politics, and
you need to stay away from mine.”
    If the people working for our campaigns are reflections of us, the
candidates, then John Galo has some explaining to do. The guy in the
white Chevy single cab pickup with the lift kit and clearance lights
who has a loud speaker installed and drives by the polling sites and
says “Go Galo!” yelled out profanities against George Altgelt on
5/19/2012 in front of his 8-year-old daughter Emily, a telling
reflection of the campaign John Galo is running.
The following day, on 5/20/2012, John Galo walked up to Danny Lopez’s
wife Elizabeth who was proudly supporting her husband on Calle del
Norte across from the Providence voting site and stated to her in
front of her children and family that all of the community support for
Danny does not translate into votes for her husband.
    “If John has something to say, he should say it to our faces instead
of picking on women and children to deliver his intimidating
messages,” said Danny Lopez Jr.
    Families and children are off limits, John. Certainly there are
aspects of your personal life that are fodder for campaign aspersions.
Your past record of service as a City Council member is fair game,
your family is not, and neither are ours.

OUTLET MALL TO NOWHERE

$19 million city project turns into an embarrassment thanks to John Galo

The City of Laredo hooked a big economic development fish as it reeled in Allen Davidoff to bring an outlet mall to the El Portal shopping center in 2006. But because of interference from then-councilman John Galo, Davidoff fell off the line, swimming away to El Paso to build.
   City revenues from a successful outlet mall are immense. The little town of Mercedes, Texas, for example, population 13,000, increased sales tax revenue by more than 300% when their Simon outlet mall opened in 2006. The once sleepy town now draws more than $1 million a month in sales tax, and attracts more than 7 million people a year. Other Texas towns with outlet malls tell similar success stories, luring Mexicans and Texans to do more than shop, but also visit museums, theaters, restaurants, hotels, and more.
   So the $19 million price tag for El Portal, a taxpayer funded shopping center on the bank of the Rio Grande, made some sense, as long the city rented the facility to a developer who could deliver an outlet mall.
   Allen Davidoff was the perfect candidate. an energetic entrepreneur who took an outlet mall to El Paso, after the Laredo City Council pulled a contract for El Portal out from under him.
   John Galo led the charge against Davidoff, questioning the wisdom of offering El Portal for $1.25 a square foot when other downtown spaces charge more.
   "That is not a good bid amount," Galo told the city council as it was set to accept Davidoff's bid.
  Davidoff tried to explain to Galo that beyond the $1.25 per square foot rent, he was also paying 3% of his sales to the city, a percentage that could have translated to even more millions of dollars each year for Laredo, with the right businesses in place.
   But Galo didn't want to hear Davidoff's explanation. He had another reason for cutting Davidoff out of the deal, a reason that had nothing to do with true economic development for the city.
   Two years after Davidoff submitted his bid to rent El Portal, and having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in preparations to carry out his proposal, Galo asked the council to vote to terminate Davidoff's bid.
   The city manager and city attorney tried to explain to Galo that terminating the bid was unethical, but still, Galo refused to listen, according to records from the Laredo City Council. Though Galo didn't initially have the support of the city council, eventually he chipped away at the arguments for continuing with Davidoff, and found enough votes to end the contract.
  El Portal was a noble cause, intended to draw a fresh crowd of shoppers to downtown's southern boundary along the Rio Grande, an area that continues to be a no man's land for business, well after the $19 million El Portal center had been built.
   Though the city was able to find a business to pay more per square foot on the approximately 35,000 square foot facility, very few shoppers go there. And the $19 million economic development project that had offered so much hope to Laredo's struggling downtown, ended up a disaster and an embarassment that's cost the taxpayers big time.
   If John Galo showed such poor judgement and lack of ethics on the El Portal deal for Laredo, think about how much damage he'd be able to do to Webb County.
   It's your tax money. Don't let John Galo get his hands on it.
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Copyright © 2011 Political Ad paid for by Sandra A. Leyendecker Treasurer.

LAREDO'S WATER RATES DOUBLE

John Galo dismantled one of the most cost effective city crews in the country as a Laredo City Councilman. What will he do next if he becomes a Webb County Commissioner ... 

 

The council hadn't voted but the plane ticket was already purchased. The vote turned out to be in the bag.
   Laredo's City Services Director was soon on a plane to New York to meet with United Water Supply, instructed by the city council to dismantle the Laredo Water Department, one of the country's finest water service crews. The department had earned a wide reputation for hard work, maintaining the state's most affordable water rates.
   City Services director at the time, Adrian Montemayor, said that the only other water department in the U.S. that could compete with Laredo's work ethic, efficiency, and value to the taxpayer was possibly Las Vegas.
   They were a mean South Texas crew of 200 hard workers back then in 2002, connecting more water lines per year than just about any American city, at a fraction of the cost.
   Before Galo started messing with the city's water crew, the water department was profitable, and operated with a $2.3 million surplus, according to newspaper reports. Galo led the charge to gut the department, tearing down a respected public institution that offered the most affordable water rates in the state.
   After dismantling the crew, the city council, led by then councilman John Galo, entered a five-year $47 million contract with United Water Systems, a New Jersey-based firm that is owned by the French water giant Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux.
    Water rates doubled for Laredo residents after United Water failed to deliver on its promises, and stood by as the city's water infrastructure deteriorated, all the while demanding more and more money from the city.
   Galo insisted to the public and the city council that contracting with United Water would save taxpayers money, and he hurled insults at the existing water department employees, accusing them of failing to perform adequately. But his statements were far from true.
   "The (city water crew) should not have to wait for us (council) to tell them to do better. To ask them Why not do it better?, and have them respond, Because nobody pushed us, is not a good answer," Galo said, also ludicrously alleging that the department did not know its own budget until the private companies came into town.
   "The utilities department has not been run terribly inefficient. But has it been run to its peak performance? No," Galo said in an interview with the Laredo Morning Times.

    THE DAMAGE IS DONE

The city council had to free itself from a contract that left its utility in shambles. Halfway through the contract, United bowed out, paying the city $3 million to be released and go on its way, leaving the city with the task of rebuilding what Galo broke.
    But the damage was done, and the Laredo was forced to raise taxes in the form of a multi-million dollar bond to pay for much-needed work that United Water failed to perform.
    If Galo would sell out the city's water, disrespect the hard work and reputation of an exemplary city crew, and effectively double water prices in one of the poorest cities in the United States, what can the public expect next?  The United Water boondogle attracted attention from Public Citizen, a nationally recognized watchdog group, as well as other watchdog groups committed to preserving the public's access to affordable water.
   "United Water fails again," wrote Public Citizen.
   The vote to contract with United Water was initiated by Galo, who ignored what should have been a red flag -- dramatic underbidding by United Water.
   He didn't recognize the error then, and he denies it today.
   He continues to assert that The City of Laredo benefited from the deal with United Water.
   It's your tax money. Vote for reform in 2012.
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Copyright © 2011 Political Ad paid for by Sandra A. Leyendecker Treasurer.