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9 of the 10 slots have been filled on new El Paso County ethics commission
EL PASO, Oct 27, 2009 (El Paso Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Nine of the 10 seats on the county government's new ethics commission have been filled, and the defense attorney leading the panel said there could be many changes to the county's ethics code.
The County Commissioners Court on Monday accepted the appointments of defense attorney Stuart Leeds, business owner David Nemir and Realtor James Clair to the ethics commission.
County Judge Anthony Cobos appointed Leeds.
Commissioner Anna Perez chose Nemir and Commissioner Dan Haggerty appointed Clair.
Nemir and Clair are holdovers from the county's current ethics board, a toothless operation that is being eliminated.
Nemir is an engineer. He is married to Cygne Nemir, the executive division chief in the county attorney's office.
The new ethics commission will have the power to investigate and punish violators of the county's ethics code. It begins its work with a meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the County Courthouse.
State legislation approved this year allowed the county government to create a new ethics commission. Community and business leaders have been calling for the county government to have a strengthened ethics panel.
Leeds, 55, will be the first chairman of the ethics commission. The chairmanship will rotate every six months among members.
As a criminal defense attorney, Leeds recently has had several high-profile cases.
Earlier this month, he and attorney Theresa Caballero won an acquittal for Erik Marquez on charges that he sexually assaulted
a 15-year-old girl at a party.
In August, they defended Victor Jimenez, 18, who was accused of killing another man in a gang fight. Jurors convicted Jimenez, but sentenced him to the minimum punishment -- five years in prison.
Leeds also served as Cobos' attorney when Cobos filed a lawsuit against the county government last summer to prevent the current ethics board from discussing a grievance against him.
Leeds received his law degree in 1979 from the University of Texas at Austin and has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from the University of Texas at El Paso. He retired as a colonel from the Army Reserve's Judge Advocate General Corps.
The appointments by Cobos and Perez did not require a vote by the court, merely their acceptance into the record. Haggerty's appointment of Clair was accepted in a separate agenda item.
Cobos said Leeds had impeccable credentials and would serve the commission well. He shrugged off criticism from Perez that his choice for the ethics commission would not work well with other members of the panel.
Cobos said he does not expect any kind of political bickering between members of the court to carry over to the ethics panel.
"Commissioners Court is not in control of this board. It is independent from the court and should stay that way," he said.
Leeds said the ethics panel has a lot of work in the months ahead. The panel will first look at creating a new ethics code.
He said the county's current ethics code has many shortcomings.
The commission will need to clarify proper procedures for handling an ethics complaint as well as the standards of proof for an ethics violation.
He said county government needs to iron out how it notifies officials and employees when an ethics complaint is filed against them and provide a clear opportunity to respond.
"We need to make sure that nobody here in this building uses this commission to hurt their political enemies and nobody uses it to shield their political friends," Leeds said.
The court also voted 5-0 to appoint Susan Barlow, a human resources professional, to the ethics panel.
So far, Barlow is the only woman on the panel.
County Commissioner Ve ronica Escobar said she intends to appoint another woman to the panel this week.
Last week, County Commissioner Willie Gandara appointed Jesus "Chuy" Reyes to the panel. Reyes is the general manager of the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 and the brother of U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.
The court already appointed Luis Garcia, a retired El Paso Customs and Border Protection director; Marcos Lizarraga, former first assistant district attorney; Terry Pasqulone, retired director of the county Domestic Relations Office; and David C. Chavez, a former educator.
Michael D. Hernandez may be reached at mhernandez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6151.
To see more of the El Paso Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.elpasotimes.com. Copyright (c) 2009, El Paso Times, Texas Distributed
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