Commissioner Under Fire Claims He's Being Targeted

Recorded calls released after investigation into Cisneros' time sheets

BROWNSVILLE - A Brownsville city commissioner under fire for lying on his time sheets says he's being targeted by political enemies.

Carlos Cisneros says he's being targeted by his political enemies and has the audiotape to prove it.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 obtained a copy of two secretly recorded phone calls. The voice on the tape is allegedly a man named Abram. On the recording, he's heard urging Cisneros to support Cris Valadez, who was running for reappointment on the public utilities board.

The phone call includes a warning. You can hear a man say, "I believe if you go against him, they're gonna f--- you up."

The warning is repeated several times during the twenty-minute tape. Cisneros says he recorded the conversation last October.

Despite the warning, Cisneros didn't vote for Valadez. Valadez lost his seat.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 tried contacting Cisneros. But his office door was locked and he didn't return our phone calls.

He did release this statement, which read, "The individuals making these threats thought that they could influence my vote by threatening me with my job, thereby hurting my family. They were wrong."

We spoke to Valadez. He says, "I never threatened Mr. Cisneros."

He tells us he had nothing to do with the phone calls.

"We have supporters that lobby on our behalf, albeit it's unsolicited," Valadez explains.

Cisneros says a month after he voted against Valadez, someone started following him around with a camera.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 received the undercover video from an anonymous source. The video allegedly shows Cisneros spending a lot of time at home and running errands, when he was supposed to be working at his county job as an administrative assistant.

He claims, "The events depicted on the tape are false."

Our NEWSCHANNEL 5 investigation found Cisneros took over two dozen out-of-town trips, when his time sheets state he was in the office. It was after we broke this story that Cisneros released the recorded phone calls.

Valadez tells us, "I think it's just a distraction. They're trying to blow smoke to divert from the real issue."

Valadez is an assistant for Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos. We asked Cascos if he thinks the video was retaliation for Cisneros' vote against Valadez.

The county judge says, "I dunno. It could be. Politics is a contact sport in South Texas."

He adds, "Just let the authorities take a look at the documents and the tapes and let them make this determination."

The Cameron County commissioner's court will talk about the time sheet scandal at their April 1 meeting.