| rdfs:comment | - David R. Cortez (born 1934) is a Laredo businessman and a former Democratic commissioner for Webb County, Texas, who is imprisoned for bribery. Cortez pleaded guilty in a plea bargain in federal court. Two Democratic commissioners from Willacy County, Jose I. Jimenez (July 2, 1937 - April 26, 2006) and Israel Tamez, also received convictions for accepting $39,000 in bribes in exchange for a contract to build a federal prison in Raymondville, the seat of Willacy County.
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| abstract | - David R. Cortez (born 1934) is a Laredo businessman and a former Democratic commissioner for Webb County, Texas, who is imprisoned for bribery. Cortez pleaded guilty in a plea bargain in federal court. Two Democratic commissioners from Willacy County, Jose I. Jimenez (July 2, 1937 - April 26, 2006) and Israel Tamez, also received convictions for accepting $39,000 in bribes in exchange for a contract to build a federal prison in Raymondville, the seat of Willacy County. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen sentenced Cortez in November 2006 to three months in prison. He will be released on May 4, 2007, but he will then face two years of supervised release, including six months of home confinement, and a $25,000 fine. Cortez surrendered to authorities in February 2007 at the low-security La Tuna facility in Anthony near El Paso. A judge sentenced Tamez to six months in prison and three years of supervised release. The case against Jimenez was dropped following his death. Cortez resigned from the Webb County Commission when the bribery charge developed. He was last elected in 2002. On Cortez's resignation, then Webb County (Administrative) Judge Louis Bruni, as empowered to do so under Texas law, appointed Cortez's daughter, Cynthia Cortez-Brunner (born 1957), to complete the nearly two years left in her father's term. Cortez-Brunner was defeated for a full term in the April 2006 Democratic primary runoff election by Sergio "Kiko" Martinez (born 1948).
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