Mayoral candidate fires off election mailer saying opponent’s company discriminated against Mexican man

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- With less than two weeks until polls open in the General Election, Mayoral Candidate Brian Kennedy sent out an election mailer saying his opponent's company, Management and Engineering Technologies International, Inc. (METI), was found liable for the firing an El Paso man because he is Mexican.

The mailer was sent out earlier this week in response to an election mailer sent out by Austin-based political action committee Protect and Serve Texas PAC, which ABC-7 confirmed it is not associated with local law enforcement in El Paso, according to the El Paso Municipal Police Officers Association President Patrick Natividad.

In his mailer, Kennedy responds to various claims made by the PAC about his record, including one that said four ethics complaints were filed against him. But, that mailer fell short of telling voters those complaints were either dropped or rejected.

Then Kennedy went on the offensive: “Renard got rich through no-bid federal contracts available to minority firms,” Kennedy’s election mailer stated. “But when a Hispanic male employed by Renard’s company, METI, lodged a complaint for discrimination, Renard retaliated by firing him. A trial jury found in the employee’s favor and agreed that he was fired for his opposition to a discriminatory practice."

ABC-7 did a check of the online court system and found a 2015 lawsuit against Renard Johnson’s company, METI.

According to court records obtained by ABC-7, a jury awarded former METI employee Ernesto Borrego over $277,000 in 2018 for discriminatory employment practices.

"I think the citizens of El Paso should be aware he was found guilty of violating the federal law Title 7, which prevents discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. He can't be trusted to run the City of El Paso,” Borrego said to ABC-7 during a phone call this week.

It's unclear how much he received in damages as the lawsuit was later vacated and dismissed after the parties reached a confidential agreement.

Borrego declined our request for an on-camera interview.

ABC-7 repeatedly reached out earlier this week to Renard Johnson’s campaign saying we wanted to get him for comment about the case.  

Johnson’s campaign manager Lauren Zimmerman later said she was working on making him available following our request for an on-camera interview, but in the interim sent us this statement:  

“In its approximately 30 years of business in El Paso, METI only was sued for discrimination once," Zimmerman wrote. “The one lawsuit was not against Renard Johnson. And, in the El Paso Times article, Mr. Borrego admitted: "I was discriminated against from a project manager within the federal government...”

According to the 2015 lawsuit, Borrego was hired by METI as a senior applications developer.    

While he was at METI, Borrego was assigned to work as a contractor for the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDA) in Oregon, according to the lawsuit.     

The lawsuit further states Borrego was promoted by METI in 2009, and in 2010 he relocated to El Paso where he was based at METI's headquarters. 

According to METI's website, it "is a professional services company providing Information Technology and Engineering Support Services to the federal sector and private industry throughout the United States and several other countries."  

In November of 2012, court records show Borrego was placed on probation for two weeks after being accused of poor performance by USDA Forest Service Manager Kathy Sleavin, who is described in court records as being white.    

Records show Borrego complained to METI Program Manager Michelle Rosalez about Sleavin saying her information was “false and complained of unfair treatment by Ms. Sleavin because of his national origin (Mexican).”

The lawsuit contends METI “failed to investigate or take any action whatsoever.”   

On April 25, 2013, Borrego submitted a written rebuttal after being placed on probation, according to the lawsuit.    

That same day, he was told by Rosalez, according to court records, his employment was terminated.

“Plaintiff then received a letter of termination from Renard Johnson (African American) on April 25, 2013, via email,” court records stated.

The lawsuit goes on to say METI “failed to follow any non-discriminatory policy in making the decision to terminate Plaintiff.”   

Borrego was given unemployment benefits, and a determination issued by the Texas Workforce Commission found no misconduct related to Borrego’s employment, court records show.  

ABC-7 spoke to El Paso attorney Jessica Mendez, who represented Borrego at the time of the lawsuit. She told ABC-7 there was a jury trial in 2018, and a verdict was reached in the case. She said METI was found liable for the claims made by her client.

Following the jury verdict, Mendez said instead of going down the road of an appeal, both parties entered into a confidential settlement agreement and the case was resolved—leading to it being vacated and dismissed.

ABC-7 has reached out to the USDA for comment. We have not heard back.