Update: Vendors who donated to Fenenbock campaign while on EPISD board were inactive

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information regarding the status of the vendors at the time they made the political contributions.

ABC-7 has learned former El Paso School District President Dori Fenenbock, who is running for Congress, received campaign contributions from EPISD vendors while on the board.

Campaign finance reports on the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) website show Fenenbock received $2,500 from Scott Bain of Bain construction on June 21, 2017. She also received $8,100 from Darren Woody, CEO of Jordan Foster, on June 13, 2017. Fenenbock resigned from her position as EPISD board president on August 25, 2017.

Fenenbock told ABC-7 the donating vendors did not have active contracts with El Paso ISD. An EPISD spokesman confirmed that although both companies were on the list of district vendors, neither had contracts at the time the donations were made. The district said Bain’s last payment for work with El Paso ISD was in July 2016. Woody’s last payment was in June 2016. The district was still checking for any open Requests for Proposals or Requests for Qualifications involving the two companies.

ABC-7 asked Fenenbock if she voted on any contracts while requesting donations for her exploratory committee, which raised funds from May to August. Fenenbock said, “I am not aware that I contacted anyone with an active contract with EPISD in May or June.” The board didn’t meet in July, she said.

When asked about the the contributions, Fenenbock said, “First of all, those are personal friends of mine and I was not a candidate for Congress at that time. I was exploring the possibility of running for Congress.”

Fenenbock said once she decided to run, she voluntarily resigned from the board. “I stopped voting on contracts. I stopped going to board meetings,” Fenenbock said. “I didn’t want there to be any appearance of what so ever of impropriety.”

Fenenbock said, at the time, she told her fellow trustees she was exploring the possibility of running for congress. “My first campaign report was publicly made available in June,” Fenenbock said. “We did not have a board meeting in July. And so of course, yes, that was all public information.”

A Federal Election Commission spokesman told ABC-7 the FEC does not have a statute that would stop someone from receiving contributions if they were sitting on a board.

Fenenbock said she was exploring the idea of running for congress when she received those donations. However, on the FEC’s website, under the category “candidate registration threshold”, it states an individual triggers registration and reporting responsibilities when activity exceeds $5,000.

ABC-7 spoke with current board president Trent Hatch. He said while he did not know Fenenbock had received those contributions while on the board, he said he believes she was careful in removing herself from situations that could be considered a conflict of interest.