City of El Paso won’t pursue ethics complaint against former council member Claudia Ordaz Perez

EL PASO, Texas -- A spokesman for the City of El Paso told ABC-7 on Monday that city legal staff will not go after former city Rep. Claudia Ordaz Perez for a possible ethics code violation.

That complaint stemmed from discretionary funds used by Ordaz Perez, above the amount allowed by city ordinance.

Ordaz Perez says the same mailer at the heart of the complaint was viewed by various staff members, including city leaders, before it was mailed out.

The mailer had to do with keeping out a medical waste facility in the middle of a populated Lower Valley community.

Ordaz Perez says the city attorney viewed the ethics complaint and dropped it. The person who initially filed the complaint since refilled it multiple times.

City code allows city leaders to use no more than $1,000 in discretionary funds. However, Ordaz Perez's office spent $6,000 for those mailers to send to constituents in both district 6, as well as district 7.

Ordaz Perez gave up her district 6 seat to run for state representative, so the city says it no longer has jurisdiction and will not take action against her.

Nonetheless, Ordaz Perez says ethics complaints filed against her are politically motivated.

"This isn't the first time that my opponent's campaign, supporters and contributors have been behind this, and really trying to push all of these ethics complaints. And I'm confident that, and I'm hopeful that people see right through what's happening. It's the day before early voting and this is still going on," said Ordaz Perez.

Ordaz Perez says she expects the filing of ethic complaints against her will come to an end when the political season is over.