Settlement effort in multi-million dollar Duranguito legal battle fails

EL PASO, Texas -- A man who has largely funded the legal battle to preserve the area known as Duranguito in downtown El Paso says he wanted to discuss a settlement to end the costly case, but the City of El Paso hasn't called him back.

"I have reached out to them, they never reached out to me," said JP Bryan, a famed billionaire oilman and Texas historic preservationist who lives in Houston. He believes Duranguito should be restored to promote heritage tourism. However, the city wants to build a multipurpose performance center, commonly referred to as an arena, in that spot.

Bryan and the city have spent millions of dollars fighting in court for four years.

During the mayoral race, Bryan told ABC-7, he donated $5,000 dollars to Oscar Leeser after what he described as a "5-minute conversation." During the campaign, Leeser opposed the city's plan for the arena.

"I never had the conversation with him to encourage him or at least plead with him to at least take the time to look at what this could mean to the economy of El Paso," said Bryan.

The 81-year-old has been criticized --including by former El Paso mayor Dee Margo-- for trying to block a plan the city says could transform downtown when he doesn't even live in El Paso. Bryan says his involvement is rooted in his passion for all things Texas.

"I did not have some ambitious commercial project that's going to be financed in large measure by the city to benefit me," he told ABC-7. "My concern is as a person who loves the history of Texas and when I see what I think are iconic symbols of that history destroyed to satisfy somebody's commercial interest that I don't believe is appropriate or that I think could be dealt in a different way, I do what I can to preserve the historical assets," Bryan said.

Now with Leeser as mayor, Bryan hoped he'd be receptive to his vision, so he called him.

"Oscar, this is JP Bryan," he said in a voicemail. "I'm calling because I'm anxious to see if we could have a, possibly have a discussion about figuring out how to end all of this litigation around the Duranguito. And I think it needs to start, at least know that you'd be supportive," said Bryan.

According to exchanges obtained by El Paso Matters through the Texas Public Information Act, Bryan appears to have reached out to Leeser around March 3.

After two phone messages and a text, the response came from the mayor's senior chief of staff, Estrella Escobar, two days later.

"The Mayor received your two messages. It would be inappropriate for Mayor Leeser to call you back as you have asked to discuss any type of settlement. If you are interested in settlement discussions, please have your attorneys contact our City Attorney, Mrs. Karla Nieman. The Mayor is not able to discuss pending litigation. Thank you and I hope you have a very nice weekend."

"Somebody needs to tell me what's inappropriate about it," Bryan told ABC-7. "What's inappropriate about trying to settle a situation, a lawsuit that the former mayor and others have complained about it being very expensive?"

While Bryan is not named in the lawsuit, it is well known he has carried most of the financial burden of the litigation.

Professor Don Kettl from the LBJ School for Public Policy at the University of Texas at Austin said there's a long tradition in our country of individuals using campaign donations and lawsuits --if they have the financial means-- to shape policy.

"In one sense, there's nothing wrong with that, because, that's the way in which democracy operates," said Kettl, "But we don't want to create a system that actually advantages some people because they have money, and other people are disadvantaged because they don't."

Dr. Kettl, Ph.D., who specializes in public management and public policy, warned the problem comes in if there's an explicit quid-pro-quo, or it may be even an implicit one.

"On the one hand, people in office will argue that they need to have the ability to negotiate quietly especially on contentious issues," he said. "There's a case for having the ability to negotiate in quiet and in secrecy but ultimately, the accountability rests in transparency and the idea that any kind of discussions will be disclosed, that any kind of background support and any kind of sharing of interests, campaign contributions will be disclosed."

At the end of the day, he says, those who make the deals should be ready to disclose the outcome of the negotiation and what went behind it -- and let the public judge.

"The best single disinfectant for any possibility of any conflicts of interest is transparency," said Kettl.

Almost three months after Bryan's overture, nothing has changed. There are no talks of settling and the one remaining lawsuit is still pending. "The City Attorney's Office is awaiting the court's decision" in the 8th Court of Appeals, city spokeswoman Laura Cruz-Acosta told ABC-7. The main litigant in the lawsuit, Max Grossman, confirmed the parties have not talked.

"The Mayor has not spoken to JP Bryan prior to, or since his messages to him," Escobar told ABC-7. "It would be inappropriate for the Mayor to talk to anyone associated with pending litigation with the City of El Paso. He looks forward to having a conversation with him in the future."