James Dannenbaum, owner of Houston-based Dannenbaum Engineering and a recent appointee by Gov. Rick Perry to the UT System Board of regents, gave County Judge Anthony Cobos a $2,000 campaign donation earlier this year, records show.

In a mandated periodic report filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, Cobos listed a $2,000 donation received on Jan. 29 from Dannenbaum; it was the largest contribution he received in the period covering Jan. 15 through July 15, 2007. [report]

Travis Ketner, Cobos’ former chief of staff, alleged in May in a court document known as an information that in January of this year Cobos met with representatives for vendors seeking to secure county contracts. [information]

The documents claims that individuals, named within as John CC7 and John CC8, met with John CC5 in his county office. John CC5 is described within the document only as a recently elected county official, although the actions described in the document make it clear that John CC5 is Cobos.

John CC7 and John CC8, respectively, are described as “a member of the Board of Directors of R.E. Thomason Hospital” and “a vendor seeking a contract with the county of El Paso to provide actuarial and dental services.”

John CC7 is widely thought to be Arturo Duran, a member of the Thomason Board, and John CC8 has been identified in media reports as Roger Garza, president of Valley Risk Consultants.

Ketner claims that in the bathroom of Cobos’ office, Duran, acting on behalf of “VRC” and “DC,” promised Cobos a $2,000 campaign contribution in exchange for his votes to secure county contracts for “VRC” and “DC.”

Additionally, Ketner alleges that Duran promised Cobos that $1,000 campaign contributions would be made to John CC13 and John CC14 for their votes to secure county contracts for “VRC” and “DC.”

John CC13 and John CC14 are identified in the document as elected county officials; from the document, it can be surmised that they are County Commissioners Luis Sarinana and Miguel Teran, respectively.

Campaign records for Teran show a $1,000 contribution from Dannenbaum received on April 11, and a $1,000 donation from "Fund for the Future," which has the same address as Dannenbaum, given on March 22. [report]

Records for Sarinana do not show any donations made by Dannenbaum, with the only $1,000 donations coming from Alfredo Corral of El Paso and the El Paso Sheriff’s Officer’s Association.

The records for Cobos, Sarinana and Teran do not show any donations from Garza. Valley Risk was an unsuccessful bidder for a county health contract.

While the El Paso Times identified "DC" as Dannenbaum Construction, there is no company with that name registered with the Secretary of State.

However, at a March 8 Commissioner’s Court meeting, a representative from Dannenbaum Engineering, along with partners from Mega Services, went before the court to give a presentation on dredging levees in the county. No contract was awarded. [minutes]

Mega Services is owned by Arturo Duran, who runs the business from his home. Neither Cobos nor Duran returned telephone calls seeking comment.

Dannenbaum said the company interacted with Duran when he was head of the International Water and Boundary Commission, because Dannenbaum was doing work in the lower Rio Grande for Hidalgo and Cameron Counties.

“We had made some inquiry to his staff for hydrologic data for engineering studies,” Dannenbaum said, “so we did have some contact when he was commissioner."

Dannenbaum said that Duran is not an employee of Dannenbaum Engineering, but that "we may after he left office have employed him for some help in getting some information from IBWC because we have ongoing work on the levees for McAllen, Hidalgo and Cameron County.

"It is possible he might have been employed to assist in getting data but … I know absolutely we did not contract with him to represent us or lobby for us.”

Dannenbaum said he remembered one of his employees giving Cobos a $2,000 check during a fund-raiser.

"I didn’t give it to him myself because I wasn’t in town, but he had a public fundraiser in a hotel in El Paso that somebody from our firm attended," he said. "I did make a contribution to the judge because we are active … not as a construction firm, active as a design firm, in the El Paso area."

Dannenbaum said he did not recall the employee who passed along the check, stating that his company has 200 employees.

He denied any wrongdoing, and said he had not been contacted by the FBI in regards to the public corruption investigation. “We’re not being investigated in any way, shape or form in El Paso,” Dannenbaum said.

He added that he did not believe any of his employees would have done anything wrong: "We have a very rigid code of ethics and policies and procedures about what we do and the way we conduct business, and anybody who did anything other than deliver a legitimate campaign contribution that had been requested by an office holder trying to pay off campaign debt or whatever it was would have been at serious risk of termination. It's extremely difficult for me to believe any of our people would have done anything."

He also cast doubt upon Ketner's allegations, as have other people implicated in Ketner's plea.

"I have no reason to believe whatever this fellow (Ketner) has said because we all know when they get into those things somebody tells them what they would like them to say and then they say it," Dannenbaum said.

He pointed to his company's long track record and his family's involvement in civic affairs.

“It might be of interest to you to know our firm has been in continuous operation for 62 years with never any criticism or any of the type of things you're asking about and I have been appointed by every governor since Preston Smith to positions of public trust and responsibility on various boards and commissions,” Dannenbaum said.

He said that he discussed issues related to claims against his company with the governor's staff prior to the appointment. His company has been embroiled in controversy regarding its projects in the Rio Grande Valley, with a civil lawsuit recently being dismissed.

Krista Moody, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, said "the governor is aware of the civil lawsuit brought against Mr. Dannenbaum. I am not aware of any other indictments or investigations.

"The governor believes Mr. Dannenbaum will serve the UT System with the utmost integrity and character."