EL PASO, Texas — Edmundo Calderon has been the Chief Internal Auditor for the City of El Paso for 19 years and he is now accusing Midland's current City Manager Tommy Gonzalez of retaliation and intimidation during his time as City Manager of El Paso.
“You know what I want. I want to be treated fair," said Calderon. "That’s what I want and that’s what I'm not getting,"
After retaliation from former El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez and treatment by other City staff members, Edmundo Calderon has started the process of filing a whistleblower lawsuit against the City of El Paso.
A letter was sent to the City of El Paso's Mayor and City Attorney on July 21 by Calderon's Attorney, Laura Enriquez. It details how Calderon noticed some El Paso City Councilmembers were using taxpayer dollars by abusing their gas card privileges in his review.
According to the letter, in a budget meeting in May 2023, Gonzalez was intimidating Calderon and tried to influence his work. In another meeting it claims Gonzalez said "that the audit was flawed and not done correctly, disparaging Calderon's work."
“All I can tell you is the way I was treated was very, very mean," Calderon said. "[...] It was terrible, it was to the point that it was cruel. I was just doing my job that’s the best way I can put It. I was doing my job as an auditor for the City of El Paso the way I was treated is totally wrong."
In a Special City Council Meeting on May 11, Calderon went over the Internal Audit Review he made regarding the gas cards. In the meeting, he was asked by Mayor Lesser if he felt pressured.
"Do you believe that you were ever pressured, or someone was trying to intimidate you at any point?" Mayor Lesser asked.
"I’d rather not answer, Mayor," said Calderon.
“Anyone from council?" Mayor Lesser asked.
"I’d rather not answer," said Calderon.
“You know why I didn’t answer? Calderon said on the phone. "It's because I had a job to do. And I needed to report it and I knew if I said anything the story would become about me. I didn’t want it to be about me, I needed to report the facts to our taxpayers. That’s why I didn’t say anything,"
No lawsuit has been filed at this time.
We reached out to the City of Midland and Tommy Gonzalez for a comment on this matter. We have not heard back from them at this time.