El Paso Politics

Lucilla Najera has a new magic trick. Abracadabra. For more than a year, t he data shows her court carrying around 2,500 pending cases every single month . Like clockwork, about 300 to 400 cases get disposed of monthly. Not glamorous. Not dramatic. Just steady government work. Then November rolls around. Campaign season stretches, yawns, and says good morning. And by December? Poof. Backlog gone. Two thousand five hundred cases just vanished like they caught a Greyhound out of town. Lest anyone think I'm making this stuff up - the link above is to a folder with a trove of court records covering activity in her court for more than a year. Click the link and you can see for yourself.  But let me show you the exact reference I made earlier. Here is the report from the Office of Court Administration for November of last year: And here is a look at the following month: Now before anyone says, “Wow, she must have worked really hard,” let’s slow down and sip some cafecito. ...

I spend a lot of time holding my own Party accountable. If you only read my stuff, you might think Democrats are the main attraction in the local political circus. Let me clarify something. For all our flaws, dysfunction, group chats that should have never existed, and candidates who think Canva is a personality trait, the local GOP is an absolute clown car with bald tires and expired registration. I just do not talk about them much. Why? Because they are not relevant. I treat them like I treat my haters. If you are not relevant to the outcome, I forget you exist. Out of sight, out of mind. Like MySpace. But apparently I have been neglecting the comedy gold mine happening across the aisle. So let’s talk about the fight for Chair of the El Paso County Republican Party. The contenders are Al Lujan and Mike Aboud. I do not know much about Lujan. Aboud, however, is the current Chair. And how do I say this gently? Meh, I guess I will not. He is not very bright. No...

Let’s start with this truth: family values has been a slogan slapped on election signs, Fox News rants, and campaign mailers for decades. But the deeper you dig under the paint and gloss, the more you find it’s a brand, not a code of conduct. It’s cheap moral theater. When family values gets measured by who you criticize in a rally speech instead of how you treat real people with real vulnerability, that brand collapses. That’s exactly what’s happening with Tony Gonzales right now. According to the San Antonio Express-News, a former staffer says that Rep. Gonzales had a romantic affair in 2024 with his regional district director, Regina Santos-Aviles, and that the relationship was an open secret among staff. A text message from Santos-Aviles confirmed she told colleagues she’d had “an affair with our boss.” The congressman has denied the claims publicly. This situation is about more than an alleged affair. It exposes a brutal power imbalance that is baked into congressional offices ...