El Paso Politics

I need to set the record straight about pay and staff at the city. David K wrote an interesting piece in his blog earlier this week where he mentioned that City Rep Eddie Holguin has two staffers that work for his office full time. As David K puts it: Of course, Holguin has a perfectly good explanation for the size of his staff - their pay comes out of his office budget. Okay, problem solved. Obviously, he is saying that it's okay for him to have more full-time staff because they are paid out of his "office budget." Wait a minute.... All staff for all of the representatives are paid out of their respective office budgets! We've been tricked! Or have we? Nice try Mr. Holguin. I guess you didn't think we'd realize that your inclusion of the obvious was just a way to cover up your big spending. It's easy to vote against the budget... it's harder to actually live by the budget cutting mantra. You remind me of Haggerty - always against spending money...

Take a look around in the political landscape in this country and you will see one universal truth. Latinos are quickly becoming a larger group by the day. The El Paso Picayune and the Texas Tribune have been running pieces about demographics relative to the Latino community and its emerging influence in America’s political arena. FOX News “dumbs down” the complexities of hot button issues to a few talking points or phrases so that they are suitable for mass consumption. Think of “shock and awe”, “cut and run”, “drill baby drill”, and most recently, “securing our borders”. The result of this effective means of communications is capitalization of the naïveté of people and creating a favorable public dialogue. Large sums of people actually believe that the solution to the complexities of migration is “securing” the borders. There is not a Border Patrol Sector Chief that believes their sector of the border is not secure. The idea of immigrating “the right way” is another expression of the...

I don't know this vato, but I have to say I am a fan of the fact that he took the time to go around downtown El Paso and shoot video of buildings and call people out BY NAME! That's speaking truth to power!

Jaime O. Perez will be on my show tomorrow starting at 10am MST. Tune in to hear the interview. Jaime O. Perez is a Republican candidate for El Paso County Judge and will be facing Democratic Party nominee, County Commissioner Veronica Escobar in the November general election. Perez is currently the Chief of Staff for County Judge Anthony Cobos.

And apparently there is one in every city! Read this article and tell me who it reminds you of. I especially like this quote from the piece: "It's reality show politics," Gaddie said. "It's unsavory. It's undignified, and it's real."

Just wanted to point out a couple of new features on The Lion Star Blog. First, members of the big time media and candidates in town, take special note. I have added a copyright section. What that means is that if you are going to jack my shit, at least get permission and give credit. It also means that if you are going to use something of mine in an ad, once again get permission and give credit. I don't get paid to do a lot of the stuff I do in terms of collecting content, so at least give me a little acknowledgement every now and then. And, if you missed anything in terms of multimedia, feel free to go check out my audio and video archives. I have posted a link to both archives and am working on one for photos too. Stay tuned for that!

So I was reading a piece on another blog about Mayor Pro Tem Emma Acosta and her apparent refusal to give up the position of Mayor Pro Tem. Let me explain a few things for those of you who might not know. As with everything in El Paso politics, there is more than meets the eye here. First of all, you aren’t elected for life to the position of Mayor Pro Tem, it’s a term of two years. Mention was made of a little “tradition” of giving the seat up after a year of service in the post. That’s really interesting because I went back and found that the last couple of Mayor Pro Tem’s actually served a year and a half. But the term of the Mayor Pro Tem is actually set forth in the City Charter. The Mayor and Council don’t actually have the power to make little “traditions” when it comes to things set forth in the City Charter. You see, the voters actually voted the Charter in, so they are the ultimate authority. That’s why I don’t understand the critique of Acosta or the characterization of lit...

In case you weren't able to make it to Jose Rodriguez's Healthcare Forum, here is the audio from that event. You can always access my library of recordings (I'm trying to post archives of old interviews bit, by bit) by going to this link . Enjoy!

Last week’s revelation by the Upper Rio Grande Workforce Solutions that 30 youth didn’t receive pay came as a shock to at least one member of El Paso County Commissioner’s Court. It turns out that 22 of the reported 30 youth that did not receive pay work at the El Paso County Courthouse. According to an interview with KVIA , the Upper Rio Grande Workforce Solutions (URGWS) characterized the non-payments as a result of “missing documentation by the young employees.” El Paso County Commissioner Anna Perez sees it much differently. Perez said that the pay issues were more likely the fault of the URGWS, rather than that of the students. “Workforce Solutions was just not prepared logistically.” Perez said that she’s spoken with the El Paso County Human Resources Director Betsy Keller and after speaking with her regarding the pay of the youth, Perez went on to say that the system to gather the necessary paperwork from the youth on the part of URGWS was “logistically not coordinated” . Perez...

Still no sight of State Rep Elect Naomi Gonzalez at any Democratic Party event since her election. Actually, the last time she was at any event that was remotely affiliated with the Democratic Party was before her election when the PDN Tejano Democrats awarded her with a $1000 check in a gas station parking lot on Delta. Despite a meeting with at least on senior member of the El Paso Democratic party in which he pleaded with Gonzalez to come in to the Democratic Party fold, Gonzalez still hasn't been to any events and has not eased the tensions of many in the party who believe she's actually a Republican. But I did notice a glimmer of hope recently. At Jose Rodriguez' forum on Health Care, I spotted Gonzalez' campaign manager in the back of the room taking copious notes. One would assume it was for her boss. At least Gonzalez has her people at Democratic Party events...

The precinct chairs of the Democratic Party could quite possible be in a position to make an important decision that will impact El Paso County. It’s a little complicated, so bear with me… I like to think that I’m pretty good at recognizing political maneuvers when I see them. I don’t always catch them, but I do most of the time. Every once in a while, something happens right in front of my face and I completely miss it. When Senator Shapleigh decided to retire, I realized when the story broke that he practically told me he was going to retire during an interview two weeks before and I didn’t realize it. That interview haunts me. Every time I watch it, I want to smack myself on the back of the head for not realizing what the Senator was saying and for missing two big follow up questions. It almost happened again. Almost. So here’s what I just realized on Monday night during the El Paso Young Democrats meeting. Christina Fenstermacher, who is the chair of a group of Northeast Democrats,...

I love how people in the Tea Party do their best to try to act like its not a collection of crazy nuts. Thankfully, there is the internet to remind us daily just how stupid they can really be. There was a piece in The Onion, which is a JOKE website, that the Tea Partiers thought was real!!! Click here to see the fun!

Just a quick heads up, County Commissioner Veronica Escobar will be my guest on Thursday's edition of The LionStar Live! so tune in. Friday will be another edition of Homeboy Friday's and we'll have a comedian join us and Czr will be back for another shot at the plate. Tune in to Talk Radio 1150 starting at 10:00am MST.

The El Paso Republican Party hosted Karl Rove at a fundraiser earlier this week. From what I understand the trip went over really well with the Republicans in town and I'm told he was very engaging and worked the room. Last time he came a couple of years ago, Dee Margo seemed to keep him at a distance. This time around I think it'll be a different story. I went looking through my archives and found this video from a couple of years ago.

Great piece by David Brooks. Its about Mel Gibson, but I think it fits someone else perfectly. Here's a taste, and you'll see what I mean: "The narcissistic person is marked by a grandiose self-image, a constant need for admiration, and a general lack of empathy for others. He is the keeper of a sacred flame, which is the flame he holds to celebrate himself. There used to be theories that deep down narcissists feel unworthy, but recent research doesn't support this. Instead, it seems, the narcissist's self-directed passion is deep and sincere. His self-love is his most precious possession. It is the holy center of all that is sacred and right. He is hypersensitive about anybody who might splatter or disregard his greatness. If someone treats him slightingly, he perceives that as a deliberate and heinous attack. If someone threatens his reputation, he regards this as an act of blasphemy. He feels justified in punishing the attacker for this moral outrage. And bec...

Turns out there is a little more to the exclusion of the El Paso Times' reporter Ramon Bracamontes from a recent press conference called by Theresa Caballero and Stuart Leeds than meets the eye. When the additional charges against Regina Arditti and Manny Barraza came down from the grand jury, the District Clerk's Office contacted the media to coordinate access to the related documents. A source tells me that when an attempt was made to contact Adriana Chavez, who is the normal beat reporter but was not available at the time, they were transferred to Milan Simonich, the Metro Editor at the El Paso Times. Simonich was given the major facts of the situation and thanked the person for the call. Chavez allegedley called back to the DC's office a few minutes later and asked for the documents to be emailed to her and requested that they be cc'd to Simonich because he wanted a copy. This is where things get interesting. Ramon Bracamontes was covering the story and allegedly qu...

Blanche Darley allegedly threatened to pull the Paso Del Norte Chapter of the Tejano Democrats out of the statewide organization at the Texas Democratic Party State Convention. No word on whether she had authorization to make such a threat from the executive leadership of the local chapter. Apparently Darley made the threat in her capacity as the groups Treasurer. The threat allegedly arose from a dispute between the two El Paso Chapters of the Tejano Democrats, the Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats and the West El Paso Democrats. Although some would say it’s more of a one-sided dispute. The dispute is over one chapter, the West El Paso Tejanos Democrats, being behind in their dues to the state entity for a short period. From what I gather, they have since become square with the house. Sources say that Darley was alleging that the West Tejano Democrats were behind 5 years worth of dues. The West El Paso Tejanos said they were only behind for one year. Darley apparently raised the issue...

I know, it sounds like a total joke of a press conference, but Theresa Caballero also had a reporter from the El Paso Times barred from the press conference she called earlier today. Which I am told was pretty much pointless because there were no new revelations at the press conference, just basically a rehashing of her tired-ass conspiracy theories. I know, you are amazed. So was I considering how, in my humble opinion of course, the El Paso Times’ management seems to be perfectly happy carrying water for Caballero and Leeds. There are only so many media outlets in town and Caballero seems to have a rocky relationship with most of them. There are 5 television stations in town, KDBC, KVIA, KTSM, KFOX, and KINT. There are three print publications, El Diario, The El Paso Inc, and the El Paso Times. Talk radio is a form of media, so go ahead and throw us in there. And let’s not forget the blogosphere, which is a form of media. There are really only about three political bloggers in town t...

Theresa Caballero, famous for berating her father in public when he was mayor of El Paso, called a press conference this afternoon, presumably in response to the several new charges filed against her client, Judge Regina Arditti. After calling a press conference, sources indicated that Theresa Caballero refused to allow KVIA access to the press conference. This move is classic Theresa Caballero who always seems to want to be treated with special rules. She wants the attention of the press, but then tries to dictate the terms in which she receives that attention. No doubt in my mind tomorrow’s coverage of the press conference in the El Paso Times should be a thing of beauty. An even more ironic move considering her recent blog item in which she talks about free speech.

A grand jury came back with charges of bribery against Judge Regina Arditti. In a five count indictment, Arditty has been charged with bribery, abuse of official capacity over $20,000, abuse of official capacity, and prohibition applicable to trading. More details to come. CLARIFICATION: Arditti was charged wtih 6 charges in all. There were two counts of bribery alleged. Her attorneys, Stuart Leeds and Theresa Caballero will be holding a press conference at 3:45pm at 300 E. Main, Suite #1136. Interestingly, felony charges mean that Arditti will be suspended without pay.

A pillar of the El Paso community passed away Saturday morning after a long battle with health issues. Walt Phillips, a father, husband, grandfather, community leader, veteran and friend was a great guy. I know, that’s an expression that doesn’t mean a lot to some people, but it means a lot to me. I didn’t spend any time with Walt during his illness, though I spoke with him periodically. When he told me he was on hospice, it was just too difficult to visit him during that time because I’m still having a hard time dealing with the loss of my father who was also in hospice. I should’ve visited him. I feel horrible that I didn’t. No matter how much of a scab it would’ve pulled off of me after losing my dad, it’s nothing compared to what Walt was going through. I can’t count on one hand the people in this town that have done for others to the extent that Walt Phillips did. Walt’s emails were always signed with “Your Northeast Friend” and it was a campaign slogan he used when he recently ra...

Time Besco, Republican candidate for Congress will be my guest on Monday's edition of The Lion Star Live! where we will talk about federal issues and his candidacy. Tune in from 10am-Noon to catch the interview. Remember if you can't listen on the radio you can always stream the show on the internet. Look on the right and click the Listen Now link.

Here is the full audio of the education forum hosted by Jose Rodriguez, Democratic candidate for State Senator District 29. And here is a video interview with Rodriguez.

Jose Rodriguez, candidate for State Senate held a forum on education issues. The forum was attended by administrators including Dr. Garcia, superindendant of EPISD, principals, teachers, students, and parents in addition to Democratic Party activists. Here is an interview I conducted with Rodriguez after the forum. I will upload the video of my interview with Rodrigues along with audio of the entire forum later today in case you want to hear the event in its entirety.

People complain about the leadership we have in this town all the time. Sometimes they mean at the County, sometimes they mean at the City, sometimes they mean the Legislature. And at some point, their critique will inevitably hit home. But let’s talk about the Democratic Party here in town if you will. I recently wrote a piece about remarks allegedly made by Blanche Darley. I had no less than seven different sources on what she said. No one wanted to be identified for various reasons, but one common theme is fear of reprisal within the party. With alleged comments from Darley like, “We never forget who votes against us, and we get even…” their fears could be well founded. Blanche Darley was given an opportunity to comment. She chose not to return my calls. She could have sent out a press release or statement denying the statements. She hasn’t. Many would take her silence as an admission, but draw your own conclusions. Believe it or not, the comments allegedly made by Blanche Darley ...

“That nigger paid off the Young Democrats!” According to several sources that attended the Democratic Party’s State Convention those were the words shouted by Blanche Darley shortly before the El Paso caucus met. Witnesses tell me that she was referring to Don Williams, the new El Paso State Democratic Executive Committeeman. According to the sources, she made the remark several times including once in the lobby of the Best Western Hotel and as the bus carrying the Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats was off-loading passengers. This is not the first time that Darley, the sister of long-time former State Rep Paul Moreno has been accused of using that slur. A couple of years back during the Presidential Election, several witnesses heard Darley say, “Leave it to Norma to support a nigger…” referring to her long-time rival, State Representative Norma Chavez who was supporting the then-candidate, now President Barack Obama. Sources said that at a 3:30pm meeting at the Best Western Hotel, the T...

The State Convention of the Texas Democratic Party occurs every couple of years and is a chance for party activists from across the state of Texas to get together and talk about policy, organize efforts, and meet with candidates and their staff. Typically the convention also has its share of lobbyists, operatives, and consultants in attendance. The leadership of the El Paso Young Democrats took the opportunity to meet with Linda Chavez-Thompson and her team. Alfredo Longoria, President, and Jay Desai, Vice President, met with Chavez-Thompson and her staff to urge them to come to El Paso and to have a physical presence in the El Paso area. El Paso is the Democratic Party stronghold of the state of Texas and the results of El Paso typically come in last because El Paso County is in a different time zone than the rest of the state. Longoria said the meeting was a big success and they El Paso Young Democrats will likely host Chavez-Thompson at an upcoming meeting or special event before th...

Apparently Rep-Elect Gonzalez is not in a big hurry to convince people that she really is a member of the Democratic Party. Gonzalez received a lot of criticism (a lot from yours truly) during the election in which she defeated long-time State Rep Norma Chavez for being almost 100% funded by the Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which is a very conservative organization. Rep-Elect Gonzalez was invited to be a speaker at the last Young Democrats meeting and she declined the invitation. But was the most notable absence of Rep-Elect Gonzalez was her absence from the State Democratic Party Convention in Corpus Christi. Rep-Elect Gonzalez was not in attendance at the Convention, which is a key party event that most legislators attend. This being the year of a gubernatorial election, the convention takes on even more significance. That’s pretty interesting when you watch this quick video reminder of an event in which the Tejano Democrats awarded the only sizeable contribution to her campaign that a...