Turf War

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 during the caucus meeting of the state Tejano entity. She was apparently told by the state chair, former Senator Gonzalo Barrientos, that State Chairman of the Tejano Democrats.

The exchange allegedly became pretty heated and ended with Darley being told that it wasn’t appropriate to be raised at a caucus meeting and could be discussed at an upcoming state meeting n August. Darley allegedly threatened at that point to pull the PDN chapter out of the state entity.

Ironically I understand that the Paso Del Norte chapter of the Tejano Democrats were in a similar position several years back. At the time, the West El Paso Chapter founder Joe Delgado urged his membership to support the PDN chapter if the issues of losing their charter due to being behind in dues was raised by the state entity.

Darley must have a short memory.

It is possible that there is a greater subtext to this issue.

Blanche Darley’s niece Yolanda Clay ran for State Executive Committewoman. While Don Williams ultimately ran unopposed, Clay had an opponent in her bid for the Committeewoman position, Joan Robles, who chairs the West El Paso Tejanos.

If you believe the quote of an earlier source, “We never forget who votes against us, and we get even…” it’s possible this might be the reason that Darley made a fuss.

Fortunately for the PDN Tejanos, Mary Bowles Grijalva was around to smooth things over with the state chair.