El Paso Politics

Sources in the Margo camp tell me that the next critique leveled against Moody by Margo will be that Moody was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Interesting change in tactic, but it might signal an attempt by Dee Margo to try to appeal like more of a regular guy and less of an establishment country club Republican. Dee Margo has acquired quite a bit of wealth since inheriting ownership of his father-in-law's insurance company. I wonder if he would characterize his own children in the same manner as his campaign is apparently going to characterize Rep Moody?

That's a direct quote from Oscar Gonzalez, the campaign manager for the Republican Party's candidate for Congress, Tim Besco. The alleged Democrat said that to me on the phone Monday night when I invited his candidate to come on my show and debate Tim Collins. This is why I hate dealing with gate keepers because they often think they are doing whats in the best interest of their candidates and very often they are wrong. Dead wrong in this case. Besco has very weak support, even in his own party. Tim Collins is the candidate the Republicans wish they had. A guy who is solid on the issues, understands the regular people, and can present well. The Besco campaign has an excellent opportunity to put any fears of the base to rest and show that he belongs in the discussion as a top tier candidate. You don't just automatically inherit that status just because you are the Republican nominee in El Paso. That's like being the prettiest girl in the ugly contest. I seriously doubt t...

That's probably what many in the Mexican American Bar Association were wondering on Saturday morning when the organization was holding its endorsement interviews for the upcoming election, especially when it came to the interview for the only contested County Commissioner race between Republican incumbent Dan Haggerty and Democratic Party challenger Dr. Eduardo Servin. From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia Servin was a no show. Not only was he a no show, he failed to turn in the extensive questionnaire. Yes, that is sarcasm. The questionnaire was only around 10 questions. At this point in a campaign the candidate should have so much experience giving a stump speech that 10 questions on a form should be something he can do in his sleep. You'd think a college professor would no all about completing a 10 question quiz! In the history of easy endorsements to win, the MABA endorsement for Servin should be in the Hall of Fame of easy wins. Not because of the process, the MABA endo...

Here is a slide show of Congressman Ciro Rodriguez's visit to El Paso last night. The Congressman spent the day in the far east part of El Paso County visiting with constituents and trying to push hard for a get out the vote effort for November's election.

I read a front page story in the El Paso Times yesterday about delaying aid to Mexico as part of the Merida Initiative. Its a really interesting story and something we should all be paying attention to, especially considering the tragedy happening in Juarez and throughout Mexico. But I am totally confused by the timing of the story. This report came out September 2 and they are just now getting to the story? The Washington Post wrote this story about the report on the 3rd of September. In their defense, the Times does state that the report was released two weeks ago (it was actually more like over 3 weeks ago, but you get my point). Maybe they think we don't read publications outside of El Paso, but some of us do use the internet, follow RSS feeds, or Twitter. Nonetheless, I thought it was a good story, I'm just totally confused by the timing.

Ernie Tinajero stopped by the Lion's Den on Friday to talk about some upcoming shows for Radio La Chusma. As always, the homies from La Chusma play a little when they stop by and Ernie sang a song called Rain Song, and gave it a little Lion Star remix! Check it out.

The first bit of polling this year was done for the only race in town that matters. It's the only one that matters because its the only one the Republicans have a shot at winning other than possibly hanging on to Haggerty's seat. The rest of the sacrificial lambs are going to get beat soundly, as usual. Though the poll shows the now-Latino Dee Margo with a slight lead, the poll shows that the race is pretty much a statistical dead heat. From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia That's really, really, really bad news for Dee Margo. At this point in the race, given the demographics of District 78 (it's the richest, whitest, and most conservative area of town), and the overall sentiment towards Democratic incumbents, I expected Margo to be ahead by at least more than the statistical margin of error. Especially given the passion and energy of the Tea Party Movement. In fact, Margo, who was ahead most of the way in polling in the last race, should be getting a big boost from ...

Relax cochinos, I wasn't talking about that! I'm talking about the other BJ, the Border Journal! I just wrote my first piece for the Border Journal, which you can find at www.theborderjournal.wordpress.com . Remember you can always submit a piece to either myself or David K and we will post it up on The Border Journal. If you've ever wanted to have something published, now is your chance. We seem to get a pretty fair amount of conservatives submitting pieces, but it would be nice to hear from our liberal friends as well. Now go get your daily BJ!

The Democratic and Republican Party Nominees for County Judge will square off in a debate on The LionStar Live! on Thursday, September 30th in an special expanded edition of The LionStar Live! Due to time constraints, call-in questions will be limited but you can email your questions to thelionstarblog@gmail.com.

From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia Now is the time for the El Paso Democratic Party leadership to step up and do what their job requires them to do, take the lead. The Republicans are holding funding for our ENTIRE military hostage in order to make a political statement that is about one thing...bigotry. They want the chance to kill the repeal of DADT and the DREAM Act one at a time. Their opposition to the inclusion of the two amendments in the funding bill isn't about process, its about their fear/hatred of gay people and brown people. Locally, we will be dealing with a related issue in Novemeber. The city will have a ballot initiative that was started by the Christian right but will affect more than just the gay community. But some people are nervous when dealing with gay rights issues, even if the issue locally isn't just about the gay community. This is the time when Chairman Danny Anchondo, Committeewoman Yolanda Clay, and Committeeman Don Williams have to have the...

Take the new poll I just posted here on The LionStar Blog.

A couple of more thoughts on the Antcliff/Lizarraga race. Antcliff seems to always find his way back on to the bench after adversity, mostly because he’s very dialed in with appointment process. I recently wrote about the departure of Judge David Guaderrama. Even if Antcliff loses, which he will, he will likely be reappointed to replace Guaderrama until he loses to the next Democratic Party challenger. He’s a well-respected jurist by his peers and dialed in to the appointment process, so his re-appointment is likely. That is of course, predicated on a victory on the part of Governor Perry. That’s no longer a foregone conclusion…

Chris Antcliff who was appointed to 168th District Court is trying to hold on to his seat from the challenger Marcos Lizarraga. From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia Antcliff is gonna lose, and more than likely lose big, but it won't be for lack of effort. Antcliff has been campaigning hard over the last month or so and over the last couple of weeks his campaign signs have started to sprout up all over town. He also opened up a campaign headquarters recently. He moved in to a building hear the downtown are just off the freeway. It used to serve as the HQ for the Sergio Coronado campaign who ran in the Democratic primary for county judge. Lizarraga isn't taking his victory for granted and has been attending nearly every Democratic party political function and will likely be fielding campaign signs soon himself. Antcliff has clearly put some money in this campaign, but Lizarraga doesn't really have to spend too much money to win this election. His biggest threat was a rea...

Looks like Judge Guaderrama will get that job on the federal court he's been up for. Sources indicate that the long-time El Paso judge turned in his letter of resignation today and his resignation will become effective October 1st. Though there has yet to be an official announcement, this is a strong indication that the judge is getting the job. Tune in to Noticias 26 tonight for a full story.

David K and his wife welcomed a new daughter in to the world. Its their first baby and his life will now be completely different. Don't be surprised if you don't see too many blog posts for a while from DK while his new daughter is settling in but something tells me he'll start having open letters to baby formula companies, diaper makers, etc. Congrats man. Try to avoid being pee'd, pooped, or puked on. (Resistance is futile, its gonna happen.)

My buddy David K over at Refuse the Juice and many like-minded people in the Tea Party Movement are probably drinking a little too much of their own Kool-Aide, or in this case, tea. David K and others think Democrats are afraid of the Sarah Palins and Christine O’donnell’s of the world. Take this little excerpt from his piece yesterday: “These Tea Party candidates like O'Donnell scare the shit out of the democrats and guys like Jaime Abeytia. They aren't your normal republican candidates. They're conservative populists! The democrats don't have anything in their play book to defeat candidates that tend to be more like the voters who vote for them. It's easy to attack a Bush-like character who no one can relate to. It's another thing to attack Suzie Homemaker/Candidate, because any criticism of her is a criticism of the average voter.” I love that DK calls them conservative populists and think Democrats don’t have anything in their playbook to defeat candidat...

Here is audio of the YISD meeting to accept Linda Chavez's resignation

Linda Chavez resigned from the YISD School Board of Trustees and the board voted 6-0 to accept her resignation. The board also voted 6-0 to approve a replacement process that would allow the board to appoint a replacement until an election in May, at which time the people in the Del Valle community (the area Chavez represented) will vote for a replacement for the remainer of the current term Chavez was serving. The move was not without criticism. Here's a look at both sides of the issue.

From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia Stuart Leeds, the former Chair of the Ethics committee and current member of said committee, in my opinion is trying to play the blame game in the death of his client, David Chavez. David Chavez was the Ethics Chair that was arrested for aggravated sexual assault involving a relative who was a minor. Leeds represented Chavez in this matter. Upon Chavez’s suicide, Mr. Leeds appears to have jumped at the opportunity to get in front of cameras regarding the issue. In this piece written on KVIA’s website, Leeds appears to put the blame of Mr. Chavez’ death on the public. "Basically this is the result of people convicting him before he's actually had his day in court and the mob mentality," Leeds said. Excuse me? Don’t do your grandstanding at our expense Mr. Leeds. His comments are predicated on the supposition that he knows the exact reason he took his own life. The El Paso Times reported that Leeds said that he last spoke with Chavez...

From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia I’ve been going through the indictment to see what other information I can get out of it. So far, there are a couple of parts that have me perplexed but number 13 on page 11 of the indictment is the one that I keep finding myself going back to. Here’s what it reads, “ 13. On or about February 13, 2006 defendants, MARK SCHWARTZ, and FRANK APODACA, secured the vote for ACCESS of an elected member of Commissioners Court, in exchange for a $500 campaign contribution to a relative of the elected member of Commissioner’s Court, who was running for elected office. ” What bothered me about this particular portion of the indictment was the fact that the feds are alleging that Schwartz and Apodaca bribed a member Commissioner’s Court, but the member apparently isn’t indicted? Perhaps this something that is coming down the road, after all the FBI did indicate that these indictments marked the end of only one phase of the investigation. But it’s not too har...

Crime scene tape covers the westside home of David Chavez. Police scanner traffic indicates that there was a suicide at the address listed as the home of David Chavez. Tune in to Canal 26 tonight, they will probably be the first on the scene tonight. Special thanks to my source for the tip....

September 13th, at 6:00pm will be a special meeting to discuss the resignation of a YISD Trustee. The meeting will be at the Central Office, 9600 Sims Drive, El Paso. Here is an excerpt from the agenda of the special meeting: The subjects to be discussed or considered or upon which any formal action may be taken are listed below. Items do not have to be taken in the same order as shown on this meeting notice. I. CALL TO ORDER, ESTABLISH QUORUM II. PLEDGES OF ALLEGIANCE, MOMENT OF SILENCE III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA IV. ACTION ITEMS A. Acknowledgment and Acceptance of Board Member Resignation, and Announcement of Vacancy. B. Consider and Take Possible Action Regarding Method of Filling Vacancy in Trustee Single Member District 7. V. ADJOURNMENT This notice has been publicly posted at the administrative offices of the Ysleta Independent School District, 9600 Sims, El Paso County, Texas, seventy-two (72) hours in advance of the above meeting, as required by the following sections of the Texas...

If I were her, I wouldn't want Arizona voters to have a side-by-side comparison either! I can't tell if she was drunk or just an air-head. My favorite part is when she knows she screwed up, she goes after Obama instead of her opponent! But if you thought that was all the fun, no wait, there's more! Brewer is the gift that keeps on giving! Check this out. When she's asked about the lies she told about her own state, check out her reaction! Sad thing is, its Arizona so she will probably win re-election. How bad is that!?!?

Here's what drives me nuts about El Paso. The County has been going through some really rough budget hearings and some difficult decisions have been made. Despite all the belt tightening, the fact is the effective tax rate is going to go up and there doesn't appear to be a way out of it. The Sheriff's are getting 8% raise. That sure could've come in handy in this round of budgets and they are the only county employees getting a raise, while the rest are furloughed and/or having their hours cut back. But a whopping 22 people showed up to Commissioner Perez' meeting on the budget situation at the county. I'll bet anything that you will hear people bitching and moaning about their taxes going up and they will all have their individual theory as to this particular cut, or that particular cut, etc., all over talk radio but no one actually showed up to the meetings when it mattered. So come election time, you are going to have a boatload of people running for office w...

I almost peed my pants this morning when I was listening to Greg's show. Dick Bowen, Republican candidate for Texas Senate (District 19), called in to his show while they were talking about the crazy nut in Florida that wants to burn the Quran. Bowen mentioned the belief among suicide bombers that they get 70+ virgins upon their death. Bowen asked if they had to stay virgins and then stated that he'd "rather have four or five sluts". Greg saved him and ended the call. God I love talk radio!

According to attendees of the Labor Day Breakfast yesterday commemorating Labor Day, State Rep Norma Chavez was not initially recognized by the event organizers. Apparently Representative Chavez had not signed in when she went to the breakfast and that was the reason for the oversight. It’s always awkward when one is overlooked, but it must’ve been even more awkward considering the fact that on more than one occasion people at the mike, including Congressman Reyes, made reference to the fact that the entire El Paso legislative delegation was sitting together at the same table. Legislators at the table: State Reps Chente Quintanilla, Marissa Marquez, Joe Moody, and Rep-Elect Naomi Gonzalez. Chavez was at another table and Representative Pickett was not in attendance.

I get a lot of press releases and I make note of what they say. I read all of them. Occassionally I pass them on and once in a while I attend something. If you are on the press list for Jaime O. Perez, Republican candidate for County Judge, then you get a bazillion press releases. If his intent was to get noticed, mission accomplished because here is the last one Perez sent. I have to give him credit, its pretty damn funny, especially if you like A Few Good Men. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- El Paso, Texas - September 3, 2010 - Jaime O. Perez (R), County Judge candidate released a faux transcript (below) of a meeting with Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Ben Bernanke: You want answers? Jaime O. Perez: I think as an American I'm entitled to them. Ben Bernanke: You want answers? Jaime O. Perez: I want the truth! Ben Bernanke: You can't handle the truth! Boy! We live in a world that has walls and borders. They are there by des...

Retraction I strive for accuracy as much as possible when I post on my blog if I am doing an informational piece. Most of the time I write commentary or editorial. But if I am writing an informational piece, I try to be accurate. Even though I’m just a blogger and not a real journalist, I above all, want to get it right. Which is why it sucks that the information I was provided was not 100% accurate as it relates to the names of the people that I was told were ALLEGEDLEY going to be indicted. In my defense I included the following disclaimer: “The names that are ALLEGEDLY going to be indicted tomorrow are (these names are UNCONFIRMED):” To ensure that I was clear that the names were as yet UNCONFIRMED, I later ended the piece by stating, “Remember this is the information provided to me by my sources and may or not be 100% accurate. Watch for developments/arrests/turn-ins, etc. tomorrow.” That being said, Craig Patton’s name was included in the list by my sources but that information tu...

From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia Tuned in to the Strelz and I heard Norma Chavez talking shit about me. Everyone is a bad ass over the air, but she made a remark about me publishing the names of some of the people that were allegedly going to be indicted. That was after she was kissing Strelzin's ass for posting something about the story on his blog earlier in the week. But Strelz is the only talk show host that she has a relationship with anymore after all the stuff she's done, so he's her only option at this point and has to work hard at keeping that last relationship intact. Thanks Norma, but after seeing some of the decisions you've made lately, I'll make my own decisions thank you very much. Chavez has been pushing Willie Gandara, Jr as a future leader, etc for a while. When the Camino Real MAD Executive Committee ditched Chavez recently, Chavez publically characterized it as amicable. Let's see how she acts now...

I am clearly reading cue cards. Apologies to my homeboy Sammy C, but this is some funny shit.

Apparently there is some confusion over what my analysis was regarding the political impact of the arrest of the Gandara family patriarch Willie Gandara, Sr. on the career of his son Willie Gandara Jr. I guess people thought I said it would mean the end of his political career. That's not what I said. I said I thought it was the end of his congressional hopes. I stand by that statement.

Multiple sources are reporting to me that several high profile people in town are going to be indicted tomorrow as part of the public corruption scandal. The names that are ALLEGEDLY going to be indicted tomorrow are (these names are UNCONFIRMED): Charles Garcia-SISD Ray Rodriguez-SISD Willie Gandara Sr.-SISD, Mayor of Socorro Linda Chavez-YISD Mickey Duntely-YISD Frank Apodaca- Formely of Access Health Luther Jones Gilbert Sanchez Linda Hays Remember this is the information provided to me by my sources and may or not be 100% accurate. Watch for developments/arrests/turn-ins, etc. tomorrow.

The new project developed by David K and I has launched. It's called The Border Journal and has unfortunate initials, but it's going to fill a gap in local media that has been left open for too long. Please visit http://theborderjournal.wordpress.com/ to read persepectives from all kinds of different voices. We started this site so that other bloggers, expatriates, concerned citizens and anyone else who has something to say can have a voice. We want to hear from YOU. We want you to take a step out, and up, from the comments section of our blogs. We want to hear from YOU! We are always taking submissions. You can email them to DK or Me. We will not be editing your content, only your grammar. If you want to remain anonymous - that's fine. Your secret will be safe with us. If you want to invent an email address and send something so there's no possible way we'll know who you are - fine. You can email submissions to: TheLionStarBlog@gmail.com karlsruher@gmail.co...