El Paso Politics

Check out these events that are coming up:

I almost fell out of my chair when I heard Theresa Caballero on the air during Chris Bailey's show. From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia I have been working on a blog post about her showing up on the air with Hector H. Lopez the other day. She basically led him around by his nose for a couple of hours and he never challenged a single one of her allegations. I'm going through the audio to make sure I get her many, many interesting quotes correctly as I write my opinion in the blog post. I will try to have it up later today or tonight. Sit tight, its going to be very interesting considering what she said. Until then, go over to David K's blog and read what he wrote today. He linked to a post back when Caballero liked him. She was very complimentary of him...we'll see if that piece stays up or is taken down.

Here is a little sample of the back and forth from the domestic partner benefits debate before city council. This video shows two people against equality, Pastors Tom & Sonia Brown, and two for equality, Yours Trunly and Lisa D.

What better way to start your Tuesday with a nice long BJ. Check out the newest column on The Border Journal !

Pastor Tom Brown has apparently decided to make his MySpace profile only viewable to people that are his MySpace friends. I guess he's changed his mind. I linked to his page so that everyone could see his words and his pattern of a particular set of beliefs over time. Maybe he didn't want people to see what he had to say. But whatever the reason, it is pretty interesting. Some of us just believe in standing by our words and others....

If you are interested in signing the petition to get a charter amendment on the ballot for equality, you have a chance to sign the petition tonight. If you are on the Westside of town, you can stop by the Barnes and Nobel on Sunland Park. If you are on the Eastside you can stop by the Barnes and Nobel on Viscount. The time is from 6-9pm for both locations. If you aren't registered to vote, there should be voter registration cards available as well. The petition language reads as follows: "It is unlawful for any person within the City of El Paso to be denied the use, exercise or enjoyment of any advantage, right, privilege, facility, service, employment, housing or accommodation, generally used, exercised, or enjoyed, on the basis of the person’s actual or perceived race, gender, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, gender identity, marital status, disability or sexual orientation." For more information, check out their website . Equality...its the American way!

Ha ha, eat that GOP! A new poll shows that Obama leads as choice for President against a generic Republican candidate and has a bigger gap of support when you given a choice between specific candidates. With Republicans in control in the House, the President will now have a chance to finally play a little offense and his support will likely go up between now and the election. Come on Palin! Run Palin run!

One of the people supportive of the ordinance that took away domestic partner benefits from eligible couples, retirees, and others is apparently making a run for city council. Manny Hinojosa, who has addressed city council along with other members of the religious community during the debate over domestic partner benefits, has indicated that he will be running for city council. Hinojosa has been talking about doing so for months now. In addition to the domestic partner benefits issue, Hinojosa says he's also been a watchdog for lower taxes from the city. The political resume of Hinojosa is a little thin, but pretty much par for the course for city council candidates. Political careers often start off at the city level so its not surprising that Hinojosa doesn't have too much experience politically speaking. But Hinojosa does have an aspect of experience not usually seen by city rep candidates, he is a Precinct Chair in the Republican Party. Hijonosa lives in the district cur...

The debate over domestic partner benefits in town has enlightened me about a few people. There are some people on that council that are more concerned with doing the popular and easy thing rather than the right thing. They lack the political courage that others had that made it possible for those very people to hold the offices they now occupy. Here's at least on example of what I mean about doing the easy and popular thing, all for the sake of self-preservation. Representative Quintana's amendment is nothing more than her attempt to have her cake and eat it too. Essentially she, and the reps that will support the vote, want to be able to say that they “respect the will of the people” and at the same time say they fight for retirees. This move is simply an attempt at self-preservation. Perhaps she wants to run for re-election, maybe she wants to be a county commissioner one day, who knows? But I think at the very least, members of council should reflect on their actions. The...

Pastor Tom Brown of the Word of Life Church in El Paso, Texas has some interesting things to say on his My Space page. In his profile he gives us a little background about his upbringing. I think its very telling. Brown talks about being raised by his grandmother following the divorce of his parents. I'll give some of my thoughts on that particular scenario later, but what I found most interesting is when he says, " Then I went to Riverside High School for 2 years, and because it was difficult being white in an all Hispanic School, my sister and I transferred to Eastwood High." First of all, Riverside is in fact predominantly Hispanic, but its not "all" Hispanic. Secondly, what does me mean when he says it was "difficult being white" while attending Riverside High School, particularly when he makes reference to the number of Hispanics in the same sentence?  Is he alleging that Hispanics are mean to white people? Is he alleging that he was discrimin...

Okay, once again, I have to give credit where credit is due, so now its Marquez’s turn. For all of Representative Chavez’s faults, she was the one legislator that would stand up for Chicanos and Latinos in El Paso whenever there was an issue in which there needed to be the proverbial line drawn in the sand. Case in point, the move by Board of Education to minimize or remove key historical figures. Chavez was at her best during this time and was able to coordinate a response very quickly. It’s not something she did for votes, but she did it because it was the right thing to do. When Chavez lost, I was concerned that there wouldn’t be anyone around to fill that void of Chicano leadership. I’m not saying the Marquez is ready to step in to that role, but I have to give her props for something she told me about the other day. Representative Marquez said she personally called Representative Riddle to express her displeasure with the anti-immigrant bills she filed. I admire that she did so an...

Three members of El Paso legislative delegation met with community members and organizations on Saturday at Café Mayapan. The event was organized by El Paso Grassroots. All members of the delegation were invited to attend, but only State Senator-elect Jose Rodriguez, State Rep Marissa Marquez, and State Re-elect Naomi Gonzalez were in attendance. Representative-elect Margo had confirmed with Xavier Miranda, one of the event organizers, but his office called Miranda the morning of the event to say they had no record of the event in their calendar. Representatives Pickett and Quintanilla did not return the call of the event organizers. Despite the fact that there were several events set up for Saturday morning, the group listened to the community members and organizations about issues facing the community and legislative priorities for the respective groups. The groups consisted of activists and organizations involved in immigration reform, protection of the Franklin Mountains, education...

Prominent El Paso Attorney Theresa Caballero called in to live talk radio the other day and made an interesting allegation. Near as I can tell, she attempted to tie Melissa O’Rourke, owner of Charlotte’s Furniture. From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia In a nutshell, O’rourke’s business allegedly took a substantial amount of cash for payment of furniture and didn’t report it. Early in the phone call Caballero said that Bob Jones was indicted for public corruption and was “..rolling all over everybody…” She then continued by declaring with certainty that Bob Jones “..was rolling all over everybody and he implicated Charlottes, Melissa O’rourke…” Here is the recording in its entirety. What is even more fascinating is that Caballero called back later and was given the opportunity to substantiate her claims. She didn’t because she admitted that she couldn’t. If her allegations are true, then WOW! What an intriguing development! But if they are not true, you’d think a lawyer would be mo...

So I wrote about the rumored mayoral bid by Eliot Shapleigh the other day and I was bombarded with calls, emails, and text messages asking me about the possibility. There's also been some talk around town that Joe Moody may decide to run for mayor. After hearing it now for a few days, I decided to call and get comment from Moody on the matter. So I asked him if he was considering a run for the mayorship and he replied: "Since November 2nd, many people have reached out to me and asked me to consider running for various offices. I appreciate their support and advice, but I have not even begun to consider when I will run again or what office I would seek. Right now, I am focused on continuing my legal career and staying involved with local groups that work on important issues for our community. Regardless of my decision, I will always be involved in bettering El Paso in any way that I can."   If you are new to politics, Moody absolutely left the door open to the possibility...

The Cacique, or Chief, of the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo passed away last night. Santiago Bustamante, 89, was the Cacique since the 1990's. He passed away late last night or early this morning at his home on the Tigua reservation. The Cacique had been struggling with several illnesses including cancer. Bustamante became the Cacique in the 1990's and is a mix of traditional, ceremonial and spiritual roles. The Governor of the Tribe has legislative authority and the Cacique oversees traditions and ceremonies and is seen as the leader of the tribe. The Cacique is non-hereditary position and is elected by the men of tribe. Unlike the Governor that serves for one year, the Cacique upon election serves for life. The male members of the tribe elect their leadership on New Year's Eve at the Tusla, which is a sacred site on Tigua land. Positions include Governor, Lt. Governor, Aguacil (Sheriff) and the Capitan de Guerra (War Captain). Sources within the tribe indicate that they will like...

Senator Eliot Shapleigh, according to the Whisper’s Column in the El Paso Inc is passing the hat around Austin for a bid to run for Mayor of El Paso. To all of you who told me that Shapleigh was going to quietly go off in to the sunset; I told you he wasn’t going to leave the political scene! If he ends up being right about the Bowie High School thing, we will never hear the end of it. But when you think about it, is there anyone in El Paso that is poised to beat him? Think about it. Go ahead, take your time. I couldn’t think of anyone either. Be prepared for heavy doses of Shapleigh speaking Spanish to anyone who will listen. But his rise to the mayorship would really bother a lot of powerful conservatives in town, but they would be powerless to prevent it. Their only hope is to put their money behind one of the other Democrats in the city that would take on Shapleigh. I know, it’s a non-partisan race, but the only other candidates that would be considered people that could take Shapl...

Ramon Bracamontes has an interesting story in today's edition of the El Paso Times regarding an informant in the FBI public corruption case. The informant is a witness in the case against Adrian Pena , who used to work for CF Jordan and is accused of bribing former County Commissioner Betti Flores . Flores plead guilty to taking a bribe and is awaiting sentencing. If you haven't read the story, you should read it before continuing on this piece. The piece doesn't say how the information came to light, but if it was through a source, I'm pretty sure I talked to the same guy yesterday. From what I can tell, it appears that the source had been shopping the story around to the media over the last few days. A man came to the station yesterday with several documents and part of what he told a reporter for the station and I was what was reported in the El Paso Times. The man would later explain that he acquired the documents through a friend of his at the courthouse. He didn...

Of all the problems in Socorro, you guys focus on projects that are improving the quality of life in that town? What about all the other stuff going on? Here's a crazy idea, get off your asses and get to know the community you are commenting on. Its not enough to send reporters out there and rely on their story to formulate your opinion of the entire community. Come on, get out of your ivory tower, get your hands dirty, and get to know the community, its problems, issues, and aspirations first. That way when you comment, you have something to go on.

I posted a piece about a month ago about the possibility of Robert Grijalva, staffer for State Rep Chente Quintanilla and former staffer for former State Rep Paul Moreno, running against the State Rep that retired Moreno, Marissa Marquez. The Times eventually wrote a piece about Grijalva possibly running against Marissa Marquez. There were some interesting quotes from Marquez that I will discuss later in this piece. But essentially, Marquez scared of Grijalva. He issued the following press release earlier this week in order to end the conversation about his possible bid: Chief of Staff Grijalva Puts an End to Rumors of Candidacy There have been rumors for some time now that I had decided to file as a candidate in State House District 77. In order to eliminate the uncertainty of the rumors, I am informing the public that I shall not seek office in the 2012 primary elections. After returning from my duties during each of the past 3 legislative sessions, I initiated a process of evaluatin...

In last night’s edition of Cirque Du Socorro, the city council held public hearings on the ordinance creating a recall election of Mayor Willie Gandara and District 3 Councilman Luis Varela. Mayor Gandara was indicted on public corruption charges and Councilman Varela was arrested on drug charges. Ironically, it appears that the arrest of Councilman Varela was, at least according to this map , exactly 112 feet from a business that is listed on the El Paso County website as Gandara Recycling. That DBA was first registered in 1999 to Mayor Willie Gandara and is still active under his name. Most of the people, about 70%, that spoke were in opposition to the ordinance, that is to say that they were in support of Mayor Gandara and Councilman Varela. If you gauged public support for the Mayor and Councilman Varela based on the public comment portion of the meeting it would be easy to assume that public sentiment was on the side of the Mayor and Varela. The majority of City Council in Socorro...