Zulema Lazarin Takes on Eddie Holguin

Zulema Lazarin, former Secretary of the El Paso Latino National Republican Coalition has decided to take on City Representative Eddie Holguin for his positon in District 6, which is made up mostly of the Lower Valley and does have a portion of El Paso's Eastside. That's a decision that has several people, some in her own party in fact, questioning the decision.

Lazarin lives near the very upper boundary of the district.

I ran in to Lazarin at a fundraiser for a Democrat, Isela Castanon-Williams who is running for re-election to the El Paso ISD Board. Lazarin with sitting with her spouse and Manny Hinojosa, who is a Republican precinct chair and candidate running for District 1 against Ann Morgan Lily.

I wasn't expecting to see the Republicans there but since they are running in non-partisan races it makes sense that they would make the rounds at as many events as they possibly can.

In light of the fact that Lazarin was going to file to run for the seat in District 5 until she was informed that she doesn't actually reside in that district, I decided to check with Lazarin to see if she was going to run for the seat in which she does reside, District 6.

She said that yes, indeed she was going to be challenging Representative Holguin. I think its pretty much universally accepted that Holguin is probably the most conservative member of city council. They don't call him Dr. No because he likes to raise taxes and fees.

I wondered why a Republican would take on the most conservative member of city council. So I asked her that very question.

She replied, "Because its my time."

Not exactly sure what that means, but hey, I asked.

I checked around with several members of the GOP, including some in leadership, and they weren't exactly supportive of her candidacy, but they are not really in a position to stop her.

From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia

Here are some of the concerns that her candidacy raises and she will have to overcome as the campaign advances.

#1 - In addition to filing this week, she also filed a modified reporting. The operative part of the filing is that section she signed that says, "...I do not intend to accept more than $500 in political contributions or make more than $500 in political expenditures (excluding filing fees) in connection with any furture election within the election cycle. I understand that if either one of those limits is exceeded, I will be required to file pre-election reports, and if necessary, a run off report."

I called her to ask about the report and if she intended to limit herself and she said, "After I sign it I realized what...I like to think big. By signing that paper I was thinking small."

She said she intends to correct the paperwork soon because she wants to be able to collect and spend more than $500.  So that issue will be fixed, but combined with the fact that she didn't know what district she lives in, it wouldn't surprise me if Holguin questioned her decisions during the campaign trail.

#2 - Why would a voter want to choose her over Holguin if they are both conservative. She can't really be more conservative on economic issues than Holguin? She can't be more liberal than Holguin and still call herself a Republican.  Does she try being socially more conservative than Holguin? Thats another tough situation because Holguin has really only had one controversial vote recently. The anti SB1070 resolution, which Holguin insisted wouldn't contain boycott language. So even when he's being liberal, he's being conservative. If you recall, I was critical of Holguin for the move.

That district isn't one that would be very receptive of an anti-immigrant message and there's not even an indication that Lazarin is anti-immigrant in the first place.

Holguin is lukewarm on the domestic partner benefits at best...something else I've been critical of. He voted to "respect the will of the people" on the ordinance and wanted to change the language of an ordinance that the Pastor Brown crowd was not supportive of, and they cheered for his changes to the language.

#3 Holguin will likely, and probably rightfully, hammer the fact home that Lazarin didn't know what district she lives in when she attempted to file. That means she's likely not voted in previous municipal elections. That makes it hard to ask for a constituent's vote if she's never voted in those elections herself. If she has voted in a municipal election, she would know what district she lived in, and its quite possible she may have in fact voted for Holguin in the past. (Note: Only Lazarin knows if she voted for Holguin, but it is possible to find out what elections she's voted in during the last few years, so I will track that information down and update you later).

The fact that she lives north of the freeway and most of the district is south of the freeway, and quite a bit different than the area in which she lives will also likely be a question in the mind of voters.

Does she know the district?

Does she know the needs of the district?

What are her specific plans for the district?

This might have been a pretty easy set of questions for her back when she thought she was running in District 5, but not that she's running in that district, voters may have real concerns about how much she knows the district and what specific plans she has as a candidate.

When I spoke with her earlier today she was on her way to a meeting for candidates. If its the same one the other candidates were at, then it was with a group of business people. She's likely answered their questions and I would assume that they are probably close to the answer's Holguin would give since they are both conservatives.

But, in a bit of good news for Lazarin, I don't think Holguin has ever won an endorsement. He always predicts the wrong winner in races, so if the pattern hold true, Holguin will lose if he predicts he will win. Just kidding.

On the brightside, its early and if she works really hard, who knows what can happen?