El Paso Politics

Que viva la causa, que viva la huelga, y que VIVA CESAR CHAVEZ!

District 8 Candidate Cortney Niland landed an endorsement from the The Greater El Paso Association of Realtors. They interviewed candidates last week and apparently started notifying candidates of their endorsement. In somewhat of an interesting twist, the The Greater El Paso Association of Realtors generally sticks with the people they have endorsed in the past unless something major develops. Previously they have endorsed Ann Morgan Lily in District 1. Due to the likelihood of a runoff in that race, they will not be giving an endorsement. Not necessarily a slight, but certainly intersting. Despite another crowded field in the District 8 race, they endorsed Cortney Niland. There was no endorsement for District 5 and sources in the Association said that it was for similar reasons as in District 1, the likelihood of a run-off. District 6 endorsement went to City Representative Eddie Holguin.

State Rep Dee Margo has been pretty clear over the last month or so that he was not going to be filing many bills. Again, a page from the George Bush playbook, when in doubt, lower the expectations . Makes sense, that way you can basically get away with not doing very much. But if you recall in an earlier piece about Margo, I mentioned that I found it interesting that Margo was so critical of Joe Moody on the campaign trail and then changed his tune as soon as he got in to office. I went back and dug up the quote from an article in the El Paso Inc. It was actually from October, so just right before the election. And his quote doesn't really give him any wiggle room either. In an October Issue of El Paso Inc., Margo had the following criticism: “My point is not one legislative bill filed by Joe had anything to do with the third building,” Margo said. “If you say it’s that important, I don’t care if you’re a rookie or whatever, go fulfill what you say is important. What changed?” Don...

Yes, I know, I skipped District 5, but there is a reason for that...it's the hardest to analyize. But District 6 really is pretty easy to lay out. Rep Eddie Holguin is the incumbent and even Republicans like him because he's very fiscally conservative. Though he waited until the last minute to launch his campaign, he is best positioned for re-election. He has two opponents that both live in the area north of the freeway. Holguin in a matter of a weekend had hundreds of signs put up by his sign guy. He had a campaign kick off event with more than two hundred people in attendance and has a campaign headquarters opened and another in the works. He has what is needed to win a campaign...the ability to raise money, name ID, a base of support, and volunteers. Zulema Lazarin - aye pobresita. Its been one misstep after another with her. She has a major problem in that she didn't even know what district she lived in. That shows to some that she's running because there is an agen...

I haven't talked to Chavez in quite some time and the last time I did, it ended with us cussing each other out. Which I am fine with. But I was thinking about the fact that in my opinion, SDEC Don Williams is sort of the red-headed step child of the Democratic Party official leadership. I think some might think that Williams is treated differently because he's African-American, which may actually be true but I don't think that's the reason to be perfectly honest. I think its something else. Something far more petty than a difference in skin color. I think its because certain people may have interpreted that he was an ally of Norma Chavez. For some people, if you don't hate Chavez, then you are aligned with her. Thats just how they see things. Sort of the George W. Bush school of foriegn policy - if you aren't with us, you are against us. I came to that conclusion because I have seen that other people that either were close to Chavez, or were pretty neutral on he...

I am actually pretty proud of the El Paso County Democratic Chair Danny Anchondo and State Democratic Executive Committee Woman Yolanda Clay for taking State Rep Joe Pickett to task for a really bad vote he made on Voter ID. I'm not sure whats up with the the delegation this year but for some reason Pickett and Quintanilla keep voting like Republicans and as a Democrat, its pretty frustrating. Kudos to them. However, I find their critique pretty interesting for another reason. I sent an email to the two of them, and the State Democratic Executive Committee Man, Don Williams, asking them to publically call for the removal of the Bexar County Democratic Chair for comments he made about the gay community. I have received no response from Anchondo or Clay. I am hoping the the various presidents/chairs of the local Democratic Party clubs take the initiative and write letters of their own. But since Anchondo and Clay haven't responded, I am inclined to think its because they don'...

Here are a few more candidate interviews. Some of the videos aren't actually interviews, but footage of the respective candidates' comments to the El Paso Young Democrats on Monday. In this post we hear from Dr. Michiel Noe, Dr. Theresa Ware-Asbury, and Manny Hinojosa. (NOTE: I miss identified the area Dr. T is running in on the opening slide. She is running in District 1 on the Westside, not the Eastside.)

My bad people. I was looking at the list of candidates that filed, not the candidates that are actually on the ballot. I own up to it when I make a mistake, so I apologize. Gilbert Guillen is not on the ballot due to issues with his filing. I take responsibility for the mistake.

Okay, wrapping up the westside races, here is some quick early analysis of the District 8 Candidates. In general I think this race is more eccentric than even District 1, which is sayin' something. Truth be told, I think there is a very good chance that despite the number of candidates, this race might not even have a run-off. Things could change, and that's not meant to disrespect any of the candidates, but thats how I see it at this time. Jorge Artalejo - Not a viable candidate. No real message and is always running for something. No one takes him seriously, nor should they. Sergio Contreras - On paper, he's a great candidate. But so far, its only on paper. He used to work on Wallstreet, then worked for the Pueblo. But again, not really a guy that looks like he has a firm grasp of the issues and his biggest problem is communication. Speaking is not his strong suit. No name ID, questionable ability to raise money, no base of support. Will not make a run-off, if there is on...

Its way to early to start making predictions, but I wanted to give you all some analysis of the candidates so far and what their chances of winning look like to me. Don't interpret this as either support nor opposition to anyone, just an early snapshot of handicapping the races. The key thing to remember when gauging a candidates viability is (not in any particular order) name recognition, ability to raise money, grassroots organization, volunteer base, likability, and command of the issues. District 1 - Tim Besco - No substantive understanding of issues. He basically agrees with whomever is in front of him at the moment. He has no volunteer base because he burned that particular bridge a long time ago. I also think that hurts his ability to raise money. He doesn't have a volunteer base, but he does have his campaign Oscar Gonzalez. But Gonzalez has some issues from his employment at the city that are better left in the dark. But Besco's two best performing precincts from t...

El Paso elections have been so interesting that they have actually done something I didn't think was possible...they out-crazied the City of Socorro. As a result, I have not given an update on Socorro elections and I received an email from a reader last night who reminded me that I haven't followed up. Two people have filed to run for the seat vacated by Luis Varela who was arrested on drug charges in late 2010. Maria Reyes is one of them. She was one of the leaders of the recall against the other members of council, which basically means she is part of the faction that supports Mayor Willie Gandara, Sr. I have never spoken with her, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but near as I can tell, she is upset with the majority on city council (the one's she wants to recall) because the didn't renew the contract of her brother. Her brother, Ernie Gomez was serving as the municipal judge in Socorro. He is a retired police officer, but doesn't have a degree. Apparentl...

Want to know why I have such a problem with the Grand Old Party? It's misplaced priorities and fear-mongering that has become their standard operating procedure. As I have said previously, Governor Perry puts out a list of emergency items he wants dealt with, which one would assume would be budget-focused. Instead its nothing but a collection of far-right idealogy. The latest salvo in this effort is the Voter ID Bill. My friend and former co-host Greg Freyermuth used to always ask a question when a policy discussion began...What problem are you fixing? That's exactly my question with this Voter ID Bill. Even Republican elected officials acknowledge that it is NOT a problem in Texas and there have only been a handful of incidents of the this type of problem...in the ENTIRE state of Texas! What is a major insult to Latinos is the fact that they USE the Latino National Republican Coalition and the dark faces in their membership as a prop to try to make this look different from wha...

David K wrote a piece that I feel I need to respond to. The short of it is that David K is basically saying that Ernesto Villanueva is claiming to have the endorsement of City Reps Steve Ortega and Beto O'rourke. He admits he never actually spoke to Villanueva, so that means he probably never heard him say it himself either. I think DK knows that Ortega and O'rourke haven't endorsed Villanueva, who is one of the many candidates taking on DK's candidate of choice, Cortney Niland. I have actually talked with Villanueva a couple of times. If he really had their endorsement, he'd want that information to get out. He would have tripped over himself to let me know that kind of info. He never made a claim like that to me. But to be sure, I picked up a phone and spoke with Ortega. Ortega and I had actually had a conversation earlier this week and we talked about endorsements because several candidates in another district had claimed to be supported by Ortega. At that time, ...

When Dee Margo ran against Joe Moody for State Rep District 78, his main argument wasn't what Joe Moody did, he ran on what he said Joe Moody didn't do. In fact, I remember a large part of his argument was that Moody didn't get another building for the medical center. In fact, he once said, "he didn't even try". It would naturally follow that if his criticism of Moody was that he didn't even try to get another medical building, he was going to. Which is interesting because the deadline to file bills has come and gone and guess what? We don't have another building for the medical center. From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia Not only do we not have another building for the medical center...Margo apparently didn't even try to get it for us. WARNING, THIS IS GOING TO GET A LITTLE NERDY, SO TRY TO FOLLOW ALONG. Below is a list of bills for each of the 5 El Paso Reps. First, a little explanation about what it, and what is not on this list. What is he...

Malcolm McGregor, one of the many candidates for City Rep in District 8 appears to have even more issues related to his residence. According to these court documents, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit meant to block the removal of the domestic partner benefits from city employees are seeking to remove McGregor from the lawsuit due to discrepancies involving his residency. 040 MTN Mcgregor The documents point out the fact that the address that McGregor uses on his candidate application is actually zoned as a commercial property and that he has residential property in a New Mexico suburb of El Paso. The documents do not appear to have an impact on whether or not he can run for city council in El Paso, Texas.

From the Cortney Niland Campaign: From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia Cortney Niland will be speaking this Monday, March 28th, at Representative O'Rourke's weekly breakfast meeting at 7am. The meeting will be at the Village Inn located at 2929 N. Mesa

Candidates: If you have an event you want me to announce about your campaign, no matter who you are , I will do so. Simply shoot me an email with the relevant information to thelionstarblog@gmail.com and I will post it. I will post the event individually and without commentary. If you would like an image used with the announcement, please attach it to the email and I will oblige. I will also announce it on the air during my show if you so wish. (Show announcements will require that you provide me the info by the Thursday before my Saturday show.)

And now, the Candidates for District 8:

The El Paso Latino National Republican Coalition is losing its independent voice and appears to be in the process of becoming the brown yes-men of the Republican Party. I was hoping that the primary focus of the LNRC would be something consistent with their motto, Engage, Empower, Education, and something else with an "e". But they seem to be the brown faces the Republicans use to sign off on legislation that is aimed at people that look and sound like them. Their latest example is a press release that was sent out in support of the Voter ID Bill which is just the latest in a line of legislation that Governor Rick Perry has identified as "emergency" measures. As if the classification of the sonogram bill as an "emergency" was stupid enough, the latest is even worse. Part of their press release says, "As Hispanics we understand what Voter ID aims to accomplish and are encouraged that action is being taken to restore trust in our most vital institution ...

Here is the entirety of the canidate forum hosted by the Greater El Paso Republican Women last Saturday. This was one of the best organized and well-run candidate forums I've seen, and I've been to many of them. The head of the GEPRW, Becky Hermosillo and her membership did a good job of running the forum. This had a chance of being a real trainwreck and it turned out to be very well run.

The district 6 race will probably be the snoozer of the four city rep races this election. In fact the highlight will likely be the many political pratfalls of one of the candidates, Zulema Lazarin. I'm starting to think she might be a fan of Britney Spears. Ooops I did it again! (Read on, I'll explain her latest misstep) Lazarin is facing Gerardo Rosiles and the incumbent City Rep Eddie Holguin. There are three names on the ballot, but this campaign will hardly be a race. Here's why: Gerardo Rosiles is a political new-comer. He has no base of support and there are no indications that he has a large volunteer base. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but all the fancy political science text books in the world can't prepare someone for a race in the Valley. Plus, they don't actually TEACH grassroots campaigning in a textbook. So far he has said he will focus on the area north of the freeway in the district. Not the strongest of strategies. Yes, its the area Holguin is ...

I interviewed two candidates from each of the two Westside districts that will be electing city reps in the next election. There was no particular rhyme or reason I selected the candidates that I chose other than there were accessible. Abe Peinado and Lyda Ness Garcia are the District 1 candidates. Ernesto Villanueva and Cortney Niland were the District 8 candidates. NOTE: I WILL POST THE FORUM VIDEO IN THEIR ENTIRETY AS I FINISH EDITING THE VIDEO... Here are the District 1 Candidates I interviewed: And here are the candidates from District 8:

There was one notable no-show at Saturdays forum for the Candidates in District 1 held by the Greater El Paso Republican Women...Tim Besco. From Burges Candidate Forum Becky Hermosillo, who heads the organization, announced that Besco had declined their invitation. If you want some insight as to why, I have conveniently posted his now-infamous email at the end of this post, ya know...in case you forgot or missed it the first time. I'm betting the College Republicans were expecting Besco to show up, refuse to pay for a meal, and bring in his own breakfast. I know some of you might think that I am just looking for an excuse to repost the email Besco sent out as a reminder to Republicans in the district just exactly what he thinks of them. To those people I say...oh hell, who am I kidding, of course I was just looking for a an excuse to repost the letter! Just in case you forgot, here it is again in all its glory: THANKS FOR NOTHING All of you who are getting this email should know wh...

I'm working on a little report card of State Rep Dee Margo to gauge what/how well he's done so far in his freshman session. I also want to compare it to his campaign messaging to see if the action is jiving with the jive. That should be up sometime tomorrow.

Canal 26 will have a story tonight about an issue going on in Socorro you should see. Ralph Duran, who is the guy who is leading the recall effort against the four members of Socorro City Council that pushed for a recall against Mayor Willie Gandara following his recent trip to the FBI headquarters, has gotten in to some trouble with the city over his private possessions on city property. The City of Socorro has been going through several efforts to clean up the city, either through code enforcement or passing of new ordinances. Details are a little sketchy right now but it looks like Duran was cited/warned a couple of times about removing his "junk" from city property in a cul-de-sac are where he owns property. Duran was given a certain period of time to comply and until today, hadn't. Apprarently the city went over to either enforce the ordinance and remove the material and bill him for the costs, or to survey the area to determine exactly what part of the land is his a...

I got word late yesterday from the City that Zulema Lazarin's application has been accepted as is. In short, she will appear on the ballot. This is the official response from the city: "I just received word that the City Clerk’s Office performed the required statutory review and is accepting the application for Zulema Lazarin."

Look to your right. There is a new poll. Weigh in.

I received a call first thing in the morning today informing me that due to the complexity of the issue, the City Attorney himself would need to review the issue. He has been out the last couple of days due to illness. I was informed that I would be given an answer on Monday. Tuesday is the day that the candidates head over to city hall and their place on the ballot is determined via a drawing.

So as I mentioned in the last post, Tim Besco and his campaign manager Oscar Gonzalez were in attendance at a campaing fundraiser that was way out of the district Besco is running in. I went and greeted them. For some weird reason, Oscar always drifts behind me when I'm talking to Besco and I guess he doesn't think I notice that he does that. Its annoying and I actually physically turned so that I could see him. Its weird, and I don't think anybody likes it when someone stands behind them. But eventually Besco and I got back to talking about his race. I mentioned to him that I noticed his two top performing precincts were in the district he was running in. He said he knew that with a pretty health dose of confidence. The thing is, there are a shitload of candidates running in that race. The conservative vote in that district is very significant, but what good is it to any of the them if it is splintered among several candidates? Its true that name recognition goes a long wa...

Alfredo Borrego, candidate for El Paso Independent School Board held a fundraiser on Wednesday night. Borrego had a rather strong show of support from some noted El Paso politico's including Mayor Pro Temp Emma Acosta, County Commissioner Sergio Lewis, former County Commissioner Carlos Aguilar, and prominent El Paso Attorney Mr. Rosales. Also in attendance were EPISD Trustee Isela Castanon-Williams, Dan Olivas, Tim Besco, Mayela Mejia, Dora Oaxaca, Jay Desai, Pee Wee Mier, and Ken Sutherland. Here are some of the highlights and an interview I did with him.

The Greater El Paso Republican Women will be hosting a candidate forum this weekend at their regular monthly meeting. The GEPRW normally meet at the Vista Hills Country Club over on Traewood on the Eastside of El Paso. The meeting starts at 9:00am, but I don't think its open to the public. If the meeting is open to the public, I will post something to let you know.

I checked with the City again to find out what was the status of my query about the validity of Zulema Lazarin's candidacy on the May ballot. I was informed by City Staff that the answer would be coming tomorrow. As soon as I hear from the city I will let you know. (For those of you that don't remember, I posed the question to the city's legal department about whether or not Lazarin could be on the ballot because she didn't fill out the paper work properly.)

As I said previously, District 1 candidates are basically the bottom of the food chain. Well most of them anyway. With all the candidates being conservative Republicans, the only way a progressive or independent candidate can win is if all the progressives back ONE candidate. If there is more than one progressive or independent candidate, then they won't win. Its as simple as that. There are three progressive candidates in the race right now, but one of them is a non-factor. Rick Schecter is a complete and total non-factor. He has run before and has never earned a significant amount of votes. Why? Because he's a one issue candidate and most people see him as a punch line. Before some of you get mad at me, don't. I'm just reflecting a pretty commonly held sentiment. The point is, he's not viable. He has no base, he has no financial backing, he has no credibility, and he has little chance of winning. That leaves Lyda Ness and Dr. Theresa Ware-Asbury. Somebody needs to...

It has been a long time since I have enjoyed an interview with a candidate. As a rule, they tend to be repetitive and as much as I like politics, even I get a little bored now and again. But given Manny Hinojosa's interview with Maria Garcia of ABC 7 earlier this week, I knew the interview was going to be fun. We spoke for over forty minutes, and I didn't even realize that my battery ran out. But most of the interview is in the three part video. We talked about sexual addiction, his interview with Garcia, finance, unions, the domestic partnership issue, and of course, God. He's improved quite a bit since the first time I met him and I have to give him credit for taking an interview with someone he knew would have a completely different view on contentious issues. Trust me, you will want to see this interview. I personally find the second portion the most interesting.

Interviews with three of the candidates on the day of the filing deadline. Gerardo Rosiles - Running in District 6 Representative Holguin - Running for Re-Election in District 6 Lisa Turner - Running in District 8

Watch Canal 26 tonight for a story on David Marmolejo. Sources say the jury has found him guilty and announcement will come soon. Stay tuned...

The El Paso chapter of the Stonewall Democrats held their first organizational meeting last night. The group wants to reorganize and relaunch activities as an auxillery to the El Paso County Democratic Party. The Stonewall Democrats were organized originally a few of years ago in El Paso but the recent rise of Pastor Tom Brown has encouraged members of the gay community who were previously active to get involved. I don't think it was ever his intention to galvanize the gay community but it looks like they will unite against a common foe.

I've been working on a few things over the last few weeks. All I have to say is that you make sexuality of an individual a public issue, then make sure your own house is in order. It might be really embarrasing if the tables were turned and your own sexual history was examined because you opened the door to the conversation. Especially for those of you who claim to be advocates for traditional marriage values. Just saying...

Abe Peinado, a candidate in District 1 has not filed the necessary paperwork with the city identifying a campaign treasurer. The lack of a treasurer isn't something that will get him kicked off the ballot, but he could nonetheless get in trouble with the Texas Ethics Commission if someone complained. You can basically file a treasurer whenever you wish...but you can't collect contributions until you have identified a treasurer. Furthermore, according to a document titled Campaign Finance Guide for Candidates and Officeholder Who File wiht Local Filing Authorities from the Texas Ethics Commission, page three of the document states, "If you plan to run for public office in Texas (except for fedral office), you must file an APPOINTMENT OF A CAMPAIGN TREASURER BY A CANDIDATE (FORM CTA) with the proper filing authority when you become a candidate even if you do not intend to accept campaign contributions or make campaign expenditures."  I don't know if he has collecte...

Perhaps the most surprising name in yersterday's group of candidates that filed to be on the ballot was Maestro Phillip Garcia. Maestro Garcia who has run the El Paso Youth Symphony Orchestra has no other political experience that I can find but said that he had the support of several high-profile members of council including Mayor John Cook, Representative Steve Ortega, Representative Beto O'rourke, and the incumbent, Representative Rachel Quintana. A couple of those names are interesting because I've heard various people connected several of the candidates in the race proclaim that Mayor Cook is supportive of their candidate of choice. Representative Ortega was another candidate's, Mayela Mejia, boss up until she resigned to run for the open seat. I don't know that Representative Quintana's endorsement actually helps anyone either. But I did speak with Maestro Garcia over the phone and asked him a few questions about what his focus would be if he was elected t...

I mentioned possible sibling rivalry in an earlier piece. I was referring to the possibility of two siblings facing off against one another. I was referring to Malcolm McGregor. Word on the street was that his brother was considering running against him in this election. Since the deadline has now passed, it appears that won't happen. We are just getting started folks, this is going to be an interesting election season...

Malcom McGregor, one of the candidates aligned with Pastor Tom Brown, is attempting to run in District 8 for City Representative in District 8. On his application, he lists his address as 1007 North Mesa. I checked with the Central Appraisal District and they show the property being owned by McGregor Family LTD Partnership. If I am reading it right, it looks like it is zoned as a commercial building. Its in the area on Montana diagonally southwest from St. Patrick's Catholic Church. That got me curious about something. I had been hearing rumors going around that Malcolm McGregor doesn't actually live in the district. So I did a white page search and at least one source close to McGregor says its accurate information. According to this white pages search , there is a listing for Malcom McGregor (same Mc spelling as opposed to the more common Mac spelling of the name) at 13 Cielor del Norte. Younger people don't usually have a land line these days but since he's an older ...