Eastside Civic Association - Quick Thoughts

I will post video and in-depth analysis later but I had some quick thoughts.

First of all, I don't know if the candidates are getting forum fatigue or what, but to put it gently, they all sucked tonight.

None of them seemed on their game. They all seemed distracted or just in a bad mood.

Dr. Noe spoke with me after the forum and raised an issue that I think is a fair critique. He says, and I haven't confirmed on the video yet, that Mayela Mejia said she was the interim city representative.

I don't think I understood his point right at the moment, but upon thinking about it, I think he has a point. Noe says she's referred to herself during the time frame that she was running the District 3 office with several different titles.

I think that leads to confusion and she should clarify it better. Noe's characterization tends to minimize what she did and he basically says she was just a secretary. She characterizes the it as doing everything a city rep does except voting.

I'm sure the truth is somewhere in the middle, but Mejia should clarify.

On that note Sal Gomez was at the forum. He's the guy that fancies himself as "Poor Man Walking" at city rep and loves to get attention. He routinely asks the media to interview him.

He tried to align himself with a couple of candidates throughout the forum and the only question he asked was about the domestic partners benefits issue. He hates immigrants and gays, what can I say?

The point is, he doesn't help any candidate that is running. He's an extremist and does much more harm than good. He showed up making demands how much time should be allotted to the candidates to answer questions.

Luckily it wasn't tolerated.

On a side note, I saw some people I hadn't seen in a while and more importantly met some listeners. I finally had a chance to meet Mike Rooney in person. I like him and admire the fact that he stays informed.

Rene Diaz was there as well.

Fun moment of the night was when I went to say hello to Gerardo Rosiles. He was obviously irritated at my comments on the air the other day. He only spoke to me and Spanish and I replied in English. I guess he was under the impression that I don't speak Spanish until I finally replied in Spanish.

He told me he was going to send me his SAP button.

Its not my fault he doesn't have a strong command of the language. He chose to run, no one forced him to. I never said the guy was stupid or unqualified or dressed funny. I just commented on his lack of communication skills.

Vicente Fox speaks better English. That's not my fault.