El Paso Politics

Well the social networking sites are abuzz with the leaking of Beto O'rourke's website. Well, I hope it was a leak because if it wasn't, I think its a rookie mistake on O'rourke's part. Who launches a campaign website before the formal campaign announcement? It looks like it just kinda got out there without his control. Congressional race is the big time, this looks unplanned, uncontrolled, and unorganized. Its not that big of a deal, but it sort of steps on his announcement. People shouldn't see it all over Facebook first. It immediately gives up control over the initial announcement. I'm not a fan of the picture on the site either. Its dark and gloomy. Looks like the sort of photoshop job you'd see done on a picture that someone wanted to use as an attack ad. Sorta like he did his own attack ad. I'd like to know who did it. But I am a fan of the campaign colors and logo. Black and white theme is easy, makes reproduction easy, is different, will sta...

Probably the worst kept secret since then-Commissioner Escobar pondered a run for County Judge, Beto O'rourke has been rumored to be a candidate for Congressman Reyes' seat for quite some time now. Here's a quick interview I previously had with O'rourke when he was pondering the run in the last election. I heard from a lobbyist in DC earlier this week that he had filed, but I haven't had a chance to track it down yet. But O'rourke's campaign URL is already active and can be found at  https://www.betoforcongress.com/ . I'd expect the formal announcement sometime next week.

I've been watching the discussion about Segundo Barrio having a different curfew than the rest of the city. Lets think about this rationally. At some point in time there was a lot of crime in that area that compelled the city and/or PD, to change the curfew in that area. I'm not against that concept in the least if it meant that families in the area could raise their children in peace. In fact, bravo to the people that pushed that back then. But again, lets be rational. If the data says that there is no longer a need for the curfew in that area, then it should be a no-brainer to get rid of it. If by chance crime goes up, well then you make the appropriate decision at that time. A 7pm curfew for kids 16 and under just isn't reasonable now given the fact that its safe there again. People should understand that many who live in that area live on the edge of existence sometimes. Kids can work at 16. A lot of them help feed their families. Even if their fast-food job is only for...

Speaking as a Democrat, I couldn't be more disappointed in Commissioners Gandara and Lewis for their vote at Commissioners Court the other day. You two claim to be Democrats. If you aren't really Democrats and are Republicans, then you should run as Republicans. If you are Democrats, you should have the courage to stand for what our platform means. This is a matter of social justice. The day that Democrats are afraid to stand for social justice is the day we should stop calling ourselves Democrats. Frankly I'm sick of Democrats being afraid to stand for what our beliefs are. We have to hold the elected officials who benefit from the "D" behind their name during election time. That "D" means something and Commissioners Gandara and Lewis shouldn't take it for granted. Being a Democrat means something. Its time elected officials are reminded of that. Honestly I think it shouldn't have to come from me. It should be coming from the President or Chair ...

Apparently they are hitting up people that are on jury duty. Clearly they are getting desperate. But they are certainly committed, I'll give them that. Apparently its two female petition gatherers. I'm told they don't look terribly busy. Shout out to someone in the community who just gave me a heads up on this development!

So I was talking with a buddy last night about the recall and Pastor Brown's followers' push for signatures last weekend. (Aside from the extreme irony of them trying to collect signatures at the Greek Festival over the weekend when homosexuality was accepted even by ancient Greeks) If they are still pushing, and if they have to try to have all these successive weekend petition drives, it tells me a couple of things. #1 - They don't have the signatures yet. #2 - They are getting pretty desperate to get them. If they had the signatures, trust me they would've made a big public to-do about having them and turning them in. I'd bet Pastor Brown, Theresa Caballero, and Stuart Leeds would be have invited the media and commented on how quickly they were able to get the signatures.  But no spiking of the political football or endzone dances as of yet. Having to go out to congregations to get signatures is literally, pardon the pun, a Hail Mary pass. I think word has gotten ...

Looks like a few potential candidates are testing the waters of a possible run for State Rep Chente Quintanilla's seat in the Texas House of Representatives. At least one of the potential candidates (who doesn't want to be revealed until she's made up her mind) says that if she decides to run, she will run whether or not Quintanilla vacates his seat to run for County Commissioner. “Chente has a slogan, but not much a record to run on. Representing the valley has to be more than just catchy slogan. And I don't think too many people in the valley think he's actually lived up to the slogan to begin with.” I'm assuming she means “Chente por la gente”. Honestly, I disagree with her. The slogan is pretty damn good if you ask me. Catchy, means something important, and people remember it. Political gold. Representative Quintanilla has boldly claimed that he set up his district to be pretty safe for him should he decide to run for re-election. Rep Quintanilla w...

Congressional candidate Jaime O. Perez resigned from the El Paso Republican Party on a posting in his blog yesterday. Perez said he will continue to run for Congress, but will do so as a Libertarian. This opens the door for another Republican to step up and be the Republican Party's nominee to face the Democratic Party's nominee in the next general election. If Congressman Reyes is able to beat his likely primary opponent Beto O'rourke, the Congressman will likely have to debate two conservatives at the same time during the general election season. Perez sited the fact that he is fiscally conservative but not as socially conservative as most of the Republican Party as the reason he has chosen to resign from the GOP. Perez also stated that he was treated respectfully by leadership of the GOP while he was a member of the Party.

I received some reports across town that Pastor Tom Brown's supporters were hitting the local churches on Sunday in an effort to gain support for their recall petition. Church-goers say that people were on church property passing out fliers and trying to collect signatures for the recall. This unidentified gentleman apparently addressed the mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe at the end of the 12:30 service. He apparently spoke during the announcement period. Typically the people who make announcements are usually active members of the church, like lecters, eucharistic ministers, or clergy. Parishioners did not recognize the man as someone they have seen at the church before.

Looks like the Congressional race and the race for Precinct 3 for Commissioner's Court will get all the attention in this election, but there is another race that's very important that will get a lot of attention among party regulars, though not voters at large. I am of course speaking about the race for Chair of the Democratic Party in El Paso. I was reminded of this because I saw a picture of the former Chair of the El Paso Democratic Party Rick Melendrez in the paper today. There have been no indications as to whether the current Chair Danny Anchondo plans to run again or if he will pursue another office. Anchondo's name comes up whenever there is talk of a judicial post since he's an attorney and has won county-wide elective office in the past. Keep an eye on this one because its going to get interesting. Several possible scenarios can come in to play and I'll keep you posted...

I keep a notebook with me to jot down stuff I'm going to write about later. When I wrote my wrap-up of the legislative forum yesterday I didn't have it with me and I forgot a couple of things I wanted to mention. I wrote about how everyone mentioned how much better things were as a delegation without all the in-fighting and I forgot to mention that during the forum, State Rep Marquez talked about the fact that a paper (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram if I recall) voted El Paso's delegation as the "Most Improved". Representative Margo stated that "We don't have deficits in Texas, we have funding shortfalls". He was very particular about this so I'll figure out if that is a distinction without a difference or if its really a significant difference and get back with you all. Margo also made one of the most honest assessments of the budget process for the whole evening. At first he said that "No one" was happy about the budget, which might be accur...

This is audio of the legislative forum held last night and sponsored by the El Paso County Democratic Party.

Yesterday's legislative forum drew about 120 people to listen to the members of the El Paso legislative delegation go over issues from the last session. It was a great idea and a wonderful opportunity to people to see the members of the delegation side-by-side. The first thing I noticed was that nearly every member of the delegation spoke about who well they all got along and several mentioned how refreshing it was to have a delegation that didn't have "distractions and in-fighting". Three guesses about who they were talking about... All the members of the delegation were present with the exception of State Rep Joe Pickett, who was in another state receiving an award. The members of the delegation that stood out the most were Representatives Marquez, Gonzalez, and Margo. Margo stood out because he was the lone Republican and a lot of the questions were aimed at him. He stood his ground and you have to give him credit for going to a forum that he knew he was going to r...

There's a healthy amount of political bullshit in the article and since I speak it fluently, I thought I'd translate. Of course, its only my opinion and shouldn't be taken as a serious literal translation. For that, just go to google translator and select bullshit to English. Representative Quintanilla contradicts himself in the articl e. Let me show you:  "That's the problem: People start rumors and it spreads like wildfire,". He's dismissing the idea that he's interested in the seat by calling it a rumor. Well, since it was Yours Truly that first wrote about Quintanilla being a candidate, let me say tha t I am VERY comfortable with my sources of the information. In fact, if you read this previous post I wrote, I actually spoke with his Chief of Staff, Robert Grijalva.  When you get confirmation from someone, its not a rumor.  But Quintanilla later contradicts himself and says,  "I guarantee you after Labor Day and after everybody starts making...

If I'm reading the El Paso Times article and a quote from Congressman Reyes' office correctly, then our Congressman just made a bad political play. And its one that will play right in to the hands of his likely primary opponent, Beto O'rourke. According to a pretty good article written by Zahira Torres , it looks like incumbent County Commissioner Willie Gandara is claiming to have the endorsement of Congressman Silvestre Reyes. Which is weird for a couple of reasons. Aside from being weird, it makes no political sense what so ever. So let's talk political reality. The Gandara name doesn't mean what it did four years ago in the valley. If it did, there would be no one running against Gandara instead of at least three so far, maybe more. Willie Gandara Sr has a very serious court case with the feds that could break DURING the campaign season. Willie Gandara Jr will be answering some tough questions from constituents about purchasing property along the corridor of the...

The indications that Vincent Perez is going to run for County Commissioner against Willie Gandara have become more solid following the release of a statement from the Congressman's Office announcing the upcoming departure of Vince Perez, pictured here on the job in DC. Perez, who started off as an intern, the legislative aide, Press Secretary, and eventually Communications Director for Congressman Reyes' office was praised by the long-time El Paso Democrat.  “Vince is one of the most dedicated and talented communicators on Capitol Hill, and I appreciate his tireless service on behalf of the people of El Paso,” Congressman Reyes said.  “He has a very bright future ahead of him, and I wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”  Perez' interim replacement at the Congressman's office is Claudia Ordaz. The Congressman's office is deep with bright, young talent and it shows the Congressman's ability to spot and mentor young talent. Here is the rest of the Congre...

But with all this talk about County Commissioner's Court Precinct 3, I haven't really talked about who would run for Quintanilla's seat. But with the new lines, the more I think of it, the more I can't really think of anyone that jumps out as a viable candidate for the office. Except one name....Willie Gandara. Think about it, its not such a bad move for Gandara politically. I doubt anyone would run against him and he would get a chance to work on policy that would still impact the area he represents now. He's independently wealthy so the pay wouldn't be that big of a deal to him. They are only in session every other year, so he should be able to manage his business interests at the same time. He does it successfully now and Commissioner's Court is always in session. I'm sure other names will pop up, but that's all that has come to mind right now...

You may have seen this, but I got an email today with a funny joke and I just HAD to share it with you all. This one's for my buddies from College Republicans... One day a fourth-grade teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers came up -- fireman, mechanic, businessman, salesman, doctor, lawyer, and so forth. However, little Justin was being uncharacteristically quiet, so when the teacher prodded him about his father, he replied, 'My father's an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret and takes off all his clothes in front of other men and they put money in his underwear. Sometimes, if the offer is really good, he will go home with some guy and stay with him all night for money.' The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some exercises and then took little Justin aside to ask him, 'Is that really true about your father?'  'No', the boy said, 'He works for the Repub...

Okay, so I made an app for Droid users for my blog. Its nothing fancy, just an RSS feed of my blog, but its handy if you don't want to go through your mobile browser to get to the blog, the Lion Star Blog app will take you directly to the feed. The app is free, I wasn't doing it to make any money off of it. I just wanted to see if I could do it and I thought some folks might find it useful. I actually got the idea from my friend Danny Baca. Baca had a shortcut to my blog on his homescreen on his I-Phone and he showed it to me one day at a campaign fundraiser. Ever since that day, I wanted to make an app for my blog. If you have a barcode reader, just read this image and it will take you to the app download: You can also click on the download link to the right and you can download it from there. I'm still tinkering, so hopefully it'll get better. But since its free, it comes with ads. Just in case anyone is wondering, I don't have control over the ads and so the pres...

A staffer from Representative Dee Margo's Office contact me to let me know he will be in attendance at the forum on Wednesday night. With Representative Margo in attendance, that means the whole delegation will be there. Now you really don't want to miss it!

Most of the delegation will be available for a forum to be held Wednesday night at 6pm at the El Paso Community College Administration building. Its your opportunity to go and visit with the delegation to learn about what happened in the last session and what the impact of the legislature could be on you and your family. All the Democratic members of the delegation have confirmed their attendance. Last I check, Republican State Rep Dee Margo has not confirmed yet. This is a really great opportunity to find out what the Republican-supermajority did in the last session. You people always say you want accountability, well here's your chance.

I'll make this quick. This is America. The great thing about America is choice. You can CHOOSE to read this blog, or you can CHOOSE to not read it. If you have a problem with something in my blog, contact me directly. thelionstarblog@gmail.com is my email address and its synced with my phone, so the minute you hit send, I will get the email. Stop going through other people, or calling them, to have me delete something, or reword something, or not write about something just because it gets your panties in a wad. You might not like me, but you have to admit, I've got the balls to tell you to your face what I think, no matter who you are. All I ask is the same in return. I'm a big boy, I can take it. I'm approachable. You can talk to me. I can't be bullied or intimidated, so if that's your avenue, you should probably still try it because it will be a fun experience and I will probably write about it. I value my readers, but I can't be controlled. Signed, The Va...

There were dueling picnics this weekend relating to the domestic partners benefits issue. The supporters of the recall movement, or as I like to call them, Tom Brown's acolytes, held an event at Album Park on Saturday. Apparently there were almost 20 people in attendance. By contrast, a crowd several times that figure were present at Memorial Park on Sunday in support of Mayor Cook, and Representatives Byrd and Ortega. The crowd was entertained by a performance from Radio La Chusma and heard from a few speakers. The crowd was made up largely of families who came out to support the trio that is the subject of a recall effort. And by families, I mean straight families, gay families, blended families, etc.  The crowd heard from County Judge Veronica Escobar, Representatives Byrd and Ortega, and former City Rep Beto O'rourke. The Mayor was also in attendance.  There was also several notables in attendance including members of local unions, members of the art community, religious l...

I have heard from a lot of people who would like support the recall effort, but hate the fact that Tom Brown is the person that is spearheading the effort. So for that reason alone, they are not getting on board. Now Tom Brown has Stuart Leeds and Theresa Caballero on his side for the recall. This is normally the part where I would say how surprised I was at the development. I could, but I'd be lying. That alliance makes total sense. But if there is anything that is a surprise, its the fact that TC is taking the side she's taking on this issue so close to the March primary. Word around the courthouse is that Theresa Caballero is interested in going after Barraza's old seat on the bench. So far, she's the ONLY one talking about running for that seat. The point is, she's going to have to run in a Democratic Primary for the seat. Teaming up with Tom Brown puts her squarely against the Democratic Party's National Platform. If you are going to be asking for y...

Jody Casey, the main organizer of Sunday's No Recall picnic said something that really has to be restated as often as possible. A lot of people who are opposed to the domestic partner benefits keep saying that it was wrong for the members of city council who voted to overturn the ordinance. Manny Hinojosa says that it is “tyranny”. I beg to differ. Its the office of tyranny, its democracy. You see we have something called checks and balances. The city council used a maneuver that is completely legal. They have the power to do so. You may not like it, but it is the system we have. Its part of our checks and balances. Also parts of the checks and balances is the ability to recall the members of city council. Tom Brown and his acolytes are doing so. They are attempting to use a check and balance mechanism. So for those of you who are upset at the Mayor and council for doing what is within their legal right to do, you should also be upset at the Tom Brown people for doing the same. ...

I've spent a lot of time around Republicans and especially those around El Paso. They claim to LOVE the Constitution. I don't mean love the document like I love menudo. They say the love the Constitution in a way that echoes of religious worship. Which is a fair comparison because they both seem to base their devotion to the Bible and the Consitution on the infallibility of the documents. Hell I've watched Republicans listen to Dr. Roth in an almost orgasmic religious fervor when he would speak about the Constitution. The Republican Party in town even bought in a Constitutional "expert" to talk about the document over the last couple of months. (I especially get a kick out of Republicans when they talk to us like we don't know what  the Constitution is and they act like they are more devoted to its principles.) So I find it almost impossible for the self-appointed guardians of the Constitution to reconcile Govenor Perry's recent Constitutiona...

There was an article in today's paper that really pissed me off. In my opinion, the Times has had a Republican bias since I moved here. And I don't mean just on the editorial page, I mean in reporting. If you work for the Times now, or have in the past and take issue with that statement, feel free to call me. I'll stand by that statement and provide you with examples. But their piece on State Rep Naomi Gonzalez was a special kind of bullshit. They did a rather extensive piece on votes that were allegedly cast by Gonzalez when she was in the Holy Land. I don't mind the critique one bit. In fact, I think the Times should do more of that kind of work. But I think its total bullshit when they go after Gonzalez and not the rest of the delegation. Most especially, Republican State Rep Dee Margo. I wrote about Margo allegedly doing the same thing. But I wrote about it DURING the session. I would also argue, it was on a much more important bill. The fact that the piece doesn...

Looks like a lot of the election excitement in this election will be down in the valley in the race for County Commissioner Precinct #3, currently held by Willie Gandara Jr. Vincent Perez, Communications Director for Congressman Reyes is likely to challenge Willie Gandara for County Commissioner Precinct #3, according to multiple sources who have had conversations with Perez. The guy knows the complexities of Washington politics and national issues, so county-level issues would be a breeze for him. Other sources in the Democratic Party indicate that Dora Oaxaca, a former staffer for Chente Quintanilla and current staffer for Willie Gandara, will be running Gandara's campaign for re-election. This puts Oaxaca under a lot of pressure to resign as Gandara's staffer because there were allegations that she was campaigning on County time during the last city election. Gandara probably won't want to deal with questions about that issue, so Oaxaca may have to step down to run the c...

Quick follow-up to my piece last night. I mentioned a couple of things were unconfirmed, and I'm glad I did because I was able to make contact with Robert Grijalva this morning who clarified a couple of things. #1 – He said he is NOT working with Ciro Rodriguez and is still with Quintanilla. He sounded like he had ever intention of staying with Chente Quintanilla's office as well. #2 – He confirmed he is NOT running against State Rep Marquez. #3 – He confirmed that Chente Quintanilla IS strongly considering a run for Commissioner's Court for Gandara's seat. Just wanted to add that info to the discussion...

Word around the courthouse is that former Judge Luis Aguilar is running for the 243rd Judicial Court. The 243rd is an open seat. Aguilar has experience on the bench and has won County-wide previously. He's a prominent attorney and has a pretty high profile. There is another candidate for that seat so far, Richard Contreras, who held a fundraiser earlier this week. I don't know much about Contreras, other than his ex-wife was on the Ysleta ISD Board of Trustees. I'll try to get more info about the candidates for you and pass it on as soon as I can.

He's not the politico I was alluding to over my last couple of posts, but there are some indications and more than a few whispers that State Rep Chente Quintanilla may run for County Commissioner in Precinct #3, currently represented by Willie Gandara, Jr. If true, this is yet another indicator that Gandara won't seek re-election. This puts one person in particular in the limelight. A former staffer for both Gandara and Quintanilla, Dora Oaxaca. First, lets talk about why this makes sense for Quintanilla. Quintanilla had yet another bad session in Austin. I looked at population numbers for his district and he's way over populated in his district. His district is going to be redrawn and its going to look a lot more Republican. He's a conservative Democrat, but still a Democrat. The only way he'd fight off a Republican challenger is if he switched parties and became a Republican. Which honestly wouldn't surprise me given some of the votes he's made. Secondly, ...

Interesting development I came across the other day. The Executive Committee Meetings of the Democratic Party have been including the Club Leadership of the various auxilleries of the El Paso Democratic Party. The Executive Committee is made up of the Precinct Chairs, the Chairman, and the SDEC's. There has been tremendous growth in auxilleries lately and it is curious that they were suddenly cut off from participation in the meetings. I will find out how and why this came about and let you know what impact, if any, there is with this abrupt and unexplained policy change.

The title of this piece is ironic considering the fact that support for the recall is pretty much support for homophobes. But proof positive that if you stick around long enough, you will find that at some point, everyone agrees on something. Though I can quite honestly say, I didn't think I'd see the day. Let me get to the point. As I have written recently, former State Representative Norma Chavez, who famously made a remark about her opponents sexuality during a forum in her last election, is supportive of the recall effort of the Representatives and Mayor who were supportive of the domestic partner benefits issue. One of her prominent, and long-time political rivals has been Blanche Darley, a fellow Democrat. Gay rights and equality if part of the NATIONAL PLATFORM of the DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Both are long-time fixtures of the Democratic Party. Turns out they are BOTH going against the national platform and are BOTH supportive of the recall effort. Its not really that much of a...

The reason that a lot of the bad stuff that happens with government in our area is at least partially because there is a perception that no one is watching. Its not wonder that some of the alleged scandals have involved such brazen acts. They allegedly operate with impunity. I have a theory. The smaller the form of government, the less scrutiny, and the more opportunity for funny business. Even if its not corruption, my theory is that the smaller the form of government, the more the leadership feels like they can get away with anything because the perception is that no one is watching. Thats the reason the idea small-town politics is a cliche. I'm concerned about Sunland Park, New Mexico. The Mayor admitted being drunk when signing an agreement. At least he was honest, but we shouldn't let the guy off the hook because he was honest about being drunk when signing a document. But what is really raising red flags for me is the recent firing of Mariana Chew. I know her. She's a...

The El Paso Young Democrats met for their monthly meeting tonight and there were some interesting people that showed up to the meeting.   We normally have a monthly guest speaker and we had Vince Perez, Congressman Reyes’ Press Secretary. Normally the guest speakers are someone related to the local Democratic Party and speak about their particular area of expertise.   Its been pretty uneventful, except for one time when we had a judge and former State Representative Norma Chavez, who is NOT a member of the El Paso Young Democrats and not affiliated with the organization in any way what so ever, spoke without being recognized. She was taking credit for creating the court that the guest speaker was a judge in, and went on some unrelated rant.   The guests that aren’t normally at the EPYD meetings were Victor Houston, Jerome Tighlman, and Raul Amaya. Victor Houston is an outspoken critic of the Congressman. Jerome Tighlman actually tried to run against Reyes and has bee...

The name of a pretty influential politico is swirling around lately as a possible candidate for El Paso County Commissioner's Court Precinct #3. The seat is currently held by County Commissioner Willie Gandara, Jr. Gandara has made no indications as to whether he will be seeking re-election. Which at this point, sounds a lot like he will not be seeking re-election. Sources indicate that the politico in question is still in the decision-making process but is strongly leaning towards announcing as a candidate for the position, possibly as early as the end of the month. Stay tuned, this could be a huge development.

Prominent Republican activist Jaime O. Perez announced on Friday that he was a candidate for Congress in next year’s general election.  Perez has been known as a pretty solid conservative for quite some time now but has worked for Democrats in the past. He’s most recently known for being the Chief of Staff for former County Judge Anthony Cobos and ran as the Republican nominee in 2010 for County Judge against current County Judge Veronica Escobar. Previously known for being a bit eccentric, Perez has done a good job of rehabbing that image and ran a very clean and issue-based race against Escobar. After getting to know Perez I can say that I’m pretty sure he knows he’s not always a viable candidate. But he runs in order to shape the debate of the races that he’s in. Unlike most Republicans in town, he can do that without being silly or extremist. That’s a big deal in the El Paso Republican Party. Frankly the Republican Party in El Paso has been a bit of a punch line, while at the s...

Okay, if you know me personally, you know that I sometimes need to work on my filter. I’m a pretty straightforward vato by nature, but when I need to be diplomatic I normally am. As my mother tells me, I have a knack for telling people to go to hell and have them look forward to the trip. Unless I’m pissed, at which point the barrio in me comes out and diplomacy goes out the window. I know, I know, I’m a work in progress. Well I’ve been a little amped up by the bullshit the GOP has been feeding the American people for the last couple of years. So in a meeting with the Congressman and a room full of important Democrats Friday morning, I didn’t pay attention to my internal filter. I was going on a rant about how hypocritical Republicans are about “smaller government” but they turn around and introduce bills like the sonogram bill that will shrink government down small enough to fit in a woman’s vagina. It was a little early in the morning to hear the word vagina apparently. Belen Robles,...

Couple of quick hits on EPISD School Board. First of all, they made the right decision in my opinion, in terms of their selection of the newest member of the school board. Second of all, a $1000 cell phone allowance? Seriously, who’s the freakin’ idiot that approved that? Let me make sure I got this right, the reason that this scandal allegedly happened was because no one was questioning big ass expenditures and so part of the remedy is to put the Superintendent on unpaid administrative leave, but in the process approve a big ass expenditure for his cell phone bill? Why don’t you guys start being good stewards of tax payer money and not approve a stupid big ass expenditures like a $1000 a month cell phone allowance and get him a Cricket phone. Hell, their MOST expensive plan is $55 a month and includes unlimited talk, text, and data. That would save the taxpayer $945 of the $1000 month you people were going to pay for a cell phone bill. What kind of suckers are you geniuses that you ar...

I read where City Council wants to change the free bridge to pay for more Customs’ Agents to decrease border wait times. Sounds like a wonderful idea. Until you realize how dangerous of an idea it really is. When it comes to enforcement of immigration policy, city council has consistently said it’s a federal issue and they are right. Feds should do their job, city should do theirs. But this move by city council sets a dangerous precedent. What happens when some other city gets a whiff of what El Paso is up to and they decide they should come up with a special little project to pay for something like, oh I don’t know…say MORE BORDER PATROL AGENTS? Let’s not forget, this is the state that produced Farmer’s Branch. Anything crazy can happen here. Fix the fuckin’ streets. Open more pools, libraries, and rec centers in the summer. Address homelessness in El Paso. Bring more jobs to this city. Improve tourism. Do ANYTHING related to problems in the city of El Paso and stop coming up with stu...

City Reps Holguin and Acosta were right to oppose city council buckling to Texas Gas’ rate increase. They wanted to take it to litigation. That is the responsible move in terms of their constituents. If they litigate, Texas Gas would’ve been at a disadvantage, despite the fact that their lawyer might say otherwise. EVERY lawyers tries to play hardball. Every lawyer threatens the other party to take a deal instead of risking worse in court. That’s what lawyers do. But as it was pointed out by Marty Schalden in the El Paso Times earlier this week, Texas Gas tried to pass on costs to taxpayers before that were found to be costs that shouldn’t be passed on. Ortega and Niland weren’t present to vote, and I am sure they have a good reason for not being there. But I think people should keep an eye on who is and who isn’t present for big votes on city council. In the case of Ortega, I should point out that I don’t think he was ditching school that day because he was afraid to take a hard vote....