Dissecting Gandara's Response to Perez

I tried to sit down and write this piece all day today but stuff just kept coming up. You know, it happens. (That will make sense in a minute). During his campaign announcement for County Commissioner Precinct 3, Vince Perez made a strong critique of the incumbent, Willie Gandara Jr., primarily regarding his attendance record.

Gandara characterized it as negative attacks and said, "Let's fight on the issues".

Perez criticized Gandara's attendance record. If Gandara doesn't see his lack of attendance to meetings he was elected to attend on behalf of the precinct is an issue, then that IS an issue all by itself!

And I thought his choice of words was interesting. "Fight" as opposed to debate, discuss, or even argue. Maybe I only noticed his choice of words because I have seen just how down and dirty it can actually get in a valley campaign.

In the a story on ABC 7, part of Gandara's response to Perez's critique of attendance issues was, "If I missed a meeting, it happens."

No, shit happens.

Missing over 200 votes, including a vote that raised taxes from UMC by 20% and having your voting rights revoked for lack of attendance is more than something that happens. In my opinion it represents a track record.

Gandara represents the poorest part of El Paso County and he doesn't show up to vote up or down on an issue that ends up costing tax payers 20% more? That kind of tax increase affects the poor much more than the wealthy. More on that later.

On the MPO thing, he missed the first four months' worth of meetings. If you had a kid in high school that missed that much school, you would be standing in front of a Justice of the Peace explaining why you were a bad parent and didn't get your teenager's butt to class.

And speaking of losing voting privileges on the MPO, Precinct 3 is the fastest growing part of El Paso County and has a variety of needs that come before the MPO. The valley was deprived of a say at a critical juncture of development on the far east side and lower valley.

Gandara defended his attendance record to the El Paso Times saying that "I've worked my tail off..I work 24 hours a day, seven days a week at being a county commissioner."


To his credit, Gandara's business is very successful. Anyone who owns a business knows that it requires a huge amount of time and attention, as does the office of County Commissioner. Its difficult to understand how he works that many hours and days being a county commissioner and still has such a high number of missed meetings. 

Where things get really confusing for Gandara is when he was asked about his land holdings. The Tornillo Port of Entry, which is what Gandara touts as his major achievement during his term is actually more than just one project. Its not only the bridge, but arguably the most lucrative part of the project is the road leading from the bridge to the I-10. All of that land is potentially a lucrative investment. The property out there went from being "out in the boonies" to a high-traffic area along a major transportation corridor over night.

Gandara actually best explains the economic impact in this interview back when the deed to the property was signed by the County.



As I previously wrote, Gandara was quoted in the El Paso Times as saying, "My family has owned land in that part of the county for a long time, and I bought two or three small lots here and there, mostly in tax sales," Gandara said.

"This project will bring a dramatic, nearly an overnight, change to the valley," Gandara said. "It will improve the economic environment for my constituents. And it will be good for the entire county region."

Yet Darren Hunt from ABC 7 reports that "ABC-7 asked Gandara about buying land near the new port of entry and he answered with a stern "no," even though he admitted to doing so three months ago in an El Paso Times article.

After returning a call to ABC-7, Gandara said none of those properties he owns are near the new port of entry.

Remember when I was talking about how that increase of taxes from UMC was 20% and how it affects poor people more than the wealthy? Well, I thought Gandara's comment about Perez' command of Spanish was particularly ironic. Gandara told the El Paso Times, "...how are you going to communicate with them if you don't speak Spanish?"

I think the more important question is about understanding them. And how can you communicate or understand people that pretty much live in an entirely different world than you do.

Gandara is wealthy. Correction..very, very wealthy. People in the courthouse say he comes to work in different vehicles all the time like a Hummer,  luxury cars, and even a European-looking sports car. Those sound like cars that are worth more than some of the homes in the precinct.

So how does someone from wealth and privilege, and arguably one of the richest politicians in El Paso communicate and understand the people of his district who come from poverty or who are just working people like the rest of us, struggling every day just to get by?

People in the lower valley use public transit more than any other part of town. But county employees working in the courthouse say that Gandara has someone who actually drives him around.

Please tell me how Gandara's critique of Perez's ability to communicate with the average person in the lower valley makes any sense or should be taken seriously.

Talking about an incumbent's record isn't going negative. Going negative is stuff like calling newsrooms around town spreading rumors about the opposition or going after an opponents family.

Perez is talking about issues.

Gandara has to understand that.

Perez attacked Gandara's record.

If that's characterized as "negative" then perhaps its a reflection of the record Perez is critiquing.