Crazy Pills

Okay after the other day's Commissioner's Court meeting, the previous week's ABC7 Extra, last week's County Commissioner's meeting, last weeks City Council meeting, and now Tuesday's city council meeting, I am not pretty convinced that there is a strategy being orchestrated by the County Judge, and City Reps Susie Byrd and Steve Ortega to create negative headlines to actively assist their friend Beto O'Rourke.

Yesterday's front page of the Borderland section is just one example of what I am talking about. I'll bet a dozen tamales that it is used in an O'Rourke mailer.

It was a piece about the Huckabee case. I'll go ahead a say what a lot of people out there are saying. The Hucakbee case is important, but abuse by law enforcement in Mexico is hardly a rare occasion. It happens to people all the time. It happens to Americans regularly.

But Hucakbee is white. And we care more about white people in this country than we do about people of color. Its the reason you hear about Hucakbee, but you never hear about his Latino buddy what went through the same thing. In fact, I'm not even writing his name because I bet you will have to look it up because its the white guy that gets all the coverage.

Some of you are grinding your teeth or rolling your eyes right about now, so feel free to stop reading. But if you are still with me here, think about all the white people that go missing and their faces are splashed all over the media because its such a tragedy. Chandra Levy, Jon Benet Ramsey, Stacy Peterson, etc...

America loves its white people. Minorities go missing, and its no where near the story that it is when its white people.

Now we are talking about redistricting. As I've said, I think this is nothing more than a move by the County Judge to try to make it impossible for the 23rd District to go in to Northeast and West El Paso. The statute requires that the districts be contiguous, so the best chess move to block the departure of voters from the NE and WS is to stomp your feet and insist that Fort Bliss be in the 16th District in its entirety.

And using the word "governance" doesn't change that by the way. Escobar and the Commissioner's Court have not shown in the slightest way how El Paso or Fort Bliss would even be remotely impact by the fact that training areas are in another Congressional District.

For Susie Byrd, she doesn't want people in El Paso to be represented by someone in San Antonio.

Again, I think this is more about helping Beto than it is anything else, but that's their story and they're sticking to it.

But for Byrd, it think its important that people understand something. Its either people from the NE and Westside, where there is a concentration of El Paso's anglo population, or its Latinos from the Lower Valley.

Either way, people need to understand a simple fact, there are too many people in the district and they have to be carved out from somewhere.

Now, in today's edition of the El Paso Times, there is yet another headline that will likely be used in a mailer. When the mailer's come out, and I'm pretty sure they will, I'll post them and link back to this piece. It'll be one big, fat, "I told ya so".

Interestingly there was this quote from O'Rourke in the Times' piece:

"The power and perks and privileges of that office, I think, are being unfairly used in what is the first truly competitive race for this seat in 16 years," O'Rourke said.

That is EXACTLY the critique that has been going around town about Byrd, Escobar, and Ortega. The critique has been that they are using the privileges of their offices to generate negative headlines.

And the media is biting.

For example, this is a real headline from the El Paso Times, along with this other piece. (I should point out that one is an editorial piece and the other is a news piece.

City rep endures a 90-minute bridge wait; watch video

Ortega's ordeal: City rep shows long bridge waits

"ordeal"? "endures"?

Waiting in line is now an ordeal one has to endure? Are you freakin' kidding me?

Cancer...that is something you have to endure.

The Bataan Death March...that's an ordeal.

Waiting in line is not an ordeal. Its something people do all the time.

What's next?

CITY REP ORDERS PIZZA, FORCE TO WAIT 30+ MINUTES

CITY REP HAS LONG BOWEL MOVEMENT; LACK OF FIBER DUE TO CONGRESSMAN'S OFFICE

CITY REP WAITS IN LINE AT GROCERY STORE; HAS MORE THAN 20 ITEMS

Please tell me you people see what is going on here. I know I'm not crazy. This bias is really getting pronounced and its irritating.

One last note, the redistricting process started long before O'Rourke or Tilghman got in the race. In fact, well before they got in the race, so I'm not sure where they see the Congressman is doing something for his political advantage. They weren't in the race yet and the Congressman beat his last challenger by a healthy margin.

In fact that point about who voted for him and against him in the general election in the Northeast and Westside is completely irrelevant because they are running in a PRIMARY election!