El Paso Politics

Dear Candidates and Eastside Democrat Members, The Eastside Democrats will be having their endorsement meeting Monday April 2, 2012 starting at 5:30 PM. The event will be held at El Paso Community College ASC Board Room located at 9050 Viscount Blvd. El Paso, TX 79925. Candidates are expected to arrive and be present during their scheduled time (please see Endorsement Schedule below). The voting ballots will be made available at 5:30 PM and will close at 7:45 PM (No Exceptions). The endorsement event is open to the public however ballots will only be available for current ESD members (According to our bylaws for a member to be eligible to vote at the endorsement election they must have been a member for thirty (30) days prior to the election). ESD members will be required to sign for their ballot.   Endorsement Schedule 5:30 PM United States Representative Sylvestre Reyes Ben Mendoza Beto O’Rourke 5:45 PM 8 th  District Court of Appeals Marcos Lizarraga...

One thing to consider in this whole conversation about the action taken by the Texas Bar Association against Theresa Caballero and Stuart Leeds is the range of possible punishment in the event that Caballero and Leeds lose. But sanctions from the proceedings can be anything from a public reprimand to suspension, or even disbarment. Given that information, I think that would mean that if the law license was taken from Caballero, that she would not be eligible to be the judge of the Criminal District Court #1, which is the office she is currently pursuing. Now I'm not entirely sure if that is correct, but that it is my reading of it, though I'm not a lawyer. Any lawyer reading this is feel free to school me in the comment box below. Stay tuned.

Open House Invite

File this under Strange But True - You aren't going to believe this and you don't have to take my word for it, so just check the County website. I assume this is going to be changed, but the case of the Commission for Lawyer Discipline V. Theresa Caballero has landed in the 448th District Court. The case stems from action taken against prominent El Paso attorneys Theresa Caballero and Stuart Leeds during the high-profile case involving Judge Regina Arditti. They represented Arditti in the case and she was ultimately acquitted of the charges. The 448th District Court is presided over by Judge Regina Arditti. Again, I assume this case is going to be assigned to another court or another judge will preside over the case because it would be pretty hard to believe that the individual they were representing in the case that led to the action taken against Caballero would be allowed to preside over the case. The Cause Number is 2012DCV03254.

March 28 Invite

And email was sent out to the membership of the Tejano Democrats that said, "In lie of the March Meeting, please take not that the site has been moved, only for this special presentation..." The announcement goes on to say, "The Tejano Democrats Paso del Norte wil host and sponsor a presentation, along with the El Paso Democratic Party on March 27th, 2012 on organizing the Hispanic Vote for the General elections and beyond." Certainly a great idea and its easy to see why that is an important presentation. Two problems. #1 - There was never a vote for the El Paso Democratic Party to sponsor the event. I guess she just decided that was going to happen. Darley seems to ignore rules unless they are in her favor. but problem number 2 is more problematic for her. At the end of the announcement there is a blurb at the end that says, "This special presentation is only for the Tejano Democrat members and credentialed precinct chairs, NO EXCEPTIONS. Media must contact Bl...

Its called the Rules of the Texas Democratic Party. Turns out it is a great source of information and more than a few things need to be addressed. This should be interesting. If YOU would like your own copy, feel free to download it here ...

One of the parts of campaigning that makes people most uncomfortable is dirty campaigning. But people will often say something along the lines of, "Oh, I just hate negative campaigning." Well, there is a difference and I want to help underscore the difference because it is often the topic of discussion and was even mentioned in a recent debate. First, lets talk about the differences between the two. NEGATIVE is highlighting something bad about your opponents track record, candidacy, policy position, business or professional association or time in office. DIRTY is fabricating something, bringing up something about a relative, or something salacious that isn't related to the campaign. Its almost always something that isn't issue-oriented. I raise this point because this campaign has been pretty sharp between candidates. Normally its just the main headline race that has the sharp barbs at one another. But since there are so many hotly contested races in this campaign sea...

I read the piece in the El Paso Times yesterday about the County Commissioner races and was excited to see the fact that they sent out a questionnaire asking for stances on issues. Especially because I'm expecting to see one big flip-flop. Hopefully I'll be wrong. But four years ago when candidate for El Paso County Commissioner Precinct 1 Carlos Leon was running for Sheriff, he had a steady campaign message. Family values. Its actually conspicuously absent from this go-around of campaigning. But then again, he's not running against a candidate who's sexuality he can call in to question. Four years ago, it was a different story. Anyone in the gay community can tell you that the line about family values was code for saying the opponent is gay. Somehow implying that straight people have family values and gay people don't. But its the dog whistle stuff that gives someone room to say that they are not saying what we all know they really are saying. In fact, when have yo...

The challenge of any judicial race is how do you get people to pay attention and care about your race. Well, either you get people to understand how important that court is to your every day life (good luck with that). Or you get people to buy into you as a candidate. As a rule, people who run for the bench are pretty dry, boring types. Not always, but generally speaking. But give credit where credit is due. Tom Stanton's campaign found a way to get people to buy in to him as a candidate and in a very meaningful way. This is bar none, the best web video I've ever seen. Huge names in the video are just a start. And when I saw big names, I mean it. Alicia Chacon. Ouisa Davis. Mary Haskins. (Yes, THAT Mary Haskins, who is a beautiful woman by the way.) Allow me a moment to get a little geeky here. I love the the cinematography of the video. The score is awesome and that is one sign that it was done by some real pros because amateurs over-look the importance of a good score. The vi...

Before this stuff about Reyes and his family members receiving campaign money broke out, there was some tangential conversation about it on last weeks debate tour. I didn't like it then and I spoke with a friend about how I thought it was going to ultimately be a very negative thing for O'Rourke. Trust me, I'm right about this one. Let me explain. During Monday's debate, Luis Torres introduced a new critique of O'Rourke I hadn't heard before. They talked about O'Rourke voting against housing for the disabled and voting against x number of jobs. The jobs thing had something to do with Boeing. O'Rourke never responded to the charge during Monday's debate. By Wednesday's debate, O'Rourke had an answer ready for the charge. In his answer, he went after Reyes and said that he was defending Boeing because they donated large sums of money to Reyes through PACS were awarded a contract and hired all three of his children. Later in the week the story c...

Beto O'Rourke, Congressman Reyes' Stand-in Luis Torres, and Jerome Tilghman traded blows in a debate that at times became very spirited. I know a lot of you take issue with the fact that Reyes hasn't been at several of the forums lately. Frankly he's in a no-win situation. If he doesn't show up, they say he's ducking the debates. If she does show up, they say that he's campaigning instead of doing his job. Bottom line here is that it was a very interesting debate. Well, the parts with the three of them were. The other people in the debate were more of an after thought. I would be really interested to see what a debate between the two Republicans looks like. There was a point were Carrasco made some sort of remark about Iran having a navy and making it a point that her opponent, Corey Roen had said otherwise. No one really understood what that was about. I asked a question about the 14th Amendment and Carrasco clearly had problems understanding it. Roen did a...

I try to be as observant as I can when I am around candidates. I notice things like their shoes, weight gain/loss, sunburn, etc. I'm always looking for indicators from candidates and their staffers. I especially like to hear candidates talk to voters. In fact, if they are talking to me and a voter comes up and wants to talk to them I excuse myself so that they can do their job...earn votes. So I listen to a lot of candidates talk to would-be voters and listen to their pitch. I over-heard Ray Gutierrez, who is running against Judge Regina Arditti while he was speaking to a group of seniors the other day. He spent most of his time listening, but eventually the senior started talking about how things were getting tight in the pocket-book and she was having to skip doses of medication in order to make them stretch. Gutierrez politely listened to the senior until she finished. She eventually got around to asking him about what he was running for and why. Gutierrez started giving his pit...

For the third time this week, I was pleasantly surprised at the performance of a candidate in a debate. This time the surprise performance came from Aaron Barraza, candidate for HD 77 who is taking on the incumbent State Representative Marisa Marquez. I know you people think I have my favorites, but I call it like I see it and I was very, very, very surprised and impressed by the performance of Aaron Barraza in the debate. I'm told "he has a lot of teachers working with him right now" by a source close to the camp. They should pat themselves on the bat because they took a kid who was completely unprepared for public office and knew absolutely nothing about substantive issues relating to the seat when I first met him a few months ago and turned him in to a candidate. Extremely impressive turn-around. Barraza should take a bow as well. He obviously internalized a lot of information. And its not easy sitting up there trying to remember all the information, trying to think on...

There is a reason the saying "Hell hath no wrath like a woman scorned" has stuck around for so long. Because its true. Women are rising up against Governor Rick Perry's statements and policy stances and have decided they were going to unleash their fury on his Facebook page. And boy did they! Lot of questions about menstruation... This is a perfect example of the extremism of the right and what it often leads to, the War on Women. Here's the article that shows the Facebook posts on his wall. Ouch.

Normally when I attend a meeting of elected officials during public comment I beg and plead with them to do the right thing. Then they don't, and then I talk smack about them the next day. So it was kind of weird for me yesterday when I didn't have to do any of that. The El Paso Community College Board of Trustees voted to add a provision for transgender in their non-discrimination policy. The room was filled with people wearing white shirts with a big equal sign on them. I was proud of the fact that they made that adjustment to the non-discrimination policy and it goes to show you that there is much more acceptance of modern social justice issues like gay equality in El Paso than the Bishop Brown's of El Paso would lead you to believe. Bravo EPCC Board of Trustees.

If Mary Gonzalez has an Achilles heel its consistency. Up and down performances from one day to the next and that was clearly at play during Monday's debate with Hector Enriquez. Let me be clear about my next sentence because it will surprise some of you. I thought Hector Enriquez gave an impressive performance. Maybe I've been setting the bar pretty low for a few candidates, but I don't think that is the case. I think these candidates are genuinely stepping up their game. Gonzalez has been everywhere and almost every event under the sun. She's been pushing for debates for a long time, like the smart kid in class who just can't wait to turn in their paper. Enriquez has kept a pretty low profile until recently and after my first interview with him, I realized he didn't know anything. He was absolutely not ready for office. That was in September. Then he showed up to another forum in February and frankly, he still wasn't ready. He was better because he had a s...

This is footage of the debate on Monday between the Congressional candidates at the Valle Verde campus. It includes two of the Republican candidates as well as a new face you probably haven't seen, Paul Johnson. Mr. Johnson is running as a Democrat. He has voted Republican for most of his recent past and is from The Valley. He previously ran as a Republican against Chente Quintanilla for his state rep seat. I spoke with him yesterday after the Congressional debate at the Transmountain Campus and since I've interviewed all the other Democrats on the ballot I am going to interview him soon. Absent from this debate were Jerome Tilghman and Ben Mendoza. Highlights of the debate: Luis Torres (Congressman Reyes' surrogate) unveiled a new opening and a new line of attack on O'Rourke having to do with voting against bringing some jobs to El Paso. Turns out that had something to do with Boeing. Torres isn't the candidate, but as a wonk, I rather enjoy the debates between O...

Before we go any further I just wanted to say something. I have been to probably more political forums than anyone else in town over the last 5 years or so. I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I've seen a bunch of moderators and have been a panelist and moderator. Its not an easy job. So please take what I am about to say seriously because I know what I'm talking about here. In my opinion, Lynn Davis, who is a professor of Political Science at El Paso Community College, has done the worst job of any moderator I've seen at a local forum. I'll dedicate an entire post with video footage of specific examples of what I am talking about later. I think it deserves an entire post of its own. Now, back to this debate. Listen to the candidates and its pretty clear that Perez comes across as the most effective communicator of all the candidates in the race. But I was honestly pretty impressed with Chente Quintanilla's response to Perez's critiques. He's toug...

In a 180 degree turn around, El Paso County Commissioner Precinct #3 candidate Dora Oaxaca stated that her former boss, Willie Gandara, Jr. was "an absent Commissioner" and "an absent boss". Thats a complete turn-around from the position she took in a televised news interview with KVIA earlier this year when questions were first raised by fellow candidate Vince Perez about Commissioner Gandara's attendance record. Both Gandara and Oaxaca were interviewed for the piece and if memory serves I think they both talked about how the needs of the community and constituents were a priority. I think both were actually interviewed in the field for that interview. Don't get me wrong, it makes sense that Oaxaca is now trying to distance herself from Gandara, but I don't think any expected such a drastic turn. Although, she doesn't really have a choice at this point. After the arrest for allegedly trafficking drugs Oaxaca doesn't really have any other option ...

State Representative Marisa Marquez spoke to the El Paso Young Democrats last night. Bottom line is, everyone behaved themselves. The El Paso Young Democrats have never mistreated a guest to the meetings and asked tough but relevant questions of Representative Marquez while maintaining decorum. To her credit, Representative Marquez attended a meeting that she knew was going to have a lot of her most vocal critics but still attended and took questions. Her opponent, Aaron Barraza would not take questions when it was his turn to be a guest speaker. One observation is that the El Paso Young Democrats did something that I haven't seen happen in local Democratic organizations in the past. They invited someone they don't see eye-to-eye with to be a guest speaker and the person was treated with respect. That wouldn't happen in other clubs. The invitation would simply never be given. The El Paso Young Democrats set the example last night. That being said, Marquez had to earn her pa...

State Representative Marisa Marquez is being recognized by the International Association of Fire Fighters (AFL-CIO) with the Legislator of the Year Award. The ceremony will take place later this morning at the Fire Fighters' Memorial Park located in Overland and Chihuahua. A press release from the union says the award is given at the end of "each legislative session to legislators that go above and beyond to champion the needs of firefighters across the state" . The press release goes on to state the following: "Representative Márquez is unique among legislators in that she immediately understood the needs of fire fighters across Texas, and more importantly she took definitive action to make sure that legislation affecting our health and safety receives priority consideration,” said Guy Turner, President, TSAFF.  “It is indeed an honor and privilege to be associated with Representative Márquez and we look forward to continue working with her on issues important to f...

What the hell is wrong with you people? Stripper videos, cover-ups, PIO masterminds, and the Chief of Police relieved of duty. Now bribery? I resent you people taking away El Paso's crown for crazy, stupid, corrupt elected officials and masses of voters who obviously don't pay attention to the news. I resent even more that you people have done all of that in a matter of weeks while it has taken El Pasoans years to cultivate and refine that level of stupidity. Who do you people think you are? Oh well, at least we still have our ace in the whole...the majority on Vinton Village Council...

If there was ever a meeting of the El Paso Young Democrats that you wanted to attend, tonight is the night. State Representative Marisa Marquez will be the guest speaker. Her opponent told me he would be in attendance tonight and apparently he is asking people to attend to lend him some moral support. Which is weird because when he was guest speaker he refused to answer questions from the audience. I think it is really going to be interesting if Marquez attends the meeting which she knows isn't going be the most welcoming crowd, and is willing to take questions, which she probably knows will be sharp, while her opponent didn't. I'm expecting Barraza to show up with a lot of his supporters and to have a bunch of his signs there, also something never done at a YD meeting before. (Not that people haven't had signs, but that no opposing candidate has attended a meeting and posted signs when their opponent was the guest speaker.) Fight, oops I mean meeting, starts at 6pm at ...

I've often said this group of lawyers are such bad communicators that they should come with a warning label because they are so boring that you shouldn't operate heavy machinery after listening to them. They did MUCH better this time. They didn't bore me and I found that at least two of them, Don Williams and Laura Strathmann had strong performances. Williams keeps using this military court line that hasn't and isn't going to work for him, but he apparently is very fond of it. Mr. Mullen never ceases to surprise me. I was pretty surprised when he mentioned that he was a big fan of Metallica. I was more surprised when he mentioned that it was good to be back in his "hood". Hilarious and unexpected.

Judge Regina Arditti has been poised and in control so far in this campaign season. That is an accomplishment in and of itself considering the storm of controversy that has surrounded her first term as judge. But her opponents really haven't picked a fight with her or engaged her in any meaningful way on the campaign trail. In fact, most people wonder where the hell her opponents are. So far, I hear they are trying to court the attorneys which is a mistake. Attorneys don't win elections, but that's another post. Anyway, this is the first time I saw a candidate even flirt with taking Arditti on. And it didn't go very well. She showed she could be rattled and she clearly looked defensive. What's interesting about that is the fact that her opponent, Ray Gutierrez, sorta fumbled the attack on Arditti. Maybe he was just probing to see how she would react, but things got heated. As you can see at the end of the video Gutierrez went to shake her hand and she didn't sha...

State Rep Marisa Marquez will be the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the El Paso Young Democrats.

60 days to early voting. Are you doing what you need to be doing to win? Clock is ticking, better get to it. Going to fundraisers and other candidates' events isn't what is going to win you the race, so I sure hope some of you are doing more than just that, though a big portion of you candidates aren't. Which reminds me, for those of you that are doing what you are supposed to do to win, use some common sense. I got a very disturbing report from a voter who had someone knock on their door ever the weekend. It was a campaign volunteer who was a female and under 14 years old. Apparently by herself. I'm not gonna bust out the campaign for doing that, but that is very dangerous and should never happen again. Use common sense people, safety first!

I spend a lot of time being critical of Republicans on my blog. But today is a little different. Today I want to acknowledge the passing of an El Paso political icon, the matriarch of the Haggerty family, Eleanor Haggerty. The Haggerty's have been involved in El Paso politics for many years and from the story I read the other day in the El Paso Times, they clearly were influenced by their mother. There are more Haggerty's in El Paso politics than there are Gandara's. In fact, they have served in almost every level of local government. A few of them are now Democrats, but they are most known for being the face of the El Paso Republican Party for many years. I never had the chance to meet "Ma Haggerty", but I wish I had. One look at this vintage campaign commercial featuring the El Paso icon shows the trademark Haggerty streak of toughness that she passed on to all of her sons. If you've never been to a Democratic Party event, you would be surprised to know that...

Footage of Lisa Aceves-Hayes and Judge Herrera debating at last week's forum. I stepped away from the camera to film a conversation between two other candidates that looked like it was getting heated and so the camera is on the wrong candidate a couple of times. My bad.

Candidates, as I have said before, send me your announcements and I will post them. Here's one from Liza Montelongo's campaign:

Here is video of Mike Cervantes, County Commissioner Anna Perez, and Dolores Reyes debating at Burges High School last weekend.

Its game time Republicans!

Aaron Barraza, who was not present to seek the endorsement of the Westide Democrats earlier in the campaign has recently sent a letter to membership regarding his absence and raising criticism of his opponent. I think that might be a first in El Paso where one candidate loses the endorsement and then sends a letter seeking to "foster a relationship" with the membership. Barraza missed the endorsement meeting but his campaign manager Mathew Lowery asked to speak in his stead. If memory serves Lowery didn't show up until after the HD 77 portion was already completed. So Lowery waited until after meeting was over and then just shouted from the back of the room about his candidate. Several of the people in attendance thought for a moment that he was an Occupy El Paso person doing a mic check. Barraza's letter goes on to make a sharp and well-founded critique against Marquez about her contributions from the Texas for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) and breaking from the party to vote...

I've been replaying the stupidity of the events the other night at the El Paso Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting and I realized one of he major problems that contributed to the circus. Obviously selective rule enforcement is one. But the other thing is something that can be fixed. We need a Parliamentarian a a Sergeant-at-Arms. Obviously we have constables that fill the role, but we need people officially tasked to fill those rolls. My understanding is that Ray Mancera was appointed to advise the Chair on rules at the last meeting, but all the procedural questions were answered by Sebastian Martinez, not by Mancera. Mancera didn't speak at all during the meeting. But in fairness to him, it was a job he had for the night and it was a charged meeting. The point is, if we had a Parliamentarian and a Sergeant-of-Arms then meetings would run much more smoothly.

This is video of the debate between Richard Contreras and Judge Hicks at the Burges High School / City Rep Acosta Debate. What is noteworthy about this debate performance is the noticeable difference in the presentation of Richard Contreras. He was pretty negative earlier in the campaign and it wasn't well received. He was a much more positive candidate in this debate, which might be because his opponent in the primary wasn't in attendance. Judge Hicks seemed a little uncomfortable and uptight at first but he seemed to eventually hit his stride and ended with a very strong closing statement. Judge Hicks seems like a nice guy, but I'd be lying to you if I said I think he'll win. He won't. He's going to lose.  The Republicans hit the high water mark with Judge Antcliff when he lost to Judge Lizarraga 2 years ago. He came within striking distance of Lizarraga, but there's a reason that happened. Antcliff has been running every two years for at least 6 years now...

El Paso County Commissioner Sergio Lewis was awarded a contract by the City of El Paso that is worth a pretty nice chunk of change. I'm a little torn by this. First, he was on the EPISD school board when a lot of the corruption stuff went down. So he should be extra-vigilant for that reason alone. Plus, after all the crap that is going on at the County that has affected the public's trust in government, it makes it an imprudent choice. But on the other hand, if it was an open and competitive process and he won fairly, then what is the issue. Actually, Paul Strelzin said it best on his forum today, "he is on commissioner's court...the contract is with the city...be bid on it and was the lowest bidder...where is the problem? it was all out in the open." Apparently it was no big deal with Willie Gandara Jr, who was the deciding vote on the Farah Project was able to profit from the project as a subcontractor. If people don't have a problem with that, then I don...

Came across an interesting tidbit today. Turns out Mary Gonzalez, candidate in HD 75 and Liza Montelongo, candidate in County Commissioner's Court Precinct #1 are actually distant relatives. Gonzalez is some relation to Montelongo's niece or nephew. That might make things a little awkward at the next big family reunion. Turns out Gonzalez' campaign team is headed by Getsemani Yanez and his wife Diana Ramirez. As I previously wrote the two were briefly on opposing teams in the Congressional race, Yanez with the Congressman and his wife with O'Rourke. Well, they are both working together not only with Gonzalez, but they are also working the campaign for Carlos Leon, who is Montelongo's opponent in the race for El Paso County Commissioner in Precinct 1. Quijote (Yanez and Ramirez) had better become master jugglers because they are playing key roles in three competitive races in El Paso. They are certainly making a name for themselves in town. For a long time it was bas...

City Representative Dr. Michiel  Noe  will be hosting a community meeting Saturday, March 17, at 9:30 a.m. at the Gary Del Palacio Recreation Center, 3001 Parkwood. Congressman Silvestre Reyes, Dist. 16, will be the guest speaker.  

Here is footage of the debate between the candidates for Constable at the Burges High School/Emma Acosta debate. These aren't races that usually get a lot of attention but they are still important. Constable Bernal is in this video and he, along with Constable White, are very popular Constables within the Party. They are also the two longest-serving constables. Constable Bernal had a campaign kick-off event a while back he had more people attend his event than a County Commissioner candidate had at his event.

Yet again the El Paso Democratic Party is embarrased by the conduct of the president of the Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats, Blanche Darley. During last nights' meeting of the Executive Committee of the El Paso Democratic Party Darley used profanity when speaking about other Democratic Party clubs (other than the Tejanos). And frankly, I don't understand how the people who wear the black robes, esteemed judges and members of the court, along with elected officials, can continue to associate themselves with an organization that has Blanche Darley as its head. You people are referred to by the title "Honorable". But I ask you publicly, where is the honor in condoning the behavior of Blanche Darley? At last night's meeting things got out of hand again. And once again, the source for the circus atmosphere was Blanche Darley. She basically throws the rules out and does what she wants. But she is only able to do so insofar as her conduct is tolerate by leadership. Peopl...

Judging by this first email sent out from the Moody campaign, it looks like Margo is gonna have a lot of 'splainin' to do about his record and the last session. I looks like Moody is going to make this election a referendum on Margo's votes in the last session. Its going to be a long road to November for Margo... We Know What You Did Last Session

I didn't realize until last night that I had not posted footage of the Congressional debate sponsored by the El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats and the Eastside Democrats.

Two the candidates for El Paso County Commissioner in Precinct 1 answered a question related to a position Carlos Leon took during the debate hosted by the El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats/Eastside Democrats last week. If you watch the previous video of the debate you will see the position taken by Leon relating to the question posed to the candidates during the Saturday debate at Burges High School. Montelongo clearly draws a contrast between her campaign and Leon's on the issue. Interestingly the Republican chose not to answer the question. Keep an eye on this one because I think its going to be a big point of contention throughout the rest of the race.

I'll make this quick. As I've said, my dad was a union organizer, so labor issues are of particular interest to me. Here's what really pisses me off about El Paso candidates. They say that they are pro-labor, but very few of them pass even a basic litmus test. Take a look at all the campaign literature that you can get your hands on from local El Paso candidates. How many of them actually have a union label? Very few, if any. In fact, the ONLY one that I have come across is from Mary Gonzalez's campaign. As you know, she's running in HD 75. I found a piece of literature and looked for it and was shocked to actually find it. Its close to Cesar Chavez Day and since its an election year I'm betting more than a few candidates suddenly become pro-union and will show up for an obligatory photo-op here and there. If they do, as to see their literature. Look for the union label. If its not there, ask them why not? The answer is something stupid like, its cheaper with ou...

This is part of the reason why no one takes Republican candidates very seriously in El Paso. This is campaign literature handed out at the debate at Burges High School over the weekend that was handed out by Republican candidate for El Paso County Commissioner's Court Precinct #1 candidate William "Bill" Lenderman III. As you can see, he states that he is a candidate for the position. A couple of things struck me about Mr. Lenderman and his literature. First - he ironically bears a resemblance to Green Party Presidential Candidate and ultra liberal, Ralph Nader. Gotta love the irony there because they couldn't be more different in terms of policy if they tried. Second, in terms of his literature it doesn't look like he's trying very hard or that he put a lot of effort in to what he was creating. Looks like this is a word document that was printed out on yellow paper. He says he's running for El Paso County Commissioner District One. For some reason people ...