El Paso Politics

Its been a while since I've done a separated at birth piece so here's the latest installment. Relax people, they are not meant to hurt feelings. They are just meant for a little comic relief, so don't get your thong twisted. First, lets start with a celebrity...sorta... This is Boo. He is "the world's cutest dog". He's a Pomeranian. Its a real dog, despite the fact that it looks like a stuffed animal. The dog on the right is Pink. She belongs to Claudia Ordaz, who has been a communications pro for Congressman Reyes and Senator Shapleigh. I'm told this dog acts like a stuffed animal. Claudia wants them to have puppies. (I know what you're thinking...my blog has officially jumped the shark because I'm blogging about puppies. But if you knew how much money Boo makes you'd be blown away.) The next separated at birth is local. Ironically they are on different sides of the same race, but they are both my buddies. This is Jose Landeros, who is Vin...

The bad part about what I do is that I often see the behind-the-scenes view of candidates and politicos in town and I'm often disappointed. I'm not sure why, maybe because I still have an innocent part of me that wants to believe in people. Which sucks because it means time after time I am let down. Lot of that going around for the last couple of months. But such is life. However I have always made it a point to highlight the times when I bust a candidate or a politico red-handed being a good person. Its the stuff that will never make it in to the news, but I still find it noteworthy. Yesterday I busted a politico red-handed being a good guy. His name is Alejandro Sanchez and he ran for Constable of Precinct 6, down in the valley. I was in Socorro yesterday afternoon and stopped at the convenience store on Horizon and North Loop. It was hotter than Hades yesterday. There was a man standing outside who clearly had some mental issues. I'm not sure if he was homeless but he wa...

Ex-County Commissioner Willie Gandara's upcoming guilty plea is really going to emphasize the importance of the decision voters are going to make on July 31st as to who is going to be the next Commissioner of Precinct #3. If there is a winner in this particularly sad situation its Vince Perez. He was the first to call-out then Commissioner Gandara. He was the first to issue a call to the end of Gandara politics. He issued stinging critiques of not only Gandara, but Dora Oaxaca's ties to Gandara after he dropped out of the race and raised the issue of cash being handed-out a pachanga being thrown by his run-off opponent Chente Quintanilla. Here is the article in the El Paso Times that gives you background on the story.  Now that the election for Precinct 3 is down to Vince Perez and Chente Quintanilla, voters will make a critical decision about the direction of their leadership. In the state rep race that shares part of the electorate as Precinct 3, voters went with a younger m...

Apparently there was some error, either with a bank or with the County, that led to the pay problem. Apparently the problem will be resolved some time today. I'll continue to provide updates as they become available.

Multiple sources at the County indicate that they did not receive their pay today as scheduled. It appears that  the pay situation is affecting employees in multiple departments including support personnel, deputies, and courthouse personnel. But it appears UMC employees did get paid. Sources in the Courthouse said the contacted HR and were told that an email was going to be sent out to employees from the Auditors to explain why. I'm still collecting details. More to follow...

In an unprecedented move, the staff of The LionStar Blog have made the decision to give an additional series of awards this week. And by staff, I mean me. So...here we go. Homeboy of the Week #2 - Chief Justice John Roberts. Douche Bag of the Week #2 - Republicans that are sore losers. When the SCOTUS upheld the Paper's Please portion of Arizona's SB1070, you people called it a victory for the Constitution and America. Now you are whining. Why do you hate America, the Constitution, baseball, and Mom's Apple pie? Where is your sense of patriotism? Deal with the fact that one of the most conservative members of the Court ruled that the main criticism you folks had against the President was Constitutional. The Court is decidedly Conservative and it sided with the Administration. I can't think of a better way to end this post that quoting the Vice President, "This is a big f%&king deal". See you vatos in November...

Jacklyn Ann Fierro, daughter of El Paso Community College Board President Art Fierro, passed away recently in Phoenix, Arizona. There will be a Memorial Mass in her honor today at 6:00pm. The Mass will be celebrated at St. Stephens Catholic Church located at 1700 George Dieter in El Paso. On a personal note - Art is a friend of mine. One of the few good friends I have. I cannot begin to understand the pain of this loss but knowing Art, expect to see him laughing and joking again. He's known for always smiling and joking. I'm sure its going to take awhile for him to do that again, but he's a resilient guy...even if he's known for hitting a few balls in to yards surrounding Vista Hills Golf Course. On behalf of the Abeytia family, I would like to extend our condolences on their loss. Politics aside, the loss of a child is a difficult thing. God bless the Fierro family.

Homeboy of the Week Award - President Barack Obama gets the Homeboy of the Week Award. First time I've given it to POTUS that I can remember. He's not deporting Dreamers and it's pissing off the Republicans. Two birds with one stone. Nice! Douche Bag of the Week Award - Grady Yarborough. This song is dedicated to you Grady.

Dear Grady, Can I call you Grady? Because it feels weird referring to you by your last name even though that's the only reason you are in the run-off. I guess everyone confused you with the great progressive liberal Democrat Ralph Yarborough who served as Texas' US Senator before Lloyd Bentsen. "Smiling' Ralph" was a real Democrat. You used to be a Republican. Judging by your comment about border security, sounds like you still are. Why don't you go back to the Republican Party. Sounds like you'd be more comfortable over there with the rest of the crazy anti-immigrant nuts that think they are going to get support from the Latino community. I hope you get beat by two touchdowns in the run-off. I hope you are returned back to the heap of political obscurity to which you belong. In conclusion, I'm sure its lonely being an anti-immigrant extremist in the Democratic Party. Go hang out with your old pals in the GOP, you have much more in common with those pe...

This is an interview I conducted with EPISD Trustee Borrego when he was a candidate. I interviewed several but Borrego and Dodge were the only two that one and I posted Dodge's interview yesterday.

Okay, time to rip the band-aid off here. The Diablos suck. They have for pretty much the entire time I've lived in El Paso. They are a failed product in my opinion. The only time there were any good in the last 15 years or so was when, you guessed it, they were affiliated with a pro baseball team. So it's a bit of a surprise to hear people all of a sudden start to care about the Diablos. I think the Tiguas were screwed in this whole deal though. The Tiguas stepped up to keep El Paso's team going and for that we should be happy. And now, to add insult to injury, we are going to screw them over even more with a no-compete clause? Frankly, there is no reason for it and its just plain mean-spirited. I know, I know, Paul Foster is the big dog in this town and we aren't supposed to criticize Bruce Wayne. But let me point out something here. When Paul Foster's other business venture, the mall that is directly across the street from another mall, was up for tax breaks, the ...

I was "digging through the crates" over the weekend on my YouTube channel and came across this interview I did with David Dodge when he was running for school board last time around. Just thought I'd share it with you guys.

After post-election performance analysis, the Vince Perez campaign is now focusing their grass roots efforts in the valley. Particularly in the areas in which his run-off opponent Chente Quintanilla did well such as Tornillo and Fabens. This new valley offensive is an indication of just how critical certain precincts are to selecting the next county commissioner for Precinct 3. In Tornillo for example, Quintanilla pulled 70% of the vote. I've heard from people inside Perez's campaign that the success of the campaign will depend on their ability to significantly chip in to Quintanilla's performance in Fabens and Tornillo. Clearly the valley is going to be the deciding factor in this race. 

Before you read my note in this week's newsletter, I respectfully ask that you read this very informative report on the direct link between El Paso's economy and education. It talks about how high school dropouts directly effect our local economy.   Education and El Paso's Economy      Dear Friends and Neighbors,           First of all, I want to clarify my efforts & comments at this past week's council meeting about the broken EPISD school district. I am a product of public education and come from a long line of educators: my grandfather was a school principal, my grandmother a school nurse, my mother a teacher and my sister an educational psychologist. My comments during City Council this last week were directed at the Superintendent Dr. Garcia and EPISD School Board trustees for their lack of accountability & responsibility . I do not want to discredit the hard work of the teachers, parents, coaches, & students who are com...

Don Williams not only survived a re-election bid for SDEC at the Texas Democratic Convention but there were a series of other things he accomplished that hadn't been done before. In addition to being re-elected he was also elected as a 2012 National Delegate, and a National Elector from Texas to the Presidential Electoral College. Most importantly though, Williams was elected to the Permanent Rules Committee of the Texas Democratic Party, which is extremely influential within the Party. To my knowledge, that is the most titles any Democrat from El Paso has ever achieved at a convention. It makes it even more significant when you consider Don Williams is African-American in a community that is largely Latino, and even more so within the Democratic Party.

(With apologies to David K. His open letters are funny. I'm not going for funny here.) Dear Jerome: Homie...stop running for Congress, Mayor, City Council, etc. You don't have the support. Its not there. And frankly, you aren't very qualified for any of those offices. Sorry if that is ripping the band-aid off a little harshly, but a friend will tell you the truth. Strangers will tell you what you wanna hear, so take it for what its worth. But I'll tell you what you should run for and what you would be qualified for. SCHOOL BOARD. You really wanna make a contribution to this town and leave a mark? Run for school board. Pick your headline...Ray Charles can see how bad things are on the school board. But you have the skill set for school board. Your Tea Party streak will appeal to fiscal conservatives. Its a smaller race and therefore more manageable. Its winnable for you. Then, imagine if you're the guy that develops a reputation for fixing messes? Then you can move u...

Attendees say that last night's visit to a community in Horizon City by Congressman Quico Canseco drew a very small crowd that reached, at its peak, 7 people. In fact, I'm not sure 7 people qualifies to be called a "crowd". Far more people are crammed in to an elevator at the El Paso County Courthouse on any given day. Perhaps that might be a better venue for the Congressman before his eventual loss in November. It would be a bigger crowd than the one he had last night.

SDEC LTR

2012 PRIMARY ELECTION  RUN-OFF  CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENT The Black El Paso Democrats proudly make the following endorsements for the Tuesday,   July 31, 2012  Primary Run-Off Election EARLY VOTING BEGINS  JULY 23-27 , 2012   U.S. Representative District 23 Ciro Rodriguez   Justice, 8th Court of Appeals Marcos Lizarraga   41st District Court No Endorsement (Both Received Equal Number of Votes Cast)   388th District Court Lucila Flores Camarena       448th District Court Regina Arditti      Criminal District Court #1 Diane Navarete      County Commissioner, Pct. 3 Vince Perez      Constable #2        Jeremiah Haggerty      Constable #6     Javier Garcia

The El Paso Times had a pretty thorough piece today about the El Paso Independent School District and their series of problems. If you haven't read it yet, click here . It looks like a lot of people have dropped the ball, in my opinion, over at EPISD. Maybe I was the only person who has been hearing this steady drum beat over the last couple of weeks that basically says EPISD Trustees over see one person, the Superintendent. Well, I guess it turns out that they actually over see more than one person. It sounds like they are supposed to over see the Internal Auditor as well. Or at least they should've been. School board officials are to blame for not doing so. Period, point blank. But there are some other people who should be answering some questions as well. The attorney for the school board. Shouldn't he be advising the school board about their legal responsibilities? Region 19 Trainers. Whomever is responsible for providing training to the school board members has some ...

I'm excited to hear that we might get a AAA baseball franchise. It raises a lot of questions I'd like asked though. First, (and not the most important question by any stretch of the imagination) what do we call the new team? Do we call it the Diablos? I think it would be a cool name to keep especially given the fact that the team we are looking at is the affiliate of the Padres. Ok, maybe I'm the only one that thinks its funny. Or do we go for a totally new branding for the new team. What is the economic impact of a AAA team in El Paso? But most important to me, since City Council is on an accountability kick lately, is the bill for the energy efficiency upgrades the city went through not too long ago. If I remember right the city paid something like  $14.7 million for all city buildings and its supposed to be paid through guaranteed energy savings. The plan was supposed to save $20 million over a 10 year period.  And I think we paid for refurbishing of the elevators too....

The City of El Paso (okay, not all but some) want to take over the EPISD? First of all, I don't think they have the authority to do so. Second of all, should I just create a list of dumb things to say that would never happen to? Why on earth would we want City Council in charge of EPISD? Don't get me wrong, I wanna see things get better over there right away. But can we just hold the phone here a minute please? City council has a myriad of problems of their own to deal with...like a big effin' problem with equity of services. So we should let them be in charge of another government agency that is currently FUBAR? Settled down City Council. I admire what Representative Niland said in the paper about what is going on and how its affecting people she represents. Good for her. She's sticking up for a predominantly Latino portion of her district that frankly doesn't really vote, but she's doing so because its the right thing to do. Every day I am more and more impres...

County Commissioner and judicial candidate Anna Perez will be holding a reception next week. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, June 26th from 5:30-7:30pm. The location is at the El Paso Club, 201E. Main Street, 18th Floor.

Chair - Alex Guzman Executive Vice Chair - Rebecca "Becky" Reyes Finance Chair - Victor Reyes Secretary - Ximena Chew By the way, I hereby formally resign my membership from El Paso Young Democrats.

When I first saw the email I thought it was going to be the return of a cool David K Open Letter, but its not. However it is a strong message from a range of elected officials and community leaders. The question is will this be another example of factionalism and will political lines be drawn in the sand at the sake of our schools? Lets see how this unfolds... Oh, and one more thing...DK - you are long over due for an Open Letter... Open Letter to EPISD 061912

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice the obvious in this town. We have a really bad habit of focusing on the wrong races. Since the media is so good at pointing fingers lately, I think they need to take a little blame here. Its largely the fault of the media that our collective attention is misplaced. Barrels of ink and tons of air time are spent on a congressional race to elect one person that will be part of 400+ other people who make decisions that may or may not impact our daily lives. Yet while the media is going after EPISD with both barrels blazin' – as they should be – they haven't always done a good job of covering the school board races. So if you are complaining about crappy leadership, take a bow because its partially your fault. Myself included. I focus more on the billboard races too. But I at least head to forums and post interviews for my readers. So, I have to tighten up the screws myself. The congressional race was an important one, that is for s...

Elections were held last night for new leadership of the El Paso Young Democrats. The current version of the club has been probably the most successful and well-sustained effort of the organization. Out-going President Alfredo Longoria and most of the officers chose not to seek another term and are going to be dedicating more of their efforts on their personal lives and other political projects. I want to be clear and state a major bias here on my part. Not only is Alfredo Longoria a personal friend, but I was part of the effort to create and sustain the organization. I had a front-row seat to the efforts of the El Paso Young Democrats over the last couple of years. Here's what Longoria's legacy looks like to me. He took a group of motivated young Democrats that weren't particularly liked by the Old Guard because of perceived political alliances and created one of the most powerful and influential Democratic Party clubs. Let's face it, the life-blood of a lot of campa...

Fundraiser Invite

The El Paso Young Democrats will be meeting at G & R Restaurant (401 E. Nevada) for their monthly meeting. This month's meeting will feature a presentation from OFA El Paso.

So I've heard a few people that are pissed about the fact that some of the elected officials in town had good seats for the Chavez fight on Saturday. There's not gentle way of putting this so I will just rip the band-aid off here. So what!!! Get over it. I don't have the slightest problem with them having good seats. Think about it for a second, if it weren't for the fact that the elected officials in this town went to bat for us to keep the fight here in the first place, the fight wouldn't have happened. So I don't have the slightest problem with them getting some good tickets. Its one of the few times I can remember elected officials, regardless of level of government or faction, getting together for El Paso. Imagine if we had everyone pulling in the same direction for the Medical School, or to fight poverty or illiteracy or diabetes in town? But getting a fight is a start. And if you have a problem with them having good seats, get over it.

The El Paso Times posted an Op-Ed on the front page of the Sunday paper and it has caused a fair amount of controversy. Honestly, I am of mixed feelings about it myself. First, let me start by saying that we can't have it both ways in this town. For years people have been complaining about how the Times wasn't doing enough investigative reporting and how they missed the boat on the public corruption scandal. And the criticism was well placed. The public corruption scandal was broken open by an out-of-town paper and David Crowder. Not by the El Paso Times. And now, the Times has come around and is starting to do some good stuff. So you can't complain about them missing the boat and then complain when they are on top of something. And you can't deny the fact that we have a pretty unique situation in El Paso in terms of public corruption. It seems like its almost everywhere. No one should be tolerant of corruption in this town. Those that are tolerate it are part of the pr...

Who isn't a fan of vagina? As a newly single healthy male in my mid 30's, I am a big fan of vagina. Hell, I've been a fan of vagina since I was a teenager. In fact, if it had its own Facebook page, I would like it. Actually, we should all like vagina. Without vagina we wouldn't be here. Vagina in the morning, vagina in the evening, vagina, vagina, vagina! So what's all the fuss about Michigan Democratic Representative Lisa Brown's comments during a debate about abortion? In case you somehow missed the story, Representative Brown was barred from speaking by the Republican-controlled legislature because she used the term "vagina" during a debate about an abortion bill. Apparently the majority said she violated decorum by using the word "vagina". At some point during the debate Representative Brown stated, "I'm flattered you're all so concerned about my vagina, but no means no." I'm not sure why that set off the GOP members...

In yet another strange turn in the race for State Board of Education #1, documents filed with the Secretary of State's Office have surfaced that show that Martha Dominguez actually withdrew from the primary and general elections. The Certificate of Withdrawal was endorsed by Ms. Dominguez and dated for April 25th, a full month before the primary. The Secretary of State's Office Received the document on May 4th, 2012. As you can see, the Certificate of Withdrawal actually indicates Dominguez' desire to withdraw from both the primary and the general election. Previously there was just talk of her intent to withdraw and this document appears to verify that Dominguez not only intended to drop out, but apparently has actually formally withdrawn from the race. Since the race is across multiple counties, the proper place to withdraw from the race would've been the Secretary of State's Office as far as I can tell. This development is pretty big and may need to be resolved b...

Since Sunday I have been hearing more and more people in political circles start talking about who is going to run for mayor in the upcoming Mayoral Election, which is actually next year. But the names are already being thrown around. People are talking about who should run, or who is running, or who is considering, a run for Mayor of El Paso. The names I keep hearing the most about are City Representative Steve Ortega and former Senator Eliot Shapleigh. First things first people...if one runs, the other won't. There is no scenario in which one would run against the other. But those are the names I keep hearing the most about so far. I've spoken about a possible Ortega mayoral bid a while back and even called to get comment from him about once. He told me then that he was not interested in running for the position and that only under the most extreme circumstance would he ever run for the job. That was a while back though. Maybe a couple of years. Lots of things change in a cou...

State Rep Chente Quintanilla attended Commissioner's Court today to raise an issue with the court about a possible violation of the County Ethics Code by his opponent in the run-off Vince Perez. Apparently in the new ethics code which was first implemented in 2010 election there is a provision that says if you receive contributions from a donor that reach $2500, it has to be reported to the Ethics Commission within 30 days. Its a little know provision of the Ethics Code and hasn't really come in to play until this election because this is the first election with competitive races for County Commissioner's Court. County Offices are the only races the code applies to. Perez did in fact receive contributions that would have required him to report to the Ethics Commission. One of which was from his father. Interestingly, so did Dora Oaxaca and Carlos Leon. They apparently didn't know about the provision either. But in an interesting twist, State Representative Chente Quinta...

I just don't get the recall people. By nature they are a conservative bunch. So I am a little surprised that they would continue to try to affect a recall when they already failed previously and when the end of the Mayor's term is so close. Are they trying to prove a political point? Sure. Good for them, this is America after all. But...We shouldn't have to be the ones to pay for it. You had your chance. You didn't play by the rules and therefore lost. Move on. Loss sucks but it happens to all of us. You can either boo-who about it, or you can pick yourself up and move on. Here's a tip...learn from this and get started on the next election. Politics, like life, is about long-term strategy. Play chess, not checkers.

The more I think about the youth movement in politics, the more I realize that its everywhere and I should've noticed it a long time ago. On the Democratic side, when given the opportunity to vote for younger and progressive candidates, the electorate almost always goes with the younger and more progressive candidate. I'm trying to think of a time when that didn't happen and I can't really come up with one. I guess you could argue in the Marquez / Barraza race (hey, wasn't that a boxing match too?), but Barraza isn't really more "progressive" than Marquez. Four years ago, Richard Wiles was the youngest in the field of candidates running for sheriff if I'm not mistaken. Socorro City Council is younger and more progressive than in the past. Carlos Hisa, Lt Gov of the Tiguas is a young guy and has stayed the Lt Gov for quite some time. Though I wouldn't consider him a progressive. Even on the Republican side, they have a youth movement of their ow...

I wrote something last week about the youth movement in El Paso politics and the El Paso Times also had something similar in opinion section of the Sunday edition. Their piece very conspicuously left out City Rep Eddie Holguin. I included him in mine but my piece and the Times piece were making different points. I was making the point that El Paso has been making the transition to younger leadership for quite some time. The Times piece was about the youth movement being progressive. Which explains why Holguin was omitted. I think Holguin might actually be the youngest member of City Counil, something people tend to forget because he's been there awhile now. And he is by no means a "progressive". But I just realized I left a couple of people out myself. Anthony Cobos and Willie Gandara. Both of those guys were on the younger side and they were elected within the same time frame as the other leaders mentioned in my previous piece. The election and the Democratic Convention ...

I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened sooner but according to an article in today's El Paso Times, the political craziness on Facebook has finally crossed a line. Personally I think it crossed a line a long time ago. I'm not talking about censorship, I'm talking about common decency and effectiveness in communication. I've lost track of how many ridiculous stunts have occurred over Facebook and Twitter during the campaign, but when it goes to the extreme that the DPS feels the need to station a patrol unit to the home of State Rep Marisa Marquez just to be safe is a very sad commentary on the state of dialogue in El Paso politics. For some reason we have gone from polite discourse to passionate date and now on to full-on war. It doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to always go to war with people over political differences. I'll give you an example. The Ron Paul supporters. They are a disciplined group of people. I disagree with most of wh...

Texas is a red state. Lets just deal with that political reality for a moment shall we? As such, any Democrat that runs for US Senate is not likely to win. Unless there is a perfect storm candidate. A candidate with name recognition, the ability to generate positive press and voter energy, the ability to raise money, and the ability to get Republicans to vote for that candidate. Honestly the only guy I think that can pull that off is Tommy Lee Jones. He's quintessentially Texan. Texas drawl, Texas swagger, and extremely likable. And he's a Democrat. I don't know if the TDP ever tried to recruit him to run, but if they didn't, they should've. Fred Thompson was elected in Tennessee and I think Tommy Lee Jones would've been able to get elected in Texas. It's an open seat and a great chance to pick up the seat. Oh well...maybe he'll run against Perry for Governor...You hear me TDP?

Gilberto Hinojosa was elected as the State Chair of the Texas Democratic Party today in Houston. Hinojosa is the first Latino elected to that position and underscores the importance of the Latino vote in Texas.

El Pasoan Mike Apodaca was elected as the State Treasurer for the Texas Democratic Party at the convention in Houston. Apodaca is the first El Pasoan to serve in state party leadership since Danny Anchondo a few years back. In fact, I think they are the only two to have ever served in state leadership Apodaca has been a party activist for many years despite his youth. He has served in several leadership capacities and turned down job offers in other states to work with the Obama campaign in his home state of Texas. Apodaca is currently a member of the El Paso Young Democrats.

One of the things that doesn't really get talked about much in local coverage of elections is the fact that the valley is going to play a big part in that race. Roughly speaking the district is sort of a half-moon around San Antonio and goes through rural west Texas until El Paso County. In the County the district pretty much runs south of the freeway to Zaragoza. Gallegos did well in rural west Texas and Rodriguez cleaned house in San Antonio. Thats pretty predictable because they are each essentially holding their base of support. The voters know them in those areas. That makes El Paso the battle ground because its a whole new crop of voters that weren't previously in the district. I wrote a while back that I had a hunch that Ciro Rodriguez was going to take El Paso County and he did. It wasn't solid analysis, it was just a hunch. My theory was that people in passing would have a slightly higher amount of familiarity for Ciro Rodriguez because he represented part of El Pa...

This is somewhat of a follow-up to the youth movement piece I previously wrote. Not only has the face of leadership in El Paso changed pretty steadily over the last few years with a decidedly younger bent, but for the first time in years, there are no members of the "Old Guard" in control of the local Democratic Party.  Blanche Darley is still the head of the Tejano Democrats and that was already the Old Guard wing of the Democratic Party, but it may become more so now.  Danny Anchondo is leaving as Chair. Yolanda Clay was not re-elected to the SDEC. Robert Grijalva was unsuccessful in his bid for the SDEC.  In the past these three would've been easy wins for the Old Guard.  I don't remember the last time that the Moreno family or the Old Guard / Tejanos weren't in charge in the El Paso Democratic Party. That is very significant because it seems like they have always been in charge.  So what happens under the new regime?  Will it be a more welcoming environ...

Don Williams survived a challenge from Robert Grijalva from Chente Quintanilla's office for his position as the SDEC male. With the loss of Yolanda Clay as the SDEC woman, I think this is the first time that a member of the Moreno faction is not in a leadership position in the El Paso Democratic Party. That's pretty significant. I don't have final vote numbers but I'm working on it. Elizabeth Hapsburg-Kell nominated Don Williams and El Paso Young Democrats President Alfredo Longoria nominated Rebecca Robledo.

Sorry for the rapid fire short pieces, but I know that not all of you follow me on Facebook so I'm posting here. Don Williams, the current SDEC and Robert Grijlava from Chente Quintanilla's office are currently giving their speeches and making thier pleas to the delegation. Vote to follow. I'll update you soon.

In a 28-24 vote, Rebecca Robledo is the new SDEC Woman representing El Paso. It was a close vote but Robledo was able to pull off the victory. SDEC Male is next and the current SDEC male is Don Williams.

Yolanda Clay and Rebecca Robledo are competing for the position of SDEC Woman right now at the convention in Houston. Yolanda Clay is the current SDEC Woman and Rebecca Robledo is the previous chair of the Tejano Democrats. I will update you when the vote is final.

Pretty much fulfilling El Paso stereotypes, a big portion of the El Paso delegation was late to the Convention in Houston today. Reports indicate that the delegation missed an entire half of the first day of the convention. Apparently there was a logistical problem in the organization of the bus trip. The location date/time apparently wasn't confirmed with the bus company and the part of the delegation that was riding the bus were picked up more than 4 hours late. So as a consequence the EP delegation was only at partial strength for the first day. I'll provide more information as it becomes available.

I was thinking about this last night - El Paso's youth movement is now almost a sprint. Its been going on for quite some time now. Many of El Paso's elected leaders are 45 and under - some of them significantly under. Consider the list, County Judge Veronica Escobar, County Commissioner Anna Perez, City Reps Cortney Niland, Susie Byrd, Steve Ortega, and Eddie Holguin. Now consider the state delegation, which is probably the youngest class of leaders of them all. State Rep Naomi Gonzalez, State Rep Marisa Marquez, former State Rep Joe Moody, and now State Rep-Elect Mary Gonzalez. O'Rourke's win over Reyes is just the latest in the youth movement. The face of El Paso politics is changing. Even in the valley. The question is, will the youth movement continue in the Precinct 3 race for County Commissioner? If Vince Perez is able to defeat Chente Quintanilla, it will mean that for the first time the valley will be represented by young leadership at basically every level from...