El Paso Politics

Dear candidates, text, email or Facebook me your election night shindig info. Ill post it if you want it publisized or I can hold on to the info if you don't. I'm already getting media calls about it so let me know...

So this guy Mike Cervantes, Contreras, Johnson, Smith, or whatever, decided he wants to pick a fight with me. Actually from what I read, it sounded more like a threat. Sorry Cervantes, I've been threatened by a whole lot more intimidating people than you. You're going to have to try much harder. But if you are interested in tossing threats my way, get in line vato. The people in this town that want ill to fall upon me is pretty long. You think you're the first person in this town to toss a threat my way? A threat from you is like a girl from my high school days...you weren't the first...and you damn sure won't be the last...(only I don't have to tell you I love you and not mean it). But since you decided you want to pick a fight...I'll play. Lets start with buttering my bread. Clearly you are making an allegation that I know for a fact you are incapable of substantiating. But from your mailers...it looks like you are used to writing things you can't subs...

Early voting starts today and sadly, even though most of my readers are politically minded, most of you will not vote. If you don't, you suck. Here is a list of people I'm supporting. You are free to vote for who you wish. I'm just telling you who I've voting for and what my reasons for supporting them are. Judicial Races - Honestly, I'm undecided in a couple of them. 8th Court of Appeals - I'm still undecided. This race features Yvonne Rodriguez and Marcos Lizarraga. Both nice people. I know them both. I voted for Stanton because I felt he was the more qualified candidate in the primary. Still haven't made up my mind between the two. 448th District Court - Regina Arditti and Sergio Enriquez. Undecided. Sergio Enriquez really hasn't campaigned at all so I sort of want to vote for Arditti just because he didn't freakin' try. 41st District Court - I'm voting for Anna Perez. I think she's the most qualified candidate and she's clearly ...

Turns out one of my readers, Jorge from Central, hooked me up with a mailer from Navarrete. I haven't seen Caballero's yet but I find Navarrete's to be very effective and on point.

I guess all the judicial candidates must've got a group discount on printing because almost all of them dropped mail that landed in the last couple of days and most of them were the exact same size. Frankly, most of the mailers sucked pretty bad. Some more than others. Yvonne Rodriquez's piece was actually pretty good. Great front and the back had good layout and messaging. I liked the front of Anna Perez' piece because it was a sharp design and a strong message about qualifications. I wasn't crazy about the back. I don't know why there was a definition of the word qualified. Seemed like wasted space. Judge Arditti's mail piece. The front was great. The back...what the hell? WHAT THE HELL? Waaaay to much text. Too small and too much. You're target is usually an older voter, its too crammed. They are trying to do too much. Horrible piece. It would be the worst of the bunch if it weren't for Cervantes' piece. Too heavy with text and had zero visual app...

Just days away from the start of early voting and only days after campaign finance reports were released, Vince Perez, candidate for El Paso County Commissioner Precinct #3, issued a statement regarding the most recent campaign finance report of his opponent, State Representative Chente Quintanilla. Perez's press statement (shown below in its entirety) indicates that Quintanilla reported a more than $400 meal expenditure for Cattleman's Steakhouse as "volunteer's food / beverages" on his campaign finance report. Paying for meals and beverages for campaign volunteers is probably the most common campaign expense next to paper. All campaigns pay for food. But most of the time when they pay for food its something inexpensive that can feed a lot of people like pizza, tamales, sweet bread, burritos, etc. I don't recall seeing too many campaigns take their volunteers out to Cattleman's and spending more than $400. However the Perez campaign goes on to state that...

Lucila Camarena-Flores has released a campaign commercial. I don't know if its being aired on television of if its more for social media use.

There was another Rally in the Valley type event last weekend to reach voters. Basically another chance give voters free beer and food. I stopped by and kept a low-profile because I didn't want to be there long. The turn-out was abysmal. I was so surprised out how light the turnout was that I went back later thinking maybe I had the wrong information about the time. It was a very poor turnout. But once again, my Party and the establishment in the Party continue to disappoint me. The event was for a specific faction of judicial candidates. They are pretty much the Tejano Democrats' slate of candidates. And yet the County Democratic Party's banner was there along with the Party Chair. Once again, taking sides. I'm pretty sick of them doing that in contest races during a primary. Not that they have an excellent track record. Pretty much every one of their candidates of choice has been beaten. So its becoming like being on the cover of a Madden video game. What pisses me of...

I know that this town is overly-focused on the hoity-toity westside, but believe it or not, important stuff happens in this town that happens to be south or east of UTEP. I know, shocker! I'm a little disappointed in the absence of coverage of the run-off election. Especially the El Paso County Commissioner Precinct 3 race. I mean sure, if there is something bad that happens in Socorro the media is camped out like a Lower Valley edition of Cheaters. But there's been no focus whatsoever on the Commissioner's race. Its an important race because its geographically the largest part of the County. Its also the poorest and in the most-need of attention. To say nothing of the fact that it is a seat that is vacant because of Willie Gandara, Jr. He spent a lot of time missing important meetings for his constituents. This is one of the most important races the County has seen in quite some time because it represents a stark generational difference in the candidates and because of the...

The Valley is where all the action is at in the run-off election. There are a few races on the undercard like the judicials (yawn), and the constable race (bigger yawn) but the main event is the El Paso County Commissioner Precinct 3 race. The judicial races are just plain not exciting. If you think they are boring in a general, just imagine how boring they are in a run-off. The Constable race...let me see if there is a nice way to put it...Well there isn't so let me be blunt...NO ONE CARES! Not even a little bit. Here's how most people remember the two candidates. One has the same name as the Dallas Cowpie's lame ass quarterback (Tony Romo) and the other sort of looks like El Paso's answer to Pit Bull (Javier Garcia). Garcia and most of the judicial candidates are relying heavily on building an alliance with Chente Quintanilla's campaign. There's no nice way to put it, so I'll be frank. Trying to rely on another campaign for help is stupid. Not only are the...

Okay, okay, I'll admit it, my production has fallen off lately because of the run-off election and I have my hands full with that right now. (By the way, someone asked for my thoughts on the run-off election and I'll get to that very soon, promise.) I was nominated for Best Blogger in the Local Legends category again this year and again, I lost. My streak of failure continues. Its actually been sort of a running joke between David K and I over the last few years because there used to be several different people that put stuff like that out every year and every year I'd lose to David K. Which never bothered me because he and I aren't competitive with one another and it was during the time when he was rippin' out an Open Letter almost weekly. Hell I voted for him. I usually make jokes about the fact that I always lose out to some ridiculous blog topic in the What's Up Magazine version of the list. But seriously, have I angered the blogging gods? I lost to someone ...

  CANDIDATES NIGHT FOR      RUN OFF ELECTION DATE:  19 JULY 2012  TIME:     5:30  PM LOCATION:       THE LUNCH BOX RESTURANT                              3623 Buckner ( Montana & Buckner) AGENDA:            41 st  District Judge: Anna Perez;                                                  Mike Cervantes           388 th  District Judge: Laura Strathman;           ...

During the last primary the people in Horizon didn't have an early voting site but I think they might have had a mobile voting site for a part of the early voting period. Well since the stakes are much higher in the run-off election I sure hope the County Elections Department has straightened that situation out. The only races that are still in a run-off are the judicial races (yawn) and the County Commissioner Precinct 3 race. I talked to a few people from Horizon that are upset about the fact that they didn't get much access to early voting time. Stay tuned to this one because it might become a stink if they don't get it taken care of. 

Marc Schwartz was a mover and shaker. He's the kind of political consultant that got things done. And according to multiple sources that dealt with him, he was the kind of guy that wasn't afraid to throw a few elbows when going for a rebound. The bottom line is that there are a lot of people in this town that are pretty damn happy to see Marc Schwartz go to jail. I've been contacted by several people, all with their own I-happy-he's-getting-what-he-deserves story. But I thought I would relay one story in particular because it exposes some of the behind the scenes stuff that happens in this town that would drive people crazy if they knew about it. And I should start by saying, this is a story that has been relayed on talk radio previously. Roy Ortega recounted this story when he was on the air with Paul Strelzin once. The short of it is that Marc Schwartz allegedly got Roy Ortega, a veteran newsman in El Paso, fired from his job as the News Director at KTSM back in the d...

So I was doing some research on Fred Chavez, the GOP's candidate for El Paso County Commissioner's Court Precinct #3 and I came across something pretty interesting. Turns out Chavez is running as a Republican but has a solid voting record as a Democrat. So I can't honestly say where his values lie in terms of politics. Is he a Democrat in Republican clothing, or is it the opposite. One thing if for sure, he's going to lose. That Linda Chavez plea is going to be an issue, though he was going to lose because of the make-up of the precinct anyway.

If I'm not mistaken, I think Linda Chavez, who pleaded guilty today in court, is the wife of Fred Chavez. If its the same guy, then he's the guy the Republicans are running for El Paso County Commissioner in Precinct #3. He's the sacrificial lamb that is going to get trounced by either Vince Perez or Chente Quintanilla in the general election. If its the same guy. I mean Fred Chavez is a pretty common name so there is a chance its a different guy. But then again, the Republican nominee does live in the Del Valle area and Linda Chavez represented that area on the YISD school board. Hey, remember how the Republicans have been saying that its only Democrats that are involved in the Public Corruption Scandal?...

It would be funny if it weren't so important to this community but in yet another no-so-stunning development, State Representative Dee Margo has again taken a stand that many would say is against his constituents. Certainly not the first time that has happened. Representative Margo voted for big cuts to education in the last budget that have had an impact on El Paso area students. It was part of the Tea Party fad that thought all the state's woes could be solved by cuts. Apparently they weren't all that concerned about solving the state's drop-out rate or our ranking in education... But now Representative Margo is in lock-step with Governor Perry who is rejecting additional funds to expand the number of children covered by medicaid. Texas leads the nation in the rate of uninsured children and yet Perry turns down money that could help children get healthcare coverage. Please explain to me how that is even fiscally responsible. Uninsured children's healthcare is even...

Award time again people.  This week was pretty simple. Homeboy of the Week: Corporal Joshua Lewis. I spoke with Commissioner Lewis at a Memorial Mass a couple weeks ago and he mentioned being nervous about the fact that his son was, as we say in the military "short", but that he was still being sent to a dangerous part of Afghanistan. Its the first thing I remembered when I heard about his son. He was not only wounded, but he had the presence of mind to administer first aide to another soldier.  Douchebag of the Week: Governor Rick Perry. He turned down money from the federal government to expand medicaid. Texas has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation. Way to go Governor.

The city of Socorro, and its cross-town step-sister city of Sunland Park are both perfect examples of why people need to be engaged voters. Especially because they are both communities that are predominantly Latino, are a mix or rural and metro, and are on the lower end of the socio-economic scale and yet possess tremendous potential. And they are both plagued with scandal. They also have crappy voter participation. That's a big part of the reason they have that problem. According to the 2010 census there are 32,013 people in Socorro. Around 14,500 people registered to vote, which is less than half the population. A large issue is obviously eligibility and that might explain why there are so few registered voters in Socorro. But here is a stat that for which there is no excuse. Only about 1,400 people in the entire city are regular voters. And by regular voters, I mean they are voters that voted in at least 2 of the last 3 elections or better. Commonly referred to as 2D's and ...

First things first, lets stop pretending the general election is a "race". It isn't. And if you think it is, you either don't know anything about politics, are still sore over the Reyes loss and are delusional about a Republican win, or you are drinking way too much on a Sunday evening. Which if that is the case, you are forgiven because at least you are in an altered mental state voluntarily. O'Rourke is going to win and he's going to win big. I'm sticking by what I said, I doubt the Republican nominee will top Tim Besco's performance from two years which was a total fluke in the first place. Sorry if that hurts your little feelings Republicans but its the truth. And most of you know it. They two most active components of the local Republican Party are the College Republicans and the Liberty Group, who are Libertarians that basically only call the GOP home because of Ron and Rand Paul. That is pretty much all the organized activity on that side of the...

Former State Senator Eliot Shapleigh is on the prowl again regarding EPISD. As you know Shapleigh was the main  antagonist  of former EPISD Super Dr. Lorenzo Garcia.  Looks like he is getting together a group to work on a little project. Here's an email that has been floating around town: Dear Fellow Paseño—   Your former state senator Eliot Shapleigh here. Hope your 4 th  of July is spectacular. What I want to visit with you about is our children.  When I read the Times every day, I just get upset. Can you imagine teaching a town to cheat not compete, disappearing thousands of students on TAKS week, then claiming a bonus to boot?   Forget jobs and new projects—if we can’t take care of our kids and get them a good education to guarantee a good job then we can’t expect jobs, companies, pediatric surgeons or even our own children to come here at all.   Like you, Joyce and I are proud parents of EPISD grads. Like you, we have dozens of EPISD fri...

So I've been poking around in Socorro lately and I noticed some signs on Horizon Blvd just south of North Loop. As you can see in this picture, the area the signs are on belongs to a supporter of Chente Quintanilla who is running for County Commissioner in Precinct 3 against Vince Perez. The two are in a run-off election to replace former County Commissioner Willie Gandara. Gandara will be pleading guilty to drug charges in federal court the day before Election Day for the run-off, according to reports in the El Paso Times. So the property belongs to a prominent businessman in Socorro named Pilo. He owns the business adjacent to the property as well and even has a mannequin holding a sign supportive of Quintanilla. Interestingly the mannequin appears to be wearing a Halloween mask that is supposed to be President Obama. The problem with the signs aren't the ones from the campaign. Those appear to be completely in-line with campaign sign rules. But these signs, n...

Conventional wisdom among the candidates still left standing for run off elections appears to say the Chente Quintanilla is the key to victory. Why? Because other candidates lack the ability to mount a campaign in the valley, whether its an intimidation factor at play, lack of resources or due to the unfamiliarity of the area to people who don't visit the valley. So the candidates try to set up alliances with Quintanilla in order to try to get out the vote for their campaign down in the valley. Luckily for Quintanilla he has the time and money to lend a hand to the other local campaigns. Personally I've never been much of a fan of that tactic because of a variety of reasons but one of the reasons is because you never can judge another candidate's popularity very accurately. The assumption that your supporters will support someone you support is a bit of a stretch. Then there's the practical side. How much can one candidate really help another? Especially if their hands...

Pete Gallego, who is running for the 23rd Congressional District on the Democratic side made a stop in El Paso today. Gallego is facing former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez in a run-off election that is set to be settled on July 31st. Gallego visited a food bank pantry in San Elizario this morning. Earlier this evening Gallego hosted a platica with local Latino farmers in Fabens and water rights was the big part of the conversation along with USDA socio-economic programs. His El Paso County swing will continue on Friday with a breakfast fundraiser at Cotton-Eyed Joe's in Clint, Texas starting at 8:00am. Gallego is scheduled to speak at 8:30am and breakfast will be served at 9:00am. Sources in the campaign indicate that its a pretty informal event and voters will be able to speak with Gallego individually. Gallego wraps up the El Paso County visit with a Vietnam Veteran's Appreciation Dinner event at Mamacita's in Clint. If you haven't ever been to Mamacita's, its direc...

In my previous piece I wrote Contreras instead of Cervantes. It was late and I was sleepy but it no excuse for the mistake. My bad. When you reread the piece just imagine Cervantes where you see Contreras. Props to the reader that brought it to my attention. More later ...

I'm a member of the Eastside Democrats and as you know I am a devout Democrat. So I get irritated with wanna be's. Some of us actually work for the Party all the time, not just when we are running for office. That is why I am particularly irritated with Mike Cervantes.  He started off his speech with a line about comparing "apples to apples". It sounded a whole lot more like sour apples.  He stated his speech off by saying that he wants to compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges. He proceeded to say that she is a politician and he is a judicial candidate. This is where I started to get irritated. Guess what Mr. Cervantes, this is Texas. I know you have a lot of experience in Colorado, but in Texas...we elect judges.  That makes all of you politicians. Like it or not, its exactly what you are. Please tell me you understand this basic concept if you are wanting to actually sit on a bench in this state. But I took issue with more stuff he said. Contreras also  s...

The following candidates received the endorsement of the Eastside Democrats. Marcos Lizzaraga - 8th Court of Apeals Laura Strathmann - 388th Judicial District Court Jeremiah Haggerty - Constable Precinct No. 2 Javier Garcia - Constable Precinct No. 6 Vince Perez - County Commissioner Precinct #3 Anna Perez - 41st Judicial District

As fate would have it, I was in Socorro today. I went to have lunch with a friend at the new Papaburger. When we walked in I saw Councilman Jesse Gandara and I said hello while she found a place for us to sit. I went a spoke with him for a few minutes and he shared an upcoming project they were working on. I sat down with my friend and finished our meal and Councilman Gandara left with the guy he was eating lunch with. I guess it was shortly after that time that the Socorro City Hall was raided. Watch to see what develops over the next couple of days. Its a bit surprising to me and the project that he shared with me was actually pretty ambitious. More to follow....

Alright, enough is enough. El Paso school districts need to get their act together. I'm sick and tired of scandal of the week. And while I am at it, I am sick of the my-crap-don't-stink-I-don't-owe-you-an-apology-nor-explanation attitude as well. In fact, that irritates me more than the cornucopia of mistakes that have been made. And yes, acknowledge the freakin' obvious, mistakes have been made. And...you guys need to get your public relations house in order. Allow me to be blunt, outside of Canutillo ISD, the other PR people at school districts suck. EPISD and YISD are the best example of crappy public relations. I guarantee a major portion of the headaches that those two districts have had would not be happening if they had a pro running public relations. Apparently EPISD doesn't have a main PR person but they have a department and someone is filling in. I think that position has been vacant for more than a year. YISD is in the process of hiring someone last I he...

The Eastside Democrats will hold an endorsement meeting for the run-off election on Monday night. The meeting will begin at 6:00pm and will be held at Muggs on the Eastside. Each run-off candidate will be given 2 minutes to speak before the voting begins.

Last night on ABC 7 Xtra with Darren Hunt was a great show. Hunt had City Reps Holguin and Ortega on the show and they talked about the new stadium. The show could've gone on for an hour and it would've still been interesting. Too bad they show is only 30 minutes. Its a shame because it should really be an hour. There really is enough content in those shows to run a full hour. There are plenty of phone calls, emails, and tweets and I really think that it would be good to have a full hour of that show. Especially with the absence of credible talk radio in El Paso Xtra would benefit from some extra time. Its probably not going to happen, but as a fan of the show myself, I'd like to see it go an hour. Especially because you don't have any other local platform in town with any level of credibility that will examine both sides of an issue. Especially when you consider the fact that its television. Not sure if the big shots at ABC 7 care what I think, but I'm betting it w...

Time to do a little braggin' on my family. My uncle was the principal litigant in a case heard before the United States Supreme Court and the Court sided with my Tio, Bernie Abeytia and against the state of Arizona. The case involved protection of the National Voter Registration Act, which was enacted by Congress to prevent states from creating discriminatory voter registration schemes. The Supreme Court affirmed that the NVRA supersedes Arizona's bid to require additional documentation for voter registration. This is a case that had a big impact on Arizona's Latino community. So I'm proud of my tio. Another Abeytia sticking up for raza. Like I said, I come from good stock. My tio was previously the Commander of the American GI Forum in Arizona. Its a Latino Veterans' organization. My cousin and former State Representative in Arizona, John Loredo, posted a congratulatory note on Facebook about it. My tio sent out an email in which he stated, "I'm so glad I ...

I normally don't meddle with the other side until the general. At which point, its war. But I'm making an exception. I'd like you guys to help send a Ron Paul delegate from El Paso to the Republican National Convention. She's been pretty enterprising about how she's going about it and she even built a blog with a chart showing her progress. I can think of no other way for people in the Democratic Party to have a little fun with Republican establishment than to help send a Ron Paul delegate to their convention. Her name is Isabel Gonzalez. She's pretty motivated and came up the idea of fundraising to pay her way to the convention. I have a soft spot for the Ron Paul youth because they remind me of the Obama people from 4 years ago. So here is the link to her blog . She has raised $230 of the expected $1500 in expenses. I'd love for her to get some donations from Democrats.