El Paso Politics

Name: Getsemani Yañez Office: Candidate for El Paso City Council, District 2 Hometown: Henderson, Texas (Now lives in El Paso) Education: UTEP, MA Candidate 2013 Baylor University, BA Southeastern University, AS Southern Careers Institute, Technical Degree Tatum I.S.D, (PK – 12) Military Service: Applied but was denied due to medical history Occupation: Small Business Owner Professional Experience: Public Sector Staffer in two Congressional Offices Private Sector Current Owner & Partner of two local small businesses Consulting Service Industry Staffer in Washington, D.C., Government Relations Office Industrial Construction (Energy) Community Involvement: Formerly Elected Central Neighborhood Coalition Representative Co-Founded Fort Blvd. Business Association Member of Central Neighborhood Association Former Board-Member of Five Points Development Association Formerly appointed to City of El Paso Community Development Steering Committee Form...

Yes, I will be ending the L*B in about a month. I've been getting lots of calls asking me if its true since the KVIA piece came out and yes it is. I'll be writing some farewell pieces as the date gets closer. I know, I've said I was quitting twice before. And each time my intent was to hang'em up. But something was always able to pull me back in. When I was quitting the other two times it was mostly out of frustration. You readers can be a very difficult master to please. But this time is different because I HAVE to quit the blog. So yes, it will be done and over on the 31st. I have plenty of time between now and then so I'll make sure I keep it interesting around here until then and the last week should be a lot of fun. Its good to go out on a high note, so I plan on having a lot of fun with the L*B over the last month. The question I keep getting asked the most is why? I've told people its because I'm going to go away to clown college. That's a bold fa...

Yes, it pains me greatly that I had to actually agree with City Rep Carl Robinson on an issue. I still think he's right, but I think in order to provide a more complete discussion of the context, I think we need to go to the instant replay booth for further review. Apparently the offending remark had to do with the alleged onset of dementia in a couple members of city council. I really started to wonder why Wilson might say something like that, ya know, how did she come to the conclusion that dementia might be setting in? Frankly I was stumped. The only thing I could come up with was Carl Robinson's " oversight " relating to citations about not having a driver's license. Guess we have to spend some time under the hood on this one...

I'll make this one quick. I watched the city council meeting yesterday. I feel like I've done my penance for any sins I might have committed because sitting through those meetings is freakin' painful. I don't know who gets on my nerves worse, the same speakers that go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about all the stuff they hate about El Paso, or the members of city council who think its their job to bore the hell out of us with their explanation of their vote. Just freakin' vote. We don't care why or why not. You can go tell your story to the press gaggle later. And my buddy City Rep Eddie Holguin...surprise me will ya? Just vote yes on something. Anything for God's sake! Yesterday when he wasn't voting no he was abstaining from a vote. What the hell? If you're there you might as well vote. We all know its going to be a no anyway. Except the Rio Bosque issue. Its in his district so it got a yes. Anyway, sorry...

It pains me to admit it, but I'm with City Rep Carl Robinson on this one. He was right to publicly admonish City Manager Joyce Wilson for her actions. I'm actually a little bothered by the same people who run around using "transparency" as their watch-word want to handle this "behind closed doors". I'm sorry, but City Manager Joyce Wilson isn't your average city employee or staffer. She's the City Manager. Top dog. And when you're top dog, different rules apply. Sorry, not my choice, its just the way it is. I can't believe that Representative Lilly has the nerve to call Reps Holguin and Robinson "unprofessional" for raising this issue. What's unprofessional is they conduct of Wilson. Before any of you start to go defending Joyce Wilson on this one, ask yourself one thing. And be honest with yourself. If she were you're employee and had sent emails to your subordinates or peers, would she still have a job? Had she been an...

Name: Adam E. Gurrola Hometown: El Paso TX Education:  Crockett Elementary/Collins Elementary, Terrace Hills Middle, Chapin High School 06’, EPCC 06-07, University of Mary Harden Baylor 07-09, UTEP 10-present  Military Service: N/A Occupation: Project Coordinator- TVP NON PROFIT  Professional Experience:  El Paso Foster Parent Association Board of Directors 2010-2012 EPISD CIP (Campus Improvement Program) 2010-Present Opportunity Center For The Homeless Board of Directors 2011- Present Vice President PTA 2012-13 school year Director of the Lower Dyer Community Center Site coordinator For VITA Tax Program – El Paso Affordable Housing Community Involvement:   I am a member of Central Neighborhood Association. Working with Project Noel we have handed out 200 coats for the winter last year and on same tack this year. I have coordinated 4 parades (Lower Dyer Neighborhood), 8 agency fairs, 3 senior health fairs. I have coordinated 14 different agencies and put into p...

Name: Steve Ortega Hometown: El Paso, TX Education: Eastwood Heights Elementary, Desert View Middle School, Cathedral High School, B.A., Government - University of Texas at Austin, B.A., Sociology - University of Texas at Austin, J.D. - The George Washington University Military Service (Please indicate branch, years of service, rank achieved, and military occupational speciality): None Occupation: City Representative, Attorney Professional Experience: Education, Law Community Involvement: Big Brothers Big Sisters of El Paso - mentor, YMCA - basketball coach, Metropolitan Planning Organization - chairman, Regional Ports of Entry Advisory Board - chairman, El Paso Crime Victims' Memorial Committee - organizer, Mayor' s Congresso on Immigration Reform - co-organizer, Juarez Displaced Journalists Fundraiser - co-organizer, Miner Orangeville - co-organizer, Jose Rodriguez Campaign for County Attorney - campaign manager, El Paso History Museum Mayors' Oral History Project, ...

I know a lot of attorneys in El Paso. I like most of them and there are a few that I really respect and admire not only as practitioners of the law but as individuals. Mike Torres is one of those guys. He's a real Chicano. If you don't know what I mean by that, you wouldn't understand if I explained it anyway. But he is. A kid from Canuts (Canutillo) who went off and made something of himself. A man of many talents and a wealth of knowledge on any manner of issues, Torres is the kind of guy that can hold court with the best of 'em and is at the same time, as down to earth as any vato loco from Canutillo. He's is, as they say in the neighborhood, 'a toda madre. I first met Judge Torres back in 2008 at the Texas Democratic Convention. He was the guy who was part of the effort to ensure the Obama delegation had the proper amount of delegates at the convention. I didn't know who he was at first, I just knew he was a cool vato to drink with a play cards with in t...

Okay people, I'm working on a bio / introductory piece to all the municipal candidates. I've sent them a questionnaire asking just basic biographical information. I'm doing this because a lot of the candidates are people you probably have never heard of and I wanted to give you some context before the race heats up. So watch for those pieces to be posted soon, maybe as early as later today. Here are the questions I posed to the candidates. Again, its just a bio/introductory piece: Name: Hometown: Education (Please include elementary, middle, high school, and post-secondary education): Military Service (Please indicate branch, years of service, rank achieved, and military occupational specialty): Occupation: Professional Experience: Community Involvement: Though its a non-partisan race, please indicate your general political persuasion: What are your priority issues for the district?: What are the first three acts you would undertake as a member of Council?: How often have y...

As a flaming liberal myself, Bill Maher is someone I've always thought was hilarious. I especially appreciate the fact that he's one of the few commentators out there that is willing to stand up to the absurdity of the right. It helps that he's a comedian and is therefore good on his feet. I used to watch his show Politically Incorrect  religiously because I really liked the fact that he could get celebrities and policy-makers on the same stage to talk about current events and politics. As a young person, its the kind of thing that drew me in further in to politics. I also think it made other political shows by comedians possible. He now hosts Real Time  on HBO where he continues to entertain and enlighten. And his New Rules segment is the part of the show I look forward to the most. So I'm excited that he's coming to El Paso for a show. I'm gonna try to catch the show myself and you should to. People always complain that there's nothing to do in El Paso, we...

Based on a series of emails that have surfaced in recent weeks, I think that its time that the El Paso City Council stop making excuses for City Manager Joyce Wilson. Not only do I think that they should stop making excuses, but I also think they should fire her. And if they don't, I think the voters should hold the members of council responsible for not doing so. This isn't a matter of disagreeing on policy anymore. I assure you, if it were I would be saying that if you don't have the votes, but your big-boy pants on and deal with the outcome. But this isn't about policy. This is about a City Manager, who is not directly accountable to the people of El Paso, doing what appears to me to be over-stepping her role as a City Manager. That is not something that members of council should simply shrug off or sweep under the rug. We have a serious problem here and it needs to get fixed. I think city council is on the right track right now, but having a boat anchor in terms of ...

I'm really surprised I haven't heard more buzz in District 7. I figured there would be a classroom-size group of candidates run for that race. A large field of candidates the likes we have not seen since the 2008 Sheriff's race. Anyway, I'm surprised that there's only one candidate out there. If you're thinking of waiting until January, no matter what city rep race you are looking at, you're waiting too long. Especially if you don't have name ID with municipal voters. Its going to take time to get up and running with your campaign and the holiday season is the perfect time to catch voters at home because there are a lot of days off during that time period. People burn a lot of vacation time too. The idea that voters aren't going to care about the election during that time frame doesn't hold water either. That might be true for casual voters with bad voting records but people that vote always care.

If this last election showed anything, it was that America has very strongly rejected the Tea Party. In fact, I'd expect to see people jump off the Tea Party ship like rats off of a sinking boat. I've been looking at races across the country involving the Tea Party Republicans and they sustained strong losses all over the place. When Bush won re-election with a smaller margin than President Obama, he very famously stated that he had political clout and he was going to spend it. Republicans called his win a mandate. If thats the case, then the President has a mandate. The Tea Party was soundly defeated. The new members of Congress are women and minorities for the most part. Take a look up at the scoreboard conservatives...America has spoken. Members of Congress, vote accordingly.

Long-time Democratic Party activist Mike Apodaca has filed the necessary paperwork to designate a treasurer for a possible bid for City Representative for District 2. The field is already crowded with mostly second-tier candidates. Apodaca is now one step closer to being a declared candidate for the position but for all intents and purposes, he's a candidate since filing a treasurer means he can start collecting money. If Apodaca decides to jump in to the race, he'd certainly be the class of the field in terms of field organization and grass roots operations. At first glance the race looks like the top three candidates so far are Michael Apodaca, Jim Tolbert, and Getsemani Yanez. The two other candidates have a lot to do in order to be competitive. Tolbert seems to be the candidate as the one most-impacted by Apodaca getting in to the race. Until you take a look at history. Turns out people from the Newman Park area have had a strangle hold on the seat for quite some time now. ...

So I came up with some more award categories with the help of a buddy. First of all, Most Annoying Campaign Manager is still up in the air. Submit your pick and your reason. So here's a couple more awards and we'll start with a race to the bottom: Worst Candidate Award / Person Who Should Never Run for Anything Again - I've thought about this one a lot over the last few days and I was going to say Dan Chavez. I was also going to say Fred Chavez. Actually now that I think about it, Chavez's don't do well in El Paso County over the last few years. I was also going to say Ron Paul - mostly because I think he gets a total pass for the stuff he wrote a few years back and has someone else take the fall for it, oh and for being a neo-confederate. But alas, my award for Worst Candidate and Person Who Should Never Run for Anything Again goes to Texas Governor Rick Perry. I now see why he ducked and dodged Bill White every chance he had. I know my friends from across the aisl...

I checked out her voting history. Yes, there is still a record of an old address in Austin. But according to Texas VAN, which is the voter database that campaigns use to identify voters, Townsend-Allala is a regular voter in El Paso County. Unfortunately, Google doesn't index Texas VAN so you will not get the full detail. I write this because there's a piece on David K's Blog that indicates a pretty thin voting history for STA. The problem is in her name. She's been married before and has changed her name a couple of times along the way. But once I was able to figure all that stuff out, I found she was a regular and consistent voter. Not a 100% voter, and she's missed 3 municipal elections since she came back to El Paso according to VAN, but she votes regularly nonetheless. The system, which is a VITAL tool for campaigns because its accuracy with data is what campaigns base decisions off of, is solid. It indicates that her partisan index is listed as Hard Democrat ...

Check it out. Can you spot him? Hint: 4th Row

Its become somewhat of a tradition here on the L*B that I give out fake post election awards to candidates, campaigns, etc after the election. Its all meant in good fun so don't get your panties in a wad. Best Political Slogan - "The People's Judge" Bill Hicks used this slogan and his people in the valley had shirts that said, "El Juez de la Gente". Best Sign Engineer - Mr. Perez, Vince Perez's dad. He came up with a way of displaying signs that looks like a small pyramid and his held down by bricks. I don't know why it hasn't been used before but other campaigns incorporated the idea near the end. Best Campaign T-Shirts - The I Heart Beto shirts. Personally they annoy the hell out of me because they scream young hipster douchebag, but they became very popular and I saw them everywhere. Beto had overall the best design work in terms of buttons and stuff. Most Annoying Social Media Operative - My friend freakin' Matt Sutton! This guy singl...

I just wanted to clarify a few points about my criticism and call for Nico Dominguez's resignation as President of the one of the LULAC Chapters in El Paso. The reason I think he should step down is because LULAC's do a lot of good in this community. They don't deserve to be connected to controversy that has nothing to do with the organization. I mentioned his position with LULAC for context and out of reaction because KVIA mentioned it in their coverage. As a Chicano activist I feel totally justified in stating that Dominguez's actions in speaking in support of an admitted drug trafficker bring unfair discredit upon the organization. LULAC's reputation in the community should not be jeopardized because Dominguez chose to act on his friendship and association with the Gandara's. This community suffers from a crisis in confidence in elected officials because of the on-going public corruption scandal. Dominguez, and all elected officials in this community, owe it ...

I didn't forget our friendly little "wager". You owe me vato. Call me so you can square up. You know how to reach me.

I've spoken with a couple of attorneys about the Gandara sentencing since I posted my piece last night. Turns out I was wrong about something and I should clarify. If you read this article in the El Paso Times today, clearly the Judge didn't take Gandara's actions lightly. I was wrong. Montalvo actually gave Gandara a pretty stiff sentence based on the federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory to judges as recommended sentences by the US Sentencing Commission. It was explained to me that in a 60kg case that the recommended sentence is 24-30 months. The fact that the judge tacked on another 4 years is a big deal and almost certainly took in to account his status as an elected leader in this community. Wish I'd have known that before I made my previous statement about the sentencing being too light. I should've known more before I said anything and I should know better. My mistake. I'm also told that as a general rule, maximum statutory sentencing ranges ...

(This is 100% my opinion and mine alone. This is entirely editorial.) These days it takes a lot to surprise me when it comes to local politics. I have met nearly every elected official and candidate who's run for just about everything in this town for the past few years. But I have to admit that I was completely shocked today. I was shocked by a few things. First things first. I don't wish bad on many people. (There are a few I assure you) I feel bad for Willie Gandara Jr's children for having to miss their father for the next 6 1/2 years. My heart goes out to them. But I don't feel bad for Gandara himself one bit. In fact, I'm probably finally gonna break my New Years' resolution and end up cussing in this piece. The fact that Willie Gandara Jr received less than half the maximum sentence is and insult to this community and we should rightfully all be mad about this situation. In my opinion, just wasn't served. I don't care that he hasn't had any pr...

If memory serves, former State Senator Eliot Shapleigh might have been the one who dubbed the Gandara's the Kennedy's of the Valley. I could be wrong about that but I know he used to speak very highly of them. What a difference an election cycle makes. Willie Gandara Jr is being sentenced today for drug trafficking charges. Willie Gandara Sr still faces court. Jesus Gandara Sr has legal problems. Jesse Gandara has some legal issues as well. The only member of the Gandara family in elective office that is NOT facing any kind of charges, investigation, or legal issues right now is Gary Gandara who is a member of the Socorro Independent School District Board of Trustees. I recall having a conversation with Jesse Gandara, who is a member of the Socorro city council and he was complaining at the time about the fact that now Commissioner-elect Vince Perez was campaigning on ending Gandara politics. He told me he was supporting Rudy Loya at the time because he didn't like all the ...

So I went to my first EPISD board meeting in a while last night. Lots of stuff to go over but I'm gonna do it in two posts. First, lets go over the fun stuff and we'll get the the icky stuff later. On the union-front there has been a dust-up between the El Paso Teachers Association (EPTA) and the El Paso Federation of Teachers. They are each part of their larger organizations the Texas State Teachers' Association and the American Federation of Teachers respectively. EPTA won exclusive consultation with the district late last school year. They came in and campaigned for it. They actually used some pretty damning video of the Federation's president Lucy Clark speaking before the EPISD School Board advocating for the crappy health insurance plan no one in the district likes but they are stuck with by state law. Apparently the election was contested and recently Mr. Butler, the new EPISD Superintendent settled the matter and EPTA still has the exclusive consultation. So the...

In the days following the re-election of President Obama I have heard a steady drumbeat across American from Republicans and their Libertarian little siblings. (SIDEBAR - Apologies to my Libertarian friends on the right, but lets be honest. You are on the right. You aren't this perfect utopian mix of the best of Liberalism and the best of Conservatism. You are conservatives. You never hear of the Libertarian wing of the Democratic Party. You only hear of the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party. Why? Cuz you're Republicans essentially. Sorry, but someone has to say it. But at least the ones in El Paso are motivated and are doers. God bless their less than 1% of the vote hearts, but they have been far more effective at shaping the Republican Party than the Republican Party has to be quite frank. Take a look around, the young people in the GOP are Republicans. And they're getting good. Just look at how many of them ran campaigns for the GOP) Anyway, back to the drumbeat. ...

By Isabel J. Gonzalez In case you haven’t heard, several states are petitioning the Obama Administration for a “peaceful withdrawal” from the United States.  I browsed  the White House petition page  to take a look for myself. At approximately 10:30 p.m. MST on 11/12/12, there were a total of 83 active petitions -- and 32 were petitions for secession. In order for the Obama Administration to review and provide an official response, the petitions need to acquire at least 25,000 signatures within a month.  Here are the totals thus far (yes, I took the time to write them all down):  Oklahoma - 647 Utah - 1,430 Wyoming - 1,601  California - 2,613 Ohio - 2,618 New York - 2,081 Delaware - 2,866 Nevada - 4,039 Pennsylvania - 5,346 Arizona - 8,379 Oklahoma - 8,578 Arkansas - 11,382 S.C. - 11,815 (repeat) Georgia - 15,083 (repeat) Missouri - 9,586 (repeat) Missouri - 8,599 Tennessee - 14,830 Michigan - 10,506 South Carolina - 9,319 New York - 9,697 Colorado - 11,461...

Well the candidates should be starting to come out of the woodwork at this point to run for the various offices up in the municipal elections next year. I've actually been pretty surprised that there has not been more action in District 7 in terms of candidates. So far its just Ray Mendoza who has expressed an interest in the office. As I have previously mentioned, appointed Precinct 3 Commissioner Tania Chozet was very clear that she is not running for City Rep Ortega's office. If memory serves I wrote about that in September following a conversation in which she was crystal clear of her intentions not to run. By contrast, District 2, currently represented by Susie Byrd, has a whole host of candidates. Environmentalist Jim Tolbert, Political Operative Getsemani Yanez, are the more liberal-leaning candidates in the race so far. Adam Gurrola and Edward Beck are the more conservative leaning candidates. Two more liberal candidates are considering a run too, which will crowd up th...