El Paso Politics

I think I saw a piece somewhere about headlines that the author wished he or she saw but didn't. I thought I'd offer a few local headlines I wish I'd seen but didn't over this last year in El Paso. So here's what I came up with: PUBLIC CORRUPTION SCANDAL FINALLY OVER UTEP FOOTBALL HAS WINNING SEASON; GOES TO BOWL GAME PROPOSITIONS PASS WITH FLYING COLORS; STADIUM OPPONENTS FINALLY GET OVER IT DR. GARCIA CONVICTED OF WRONG-DOING AND GETS A HARSH PUNISHMENT CITY OF EL PASO DECIDES TO MARKET ITSELF; CHOOSES FIRM AND CAMPAIGN THAT DOESN'T SUCK SAN ANTONIO REALIZES ITS NOT THE GATEWAY TO MEXICO, APOLOGIZES TO EL PASO USC TROJANS HONORED TO BE IN A BOWL GAME; GRATEFUL ITS IN EL PASO CITY OF SUNLAND PARK TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF; CITIZENS PROUD OF THEIR CITY AGAIN SOCORRO - SCANDAL FREE FOR 2012 L*B WINS BEST BLOGGER - BEATS BLOGS ABOUT CATS AND VEGETABLES TRIPLE A BASEBALL TEAM DROPS LAME PADRES NAME - LETS FANS PICK A BETTER ONE VILLAGE OF VINTON RESIDENTS STORM CITY HA...

The men of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo will gather at the Tus'la (not 100% sure on the spelling) tonight to hold elections for their Governor and other positions. This isn't an office people campaign for and it is usually closely tied to family alliances and feuds. The elections are important to the region because the leadership determines the direction of the Pueblo and its relationship with the rest of the region. Hopefully word will get out tomorrow as to who the leadership will be for the Pueblo. The terms are a year long and there is no indication that the Tiguas will go in a different direction than the one they are going in now, but these elections are very unpredictable and there's no telling what is going to happen. Again, only Tigua men older than 18 are allowed to vote or attend. Also there are no electronic devices allowed at the meeting either.

As El Paso's unofficial biggest Redskins fan, I just want to send the Dallas Cowpies a warm heartfelt goodbye to the playoffs! Suck it Cowpie fans!

I have to confess, as a blogger I have always loved city elections the most. Yea, they aren't as fun in terms of policy as state and federal elections where I can feed my inner wonk, but everyone loves a good train wreck. And candidates for city elections have a tendency to be walking train wrecks. Its the place where the ankle-biters, weirdos, nutcases, and the eccentric try their hand a politics. But since this is the holiday season, I feel like being generous so I'll tell you exactly how to win an election in this town. This is a total freebie people. And don't worry, I'm not giving away the nuclear launch codes here. I'm just telling you what has worked for WINNING campaigns. #1 - Timing and opportunity. Politics is 100% about timing and opportunity. If these two things don't line up, do not pass go. And an open seat is not opportunity. You're ability to WIN and open seat is opportunity. Or running against a vulnerable candidate. #2 - Money. Generally sp...

The last election showed very clearly that despite a few loud voices out there, we are not a divided city. We are a city that pretty much agrees on the direction of El Paso. The results of the proposition measures show that pretty clearly. And thats exactly why the mayoral election is going to be one giant snoozer. Come back in May and read this blog post again and you'll see I'm right about this one. City Rep Steve Ortega will be the next mayor of El Paso. Make no mistake about that. There is no one even remotely poised to be a credible challenger. Steve Ortega is exactly what El Paso voters love in a candidate. He's young, smart, dynamic, and progressive. Take a look at nearly all of the races in town and really in the county for that matter over the last few years and you will see what I mean. I've made the point over and over that given the chance, El Pasoans will choose the younger and more progressive candidate. I'm sure there will be an effort to make someone...

Welcome to El Paso. You'll find we are a very warm and welcoming city...to those that deserve it. But for those that smack talk about our little town, well you can kiss our collective nalgas. I'm an El Pasoan by choice, that is to say I wasn't born here but I am an El Pasoan just the same. We are no LA, that is to be sure. But lets face it, almost every Latino in LA probably has family in EP. There is a character about this city. We do our share of fighting with one another, but nothing brings people from Chucotown together like some idiot talking smack about our home town. Just ask the last guy from Oklahoma how that worked out for him. And lets be honest, you have to be certa-effin-fiable to be from Oklahoma and have the nerve to bad mouth El Paso. You are going to find everyone in this town to be very friendly. Unlike the cesspool of humanity that is the LA area, we still say Buenos Dias when we see strangers, we stand up for seniors on the bus, and we hold the door open...

On behalf of the entire staff here at The LionStar Blog, (which is just me) I'd like to extend my warmest wishes to you and your families during this holiday season. I am grateful to have had such a large and devoted base of readers over the years and for that I am truly appreciative. May all of you, even my haters, have a blessed and Merry Christmas. Feliz navidad!

A frequent reader of The LionStar Blog in Socorro reminded me of something the other day. I mentioned the sudden resignation of Trini Lopez as mayor of Socorro as one of the top political stories of 2012. My reader reminded me to ask what what is going to happen to replace former mayor Lopez? I haven't heard a peep as to what the process is going to be to replace him. Are they going to have a special election to replace him as the mayor of Socorro? If so when and what is the process going to be like? And frankly it wouldn't surprise me if some old names popped up yet again. When and if there is another election for mayor down in Socorro I assure you that you will see the same old names recycled again. My only hope is that some good candidates jump in the race. Socorro is in need of good, strong, ethical, and progressive leadership.

My buddy Jose Landeros and I were sittin' around shootin' the breeze, which means drinking beer, and we got in to a conversation about what we would do if the Maya are right about the world ending. (Yes I know, thats not really what the calendar says, don't be a douche. Just go with it...) So we compiled a list of people we'd like to shoot the breeze with before the Mayan-Zombie-Pole-reversal-Planet-X-Solar-Flare-Apocalypse. See if you can figure who picked each item. People We'd Like to "Shoot the Breeze With" All living presidents. So we can tell them where they went wrong. And cuz, lets be honest, who doesn't wanna have a night on the town with Bill Clinton? Ron Paul & Arch Bishop/Duke/Jedi Knight Tom Brown - see we can tell both of them how silly and irrelevant they are. Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards - Because we both like Top Gun. I want them to help me sing "You've Lost that Loving Feeling" to Estela Casas. Jose wants to buzz t...

So my friend Jackie ripped me a new one for "poor fact finding" on the District 2 Candidate Larry Romero. I usually am the one that whacks people around here, but she thumped me pretty good so I have to take it like a man. She posted a comment on the last piece I wrote about Romero but since she whacked me pretty good on getting facts wrong, I thought it deserved its own post. He's her uncle and if someone got facts wrong about my uncle, I'd correct them to. So here it is: He was a big part of the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and has relatively well rounded connections with our current representatives in El Paso. He used to work at the City in the Economic Development office, before he left to become a small business owner, not a bookkeeper. As a matter of fact, he doesn't even provide bookkeeping services. He previously ran for the El Paso Community College Board of Trustees when he came back from his position with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, s...

Okay so apparently every school in West Texas is closing early, increasing security, or taking some other over-reaching ineffective steps to prevent some act from happening at our area schools. Nothing is going to happen. Not even teenagers are stupid enough to post a warning on FB that they are going to do something like that. And teenagers are pretty stupid. Hell, they can't even organize a flash-mob without some help. Nothing, I repeat, nothing is going to happen. And the world is not going to end tomorrow. Although I am going to do a piece about stuff I want to do if the world was really going to end. But it isn't. And anyone who takes the word of a group of people who couldn't foresee their own demise needs their head examined. Relax people and have a cup of cheer.

I keep forgetting to write about this guy named Larry Romero. He's another candidate for District 2 and he is a book-keeper or something like that. From what I'm told he was previously going to run for the District 2 seat in the last go-around. For whatever reason he chose not to, which tells me he is at least a strategic thinker. Word on the street is that he has some money saved up for the bid and has the ability to raise more if necessary. I don't recall him ever running for anything before so there is going to be a steep campaign learning curve. Not sure if he has a campaign manager yet either. He's an older guy and has some ground to make up in terms of name ID and a platform but having money is a good equalizer.

City Representative Susie Byrd has thrown her support behind a candidate in the race to replace her in City Rep District 2. In a text message sent to me earlier this afternoon, Byrd said "I'm 100% behind Jim Tolbert. He's been a great neighborhood leader and advocate for smart growth." This is exactly the sort of thing that Tolbert needed to be competitive in this race. If he ends up getting some money as well, then I think Yanez and Apodaca need to start worrying because he's from the same neighborhood that has owned that seat for nearly a decade. The public sign that she's behind Tolbert changes the tone of this race greatly. This means if you aren't in the race yet, you should probably sit this one out.

Its been yet another wild and crazy political ride in El Paso this year. And yet again, we've had our share of scandal, laughs, sadness, and every once in a while, some good news. I compiled a list of what I think are the top political stories of the year. I was going to rank them but its hard to figure out a way to rank which ones were more important than others. Some are obvious but others make it difficult to distinguish which is more impactful than the other. So here they are, in no particular order. Changing of the Guard Beto Beats Reyes - This is one of the obvious ones. The first Chicano congressman to represent El Paso was defeated by a young, dynamic politico from a rival faction. Congressman Reyes had the sitting President and the most popular Democrat this side of JFK endorse him and he still lost. For the first time in a decade and a half, El Paso has a new rep in congress. That makes the story a big deal. Vince Beats Chent e - There have only been three people represe...

Word around the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's mercado last night was that current El Paso Community College Trustee Nico Dominguez is considering running for the District 7 seat. The seat is currently held by City Rep Steve Ortega who is termed-out and is making a bid for Mayor of El Paso. Obviously this is still unconfirmed but my source indicates that Dominguez is already trying to line up someone to replace him on the board of trustees. Dominguez is a long-shot at best and I'm sure my buddy David K is going to have a field day with that race. Dominguez, a long-time friend and political ally of the Gandara family, most recently went to the sentencing of Willie Gandara, Jr to speak on behalf of Gandara. Gandara was being sentenced for drug trafficking. That's gonna look really great on a mailer. God I love El Paso politics!

Okay so let me clarify some points in the race to replace current City Rep Susie Byrd on city council. I've been hearing from people asking me about what, if any, collaboration there is between Susie Byrd and Precinct 2 candidate Mike Apodaca. I'll make this plain. There is none. Do I think Byrd is going to back someone, absolutely. Any smart elected official will want to get someone in that they feel will pick up where they left off. I think this might have started was because of the back and forth between Byrd and another District 2 candidate Getsemani Yanez. Byrd's comments challenging Yanez's community involvement clearly got under his skin. I guess people then interpreted that as support for Apodaca. Because other politicians would typically support ANYONE running against a political rival doesn't mean that they are all that way. As of now, the big candidates in the race are Apodaca and Yanez. Tolbert is there in the second tier, and the rest are pretty much al...

Unless there's an emergency meeting, today was the last meeting of Commissioner's Court for Commissioner's Anna Perez and Tania Chozet. They were given some caricature portraits today during the meeting. Didn't get a photo though, sorry. As penance I have included this picture of Commissioner Perez's husband Art Fierro when he played football for Burges High School. I'm told he was one half of their very own Pony Express. Commissioner Perez is now heading to the bench to serve as a judge. She was first elected to Commissioner's Court in 2008. Also, another fun fact...the first blog I ever wrote here on The LionStar Blog was about the Precinct 1 race, ultimately won by Commissioner Perez. Commissioner Perez will be followed by Commissioner-Elect Carlos Leon and Commissioner Chozet will be replaced by Commissioner-Elect Vince Perez.

Lets start with some realities. From day one of this scandal, the school board didn't act boldly or quickly enough. Maybe it was the shock of what was coming out despite the fact that the very organization that appointed a Board of Management failed EPISD twice by giving them a clean bill of health, or maybe it was an over-abundance of caution and wanting to be deliberative in their actions. It could have been a lot of things, but lets all acknowledge one important fact. The EPISD school board messed up. Reality Check Lets also acknowledge that the EPISD Trustees SHOULD have apologized. It was only out of pure arrogance that it wasn't done. I'm looking at you David Dodge. I don't care if you are a Master Trustee, you should master the art of acknowledging a mistake then then work like hell to fix it. None of that was done. They started taking decisive action later, far in advance of the Education Commissioner's appointment. But the reality is this - the EPISD Boar...

Okay, this is one of those pieces I've waited to write until I was certain I was gonna wind down the L*B. There's just some things I've always wanted to say about El Paso and people in it that I have never said. I need to get them off my chest. Before you go on. Don't take this too serious or get your panties in a wad about anything posted here. Its just my opinion. You have your own, and I respect your right to be wrong if you disagree with me. The Mighty Eastside is the best part of El Paso to live in. That's probably why its the major population center. I know its not the hipster part of town or the hoity-toity Kern Place or the all-powerful Westside, but it really is best part of town to live in. The Valley is better than the Westside. The people are just nicer and more down to earth. Am I making a generalization? Yes. In general I like people from the valley much more from the Westside. I think the media and policy makers are too centric on the Westsi...

The guy that committed that horrible act in Connecticut today. Not a single parent that dropped off their kid at school today imagined something like this would happen. You expect your children to be safe at school. Its horrible.

One of the most interesting quotes in the email exchange between Joyce Wilson and City Rep Ortega is the line where Ortega says, "I agree with you, this was a campaign ploy in which the Mayor was complicit in assisting." He was referring to an event with the Congressman and the Mayor to reduce border wait times. You can read more at KVIA (for some reason I think they are the only English language media outlet that has covered this story). Too bad Ortega hasn't given up his moral high ground on this one too. You could look at a lot of the city council agenda items during the campaign or leading up to it, that were pretty clearly, in my opinion, campaign ploys in which multiple members of city council, including Ortega, were complicit in assisting. I wrote about it back then. Just saying...what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Whatever the hell a gander is...

I've written about the fact that Wilson's emails were inappropriate and what action I think city council should've taken in a previous post. They gave her an improvement plan. Whatever that means. But before the next round of people (myself included) start calling for her political head on a platter, we should consider something. If any one of us had an open records request for our emails, if we were ever in such a position, I'm sure they'd find a lot of embarrassing stuff. Admit it, we've all done it at some point. We've all said something bad about a boss, coworker, family member, friend, ex, or current squeeze. We do so because we assume there is a level of privacy. There isn't. But honestly you've said something you wish you hadn't. You've probably forwarded a chain email, saved a few naughty pictures (don't lie, you know you have. Ladies included), passed along an inappropriate joke, or done something you'd otherwise be pretty em...

Representative-Elect Mary Gonzalez will hold a meet and greet event to introduce her staff to the constituents in House District 75. The event will be December 19th from 5-6:30 at the Cotton Eye'd Joe's Restaurant in Clint, Texas. Gonzalez says the event is so that the community can put faces to names of the new staff for the district. The district was previously represented by Chente Quintanilla for a long time so having a chance for the people to meet the new staff will be important. I know one of her hires, Arlina Palacios. She's originally from the Fabens area and is a great community advocate. Good hire. The address is 1591 N. FM 1110 Road, Clint, Texas. I-10 east to the Clint Cut-off. It'll be on your right hand side of the highway across from Mammacita's.

Since we're all in the spirit of being mindful of government expenditures with all this talk of a fiscal cliff lately, it got me to wondering something. Are our out-going state reps still using travel and per diem? Thats money they are entitled to collect from tax payers as part of their duties as state representative. I think they are allowed X number of days per month when the legislature is not in session. I'd be interested to know if they are still conducting business, what is the nature of that business, and if they are still collecting travel and per diem.

Let me make yet another boxing analogy with politics if I may. In their back and forth matches, State Representative-Elect Moody has now defeated Representative Dee Margo in two of their three match-ups. When you combine that with his previous senate run, Representative Margo has now lost 3 out of the 4 campaigns he's been in. With that kind of record in boxing, most analysts and promoters would be telling a fighters team, its time to hang'em up. But like most fighters, they don't listen. Actually a fighter is the last to know when his career is down. They are the last to realize that they aren't as quick as they used to be. They get caught with shots they didn't used to get caught with. They cut a little easier. Its harder to make weight. They tire earlier in the fight and their legs are gone. Pick your fighter and they all have pretty much made the same mistake. They hung around too long. Ali, Foreman, Chavez, De La Hoya, Jones, Leonard, Hearns, Tyson, Carbajal, a...

Name: Michael Apodaca Hometown: El Paso Education (Please include elementary, middle, high school, and post -secondary education):   Rusk Elementary, Bassett Middle, Austin High School, University of Texas El Paso 2007 BA Military Service (Please indicate branch, years of service, rank achieved, and military occupational specialty): None. Occupation: Small-business owner Professional Experience: business owner, Consultant Community Involvement:   2009-2012 – Organizing for America 2002-2006 – Precinct Chair, El Paso Democratic Party 2004-2010 – State Democratic Executive Committee 2012 – Texas Democratic Party State Treasurer 2005-2007 - Texas Young Democrats President 2012 – EPISD Redistricting Committee Chair 2000-2002 – Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Though it’s a non-partisan race, please indicate your general political persuasion: Democratic What are your priority issues for the district?: Our district, like our city, is in a period of a Renaissance. Yes, our parks an...

While most of the people who won elections in November take office in January, Judge Luis Aguilar will likely take office sooner than that date. Its a unique situation because Aguilar's seat was the unexpired term of another judge who still had a couple years left on his term. Governor Rick Perry appointed Judge Bill Hicks to fill the position and according the the Texas Constitution, the appointed judge serves until the next general election, which is why the office was on the ballot in this election cycle, this election cycle being the next general election. So since the election took place on November the 6th, it appears that Aguilar was able to take over the seat on the bench following the states' official canvassing of the vote. That is typically held 30 days after the election. Which would be today. Its still unconfirmed but it appears that Aguilar is required to take office today under the Texas Constitution. The seat will be up in again in two years in accordance with i...

Cesar Blanco, who was at one point the campaign manager for Ciro Rodriguez when he ran against Quico Canseco in 2010, has been tapped to be the Chief of Staff for Congressman-Elect Pete Gallego. Blanco has also been Ciro Rodriguez's Chief of Staff and District Director. Blanco is a native of El Paso, Texas. Rodriguez and Gallego faced off in a tough Democratic primary that had Gallego pretty far behind going in to the run-off. Gallego ultimately pulled out a win in the primary and general elections to win the 23rd Congressional District which extends from El Paso to San Antonio. “I’m excited to have Cesar on board,” said Congressman-elect Pete Gallego. “He doesn't need a learning curve. He brings experience and a deep familiarity to this job. He understands the unique makeup of the district, knows the people, has managed a Congressional office, and knows the key players. All these things benefit the constituents of District 23. He will be an exceptional public servant.” “I...

Word around the LionStar water cooler is that Alejandro Lozano is going to run for City Representative in District 3...again. I guess the massive ass whoopin' he took from Emma Acosta last time wasn't bad enough and he wants some more. Let me take this time to remind you readers that Acosta ended up with 70% of the vote last election. She waxed him. I guess now that Betti Flores has pleaded guilty and he's a Republican now, he must think he's somehow going to do better this time? Uh, no. He's going to get beat even worse. Why? Because Flores pleaded guilty and he's a Republican now! Lozano has been one of the anti-stadium people. Well its not like Acosta has been pro-stadium, so I don't know what his angle is. But, it doesn't matter. He's not going to win anyway. It just sucks that David K is going to have all the fun by himself with Lozano in the race. I had such fun last time. Memmer that interview when he called Hillary Clinton a bad name in Spani...

Real quick, I just remembered on more thing to add for the candidates. Understand that you are running for city council. Media isn't going to cover your campaign announcement. Its not really that big of a deal when you announce and thats why they don't care. Maybe if you're a compelling candidate for mayor or something then you'll get coverage, but odds are you won't get anyone to show up. The people that are able to get media to show up do so because there is something compelling about their candidacy or the circumstances and thats why media shows up. Being a weirdo isn't enough. Hell, I rarely cover a campaign announcement anymore. So don't get your feelings hurt if media doesn't show up. BTW, some quick numbers that I found interesting about my blog. I've had over well over 1.67 million page views on this version of the L*B. This is my third version of it and I didn't track the others so I don't really know how many I have total. I've ...

Consider this a freebie from your friendly neighborhood LionStar (with apologies to Spiderman for jackin' his line). I've been watching several of the campaigns flounder around for a while like a fish that just got yanked in to the boat. I feel bad for you so let me help you out with a few things. I realize that city council races are like amateur hour around here. Think about it, its where the weirdos usually get their start...before they decide they want to be weirdos and run for Congress. So its like the Triple A of politics. You get to see them before they get an actual audience and embarrass themselves and El Paso on a bigger stage. But seriously, can you people at least try to act like a real campaign? Oh, and while I'm ranting, media people, please stop calling the anti-baseball people "grass roots". They aren't. Grassroots is a compliment and it implies organization and effectiveness. Neither of which they are. Sorry for going off on a tangent. Here ar...

David K wrote a piece on Refuse the Juice that hits the nail on the head about the ballot initiative meant to "save city hall". There's nothing I can really add to what he wrote so why bother. Go read it if you haven't. But I do have some comments for the Save City Hall People. For God's sake, take the hint...you lost. It was a fair vote. There was no conspiracy. El Pasoans, by HUGE margins voted in favor of the propositions. Its a freakin' mandate. They want baseball and they want it downtown. The stadium discussion, from day one, has always been about a downtown location. No other site has been floated around by the city. Its been about downtown from the start. The fact that there is likely to be a dug-out near the current spot where city reps actually cast votes has also been discussed from day one. I know in that little echochamber most of you exist in you think you are some sort of heroes but you aren't. You're about to waste tax-payer money on y...

Here is a statement from Armando Rodriguez of the CISD. CANUTILLO, TEXAS (December 3, 2012) – Canutillo Independent School District Board President Armando Rodriguez issued the following statement: “The Canutillo Independent School District has received preliminary information from its legal counsel and internal auditor staff regarding certain matters. We expect an audit report on those issues to be completed and presented to the Board on Thursday The agenda posted tonight is written in a manner that will allow the Board to act accordingly if it is determined action is necessary. Until that time, I cannot comment any further on this matter.” ANALYSIS - Sounds like someone's losing their job.

If you haven't seen the back and forth between the two, look further down on my blog to get yourself caught up. Getsemani Yanez felt it necessary to respond to Rep Byrd, so here is what he sent me: It is unfortunate that Representative Byrd has chosen to attack my candidacy due to differences in political opinion.  The facts still stand; Representative Byrd appointed me to City boards on three separate occasions. I admittedly missed a significant amount of meetings this past year due to conflicting schedules with my company’s client needs and my Master’s courses at UTEP – a major reason for having resigned.  However, I have not been removed from any civic organization; that is a lie.  In regards to her statement suggesting I padded my resume, I can only thank her for tapping me for these positions.  The knowledge and understanding I gained, thanks to her appointments, has given me a better understanding of the needs that exist in our community. Wh...

I have some blurbs that are too short for their own piece and are about separate races so I thought I would just transfer them from my notebook to one post. There's been some buzz over the weekend about District 7 kicking up. I wrote about one person earlier today and am still trying to confirm, but here's a little blast from the past. Turns out there's talk of former district 7 City Rep Vivian Rojas joining the ranks of candidates for district 7. If you need a quick refresher, she was the incumbent that was defeated by City Rep Steve Ortega several years ago. Apparently she has asked for the support of Ray Graham of the Eastside Civic Association and sources indicate that he announced his support for her candidacy at a recent meeting. Sticking with District 7, I've been getting quite a few questions, emails, and text messages about the other candidates in the race. Yes, I am aware of the fact that Todd Miller mentioned pay raises for teachers as one of his first act...