From My Notebook: City Council Race Tidbits

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 acts as City Rep. Yes, I am aware that as a city rep, he has ZERO to do with education in El Paso. I don't know if he knows that, but he has never been a candidate before so it may take a while for him to get his footing. Relax people, he's not the first candidate for city rep that has said they would do something about education. 

Luis Leon is another candidate that has filed for a treasurer at the city for District 7. I tried to reach him but had no luck. What I was able to find out about him in terms of a bio is that he's 76 years old and is classified by Texas VAN as a "Hard Republican". Meaning he consistently votes Republican based on his voting history. I heard he worked with maquilas as well but that is unconfirmed. I'll get more info and post it.

I communicated with Jaime O. Perez about a possible bid for District 7 since he's previously been connected to candidates for the seat and he indicated that he is "considering the possibility" of a bid. I'm pretty sure we won't hear one way or the other from Perez until we are closer to the election, perhaps February. 

Moving over to District 2 again, sources indicate that Yamil Chehenne is considering another stab at the District 2 seat. As you know he ran previously and was pretty soundly defeated. That was Byrd's last election and she received more than 60% of the vote, which is a thumping in an election. If he runs again, he needs to start much earlier than he did last time. Its a crowded field in District 2 already and money and resources are going to be hard to come by. Not to mention that he shouldn't assume that he's got the same percentage of the vote he had last time in the bank.