Yanez Civic Participation Questioned by City Rep Byrd

Lets face it, the action in the May 2013 municipal elections is going to be in the districts with open seats, which are districts 2 and 7, currently held by termed-out Reps Byrd and Ortega.

Districts 3 and 4 are up for election but City Reps Acosta and Robinson seem to be in the drivers' seats for re-election barring any major campaign malfunction. I should note, that I don't know if Rep Acosta is ruling out a bid for mayor but since I haven't heard about it yet, I assume its not going to happen. Plus she still has another term left, so if there's an Acosta bid, it probably won't be until the next election.

City Rep Byrd has called in to question some of the information that was on District 2 candidate Getsemani Yanez's bio previously posted on The LionStar Blog. Byrd alleges that much of his participation in the organizations listed was to "pad his political resume". She alleges that nothing has really come of his participation in any of the organizations listed. 

Rep Byrd also indicated that he was either removed, resigned from, or participated very little in the organizations. 

If you recall, Yanez and Byrd were initially both supporters of Beto O'Rourke before Yanez switched sides and left the campaign to work with Two Ton for Congressman Reyes' campaign. Two Ton had previously worked for both O'Rourke and Byrd's campaigns prior to them switching sides and going with another firm for the congressional election earlier this year. 

Yanez indicated that he had in fact resigned from two of the organizations listed but indicated that the reason he resigned from the Greater El Paso Civic, Convention, and Tourism Advisory Board is because City Representative Byrd was trying to have him removed from the board. Yanez stated, "Susie was trying to get me off."

"Because he wasn't attending" Byrd replied when asked if she was trying to remove Yanez from the board. 

Yanez says he has letters of resignation from the boards he has left and indicated that he felt it was inappropriate to sit on some of the boards after he was an announced candidate for the District 2 seat that is being vacated by Representative Byrd. Byrd has not indicated who, if anyone, she is supporting in the election to replace her on city council.