Bertha Gallardo Consultant Denies Ties to Carlos Sierra

Victor Contreras

Bertha Gallardo campaign consultant Victor Contreras flatly denied any connections between himself or Bertha Gallardo's campaign to another campaign consultant, Carlos Sierra.

Questions arose last week when David K wrote a blind piece about a District 1 candidate Bertha Gallardo hiring "the DWI/child molester consultant from Arizona". Frankly, that rumor started long ago when Gallardo first filed to run for office. 

"That is a completely baseless claim. I don't know where that is coming from but it is obviously untrue...I haven't talked to him in months", replied Contreras when reached by phone last week.

Contreras confirmed that he is consulting with Gallardo, candidate for El Paso city council District 1, but denied any involvement with Carlos Sierra.

The rumor needed to be cleared up because Contreras and Sierra are two different people. According to an article in the El Paso Times, Contreras and Sierra worked together as Sierra Public Affairs on several campaigns in the past for Mayor Leeser, City Reps Lily Limon and Carl Robinson, and former County Judge Candidate Aliana Apodaca. 

Sierra is facing legal issues dealing with felony DUI in Arizona and a charge of indecency with a child here in El Paso. However that case has not been adjudicated yet and there has been no finding of guilt. Anyone can be accused of something and we presume innocence unless and until guilt is proven. That's our system. So its inaccurate and unfair to refer to Sierra as a "child molester" unless he is later found to be guilty.

Contreras is not facing any legal charges at all. Sierra is from El Paso, not from Phoenix. He did work in Phoenix, but he is in fact from El Paso. Contreras is actually from Phoenix and is doing work here in El Paso. Contreras and I grew up in the same part of South Phoenix though he's several years younger that I. 

I also checked with Carlos Sierra to see if he was consulting with Gallardo and he indicated that he was not in this exchange on Twitter:

As you can see, Sierra not only indicated that he wasn't working with Gallardo, he indicated that he is not involved with any campaigns at this time. 

This rumor was a case of mistaken identity.

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Now, let me tell you why that rumor was going around in the first place and why it had legs. People in political circles (I among them) wondered who was going to work on Gallardo's campaign because she seemed to be a formidable candidate that was getting in the race at the last minute. Since there are only a few people in town that actually know how to run a campaign (there are plenty that say they do), everyone wondered who she has getting. 

This article I mentioned earlier in the El Paso Times linked Contreras and Sierra together. In the article Sierra, when questioned about the future, says "I'm not going to disappear."

The article also later says that he had a list of elected officials that he wanted to put out of office including County Judge Veronica Escobar, County Commissioner Vince Perez, and City Representative Emma Acosta. 

The parting quote from Sierra in that article says, "I'm not done with El Paso politics...there's a lot more to be done."'

Its likely due to the success the duo had racking up three victories that have caused people to pay attention to them and account for them in their own individual campaign efforts. Since they worked on those three campaigns together before taking a beat down in the County Judge's race, people will likely connect the two for quite some time. 

But think about it, don't you have friends that you used to have that you don't speak to anymore? 

QUICK SIDEBAR: I missed this back then, but the article says that Mayor Leeser paid Sierra $26,000 just to do social media for his campaign. That is either complete bovine excrement or the worst business move in the history of bad spending. I have a tough time believing that a candidate that has over 20 years of honing his image in advertising would not know that spending $26,000 to someone to only do their social media is absurd. You gotta be kidding me Mayor. I think that was near my annual salary when I first joined the Army. Actually, its probably more than I made annually as a soldier. 

Probably the biggest reason that this rumor had such legs is likely because of Sierra's quotes. He essentially pulls a Terminator saying I'll be back! So that has caused people to be on the look-out. 

Sierra was likely just giving an emotional response to an event that happened that was really stressful for him. Fight or flight instincts kick in when your back is against the wall. Political types are the type that fight, so those quotes in the paper where likely emotionally fueled. 

The bottom line here is that Victor Contreras who at one point was working with Carlos Sierra but is no longer doing so, is working for Bertha Gallardo's campaign, not Carlos Sierra.