El Paso Politics

AFSCME released their municipal endorsements. Two of them are for people that AFSCME spokesman Hector Montes has been publicly critical of. Awkward. Montes hasn't been that emasculated since the last time he was on a date, which I imagine was circa 1987. The member of council Montes talks the most crap about is Rep Niland. When she wins, it's going to be really awkward for the Union considering the position Montes' mouth has put them in. In previous elections in which Montes was with the Union, the endorsements were much more advertised. I really haven't heard much about this one. Gee, I wonder why? But knowing how duplicitous Montes is, I'm willing to bet he will probably send an email claiming to have supported their nomination even though he's spent so much time trashing them. Eat it Hector. Eat it all. Swallow all that crow. Does it taste good? Maybe you should try washing it down with some "Why any candidate would think its a good idea to associate wit...

Josh Dagda's campaign released a campaign video recently and it drew a response video from people calling themselves the El Paso Swim Community. I'll get to that video in a minute, but let me cover Dagda's video real quick. I thought the message of the video was effective. Way too little, way too late, but I thought it was an effective message. Sure, the part with him on camera is so cheesy it makes lawyer commercials look good, and yes, Dagda should get a suit that fits him properly. And yes, I would've had someone else narrate the video because the way he speaks is distracting. (I'm using the "San Jacinto Plaza" as a ringtone on my phone). And more than one person has said that after they saw the commercial they thought Dagda looks like Ellen and talks like Borat. But the video is effective because of the message. DK has a piece on his blog where he goes through the substance of the accuracy of his message, but its still effective. And now there is a res...

During the Eastside Democrats Forum the other night I took the opportunity to ask incumbent Trustee Belen Robles about EPCC President William Serrata appearing in campaign literature in support of a candidate for city council in District 1, Bertha Gallardo. He's the main administrator for the college so it would be like a school district superintendent or a city manager endorsing a candidate.  Robles said she was aware that it had happened and raised the issue. She indicated that President Serrata was unaware how his quote was going to be used. She further indicate that endorsements or appearing in campaign literature would not happen in the future.  Here's part of the campaign literature in question: I don't know if I think Serrata is completely off the hook though. Just because he pulled a Pontius Pilot and washed his hands of the whole thing by saying he didn't know Gallardo was going to use it along with his photo in a campaign piece, doesn't let him off the hoo...

Hector Montes, the AFSCME Communications Director, is a huge liability to the union and today is a text book example of why. Montes is very often critical of elected leaders in El Paso. That's fine as an individual but when you're the spokes person for a union you have to recognize the basic premise that often people don't know how to distinguish his views from those of the Union.  And I assure you, he's personally critical of the leaders. He has called elected leaders at both the city and county (the C and M of AFSCME) "incompetent" "chismosa" and far worse. How does one distinguish between Hector's comments and those of the Union?  Here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about. This is just a tame example of his criticisms of electeds, in this case Rep Acosta. Is this Hector Montes talking, or Hector Montes on behalf of AFSCME talking? As you can see in the second post, less than 24 hours prior, it's hard to distinguish the dif...

If you're poll sitting then you know that code compliance came by to talk about signs. Apparently the rule is that you can't have anything that sticks in the ground like wooden stakes and "H" frames. That's funny when you consider this: The City has to get their stuff together. The election department's own signs violate the sign ordinance. There's no common sense in this one. Get it together people.

This blog involves Eddie Holguin's daddy, so stuck around. There are few things in El Paso politics more fun than watching crazy happen at the polling places during early voting. All those people emotionally invested in campaigns, the heat or wind beating down on you, and spending all day out there with the opposition can get you more tense than Hector Montes around a comb. So it's no surprise that there's always drama at the polls.  The Valley is the undisputed title holder of early voting crazy. Carolina, Pavo Real, and Fabens (when it's an EV location) are the epicenter of crazy during elections.  Which is why I freakin' love it. It's a bloggers paradise.  But...the westside is making a play to topple the king. I include downtown in the westside. Anything west of Basset center is a wasteland of ugly neighborhoods and douchey restaurants. Apparently there was an altercation involving the spouse of one candidate wielding a hammer and the campaign manager from a...

I've decided I'm no longer turning the cheek when people talk about me. You wanna talk about me, expect to be held to account. So Hector Montes...I've got plenty of candy for you. Oh wait, I've seen your dental hygiene, maybe you shouldn't eat candy and pick up a tooth brush every once in a while there Chompers. Anywho, my sides are still hurting from laughing at Paredes for having a Niland Google ad on his blog.  Don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, but her shall this day forth no longer be known as Martin Paredes. He shall now have to drink his own medicine he dishes out to others. He shall hence forth be called, Fallas Paredes.

There are a lot of slick mail pieces being done by school board candidates in this cycle. Rather, there are a lot of slick mail pieces done by a firm that represents a lot of school board candidates in this cycle. More on that later. But lets talk about a specific mailer that I saw yesterday. I almost fell out of my chair when I read it because the candidate, Deby Lewis, talks about "transparency with regard to all financial matters". Apparently Lewis means all financial matters as long as they don't involve members of the Board of Trustees. Don't believe me? See for yourself. Here's the mailer in question. Lewis voted to spend $50,000 on lawyers to fight Rep Marquez's transparency bill. That bill would require board members and candidates to follow the same rules every other candidate in the county has to follow. They have to disclose who their financial backers are. Lewis raised a big chunk of change for this school board race and we'd never know it if i...

Assumptions are a terrible thing to make because they always bite people in the ass. Just because someone advertises on my blog doesn't mean I am behind their campaign, although I sort of appreciate all the perceived power people give me. That and $5 will buy someone a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Before I get into what DK is wrong about, let me talk about what he is right about. He is right about the fact that for the most part the opposition candidates are terrible. They don't know issues, repeat lines given to them by JOP or STA or the Mayor of Munchkin Land Hector Montes. David K is also right that if they had better candidates then things would be very different. All the incumbents are going to be re-elected. The question is by how much. Now to what he got wrong. I'm not one of Svarzbein's "top advisers". That's a very douchey Hector H. Lopez thing to have, a bunch of "advisers". If I was, I would've told him to whack his opponents a long...

Martin Paredes showed why I don't do Google Ads on my blog. You have limited control over what ads show up. He gives lip service to being "objective" but he's been pretty anti-Niland for a long time.  Which is why I found this screen shot a buddy sent to me so hilarious. Pretty damn funny. 

I rarely comment on the endorsements of the El Paso Times Editorial Board because they usually get it right.  This isn't one of those times. I think the paper made a terrible endorsement in the case of the YISD Trustee candidate in the Bel Air area.  I cannot understand the rational for the El Paso Times to endorse Mary First Perales. By every measure she is the wrong candidate.  Perales only has a GED. Look I'm a vato that never went to college so I know that having an education doesn't make you a better candidate all by itself. But if you're going for a position having to do with public education, you'd think at least graduating from high school is important. Not to mention the fact that there are major financial issues facing YISD. You'd think the Times would understand that having a solid grasp of the complexities of a multi-million dollar budget is important.  You'd think that would be more important than having lived in Ranchland a long time. And don...

So Paredes said there were no findings by the feds or the state on Dame La Mano. I was able to acquire a copy of a letter sent to Rosa Cabrera (Arellano) from the state about findings. There were some pretty serious ones as you can see in this document. Keep in mind, they were no longer allowed to feed women and children in the food program. Keep that in perspective. But some of the findings include the way tax payer funds were mishandled by the organization including expenses for using the funds for paying Cabrera's (Arellano's) salary, utility bills, remodeling to the building and payments on vehicles. That was more than $63,000. They are characterized in the document as "Serious Deficiencies". Don't take my word for it (and certainly not Paredes'), read the document for yourself.

A couple weeks ago I wrote how Forma had a contract with District 1 candidate Peter Svarzbein and then all of a sudden they were working with his opponent, Al Weisenberger. In probably the most gacho move I've seen in local politics in recent memory, Forma apparently did a piece of mail for Al Weisenberger that landed yesterday. I have to begrudgingly admit, its a pretty good piece. While everyone else is engaged in a contest over who can cram the most text on to a piece of mail as is humanly possible, Forma did an effective design with a message that works and has a clean layout. It very clearly takes a shot at Svarzbein who Forma is rightfully looking at as Weisenberger's chief rival. They went from being Team Pedro to being All About Al in the same campaign. Then they send out mail that is pretty clearly aimed at their former client, now rival, Peter Svarzbein. That's gacho. And ultimately bad for business. Candidates might think twice about hiring a firm that represente...

Martin Paredes wrote another "candidate profile" and this time it was about Rosa Cabrera (Arellano). After being sent the piece and reading it there are only two conclusions one can draw. He's either extremely stupid, or he's deliberately spreading misinformation.  Either are plausible so it's tough to tell which. After discussion some of Cabrera's (Arellano's) problems with Dame La Mano, the Flying Monkey triumphantly proclaims: "No wrongdoing by either Dame La Mano or Rosa Cabrera has been found by the federal and state investigators." That is completely inaccurate. For a guy that spends so much time writing about what I write, it amazes me that he overlooks the fact that the state kicked them off of the food program. So I'm "connecting the dots" and conclude he's deliberately spreading misinformation because he must be part of her campaign. The truth is that there were findings by the state. The state took away funding for th...

While I have been critical of the Tornillo ISD Superintendent Dr. Jeannie Meza-Chavez previously, I have to acknowledge her work during the Tornillo water outage. She made the right call be keeping the schools open. She hustled logistics to get food and water at the schools for the kids. Props to the neighboring districts that helped out too. Most of you don't realize it's a pretty big crisis down in Tornillo right now and it's all hands on deck.  Well almost all hands. State Rep Mary Gonzalez has been noticeably absent and community members have commented on it. Commissioner Perez's office and others have coordinated efforts including the Office of Emergency Management, the El Paso Water Utility, the Secretary of State's Office and the Red Cross. Local businesses have stepped up to donate water and other essentials. This valley typically bands together when something bad happens so it's not a surprise. It's also not a surprise that Gonzalez is AWOL. No one ...

Former city rep Eddie Holguin's name and endorsement appears on campaign literature for a Libertarian left at homes this week. Holguin, once a prominent Democrat, has always been a close political of Jaime O. Perez who has been trying to lead a faction of Libertarians for years. The endorsement is interesting for a couple of reasons aside from the fact that he's a former city rep. It's the first time he's ever actually endorsed publicly a candidate over a Democrat. While the races are non-partisan, the endorsement isn't going to be well-received within the Party. Endorsing a Libertarian might as well be endorsing a Republican. In some ways it's even worse in the case of Mr. Pickett because he posted social media content with an anti-immigrant sentiment.  Holguin's spouse Iliana is also a prominent member of the Party, currently serving as the Secretary of the Executive Committee. She's also a prominent immigration lawyer. It's interesting to note tha...

About a month or so ago I submitted an open records request with the city. I was following up a tip I received about a possible connection between the business owned by City Rep Cortney Niland's husband and lighting contracts with the City of El Paso. It has been a whisper campaign going around for a while. So I decided to look into the facts to find out if there was anything to it. The whispers have been getting louder since her opponent Josh Dagda sent out a mail piece that said, "No more cronyism, no more nepotism, no more corruption, and no more secrets". There are no specific allegations alleged in the piece of mail that was sent to voters. Probably because if Dagda knew of a specific instance of corruption he'd have to report it to law enforcement and because nepotism is a word thrown around a lot but few people understand that its a specific legal term. Here's what my request asked for: I am requesting information about the winner of the contract awards for...

Never let it be said that your ol' pal LionStar doesn't take critiques. I most certainly do and I as given a very fair critique by one of my frequent readers and commentors, "Manny". Manny made the very fair point that I have only focused on Pickett's extremists positions and not his platform. Manny is right. There is more to Pickett than race-baiting social media posts, preparing for revolution, and joining militias. There is also his platform. His platform is very similar to the rest of that slate of candidates (Rosa Cabrera, Manny Hinojosa, and Josh Dagda). You know the Jaime O. Perez / Hector Montes / Stephanie Townsend Allala candidates. First let me explain why I call them that. Their platforms are all basically that Republican-themed playbook of Jaime O. Perez. He digs it up every election and feeds it to his candidates. Now some of them have sprinkled in a little "transparency" from Stephanie Townsend-Allala and Hector Montes. They all have one o...

Where are all the "Hispanic" activists like Abel Rodriguez, Hector Montes, Martin Paredes, and all the other people that shat a brick about me being on the Hispanic Cultural Committee on this one? Where is the outrage? This is something posted by a white guy running in the valley. What's that I hear? The deafening sound of crickets. Yet you're the first lobsters in line.

Here's some quick hits on several things that aren't enough to be their own posts. It's 4/20 - Where da weed at? Today is a stoner holiday and for whatever reason the local media has pretty much ignored State Rep Joe Moody's weed bill. Not sure why but it's an important bill and actually has some bipartisan support. Sure it's a long-shot to pass but nearly other major paper in Texas has mentioned it and the home town media haven't. They should. The Flying Monkey Sounds a Little Jealous... Martin Paredes, the shut-ins that comment on his blog, and the mayor of munchkinland Hector Montes all have their tangas in a wad over advertising on my blog. Ah should I call the waaaaa-mbulance for you little babies? Martin you're a big hypocrite. You've been trying to pimp out space on your blog forever. Sounds like you're pissed that you don't have anyone who wants to buy that space... That's what happens when you're the JV team... Open Records R...

The more I monitor social media and listen to the "opposition" candidates speak the more I can understand how otherwise smart and rational people can be pulled down their rabbit-hole of crazy. So I've heard all kinds of conspiracy theories about candidates and who they have to "answer to" and most of the time its just hilarious. I was inspired to create a list of the top conspiracies involving big shots around town. The Eagles Signing Tim Tebow  - Tebow is white. Some Philadelphia Eagle fans are white. Paul Foster is white. Coincidence? I think not. Tebow was clearly signed by the Philadelphia Eagles because it fits into Paul Foster's agenda. Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 - Clearly this was a plot launched by the MPO. They hate El Paso and made sure that movie was made and then released in El Paso just so they could show how much they want to ruin our lives. Because construction projects by themselves wasn't quite doing it. Daylight Savings Time - who else would...

So all the candidates that can afford to drop mail already have. Those that can afford multiple pieces of mail have already sent them and are ready to send more. Most of the mail I've seen, with the exception of just a couple candidates, suck.  You know which race where the mail sucks the most? District 1. It's like a shitty mailer contest and the loser wins apparently.  Here's what you need to understand. The westside voter isn't unique or different than voters anywhere else. I swear if I hear one more wanna-be say "that works on the westside" I'm gonna punch them. Long-winded pieces with a ton of text don't work. They don't get read. Anyone who tells you they do are lying, stupid, or both. Sending out ineffective mail is like pissing money away. You might was well get a crayon, write your name and draw a stick figure of yourself, and slap a stamp on it because it will be just as effective. Only the bar napkin mail saves you a ton on design and pr...

Martin, I don't understand why people read the crap you write sometimes. Actually I wonder why they ever read what you write. Look, you clearly didn't understand what DK wrote. David wasn't talking about a candidate. He was talking about a local big shot, not a candidate. That's why you look like a total jack off when you go off on these little trips through the crazy woods. Now you all the candidates you mentioned an apology. The local big shot didn't want to donate to a campaign because of Forma's connection to Ali Enrique Razavi.  As much as you losers try to demonize me, it's Ali that turns out to be the toxic one. That reminds me Martin. You sound a little jealous about the whole ad thing. It must really bother you that I'm able to actually have ads while you still have the SW graphic telling people they can buy space.  Act now, operators are standing by! Maybe David K should write his blog in crayon from now on so that the Flying Monkey can keep up...

Okay, again we are keeping it light today since the weekend is almost here. I haven't done a poll in awhile and I'm just too lazy to do another one today. So lets call this a rhetorical poll. I guess if this was a fashion blog I'd ask "Who wore it better?" But its not, so in this case,"Who's Facebook page is more interesting?" Is it Rosa Cabrera (Arellano) and the saturation of selfies on her page? Or is it Mike Pickett's Extravaganza of Extremism? (Personally I can't decide between him calling the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the land a piece of shit and when he calls Hillary a witch and hopes a house lands on her. Hope he doesn't think that way about all female electeds.) You decide! Actually now that I think about it, I wish they were in an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History.

Things have been pretty intense around here lately so I thought I'd keep it light and fun today. Well mostly. We'll do a little Flashback Friday and play one of my most favorite songs to play on my radio show back in the day. We'll have a little more fun with Facebook. And we'll get things going with schoolin' the Flying Monkey Martin Paredes. We all know monkey boy is prone to "connecting the dots". Seriously the guy never met a conspiracy theory he didn't like. He's been doing "candidate profiles" lately and the couple that were sent to me were really bad. First of all he's late to the party...again. But the one he recently wrote about Peter Svarzbein is the funniest one yet. He alleges there is some sort of "formula" at play because there are very specific donation amounts on his report like 19 contributions in the amount of $96.80. oooooooooohhh...scandalous! Clearly this is a sign of a behind-the-scenes conspiracy invol...

It's amazing what ridding a community of the little Jessie Gandara will do for a community. Ever since his prompt exit from the political scene in Socorro the city and their neighbors, San Elizario, are now good neighbors. It wasn't that long ago that Little Jessie Gandara was trying to orchestrate the annexation of San Elizario. After cleaning up Socorro city council, Socorro is now wishing San Eli High good luck in their bid to become state champions of soccer. Good for them, and Go Eagles!

The El Paso political consulting and lobbying firm Forma Group appears to have represented three different candidates in the District 1 race for city council. According to finance reports, Forma Group originally represented Dan Longoria. Longoria was the second candidate to get in the race after Peter Svarzbein. After Dan Longoria dropped out of the race Forma Group then worked with Peter Svarzbein's campaign as you can see in this entry on their finance report.  There is also refund entry in the Scarzbein report where Forma gives them their money back. Not sure why they are dated for the same date but that might be just a reporting error. I first spoke with candidate Al Weisenberger the day after he filed to be a candidate in the District 1 race. I asked him some preliminary questions and one of the questions I asked him was about getting in the race so late in the game and I told him there probably weren't any campaign teams left for him to pick up. Thats when Weisenberger to...

I've been sitting on these screen shots for a while because frankly District 6 challenger Mike Pickett's political views concern me quite a bit. First let me say I believe in the 2nd Amendment and that we as private citizens have the right to keep and bear arms. I enjoy shooting very much. Haven't been in a while, but its always fun. That doesn't mean I'm a gun nut about it though. But what worries me is the militia movement. There is a small, but very extremist movement in this country that wants to engage in actual violence against the government. Like I said, I have no problem protecting myself, but I'm surprised a post like this one from a city council candidate even exists. In fairness to Mr. Pickett, this post was from before he filed as a candidate. Nonetheless it comes across as a little creepy. Call to arms? What call to arms? I'd like him to clarify what he means by a call to arms. Does he mean the government or just the president. Either way, talk...

El Pas County Republican Party Chairman Tom Holmsley has notified the Party that he will be retiring as Chairman effective May 1st, 2015. Holmsley and his wife Mary (she is a member of the state committee) gave no indication as the reason for retirement. Holmsley has been the head of the local GOP for about 5 years. The Vice-Chair of the Party will assume the duties until a new election takes place, which I believe will be next March. The Vice-Chair is Becky Hermosillo who also chairs the West El Paso Republican Women. Bob Pena will continue to serve as the Elections Administrator for the GOP. During Holmsley's tenure the GOP saw some pretty impressive turnout in their base during the gubernatorial year elections. ************************ Editorial - Look, everyone reading this knows I'm a member of the Democratic Party and am pretty liberal in my political views. While the Chairman and I don't see eye-to-eye on matters of public policy, he is a perfect gentleman, open, and...

I'm working on some school board stuff and last week I noticed there was a letter presented to the YISD Board of Trustees by the Eastwood-area Trustee Deby Lewis that was later reported in the El Paso Times. Lewis presented a letter explaining why she's been absent and further explained that she would be out past the May 9th election due to some serious health issues. From what I hear, they are very serious health issues that have required her to go to Houston for treatment. I respect Ms. Lewis' privacy on her health matters but many of you know how serious that is. The question that came to mind is why didn't she resign so that she could devote her full efforts toward recovery? The school board position doesn't pay, so resignation wouldn't mean the loss of income. But some within YISD are rightfully questioning why she hasn't resigned. Lewis is part of the current majority on the YISD school board and if she were to win re-election they would be able to app...

When Ali Enrique Razavi was outed he tried to act like it was all calculated and was of his own volition. It wasn't but how else did you expect him to act? Remember that stuff I said about accountability? I saw a post that got me to thinking that Ali might want to start looking for a lawyer because one of the people that he's spent a lot of time trashing is Stephanie Townsend Allala. And she's not happy about it as you can see in this Facebook post. Now I don't know what she is talking about in terms of pornographic. Seriously who wants to see an overweight hairy sweaty Persian with bad 90's hair naked? Here's the thing. Say what you want about STA, but one thing is for certain...she's tenacious. She hasn't been fighting the city for years over emails because she backs down from a fight. Its probably cost her a great deal of personal expense to go through the long ordeal. And that is over emails. You think she wouldn't happily go after Ali Bin Douche...

Time to pay the piper Prince Ali. Slowly. Ali Enrique Razavi has been outed as the guy behind Max Powers. In reality, Ali Enrique Razavi is a con-man. He's demonstrated over his entire career that he will say pretty much anything he has to in order for him to get ahead or what he needs. He apparently now has my buddy David K under his spell, although he should know better by now. Before I go on, let me remind you about the difference between me and this guy, because when he was outed he tried to act like we are somehow the same. We aren't. You guys can say what you want about me, and many of you do, but one thing about me is that I leave non-combatants out of any beef. He has fucked with my family and my loved ones. Hell he's messed with my relationships, an ex, my haircut, how I dress, my affinity for cholas, and my weight. Now that you've had a chance to actually put a face to the name, you see Prince Ali might want to not talk about weight. Do I disagree with public ...

Trust me...I've got plenty to say about Ali Enrique Razavi and the revelation of him being the person who pens Maxi Pad.  Ali in due time people. Remember that some dishes are best served cold. There's no rush here. But someone sent me a screen shot that really almost made me fall out of my chair laughing. Especially considering it's from an AFCSME rep Hector Montes. Since I am collecting quite the catalog of screen shots of things the little Mayor of Whoville has been writing about me, I have no qualms of talking about this. This is apparently part of a conversation about the revelation that Maxi Pad is Ali Enrique Razavi.  Run for what??? Are you kidding me Hector? I'll grant you that Ali is a hairy chubby hipster and any given kindergarten student at Pasodale Elementary would probably regularly take his lunch money, but give me a break Montes. Who are you kidding? You should tell everyone about how you went crying to Candelaria once at Entravision when you and I had ...

Money makes campaigns work. It's crappy, but it is necessary to get your message out to voters.  The candidate who raises the most money doesn't always win. But statistically, they win most of the time. Think of the last municipal elections. The top money campaigns almost ran the table - Mayor Leeser had so much feria he paid someone about $25k to just do social media. That's more money than what was raised by almost every candidate in this election cycle. Bottom line is that the amount of money you raise is an indicator of your support and a pretty good likelihood that you'll win. Sure, occasionally someone Suerkins-it and loses it, but rarely. Vince Perez didn't raise as much as Chente Quintanilla and David Stout didn't raise as much money as Sergio Lewis and they both won, but those were unique circumstances with teams that knew how to leverage their funding. At the very least you have to be competitive in terms of the amount of money raised to have any reali...

Boy, my post election award season is gonna be fun this cycle. There have been really funny follies on Facebook by candidates and I've got quite the collection of interesting screen shots.  I don't know why it has taken so many years of mistakes in social media for candidates to learn their lesson. Many of them have been warned by their campaign teams to behave on social media. But apparently they don't listen. One of them tried to clean it up, which is smart. But a reader sent this one in to me so I guess we will start with it. What's a city council race without a little Islamophobia? Am I right? 

So Max did another one of his famous, "No seriously, I'm not Forma, stop saying that!" posts. Actually two from what I was sent. Hilarious.  He actually tries to go through the trouble of trying to lay out a logical and rational argument as to why he's not Forma.  Okay, so riddle me this. If you're an anonymous douche like Maxi Pad, why in the hell would you care if others said you were Forma Group if you really aren't? Please explain the logic behind that one. And don't try to give us this noble bullshit that you don't want an innocent person to be hurt because lets be real, you ran a mayoral staffer's life in the mud and probably ruined her marriage and after saying you weren't going to release emails between you and the County Judge, you did EXACTLY what I said you'd do and you released them. Clearly you can't make the "I'm a good guy" argument. So again, if you aren't Forma why do you give two shits if anyone says ...