El Paso Politics

In a pretty ominous sign for long-time District Attorney Jaime Esparza, at least one challenger has already announced he will be pursing the job Esparza has held for the better part of the last two decades. Leonard Morales announced his candidacy on social media recently. For the first time in quite a while Esparza will be taking on a viable challenger. Morales is much younger than Esparza and that isn't something Esparza has had to deal with previously. Just a short couple years ago Esparza was said to be the heir-apparent to Congressman Reyes' job in DC. But after several high-profile cases that didn't go his way, Esparza is now going to have to fight off a major challenge in Leonard Morales. So far, Morales is doing things right. He's starting early and if he can raise some money and implement an effective ground game then he's going to make things difficult for the District Attorney. Things will get especially interesting if an Hispanic female jumps into the rac...

Photo Courtesy of Rosy Zugasti - Univision 26 Forever gone are "the Kennedy's of the Valley" and they went out in yet another made-for-Hollywood twist in an epic saga that has plagued the lower valley for years. Whenever someone isn't liked by someone else and a sentence is handed down, they say, "Oh, he got a slap on the wrist." The reality is we have a justice system and the rules are in place as they are. The sentence was from the jury. If the jury, the same one that convicted him, said he has to get probation, then the judge has to give him probation. He can control the conditions of his probation and from what an attorney tells me he could make 180 days of jail a term of his probation. But that is pretty much it. Gandara betrayed the trust of an entire community and for a time pretty much held another community hostage, and gets off with a night in jail. But Gandara was a good candidate for probation. He had no priors. First time offenders routinely get...

El Paso County Commissioner for Precinct 1 Carlos Leon announced his reelection bid last night during a gathering of family, friends, and supporters.  Leon will be seeking his second term to represent the eastside of El Paso and parts of east El Paso County.  Commissioner Leon spearheaded some reforms at Ascarate Park following the uncovering of alleged financial misdeeds by former county employees. Leon was also a key vote in the expansion of healthcare through the UMC clinics. Commissioner Leon also spearheaded training and policy changes among the Constables to get them all on the same page on a variety of issues, which was sorely needed. Recently Commissioner Leon led a plan to install payment kiosks around the county which will help the County capture more revenue. The plan came about over the refusal of Justices of the Peace to accept payments that go the the court of other JP's. They have the ability to do so, they just don't want to. The kiosks will remove the JP's ...

In an ending worthy of a Hollywood script, Jesse Gandara was found guilty of bribery yesterday on the vary day that San Elizario was celebrating the gran opening of their new city hall. Jesse Gandara was responsible for hatching a scheme to try to annex the commerce portion of San Elizario and was found guilty of trying to bribe the Licon family into publicly supporting the annexation in exchange for $40,000 in advertising and $40,000 in a weekend event at their dairy.  Gandara is currently awaiting sentencing. The jury deliberated for just over and hour. Gandara had no reaction when he was found guilty. During the sentencing phase several prominent people were going to testify including former Socorro City Manager Manny Soto, Socorro City Rep Gloria Rodriguez, and others were called that weren't present including Roberto Lerma and Socorro City Rep Anthony Gandara. Gandara's mother, spouse, and daughter all testified during the sentencing phase.  During the closing arguments D...

I meant to post this election correction yesterday but I was busy covering the Gandara trial and the City Hall Event in San Eli and didn't get a chance.  I was told by a member of the Tenajos that the margin was 5 votes in Eddie Holguins win over Barbara Perez. It was actually a larger margin of victory. When I get a firm number I'll post it.  I am still covering the Gandara trial but there's a break right now and I checked my email and saw this message from Dr. Anna Perez.  You'll not that she doesn't take issue of any other facts I've written regarding the Tejanos. More to come.

The defense has rested in the Jesse Gandara case. The case will resume in moments with closing arguments and then go to the jury for deliberation.  Judge Gonzalo Garcia has given the prosecution and defense each 30 minutes to make closing arguments.  More to come.

Screenshot from KINT 26 Story on Gandara Trial Tuesday was the first day of the Jesse Gandara trial. Gandara is facing up to 20 years on a myriad of charges surrounding allegations of public corruption. Gandara, who has taken to referring to himself in the third person as "El Teflon" in social media, arrived at the courthouse in a gray pin-stripped suit and he appears to have put on some weight since his series of arrests in 2013. The case is being heard on the 10th floor by Judge Gonzalo Garcia or "GG" as he's known around the courthouse. The Judge runs a tight ship and use of electronic devices is prohibited in his courtroom so tweets, etc are not allowed while the court is in session so updates can only really happen during breaks so there isn't the immediacy of tweets as is the case in other trials. You can follow my twitter feed for updates as I am able to make them. www.Twitter.com/TheLionStarBlog The first day of testimony featured Gene and Sandra Lic...

Well here's a couple of little tidbits about a few different campaign items that I thought I'd just through in to one piece. The last one in the piece is about Rosa Cabrera (Arellano), so stick around. A couple weeks back David K gave me a public lecture and scolding. I guess its my turn to return the favor. He really doesn't want Svarzbein to win for whatever reason. So The Juice has not taken his foot off the gas when it comes to the Svarzbein campaign finance reporting stuff and I think it irritates him that no one else seems to really care much about the issue. Here's why...its not illegal. DK, time to take your medicine buddy. You are trying to allege corruption about something that is completely and totally legal. Sure its really silly that he filed that way, but its not illegal and you shouldn't be giving people the impression that it is. Unless you know that there is a specific crime being committed, in which case you have an obligation to report it to the a...

Only in El Paso does a guy who just supported a Libertarian and who's main political advisor is a Libertarian, become elected Chair of the once most-influential organization in the local Democratic Party. Eddie Holguin, the former city rep narrowly defeated Barbara Perez by just 5 votes of about 35 members in attendance in an election held moments ago. The other officers include Sheriff's Office PIO Chris Acosta, former Ysleta Interim Superintendent Dr Anna Perez, Former EPISD Trustee Isela Castañon-Williams, and Frank Ortiz.

Chris Acosta, who is a staffer for the Sheriff, is apparently really upset at me for saying that the Legacy Banquet she ran for the Tejanos last year was a "flop". You'd think due to recent headlines she'd be a little too busy to worry about what was written in a blog, but she is apparently on top of her game. In an email sent out last Friday night to the membership of the Paso Del Norte Chapter and its officers, Ms Acosta (who referred to me as a "dear friend") instructed the Chair and Vice Chair to "correct" me and to inform me that "the Legacy made 3,500" dollars I assume. She also asked when they were signing me up to be a member. Well, I have said many times that I certainly don't want to be inaccurate whenever I state something as fact. I guess the term "flop" is subjective so perhaps I could've gone on to deliver a little more clarity on what I meant. So let me apologize to Ms. Acosta for my error. I should not ha...

Sometimes Martin "Fallas" Paredes is so stupid its actually painful. As usual he's late to the party and trying to take credit for something he "exposed". I'm actually a little surprised he hasn't woken up one morning opened his curtains, seen the sun and proclaimed to have "exposed" the fact that a sun in fact exists. He's a regular Christopher Columbus, discovering stuff that was already there. This time though, I think he might actually get in trouble with KFOX. I'll get to that in a minute. Anywho, Fallas Paredes wrote a piece about the death of SGT James Brown and was critical of local media because only KFOX has covered the story. This is the part where the discount bin of the blogosphere shows his stupidity. It took YEARS for KFOX to get a ruling from the Texas AG's Office on whether or not they could have the video. They are the only media outlet in town that actually has the video. Which is why they are the only media outle...

My bad, I'm a little late on this one. I meant to post this earlier in the week and I forgot. The third place candidate in the recent race for District 1 was the last candidate to come out and support a candidate in the run-off election between Al Weisenberger and Peter Svarzbein. Bertha Gallardo has come out in support for Al Weisenberger and made the announcement via social media. That means the candidates each split endorsements from their opposition. Weisenberger also got the support of the last-place candidate Daniel Lopez, while Svarzbein secured the support from the second and fourth place finishers in the race.

In what is now shaping up to be an interesting race, former city council rep Eddie Holguin will be squaring off against former city rep/former county commissioner/former JP Barbara Perez for the chair of the Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats. Sources within the PDN Tejanos indicate that EPCC Trustee Belen Robles will be the one who nominates Holguin at the behest of City Rep Lily Limon. Perez has been a member of the organization for several years. Holguin became a member last year. Holguin has been on the phone calling members asking for their support. That drew a response from some of the membership that are concerned about Holguin being the head of the Tejanos. They quickly recruited a formibdible opponent for Holguin in their person of Barbara Perez. The issue for the faction opposed to Holguin is his support and endorsement for Pickett even after recordings of ethnically charged statements have surfaced. "We are trying to be a voice for the Hispanic community. I don't know ...

For whatever reason it appears KFOX appears to be the only station covering the story of an active duty soldier that died in custody at the El Paso County Jail. There have been more developments and for the latest, watch this story from last night that features a former guard at the county jail and an inmate that was in the cell with SGT James Brown.  http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/features/featured/stories/Former-El-Paso-County-jail-corrections-officer-says-James-Brown-incident-falls-on-improper-training-lack-of-military-presence-at-jail-134224.shtml#.VV8uETK9LCR At the end of the story Erika Castillo said that KFOX was still waiting for comment from the Sheriffs Department. If memory serves, Chris Acosta is the PIO for the SO. But sources indicate that Sheriff Wiles is allegedly on vacation in Europe right now and that may be why KFOX hasn't heard comment yet. There was no indication when Wiles went on vacation or when he would be returning.

There is some confusion out there about the current situation with the Children's Hospital, UMC, and the County. So rather than repeating myself on social media I thought I'd set the record straight for those of you that are really interested in understanding the roles each of the entities play. Although there is a group of people that are not at all interested in the process, they just want to deliberately spread misinformation, which is unfortunate because this is a serious issue and they'd rather score political points that deal with the real issue. First thing to understand is simple. This isn't the county's fault and they had almost no role in this. Why? Because under the Texas Constitution counties are the weakest form of government. And because the Commissioners Court does not appoint the board members of the Children's Hospital. And because they only appoint members to the UMC Board and have no power to remove them or tell them what to do (which has been...

I hate when people take advantage of the poor. It bothers me to no end. It's like bullying someone who can't fight back. So when I see it, I want to do something about it.  It's happening in Socorro...again.  I'm acquiring more documents and maps but let me tell you what I've uncovered so far. At least one city rep has been directing a particular staff member to push through road paving projects in what is alleged to be a personal benefit to himself. This is similar to the movida Jesse Gandara pulled when he was in office where he and his supporters allegedly received driveways before other constituents. The City of Socorro has been working on improving their infrastructure under the direction of Mayor Jesus Ruiz, Councilman at Large Rene Rodriguez, and Councilwoman Gloria Rodriguez. Under the previous Gandara administration they were focused on putting a ton of money into big parks, but hadn't taken care of the necessities first. So this administration has been...

The Children's Hospital stuff has us all talking about relief for tax payers.  Well here's something that could capture some money for the county...have the Justices of the Peace fork over some of the revenue they make off of performing weddings. Talk about a racket! The JPs are only able to perform the weddings in the first place because of their positions with the county. And trust me, they make a LOT of money off of it. It's so lucrative that the former JP Barbara Perez started a business marrying people after she was recently defeated. It's not hard, if you recall I became an ordained minister a few years ago. That reminds me, you people are supposed to refer to me as Reverend LionStar. Or was it Bishop? I forget. But I also became a Jedi Knight through the same website. Anywho, the JPs make a chingo of feria off of it and we tax payers don't see a dime of it. They use our resources to do it too.  In fact, I'll bet they don't even track how many they do ...

The El Paso GOP has a new Chairman. Here are the details.

The Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats are in a flat-out tail spin at this moment. Barring someone drafting a candidate to run against him like Yolie Clay or Frank Ortiz, Eddie Holguin will likely be the next chair of the organization. To make things more complicated, Chris Acosta is likely to be a Vice Chair. She turned their biggest fundraiser of the year into a money-loser for the organization. It was a huge flop. Chris Acosta has been controversial in her role with several campaigns because she's closely tied to Sheriff Wiles. While working as one of his key staffers, Acosta was a figure in several campaigns including Oscar Leeser, Eddie Holguin, and Aliana Apodaca. Many were critical of the fact that she played that role in campaigns that were against some of Wiles' allies. So rather than having leadership that would appeal to a wider base, the Tejanos are going to be stuck with leadership what appeals to a ever-smaller group of people that are the remnants of the old faction...

Video of an active duty soldier who suffers from PTSD who eventually died while in custody of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office is on the KFOX website. You can see it here . It is going to be a big political storm for El Paso and for the Sheriff. The video is already showing up on Fox News but it will likely be a national story very soon. Nothing underscores the need for more investment in mental health services. First, lets just rip off the band aid and be straight up about why this is going to be a big deal. It is yet another African American man that has died allegedly because of an incident with law enforcement. He was active duty military. He was not arrested on a violent offense. He turned himself in to the SO's to do a weekend sentence. For whatever reason, possibly having to do with PTSD, SGT James Brown, injured himself. An extraction team went in to remove him from his cell. The video shows the incident. I'm not offering commentary on how the SO's proceeded....

Divorce yourself from what the Children's Hospital does for a moment and look rationally at the actions of the CH board. They screwed you and they apparently meant to all along. Months ago the passed a resolution authorizing the pursuit of bankruptcy all the while negotiating with the UMC Board like they were going to have some kind of payment system worked out in the end. The bottom line is, they weren't negotiating in good faith. When you think about it, why would the CH board even care? They aren't accountable to the tax payers because they are not elected by the people nor are they appointed by a governing body. The UMC board is also not directly accountable to the tax payers. They are appointed by the members of commissioners court, but once they are on the UMC board, they can basically do whatever the hell they want and really can't be removed. So you have two entities who have zero direct accountability to the people who are playing with a ton of tax payer monopo...

There was a story in the El Paso Times over the weekend that I couldn't figure out how it made it to print. The story was written by Diana Washington-Valdez and I attempted to reach her for comment but she did not return my email. I'll get to that part in a bit. Word on the street is that Al Weisenberger allegedly pitched a story about an alleged campaign finance violation by his opponent in the District 1 run-off Peter Svarzbein to Washington-Valdez. Washington-Valdez called me not so long ago trying to fish for a quote to build a story around. There was no story, but she really wanted to see if I'd give her something to write about. Nice try, I'm not stupid. I have the emails and I'll post them if necessary to prove my point. It irritated me because that's bush league shit and she was freaking rude. I don't play that shit. Reporters don't scare me.  Anywho, Washington-Valdez did this story and it was focused on the candidates allegedly trading accusati...

Commissioner Vince Perez had some strong opinions about the filing of bankruptcy protection by the El Paso Children's Hospital. This will be the big story of the day. Here's what he had to say: “Today’s reckless decision by the El Paso Children’s Hospital board is a slap in the face to all El Paso County taxpayers who have been financially supporting the children’s hospital for months by providing critical services to help keep the hospital open. “Taxpayers (through UMC) were the largest financial supporters of the children’s hospital. Yet, the fact that the EPCH board did not even list UMC among those entities that are owed funds (in today's bankruptcy filing) further demonstrates their irresponsible disregard for the taxpayers of our community.”    More to come.

Yet again the GOP in Texas shows that their hypocrisy knows no bounds. The Texas Legislature passed a bill that would ban any bans on Fracking in Texas. Forget their rhetoric about "smaller government" and "local control". That's their mantra especially when it comes to public education. But apparently the GOP thinks it's knows what's best for local communities better than the people who live there. Forget We The People. For the Texas GOP its Show Me The Money.

I'm still having fun with the Flying Monkey Martin Paredes' little public fit about how nobody wanted to buy an ad from the discount bin of the blogosphere that is his blog.  Normally I'm not a vato who likes to spike the ball. I prefer to act like it's not my first time in the endzone. But people like Fallas Paredes and Hector Montes of Munchkin Land are lenguas largas and when they get what's coming to them it's kinda fun to watch their reaction. So first thing I want to say is "scoreboard mofo's".  For all the crap you two talked about people advertising on my blog, they were successful. I'm sure that is a bitter pill to swallow.  But here's another little treat for Fallas Paredes, who is convinced he gets a lot of traffic. It's also for all you dumb asses that think comments equate to traffic. But let's whip it out and measure shall we? Here's what a poll on the discount blog looks like: And  here's what a poll on the L*...

COMMISSIONER PEREZ AND CENTRAL APPRAISAL DISTRICT TO HOST SERIES OF FREE SEMINARS FOR PUBLIC TOGETHER WITH LEADERS FROM EL PASO, HORIZON, SOCORRO AND SAN ELIZARIO  CAD Staff will inform residents about their notice of appraised value, protest process, and other staff will be available to accept protests on site  EL PASO, TX  – County Commissioner Vince Perez and the Central Appraisal District will host a series of free seminars for the public together with representatives and mayors from El Paso, Horizon, Socorro, San Elizario, and Fabens. Residents recently received their 2015 “Notice of Appraised Value” for their homes and other property, and have  until June 1st  to protest their appraised value if there is an error or if they believe (and have documentation or other material) to demonstrate that their property in valued incorrectly. Staff will also be onsite to accept written protests. The seminars are free and open to the public and are intended to inform t...

So when the Hispanic Cultural Center became a thing, all kinds of "leaders" wanted to jump on board. Two lobsters were really pissed because I was going to be on the committee. Those two big babies have basically contributed nothing to the process so far. But here's what I'm wondering. For all of you that were all-of-a-sudden brown and proud, I have a question for you. Where is your outrage on EPISD school board having only one Latino member?  The answer? There is no outrage because that issue won't end up with your name on a plaque somewhere. That's the difference between Hispanics and Chicanos. In the words of Biggie, "if you don't know, now you know..."

Last week Peter Svarzbein scored the important endorsement from one of the candidates that didn't make the finals, Rick Bonart. Bonart was the important endorsement because he's the candidate that had the most amount of support that didn't make the run-off. As a practical matter, the endorsements mean absolutely nothing because the race still goes down to turn-out. But the two other candidates have also come out to support a candidate of their choice in the run-off. Last-place candidate Daniel Lopez endorsed Al Weisenberger on social media. He gave a couple of reasons for supporting Weisenberger but interestingly one of them was "family values". Manny Hinojosa says that he's supporting Svarzbein for the run-off and indicated that his primary reason for supporting Svarzbein was Weisenberger having a law practice and not being able to be a full-time representative for the District. There has been no indication from Bertha Gallardo in terms of who, if anyone, she...

In one of the most mind-blowing developments I can think of in recent years, former City Rep Eddie Holguin is running for Chair of the Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats according to multiple sources. Lets be real for a moment shall we? The Tejanos have suffered a credibility gap over the last few years mostly because of the antics of Blanche Darley. But at one point, the Tejanos were the flagship Democratic auxiliary in El Paso. That seems like ancient history. If Holguin runs for Tejanos it will likely not only kill any credibility the organization has left, but it will also further polarize the Democratic Party. Holguin is just coming off of endorsing Mike Pickett for city council as you can see in this photo. (BTW, did anyone else notice that he tried to mislead voters by saying he's the Rep of District 6? He's not, he's the former rep) Pickett got trounced by City Rep Ordaz but he also made some ethnically-charged statements that had any white person from the westside mad...

We are nearing the end of the session and I am working on a piece about who I think has been El Paso's best legislator.  But I wanted to give you my readers a chance to weigh-in on who you think is the best one.  Left side, bottom of the column. 

At her last YISD School Board Meeting as a Trustee, Marty Reyes had quite the pomp and circumstance planned. City Rep Lily Limon, who doesn't even represent the same area as Marty Reyes, took it upon herself to honor Reyes. Pretty sure come campaign season someone is going to remind voters that Limon honored someone who not only fought against transparency in an era following public corruption, but blew $50,000 of tax payer money to do it. And ultimately Reyes went out the same way things have been for the last few years she's been on the Board, with a dis to teachers. The current majority, who will be saying bye-bye pretty soon as a result of the recent elections, prevented Trustee Shane Haggerty from putting an item on the agenda honoring teachers for Teacher Appreciation. Leave it to that board to pull something like that. As a result, Mr. Haggerty had to take the rather extreme step of having to actually speak during public comment in order address the issue and honor the t...

Former district one candidate, Rick Bonart has decided to endorse Peter's Svarzbein for the seat. In an email sent to close supporters earlier today, Bonart expressed his support for Peter Svarzbein. Here's the email: 

El Paso, one of the largest Latino-majority towns in America, with a population of over 80% raza, also has one of the largest school districts in Texas. And their school board trustees are almost all white. I think Al Velarde is the only Latino on the board now. If you didn't vote in the school board election, you don't get to bitch about how the board doesn't reflect your community. The Board of Overlords didn't reflect El Paso either. They might as well have called it the Westsiders EPISD Board of Overlords. But this group was elected by the people. Good thing organizations like the Tejano Democrats are so influential with Latino voters. That's sarcasm by the way. That group is more concerned with fighting with each other or sending letters to commissioners court about how administrative positions need to be filled by raza while doing absolutely nothing for raza in this election cycle. I hope people will now stop looking to them like they do something for us. Beca...

You really gotta hand it to Forma Group. Those guys think of everything. They leave no stone unturned. You'd think they might be embarrassed running a Latina candidate in the valley that had a 16-1 fundraising advantage and still found a way to lose. Or dumping a candidate they had a contract with in favor of bigger bucks only to find out the candidate they dumped is now in the runoff against them.  But no, the boys from Forma are diversified. They do it all. Consulting, messaging, mail, universe development, the whole nine yards. And now... Women's wear. I was checking out their website upon the advise if a friend and wouldn't ya know it, the guys have branched out into some other fields.  Check it out:

Look a lot can happen in a couple years and the political landscape may look very different between now and then.  There's the Niland rumor about running for mayor but without a solid showing in the westside to propel her around the rest of town, it's difficult, through not impossible, to see her run. Winning is another thing. She'd have to actually block walk like crazy. Like a previous mayor did. I wasn't joking when I said the Ordaz mayoral rumors would start. Young, educated, popular, and access to money...Just when Mayor Leeser thought he was gonna dodge a run from Niland, he may have to fend off challenges from opposite ends of town. But let's be real. Time is on Ordaz's side. When and if there's a mayoral bid, it will be on ground of her choosing. Rep Acosta has been wanting a mayoral bid for some time and it will be interesting to see what that looks like in a couple years. The rumors have quieted but they may start to ramp up again. And then there...

State Rep Joe Pickett (D- El Paso) and Tea Party Republican State Rep Jonathan Stickland of Bedford got into a pretty heated exchange on the house floor the other day during a house committee meeting on transportation oh which Rep Pickett is the chair. Mr. Stickland was explaining his bill, which would get rid of red light cameras in Texas, when Stickland asked for the supporters of the bill to speak first. At that time Chairman Pickett picked up his cell phone and called to speak to a person who was signed up as a supporter of the bill.  House rules require the person signed up to by physically present at the Capitol. Turns out, the person who's name was signed up to speak was not even in Austin at the time. Chairman Pickett referred to people have been potentially "perjured" and the matter will face further investigation but make no mistake this was a serious violation of house rules.  You can see the entire event transpire here starting about a minute and a half into ...

I'll make this one quick. This is one of the most hypocritical things I've ever seen. The very woman who made people in her shelter beg for cash in the streets has the nerve to say this: The level of hypocrisy is off the charts. She should be ashamed. Now moving on to the Flying Monkey. Speaking of hypocrisy, a guy that has no campaign experience of any kind, lives thousands of miles away, spent zero time at the polls, and can't even vote himself is try to say he knows why Niland won by such a small margin? Put the Pom-Poms down Fallas Paredes. Perhaps you and the other crazies should take a look around. Dagda lost. Niland won. She's going to be there another four years. You guys might not want to be writing her political obituary yet. The political landscape changes dramatically from year to year. Four years is a lifetime.  Fallas Paredes' analysis is like that of a kindergarten student. He alleges that the fire fighters had nothing to do with Niland winning by suc...

Congressman Beto O'Rourke Invites you to our Biking with Beto Town Hall Saturday, May 16, 2015 Biking  7:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Town Hall  8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Downtown Artist and Farmers Market 117 Anthony St, El Paso, TX 79901 (Union Plaza Park) The biking portion of the town hall is *optional*. If you will be biking, please be at the farmers market no later than  7:15 a.m.  Please make sure to bring water, bike and safety gear if you will be biking. *Note: There will be bicycle safety training,  Tuesday May 12th 6:00 p.m. at Downtown Artist and Farmers Market 117 Anthony St, El Paso, TX 79901 (Union Plaza Park). Please make sure to bring water, bike and safety gear.

Well lets get right to it shall we? The election was Saturday and there were some obvious winners and losers in this election cycle. The incumbents did as expected and all won. Two of them trounced their opponents. And now based on the performance in the election it wouldn't surprise me if the rumblings of Ordaz for Mayor started... Obviously the headline is that Niland defeated her opponent by a margin that was far less comfortable for her than she would've liked. I look at that District 8 race as our version of the Tea Party Revolution a couple years ago where even a clown in duckie pj's won a congressional seat. Josh Dagda wore this years duckie pj's. Lets tell the truth though about that race. There's a couple former westsiders (that now live out of town) that are likely reading this and I hope they finally get it, there is nothing unique about running a campaign on the westside. Its not "different". Ground games matter. Why do you think Dagda and Svar...