El Paso Politics

Or ovaries. Whatever fits the situation. I've noticed something I find kinda disturbing lately and its the increase amount of elected officials that won't comment. Look if you're an elected official and under indictment then by all means protect yourself and keep your mouth shut. But if you're an elected official and you don't want to give comment on a vote, position, or an agenda item you freaking posted in the first place, there is something wrong with you and the community should be suspicious of them. In multiple media outlets, on multiple stories, several elected officials primarily at the city level have refused to give comment on stories. You're an elected official. You have a job to do. If you aren't willing to communicate with the public about a vote you took on their behalf, you have a problem. And I don't just mean the whole I-gotta-go-talk-to-my-mommy thing. I'm talking about not wanting to answer questions about issues before the city, c...

Othon Medina, member of the Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats, is seeking the post as the state Tejano chairman this weekend at their convention. Media has served on a variety of local boards and commissions and has a lot of clout in the local chapter of the organization.  However, he has ruffled more than a few feathers statewide for his confrontational style and many find him difficult to deal with. He caused quite the scene at another convention. Perhaps his biggest obstacle is the fact that he's vying for the job of being chair of the largest Latino-based Democratic auxiliary but has been very critical (publicly) of the first Latino state chairman of the TDP, Chairman Hinojosa. One of Medina's rivals is a man named Joey Cardenas. He's a teacher in San Antonio. Voting is complicated for the Tejano chair. It's based on chapter strength and so the more people your chapter has the more weight their votes will carry. That explains why there has been such a big membership d...

Representative Svarzbein has been having a hard time getting is sea legs since being sworn in after he defeated Al Weisenberger in a run-off election earlier this year. He seems to be so worried about saying something wrong that all of his public statements are a lesson in someone who talks but never says anything. And when he is actually saying something, he appears to be a gaffe-machine. Case in point, yesterday. It was basically a bad day for Svarzbein. First there's an article in the paper about the budget and a tax increase. Svarzbein along with Ordaz and Limón voted against increasing the tax rate. Ordaz said she voted against it because the tax increase was higher than it needed to be. Svarzbein said this: I did a face palm when I read that in the paper. He didn't have much time to review the budget in detail? Wasn't he participating in the budget process since oh I don't know, June??? He basically said he hasn't had time to do the most important part of his ...

After the recent complications at council having to do with a range of issues the El Paso City Council has apparently decided to be responsive to the community. Perhaps because of a rash of complaints having to do with the lack of a public discussion about City Manager Tommy Gonzalez's raise, it looks like council decided to take transparency in government to the next level. Sources indicate city council ordered this display of Tommy Gonzalez's raise to be put on Piedras, again in the interest of being transparent. Now that is responsive government. Sources indicate the raise will be on display until it kicks in on September 1st and the city encourages people to take selfies with it. Well played city council, well played.

Sorry been busy and haven't been able to really sit down and put my thoughts down. I'll try to make this one short and sweet. No matter what strategic rhetoric is being put out there, the community is not happy with the city manager's raise. Members of council can stare in the morning for hours and tell themselves that the community supports it but they don't. Just check any social media comment section of basically any story that was run on the topic. But speaking of public sentiment, the people that spoke in favor of the city manager's raise yesterday were largely staged. There's nothing wrong with that, but lets not pretend it wasn't. The city council offices were getting bombarded with phone calls and emails against the raise and they wanted to give the media an impression that there was wide support for the raise. There isn't. Again, there's nothing wrong with that and Ordaz and Limón probably should've done the same thing. But hey, I give c...

I've got plenty to say about yesterday's city council meeting about how city council doubled-down on stupid and voted for the city manager raise. All you have to do is take a look at the comment section of any of the stories from media outlets about it on Facebook and you will see that the community is overwhelmingly upset about it, which makes yesterday's little staged event during public comment that much more obvious. Some of the people are getting creative about it too. Here's a screen shot I took of one of the comments: When the Straight Outta Compton meme is being used for politics, it means the meme has officially jumped the shark. (Note to self, change profile picture from Straight Otta Compton meme on Facebook) But I wanted to clarify something that Acosta said during the meeting that I think crystalizes what people don't like about council lately. Its the lack of accurate information. Either deliberately or through incompetence. Here's what I mean. Dur...

Sorry vatos and jainas, been a busy couple days at the office and haven't had much chance to blog.  But here's a quick one that made me laugh. It was unintentionally funny. Which makes it funnier. City Rep Svarzbein sent out a press release to the media yesterday and a couple of them sent it to me because they thought it was funny.  Electeds usually send out press releases about a lot of things, especially important events or issues facing the city. So in the midst of questions about transportation and mobility funding, a big pay raise for the city manager, privatizing an entire city department, projects that are over budget and behind... What does Rep Svarzbein send a press release about? What is the big issue of the day his office is tackling on behalf of the fine folks on the west side? The Archie Comic. Well the passing of the author. I bullshit you not. Gotta love the focus on what really matters, Jughead and Veronica! Good to know he never stops thinking about his comic....

I haven't even heard of a rumor of an opponent. I doubt she will have one either. 

Anyone thinking about running for the HD77 race better start soon because the ball is already being moved down the field. Adolfo Lopez, a Dallas-area attorney until recently, is throwing a fundraiser soon. Here are the particulars.  The only other candidate Lina Ortega, hasn't had a formal announcement or fundraiser yet.

Rich Wright to the time to be reasonable in his blog post here . I may not agree with all of it, but at least his his reasoning isn't "because I'm tone deaf to reality" like other bloggers.

Okay, take the new poll. Its on the left side where they usually are. What do you think about Ordaz putting an item on the agenda to reconsider the city manager's raise? Weigh-in...

Not many details yet, but there is a buzz around City Hall right now that City Rep Claudia Ordaz has placed an item on the agenda to discuss the raise for Tommy Gonzalez. I haven't seen the item but I was able to confirm that it has been filed, so I don't know what the exact language is but I'm told it is essentially bringing the item back to council. More to follow.

City Rep Lily Limón sent a letter to the staff of the engineering department and all city staff. The letter is in regards to the fact that she, along with most staff, found out that the City of El Paso was going to outsource work from the engineering department in an article published Sunday in the El Paso, Inc. I will have more on this later. In the mean time, here is the letter.

Rebeca Bustamante was appointed to the City Planning Commission by Representative Noe. That is probably the best decision he's made in the last few weeks. Good for him, Bustamante is a good lawyer and a prominent member of the El Paso Democratic Party.  Bustamante is the immediate past chair of the Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats and is also the State Democratic Executive Committee Woman. I think she is the only person in the El Paso County Democratic Party to be a member of every party auxiliary.  Bustamante is an immigration attorney in private practice and has been in practice for several years.  **************************** Rep Romero, who is normally pretty quiet and I have previously referred to him as the Clarence Thomas of city council, picked the wrong issue to take the lead on.  I think he has seriously jeopardized his re-election campaign. If he thinks its still a long time till he has to answer to voters, that is wishful thinking. They aren't likely to fo...

Representative Larry Romero was better off leaving well-enough alone. But instead he sent a response to the El Paso Times editorial from Sunday because he let his emotions get the better of him. Yet again some members of council demonstrate a lack of media savvy. When you win on an issue that is so widely disliked, that is when you keep quiet and move on to something else. Instead Romero decides to pick at the scab because he feels the need to defend himself against the critique laid out by the editorial board. It was a fair critique to begin with. There are probably any number of policies and votes enacted upon by council that the paper either agrees or disagrees with. Its not like they comment on everything. So when they take a strong position on an issue, several days after the vote, its because they have take time to thoroughly analyze and digest the issue. I don't always agree with their editorial stance but its never knee-jerk. Truth be told, I usually agree with their editor...

Sunday's editorial about the whole raise for the City Manager was on point. If they Mayor was really as opposed to it as he says he was, he should have vetoed the raise and forced the city council to try to override it. Frankly I don't think city council is stupid enough to make the same mistake twice. The editorial board made an excellent point about how moves like this raise make people cynical about politics. And while I'm at it, let me address this ridiculous claim that there is some sense of urgency to keep Tommy Gonzalez. The reality is he's good. But he's not that damn good. Put down the pom-poms for a while. He saved us money? Okay, IF that is true - guess what...that's what he was HIRED to do. Its his job to make the city run efficiently. It kills me that the Business Block on council (Niland, Noe, & Romero) were the ones pushing this issue when there is no indication that any of them would advocate a 25% raise for their own employees for just doing...

I guess its probably more accurate to say he was never in but the former mayoral candidate and former political talk show host has indicated that he will not be seeking the Democratic nomination for HD 77. Here is a brief recording of his comments on the issue earlier today.

The questions that have been swirling around the surprise retirement from the House of Representatives by State Rep Marisa Marquez may soon be answered. Yesterday in social media Marquez posted this update and could mean that she is going to announce for another office. Or it could mean a lot of other things too, but it is apparently the social media post heard all around the Borderland because it set a lot of people buzzing about what her possible plans could be. Sorry the post doesn't offer more details so you'll have to wait until she chooses to reveal whatever it is she's talking about.

Mayor Leeser has the ability to veto the raise approved by council for the city manager. Well, I should say he had the ability to do so, time ran out over the weekend and he can no longer do so as I understand it.  I sent a text to all member of council with the exception of Rep Carl Robinson.  I don't have a cell number for him. Typically members of council are pretty good at getting back to me when I have a question.  But it looks like they were trying to kill the clock on this one.  I sent the text out yesterday and here is what it said, "If Mayor Leeser vetoed the raise in order to give the public an opportunity to weigh in on the issue, would you vote to override his veto?" Here are the answers of all the various members of council in order of their district. I'll have much more on this later today. City Rep Peter Svarzbein District 1   "it's an interesting question however the 5 day window for the mayor to veto a resolution has passed" City Rep Lar...

Through Congressman Hurd's El Paso county portion of his district is in the valley, he is obviously the darling of the local Republican Party. Congressman Hurd is in the El Paso area a lot. Way more so that Kiki Rodriguez or whatever his Republican predecessor's name is. He showed up last night to the local Republican Party's debate watch party at their new headquarters. It was a packed house for the event. Truth be told, they had about as many Republicans show up to their debate-watch event as Democrats do for ours, which is something we should be ashamed off. The results of the strong poll last night (of the Republicans that were at the event) were as follows: Ted Cruz Scott Walker Marco Rubio Dr. Ben Carson Carly Fiorina Not sure why she made the cut, she was in the consolation bracket debate, but she apparently did better than Trump and Bush with local Republicans. Chris Cristie was last. ------------------------------------------------ Take this post for what its worth...

Two more interesting candidate filings to bring you up to speed about. Former HD 75 State Rep Chente Quintanilla filed for a treasurer earlier this month. Quintanilla (D-Tornillo) is going to try to re-take the seat he served in for about a decade. He will face State Rep Mary Gonzalez in the Democratic Primary next year. Over in HD 77 Lina Ortega (Steve's tia) has filed a treasurer as well. She's an interesting candidate because the other candidate that has filed a treasurer already is perceived to be the "Marisa Candidate" and this may set up another big TLR v TTLA match up. We may be already looking at the two front-runners unless something big happens, which isn't out of the realm of possibility considering we are still pretty far away from a filing deadline.

I contacted Representative Ordaz to get comment from her about why she voted against a one-time bonus to all non-uniformed city employees in the amount of $1000. Ordaz, who represents District 6 which is made up of parts of the east side and the Mission Valley, explained that she felt that the city should be looking at raises for employees and that the extra revenue the city had should go to offset, at least partially, an increase in taxes. Ordaz was only of only two city representatives that voted against the measure. City Rep Peter Svarzbein also voted against the one-time bonus for city employees as well. Here is the full audio of her comments.

Apparently some people are blind and don't realize that the community is pretty much united in their displeasure with the raise for Tommy Gonzalez. But it doesn't take a genius to take the community's pulse on this one. Lets be clear about something. Maybe a few people are pissed about the raise because they basically just hate the city manager form of government and all that comes with it. But they are the minority. This is one of those issues that has people that are basically a-political pissed off. Guess what, those people don't know and don't care about a debate involving a strong mayor/strong council form of government. The raise has bothered people who are supporters of a strong council form of government, like myself. Those people aren't saying get rid of the city manager and go back to a strong mayor. In fact after I have reviewed comments on all the published stories in the real media, two things are really hard to find. One, people who support the rai...

Okay people, I haven't had a poll in a while. So have at it. I posted the poll question off to your left. Weigh in.

City Rep Emma Acosta, who voted for the raise to City Manager Tommy Gonzalez will be hosting him at her next community meeting tomorrow night. These are free and open to the public. Just in case you were interested in raising the increase in pay issue with either of them. 

I actually recorded a video and was going to post it in this piece but decided otherwise because I dropped more than a few "F" bombs in it. But seriously city council, are you people fucking kidding me? You throw chump change at employees and give the City Manager a raise that is twice the average wage in El Paso for a year and not much less than the President of the United States? I should've known something was up on Monday when somehow they pulled $4 million out of their asses all of a sudden. I'll get to the $1000 hush money in a minute. In what might be the most tone-deaf awarding of money to a public official this side of last summer's Valenti bonus, city council apparently decided to give the city manager a pay raise he didn't even ask for...allegedly. But lets speak a little truth to power shall we? This was $60,000 in "Oh please, please, please stay in El Paso" money. After several weeks of hearing about a range of issues that are going on a...

Really city council? Really? Are you fucking kidding me? You gave the city manager a raise that is more than twice the salary of what the average El Pasoan makes? Are you people completely tone deaf? More on this raise tomorrow on the LSB.

The Children's Hospital and their Board of Directors basically didn't pay bills to UMC for a really long time - a debt that big doesn't happen over night - and appear to be perfectly content with the fact that Valenti can't help himself from being the villain. Its a distraction from the fact that they flat out just didn't pay bills. That being said, Valenti is, as the El Paso Times put it in today's editorial, his own worse enemy. To pretend that he isn't is simply ignorant of reality. Sure, Children's Hospital may not be his fault, but the guy makes himself look bad every time he speaks. Commissioner Vince Perez has publicly called for his head now a couple of times, going back to when he first laid off employees and then turned around and accepted a fat bonus. Now he's angered Commissioner Carlos Leon with what appears to be another change in his story about the people that were let go. If it were up to the Court, I'm pretty sure Valenti would ...