Romero's Reply

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 editorial stance.

Romero wasn't wise about responding to the Times the way he did. He should've taken more time and been more thoughtful about his response. Again, when you've won, shut up and move on to something else. But if you are going to respond, at the very least your response should do no harm to your argument. Romero actually succeeded in getting a couple people I know, one very close to me in fact, who were pretty apathetic about the raise, to be pretty furious about the raise in 0-60.

Let me rip the band-aide off of something everyone seems to be tip-toeing around.

I think we are being lied to.

One need only look at the language of the item to know that something was up. It was purposely ambiguous. That is what people do when they are trying to hide something.

Then we hear words that don't jive with actions.

We hear that Tommy didn't want the raise.

Yet council is trying to ram this one down everyone's throats. What is this false sense of urgency if he didn't ask for the raise? That means that he is happy with his pay.

But somehow there is this rhetoric that we have to give him this huge-ass raise so that he doesn't leave and go somewhere else. If he didn't ask for it, we aren't in any danger of losing him, right?

I think people should stop beating their chests and acting like they are smarter than the rest of us in saying we don't know how business runs. The reality is that the only business in which you can have marginal performance one year and get a big fat ass raise is the NFL and if you're the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.

If Tommy Boy didn't want to come here, he shouldn't have. No one forced him. He took a major pay cut to come here. There had to have been a reason that he did that, but lets remember we didn't steal him from another city. He was in the private sector where he could've made the big Tony Romo dollars if he was all that great.

He signed a deal at the salary he agreed to with the raise schedule he agreed to. He allegedly didn't ask for the raise.

If we aren't being lied to, then there is no reason to give him a raise.

Its not our fault he took the deal that he took. No one forced him to sign it. No one was putting a gun to his head. He made a choice. Why the hell should we have to pay for a choice he didn't really want to make?

All this for a guy that doesn't seem to be all that high on Team El Paso? News reports say the wife wants to bounce. He allegedly can be snatched away in a heartbeat.

Where's the loyalty?

Say what you want about Wilson, she didn't cost this much and guess what, she still lives here.

Oh, and one more thing.

Mayor Lesser...GROW A PAIR!

If you're really against the raise, and lets be real - the reason the offer to Tommy was the offer that it was is because Mayor Leeser didn't want to pay him more than Wilson - then you should've used the one tool you had that no one else has the ability to use...the mutha effin' veto!

Worst case scenario, council has to double-down on the raise, but it slows everything down and gives the public the chance to weigh-in. The more likely scenario is that one or more of the city reps have an opportunity to fully digest the issue and be responsive to the community and there aren't the votes to override the veto. Then council can work out some sort of compromise that doesn't look like something that is twice the average annual salary.