El Paso Politics

Sorry it took so long, I guess it was my connection. Any who, here's the debate video for the D2 candidates. The debate video of the other candidates will be posted soon. Sorry for the delay. Its still processing, check back from time to time to see if its done.

The video is still loading. I don't know what the problem is but I've started it over a few times. But its over 50% now, so I'm hoping that by election day the damn thing might actually be done! Here's my analysis of the Tax Assessor Collector Debate: Ruben Gonzalez is essentially the incumbent and as such joins the District Attorney Jaime Esparza as the two incumbents in a run-off facing younger Latina candidates. And both incumbents have a path to victory which is remarkable considering incumbents in run-off elections lose. SIDEBAR: I was able to actually find ONE instance of an incumbent in a run-off. Jaime Esparza's predecessor was in a run-off against Danny Anchondo way back when, and he pulled off a very close win. The campaign manager was then the First Assistant to the DA and is now, Judge Bill Moody. Other than that, being in a run-off is a political death sentence for an incumbent. Interestingly both Gonzalez and Esparza each have a decent shot at fending ...

Well for whatever reason, the 40+ minute segment of the District 2 debate held by the Progressive Democrats of El Paso is taking forever for me to upload to YouTube. I started loading that thing this morning and it still says it has 391 minutes today. Must be my connection. In the meantime, here is some analysis of the debate. I'll cut right to the chase, anyone who watched the debate knows that Jim Tolbert and Cemelli de Aztlán were head and shoulders above the rest of the candidates in terms of preparedness. The big takeaway from the debate was how little most of the candidates for the office know about the job. Many of them had no clue about questions relating to issues before the city council now. Embarrassingly so. So the quick rundown on the other candidates is that David Nevarez is a nice guy, but doesn't have the requisite knowledge of council or the job. You'd think he would because he's on a committee that he says he "founded". Not sure he can really...

At the Progressive Democrats of El Paso debate I was a little surprised to see Dora Oaxaca show up.  But it's possible that she's working with a campaign. She obviously does a lot of campaign work.  The event was also a fundraiser for the organization and plates of food were being sold for $10. Keeping it classy in that special way that only Dora knows how to, she ate a plate of food without purchasing a ticket. Which is weird considering she is paid by multiple members of council.  Oh well, I'll take care of the meal, I wouldn't want none of the workers to get in trouble as a result. The mujer  Obrera ladies work really hard, Theybshouldnt be shorted.

Probably the most meaningful debate for the District 2 candidates will be taking place tonight at Cafe Mayan at 6:00pm. The candidates for the 8th Court of Appeals, Tax Assessor Collector, and District Attorney will also be participating. The debate is being sponsored by the Progressive Democrats of El Paso and will feature a panel made up of local journalists. Since early voting has already started, this may be the last big chance to see all the D2 candidates debate one another.

You'll have to pardon David K, he has this nasty habit of talking out of both sides of his mouth.  First the Times endorsement doesn't matter because Tolbert had it and lost last time, but when you confront him about all the people who have won with the endorsement he changes the subject. Yesterday he says I act like the world revolves around me, but he can't stop writing about me.  Actually, look over the last year and you'll see he reacts to what I write regularly.  But I digress.  I was all set to write about how Ali Razavi's friends at Forma have no candidates in the run-off and they have no candidates in the D2 race either. Pretty surprising for the city's supposed elite political consulting firm. But then all of a sudden I hear David L has now reversed himself within 24 hours and now thinks I'm running CDA's campaign. I haven't seen a complete reversal from someone that fast since Rep Noe changed his tune from calling the street fiasco "co...

I didn't want to go to the grand opening of the plazita because I didn't want to fall for the city's propaganda machine. I wanted to make up my own mind about the project. So I waited until a workday, in the late afternoon after lunch time, at a time I expected to get an idea of what its like when it would most likely be deserted.  Let's start with the obvious - the plazita is a hell of a lot cooler and nicer than it used to be.  The Good: The plazita is a meeting place again. Couples, families, people on their lunch breaks, tourists, and regular Paseños are all using the plazita again. In fact, I was surprised at how many people were there and how many went in and out. The cafe is a cool addition. I saw someone complaining about the pricing but frankly its not really too expensive. Its probably on the lower-end in pricing when you compare it to other downtown eating options.  Los Lagartos. I struggled with putting this in here for a few minutes. When you think about it...

This is a quick blurb that was inspired by a conversation I had with someone last night about District 2 and since early voting begins today, I thought it would be appropriate. First in a campaign bombshell, Daniel Lopez (he's still fuming about coming in dead last in the District 1 race) has apparently left the campaign of David Nevarez. Lopez as pretty tight with Nevarez and would follow him around and take pictures of him at city council meetings. Not sure what exactly the falling out was between them, but Lopez posted this social media update a while back: I know right?! Major development! Just kidding. No one cares. I just posted it because its pretty noteworthy when the only vocal supporter Nevarez had was a guy who came in last in another part of town, and now he has "resigned from the David Nevarez campaign". First of all, I can't figure out which one of the two is the one who lost out here. I mean on the one hand, Nevarez lost his biggest supporter. On the ot...

David K - who I’m rather enjoying having an absolute fit over anything I post on my blog or my social media - has shat himself again. This time its because of who the El Paso Times endorsed for city council in District 2. Much like many of you, I figured it would’ve been Jim Tolbert.  Let me stop for a minute and bring you all up to speed. David K is all in for Jim Tolbert. I don’t think even he would deny that. He’s a big Tolbert fan and he will likely add to the other City Reps that DK communicates with and then denies he communicates with them.  Like I said, I’m as shocked as the rest of you that CDA got the endorsement. The cesspool that is the comment section is even funnier because its basically a bunch of white people who hide behind a screen name to talk crap about Mexicans - and now CDA. Making this a race thing doesn’t help Tolbert. But DK doesn’t care, he’s just in the middle of another one of his famous tantrums.  I’ll repeat what I said the other day - either...

The investigation of embattled Socorro City Rep Sergio Cox by the City of Socorro has not been completed and will not be on the agenda tonight but its still likely that the issue will be raised and fireworks will go off. Word around the Socorro Whataburger - basically the city hall annex of Socorro - is that some are expecting Cox to formally resign tonight. Its not clear that a resignation on the part of Cox would have an impact on the ongoing investigation. Cox is being investigated for the method in which some roads in Socorro were paved. Cox has a financial interest in property on the corner of an intersection that was paved with public funds. Here are two interviews I did with Mayor Ruiz and Councilman Gandara after the special city council meeting in which the city decided to go forward with an investigation into the matter. The meeting will be at Socorro City Hall Chambers at 6pm this evening.

The run-off election for the DA race, the Tax Assessor No One Gives a Shit Collector, and the 8th Court of Appeals election will be interesting for several reasons but one of them is because of the fact that there is a city election right before it. I'll get to that in a minute. The DA race and the Tax Assessor Collector race are interesting because they essentially feature incumbents in run-off elections against younger female challengers. As I have mentioned previously, incumbents in a run-off is generally a political death sentence. But inactivity on the part of their opponents, or at least not using the full run-off time effectively, has probably given the incumbents more of an opportunity than they probably otherwise would have had. I couldn't find a single incumbent who was pulled into a run-off that actually won. If there is one, it damn sure isn't recent. But it looks like its not out of the realm of possibility if, and only if, the incumbents really push hard and m...

There are only two campaigns with a legit field program in the D2 race to replace Larry Romero. As a result, they are the two that will make it to the run-off. Today is 4/20 so I don't blame you if you think any one of the candidates can win the city election without a run-off, because you'd have to be higher than Snoop Dogg on stage if you think there won't be a run-off. The run-off is going to be between Jim Tolbert and Cemelli de Aztlan in case you haven't figured that out yet. Sorry Nevarez, but Paredes put your business out there about the domestic violence stuff and no amount of explaining is going to help you get over that major hurdle. Remember, Peter Svarzbein is a city rep because another potential candidate, potential front-runner, had to drop out because of that issue. Aside from that, your campaign manager is the guy who came in DEAD LAST in that race. He even got less votes than Manny Hinojosa. So Nevarez was doomed from the get-go. Nice guy, but just not ...

What happened today at city council is an example of why city government is dysfunctional. And keep score on this one because there will be a time to hold people accountable and this is one the electorate should pay attention to. City Rep Michiel Noe removed a routine re-appointment to the city planning commission for what is essentially a little political payback. Although truth be told, he should be thanking the guy he just stabbed in the back today because he's the reason he still sits in his chair. I'll get to that in a minute. He started off by saying something along the lines of not to get political here  which is a lot like when a white guy says I'm not a racists but...  you just know something racist is going to follow. So you just knew Noe was about to get political. But the bottom line here is that what went down in city hall today was the re-emergence of Gandara politics, this time at the city of El Paso. And people wonder why the city is dysfunctional? Reps Noe,...

There is a major messaging screw-up in a campaign for an upcoming election. I'm going to do the candidate a favor and not say who it is, but a consultant that was hired to help with messaging put out material that implied an office could stop tax hikes. That office has ZERO to do with controlling tax hikes and that message is not only inaccurate, it looks like a deliberate attempt to be deceptive. I'm confident that wasn't the intent of the candidate, which is why they aren't getting busted out in public. But its probably the biggest screw up in a local campaign I've seen in a very long time.

I'm absolutely certain this post will set off another one of David K's famous posts where he defends Larry Romero, pretends everyone in El Paso thinks the city manager is worth the money we are spending on him. Then sprinkles in some conspiracy theories where everyone from the County Judge to Elmo from Sesame Street is an "Ordazian". But I'm sure from where ever the Juicy One calls home these days that he has some reason to try to push the narrative that people are just out to get the city manager. But the El Paso Times ran a very interesting article about how at least three members of council wanted harsher sanctions against Gonzalez. Unlike DK, their article is based on facts uncovered by an open records request. So lets have this conversation within the context of facts and not DK's knee-jerk responses to my social media commentary. The term performance improvement plan as a specific implication which is why Gonzalez has pulled out all the stops to change w...

In an all too familiar turn of events in Socorro, a member of council is under fire for conduct relating to expenditure of public funds and drama worthy of a sequel to the novela La Reina Del Sur breaks out. Socorro District 1 City Rep Sergio Cox was the subject of a special meeting of the Socorro City Council last night to discuss moving forward with an investigation of Councilman Cox for the paving of a road on which he has a financial interest. Its a sad commentary on our community that the two largest municipalities in the county each had a member of their council under fire for ethical charges at meetings last night. City Rep Larry Romero was the subject of a meeting of the Ethics Commission meeting last night in the City of El Paso at the very same time that Socorro was discussing Cox's issue. Ironically Cox and Romero have quite a bit in common. Both reps were criticized for how roads in their districts were paved. Both have faced allegations that they had roads paved where ...

A facebook conversation inspired me this morning. Joyce Wilson is a magnet for criticism. And frankly, its often absolutely legitimate. I'm not one of the people that thinks she isn't competent. I think she's one of the smartest and most-competent professionals I've met. But 90% of time she gets criticism its not for WHAT she does so much as HOW she does it. In case she hasn't gotten the memo, no one believes that she acted unilaterally in delaying the bond sales. A lot of people think she's just pulling an Oliver North. And for the simple-minded card-carrying crazies like Hector Montes, Martin Paredes and others, that is all they really need to hate her. However, for all the barking they do when they are trying to defend Larry Romero and Tommy Gonzalez, there's one thing they don't do. They haven't filed an ethics complaint against her. Why? Because they like the character assassination part, but they don't want to actually get their hands dirty...

I know, it sounds dirty.  And politics can be dirty.  And especially so in Soco-loco.  It appears there may be issues with street lights that were installed by embattled city councilman Sergio Cox.  Cox is already facing a special meeting tonight in which it's likely that the mayor and council will initiate an investigation of a street paving project he was involved in that just so happened to be on a street where Cox owns a home.  And he didn't disclose that information to his colleagues on council. And he didn't declare a conflict of interest and voted in favor of the project.  In this article from a few years ago, Cox was the person who initiated the discretionary funds for city council districts when he was on council under a previous administration. I wonder what a map of properties owned by Cox and installed street lights would look like?  Socorro's special meeting is tonight at 6pm.

To hear other parts of the blogosphere you'd think there are no problems with the city manager and everything is just hunky dory. Obviously that is a complete false narrative. There's an ethics investigation that is on-going and there is the whole business of an improvement plan. The reality is that a simple google search shows a pattern surrounding Gonzalez. The two articles in the Times today are an indicator that the city still has a long way to go to fixing a lot of the problems its facing. Frankly, we probably don't know the extent of the problems the city is facing at this point. Obviously there are even more problems relating to transparency at the city and some members of council tried to trick the public into thinking cell phones during city council meetings were the issues the city has with transparency. Trust me, they are much worse. They have consistently failed at transparency and that one isn't Tommy's fault completely. I'm sure you all remember th...

I know that when I write D2 some of you get excited and are hoping for an Emilio Estevez cameo. Okay, you don't. Except maybe Ali Razavi who probably gets wood when he thinks of Estevez taking him out on the ice and showing him his own special Flying V. So whenever city council candidates run for office you have three types of candidates that run for office. You have Tier 1, Tier 2, and What-The-Fuck-Are-You-Thinking. The top tier candidates are the candidates that most importantly, understand how city government is run and what they can, and cannot do in their capacity. They are typically well-funded and have a decent campaign mechanism. The second-tier candidates are the people that have a good heart and the best of intentions, but seriously lack a basic understanding of what the job entails. And trust me, there are a lot of these types of candidates. They mean well, but they don't understand the basic tenants of the job description. The other group are the fruits and nuts th...

Mayor Jesus Ruiz has called a Special Meeting of the Socorro City Council to discuss the pavement issue regarding City Representative Sergio Cox. This was first reported last Friday in a segment on KTSM. The controversy has arisen of a small portion of street paving on a street that has only two residents and has no outlet. Representative Cox owns property on the street and failed to disclose his ownership of the property to any of his colleagues when they were voting to approve the projects. A source in Socorro city government indicates that is a violation of the city charter. Mr. Cox not only failed to disclose that he owned property on the street, but he also failed to abstain from the vote. Cox voted in favor of his proposed street paving project. In the interview on KTSM, Cox indicated that the property was his mothers. But according to CAD, the property now belongs to Councilman Cox and has for several years. Cox apparently pays the taxes on that property as well. So by any defin...

Back when the City of El Paso was dealing with their street paving issues that came under scrutiny following some decisions by then-City Rep Larry Romero I made the point that it was so shady that a move like that wouldn't even happen in Socorro. Turns out, I could be very, very wrong.  In 2014 the Socorro City Council, through certificates of obligation, allocated $100,000 for paving projects per district for each of the 4 city council districts in the county's second-largest municipality.  According to this email between then-Interim City Manager Adriana Rodarte and Douglas Lobdell, Public Works and Parks Director for the City of Socorro, the members of council had to submit the streets for payment overlay by April 27, 2014.  The final plan was approved on May 1, 2014.  This screenshot indicates the streets that were submitted by the various city representatives along with the costs for the pavement overall for the streets.  I draw your attention to the area ...

This is the kind of thing that really bothers tax payers and infuriates the public. City Rep Larry Romero resigned from council allegedly for health reasons earlier this year, prompting the tax payers to have to fund a special election to replace him. Yet he's still receiving a paycheck courtesy of the working families of El Paso because of the Texas Hold-over clause. City Reps Ordaz and Limón have been wanting to end that practice. In fact, Romero's biggest allies on Council have been Reps Acosta and Noe - I know, shocker! Rep Ordaz asked the city attorney about excusing his absences at a meeting awhile back and Acosta chimed in and said that Romero's absences should be excused because he's sick, citing the fact that she trusts Rep Noe's opinion on the matter because Noe's a doctor. At a more recent meeting Ordaz asked the City Attorney to check the provisions of the law and the charter to see if there was a mechanism whereby Romero would at least stop getting ...

If you're like a lot of people you probably find it unconscionable that tax payers have to foot the bill to private lawyers to defend judges in recusal proceedings. They make a ton of money and most of them seem to be determined to work as few hours as possible, so it's a bunch of crap that they don't come out of pocket to pay their own legal bills. Especially when they probably have a bunch of cases in front of them of people that somehow make to much money for indigent defense and have to come out of pocket for their own attorneys. Legal bills can get pricey. And even if you are acquitted, there's no refund policy. Now the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct says the Council of Judges shouldn't be paying for legal representation, and judges are divided on the issue. But this all comes down to politics. None of them want some wild allegation from someone like Theresa Caballero to end up as a public document and be used against them when it comes time to be re-elec...

Dr. Anna Perez (L) Lyda Ness-Garcia (R) The convention of the Texas Democratic Party will feature match ups of political battles for the State Democratic Executive Committee Man and Woman. The Hillary delegation has the most people and make up about 66% of the El Paso delegation. But the Hillary candidates for SDEC couldn't be more polarizing if they tried. Othon Medina and Dr. Anna Perez are their candidates for the positions. They will be facing Casey Antonio Williams and Lyda Ness-Garcia. For some background, Othon Medina has a hard time getting along with people. He's constantly in some sort of dispute with someone and once had to be removed from a stage at a convention for his behavior. In fact, he's known across the state in Latino Democratic circles and its not in a good way. Its a terrible reflection on El Paso. Dr. Anna Perez and Medina are a couple. She was at one point an interim superintendent at Ysleta ISD and currently sits on the Ysleta Education Foundation. ...