El Paso Politics

As you know, so many people are really excited about the trollies coming back to El Paso. Not really, most people are just annoyed at all the construction that is bogging the downtown area. I'm trying really hard to care about this project, and I want to think its gonna be a great thing for El Paso, but the more I think about it, the more it annoys me. Its an incredibly expensive project that will transport relatively few people. Its another hipster feel-good project, but when you look at who really uses public transit on a regular basis you'd understand why I'm annoyed. There is no practical reason that the BRIO was done on the westside before other parts of town but we all know why it was done first. Alameda should've been the priority because the valley has more public transit users than other part of town, but this town routinely ignores this part of town. And so why many of you may genuinely be excited about the trolly, I get annoyed because I go down Alameda every...

I'm a Bernie Sanders supporter and what I am about to write is going to bother a lot of my Bernie brethren but it needs to be said. We lost and the stakes in this election are too high to play Bernie or bust. For full disclosure, I don't support an assault weapons ban. I don't think it solves the problem. But I acknowledge, like basically anyone else in the country with two brain cells to rub together, that the number of mass shootings, and crimes committed with guns, is a national problem that needs to be addressed. The fact that the GOP won't even take up a vote underscores the importance of ensuring we have a balance of power in Washington. There are a few other important reasons why Bernie or bust is counterproductive, but let me address the elephant in the room. I'm not a fan of Hillary Clinton. If you follow me on social media then you know that. She's all the things people say about her, dishonest, untrustworthy, entitled, only committed to the values of ...

(NOTE: This is a repost of a blog I wrote a few years go for Father's Day) Whifff, snap! Whenever I hear those sounds I think of my dad. Its the sound of playing catch with him when I was a kid. My dad lived for baseball the way I do for boxing. And he was damn good too. He'd always threw the ball too hard for me. I was terrified. The whiifff sound was the noise the ball made as it cut through the air on its way towards my head. Snap was the sound when it hit my glove, usually followed by some grunt of pain from under my breath. I hated playing catch with my dad when I was little. But I learned from it. I learned that life wasn't ever going to take it easy on you and that if you didn't learn how to catch life's problems, even if it hurts a little bit, its better than letting it hit you right between the eyes. Whiff, snap! As I got older, I learned even more. I learned that once you catch that ball, turn around and fire back as hard as you can. I can still remember t...

I apologize for the lateness of my decision to run for this position, especially to our new County Chair, in week i have tremendous faith and confidence in and I am not running because I have any issue with her or her ability to help guide our state's selection of great DNC members. She's the first person I told that I would run and she didn't even offer to discourage me and I appreciate that. I simply believe that, since she already has a great way to influence and lead our party in the right direction, we can afford to grant someone else this opportunity to stand for principles like the following and support those DNC at-large candidates that do as well. 1. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, no matter her intentions, has not led the DNC forward and should be replaced at the earliest moment when a transition won't harm our chances of winning in November. 2. The DNC should create a special speakers bureau to help local parties raise money. Imagine how much more successful our an...

Since Bernie Sanders lost I really didn't see a need for me to attend the convention, but once I remembered the SDEC races were going in, I immediately regretted it. For those of you there, this is a post for you. The Party's wanna be power couple Othon Medina and Dr Anna Perez are both running for SDEC.  You should vote against both of them and I'll tell you why. Both of them are Tea-janos and are more concerned with what they believe is a little bit of power with titles rather than actually doing anything for the Party. And frankly for far too long the Party has been run by people who essentially just show up to club meetings but don't do anything else. I don't recall the last Party leader other than Mike Apodaca, that actually did campaign work for the Party. I don't even think Medina and Perez can even login to VAN and I don't ever recall seeing them knock on a door or pick up a phone and engage a voter. Sure they go to Teajano meetings, but that's b...

Shame on me for not noticing this sooner, but its funny and I can't let it go without comment. If you recall, Tom Buchino is a candidate for sheriff and I posted his cheesy internet video where he fires off a few rounds from his pistol to demonstrate how he's a "straight shooter". Doesn't actually show if he is a straight shooter or not, but I guess that is beside the point. So lets talk about being a straight shooter shall we? I've seen a few of his signs around town and if you see a white pick-up with the logo all over it, that is the EPSOA Union Boss Sgt Horstman. Looks good on his truck to be honest. But if you look at his logo: What do you notice? Well its not what is there. Its what is NOT there. Mr. Straight Shooter forgets to mention his party affiliation. Buchino is a Republican but he doesn't include it on his signs. Frankly, its pretty smart. In a general election in which Donald Trump is going to ensure that there is an increase in turnout beca...

City Rep Emma Acosta and the City of El Paso are finalists for the prestigious Golden Padlock Award, a national award given by Investigative Reporters & Editors, Inc. That is a non-profit entity dedicated to the improvement of investigative reporting. They give an annual award called the Golden Padlock Award celebrating "the most secretive government agency or individual in the United States". Turns out the City of El Paso and Rep Acosta made the final cut and the winner will be announced June 18th.  Who knows, maybe Acosta will bring home the hardware for the City of El Paso. But Rep Noe and his Cold War era redaction of open records should get a modest share of that award.  Follow this link to not only check up on who else she's up against, ( http://www.ire.org/blog/ire-news/2016/06/13/finalists-announced-2016-golden-padlock-award/?utm_content=buffercb644&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer )  but a little refresher of why she an...

Tom Buchino is quickly becoming a caricature of a sheriff candidate in Texas. Cowboy hat, check. Tight blue jeans, check. Boots, check. Saying you're a "straight-shooter", check. And now, to complete the picture, shooting a firearm during his commercial. Seriously, he did that. Just watch. My favorite part of the spot isn't just the overly-exaggerated tactical engagement, is the fact that he doesn't show whether or not he even hit the target. I'm assuming because he's a green beret, he hit it. But I guess we just have to take his word for it that he's a "straight-shooter". But is he in fact a straight-shooter? I ask because one thing that isn't mentioned in his commercial is that he's essentially devoid of any real law-enforcement experience. Tactical experience is one thing, but law enforcement is different. And he apparently doesn't have any. Being a sheriff for "all of El Paso County" means understanding you are not i...

It's no surprise that Ali Razavi is taking shots at Ted Houghton, who may or may not run for mayor, because as we all know, Ali is Forma's bitch. He does what he's instructed to by Forma in order to try to create a narrative. The purpose is to try to damage Houghton as much as they can because they are likely to be the consultants for Dee Margo's bid for mayor. And Ali has been doing Forma's bidding to try to prop up Margo for years. You see when he wasn't stabbing his own boss in the back to spread bad shit about her to media WHILE HE WAS WORKING FOR HER, he was doing Forma's bidding online going back to the second Margo-Moody campaign. Maybe he was upset that Chavez had him play taxi driver, or walk HD while the mutt pooped on the capitol lawn and clean up after the dog, or because she made him fetch her food from lobbyists and Dr Peppers. Who knows. What is most interesting is the idea that Dee Margo is a viable candidate for mayor to begin with. Sure, it...

I'm sad to inform those of you that don't know that Santiago Holguin, Eddie Holguin's grandfather, has passed away. Mr. Holguin was a very nice man and he voted regularly despite his age and health. The last time I saw him vote was at Pavo Real when his son Eddie Holguin Sr took him to vote. He was an Army veteran and served in World War II. Mr. Holguin was born in Ysleta when it was still a separate town from El Paso. Click here for details on his funeral arrangements that will include full military honors at Fort Bliss National Cemetery. Mr. Holguin was always very nice to people and his passing is a loss for the community. If you need an address to send flowers or a card or anything, contact me and I'll pass it on to you.

I haven't given out a Homeboy of the Week award in quite some time but Congressman Filemon Vela deserves the Homeboy of the Year Award forbid drop-the-mic letter to Donald Trump. Read it here:  http://keyetv.com/news/nation-world/congressman-tells-trump-to-take-your-border-wall-and-shove-it-up-your-ass He weaves through a great conversation about how Trump erroneously calls some Latinos "Mexican" in an attempt to vilify them and chokes Trump with facts. He closes brilliantly by calling Trump a racist and telling him to shove his border wall up his ass.  If he would've closed with "go fuck yourself" I may have actually cried.  Congressman Vela, you good sir, are Homeboy of the Year. 

So I heard there was going to be an "historic" press conference on Sunday about Tommy Gonzalez and the ethics commission. Turns out the only thing historic about it was that its all stuff that has been said and done before, but its being pushed by some of the most out-of-touch people I can think of in El Paso...the soccer moms of the pool. The pool moms are out to show that the community supports embattled city manager Tommy Gonzalez by trying to get 1000 signatures of support for Gonzalez. We are a population of close to 700,000 and some how 1000 is supposed to make it look like El Pasoans support Tommy Boy, huh. Well good luck with that. I'm guessing at least 800 of the 1000, assuming they even get 1000 in the first place, are going to be people that are connected to swim teams. Let me explain why I am even writing this piece in the first place. The reason is, Tommy Gonzalez and his allies on council are trying to push the narrative that Tommy Boy is some city savior th...

As is tradition, I run a post-election piece that outlines the winners and losers of the cycle because its more than just the candidates that lost, its their consultants and often prominent supporters. Sprinkles are for winners as the GEICO commercial says, so lets get straight to the sprinkles shall we? I have written pretty extensively about how difficult it is for an incumbent to survive a run-off election. So much so that I can only find one instance of it happening in El Paso going all the way back to the 60's. Turns out, some really dirty pool had to be played to make that happen by the way. But District Attorney Jaime Esparza survived the run-off and the DA's team gets sprinkles. There's no way the DA would've won without a brilliant campaign strategy of field ops. God knows it wasn't his mail, Jesus it was bad. But he made up for terrible mail by a great field program that allowed him to narrowly stave off a challenge from Yvonne Rosales. Run-offs are hard f...

Well I've been busy taking some time off for the last few days so I haven't posted much, but I've got lots coming your way as a result, so I might be posting several times a day for the next few days. I almost don't know where to start, but lets begin by keeping score. Remember who the people are that have been sticking up for the embattled City Manager all along the way... City Reps Michiel Noe and Emma Acosta. Niland has since seen the light after her initial support for the city manager and Larry Romero, well lets just say he has plenty of time for swanky golf tournaments these days. I guess over the weekend there was some dust-up over Emma Acosta's effort to try to stack the Ethics Commission with supporters of Tommy Gonzalez. If you don't see that movida for what it is you should let Stevie Wonder drive you around from now on. Now for all the spin you'll hear the choir of Tommy supporter's come out with, and most especially the bullshit from his att...