El Paso Politics

If you think the City Manager position is controversial in El Paso you obviously don't know much about Socorro. In Socorro the City Manager position has always been controversial and under previous regimes it has been used to dole out favors and do some pretty crappy things. Essentially the biggest problem with the city manager position in Socorro in the past has been the fact that there is no continuity with the position. When one new regime gets elected in Socorro the first thing they wanna do is replace the city manager. The clean regime that swept out most of G-Unit a few years ago didn't do that. They kept the city manager for the sake of continuity. But for several years, an ousted city manager has been wanting to get back into the job. Her name is Lorenza Fraire. Fraire is quite the colorful character. If you ask her, she's the campaign genius who put Vince Perez into his seat on Commissioner's Court. The reality is that she never had a single thing to do with Pe...

There's a lot you need to understand about Jesse Gandara to fully grasp what a massive douchebag he is. The first thing you need to understand is his ego. I know a lot of arrogant people in the world. I've seen some really world class egos, but nothing compares to the ego on Little Jessie Gandara. Let me give you an example of just how bad his ego can be. I went to his trial for bribery. He was convicted of attempting to bribe the Licon family in San Elizario. During his trial, this massive tool saw me sitting in the audience and actually had the audacity to send me a text and ask me to testify on his behalf during the sentencing phase. Seriously. I have the screenshots of the conversation because I knew they'd come in handy one day. What is hilarious is that when I got the text I asked who it was and at the time he told me "V for now.". That eventually because V for Vendetta and ultimately Vendetta915. You see Jesse can't shut up about Socorro politics even t...

City Rep Cortney Niland is a textbook example of why temperament is important for an elected official. Essentially she told the people of El Paso and her colleagues that she doesn't care about the rules. I don't know if its a sense of entitlement because of her wealth or because of her position, but her actions at the last city council meeting warrant action against her from her colleagues. First, let me state very clearly that I think elected officials should have access to their devices during meetings. We live in an information age and our elected officials owe it to us to give us that latest and most accurate information available. That shouldn't even be a question. If you got a question about whether or not a rep is communicating inappropriately during a meeting, then do an open records request. The ones with any amount of trustworthiness well gladly hand over their records. Hell, they may even take the extra step of retrieving anything that may have been deleted in th...

There's a reason you never mix sports and politics - because just because you like your player or coach doesn't mean you like their politics. I'm an Irish fan myself, but how dumb could the organizers of El Paso's Academy for Upper-Crusters be for inviting someone who's made controversial comments about immigrants to a Catholic school on the border? What's worse, how in the hell does the former Promotions Director for the flagship Spanish language television station KINT Canal 26, Abel Rodriguez, think it was a good idea? Rodriguez has made a rather substantial contribution to this community's Latino community, even I acknowledge it and I don't much care for the vato or his stooge with the halitosis problem. That is why it blows my mind that he'd be involved in inviting an anti-immigrant Trump supporting speaker to Cathedral's big event. You'd figure if ANYONE were going to stand up and say it wasn't a good idea you'd figure it would ...

Businessman and Army veteran Sam Morgan is a candidate to replace City Rep Carl Robinson on city council in the next municipal election.  Robinson is termed out and cannot run for the office again.  Morgan could be facing former Mayor and NE City Rep John Cook, who has mentioned a couple of times that he was considering a run for his old seat.  I saw this event advertised on social media this week so its pretty clear that Morgan has formalized his long-rumored candidacy for the seat.  Traditionally the Labor Day breakfast normal is the starting pistol for races in the primary cycle but it looks like it has become the springboard for candidates in the next municipal election. Don't be surprised if you start hearing about more and more candidates throwing their hats in the ring. 

Its a lot of fucking money. That sticker price is huge and its going to be really hard to get voters to look past it. I think it'll lose. Now take what I say with a grain of salt because I don't live in EPISD. But I know a thing or two about passing a bond considering I recently helped a bond pass in YISD after the previous attempt had failed. Part of the reason the previous effort failed was because of the sticker price. Another, and more important reason, was the fact that it wasn't messaged properly and there was no real field effort to speak of. Once we targeted the right voters with the right message and implemented a field op, the budget passed with flying colors. And it really helped that we weren't asking for the same amount the voters had just said no to the previous election cycle. But EPISD has bigger issues and I'll go ahead and say what no one else has probably said to the Super and members of the Board of Trustees...you guys have trust issues with the ...

Its always been an important issue when considering casting a vote, but given the Trump candidacy its been underlined in a big fat Shapie pen that would make even the most ardent chola proud. When you're an elected official your temperament is important because it shows how you deal with stress and conflict. Now if you're a work horse and get things done, you can afford to be a little rough around the edges. People will allow for temperament issues with some people if they get the job done. But, its always dancing with the devil when you have a hard time with temperament. It will eventually make you look unstable, contrarian, and difficult to deal with. That isn't a quality you want in a leader. Its why Donald Trump is going to get his ass kicked by Hilary Clinton who is a candidate that 60% of the American people say they don't trust. And that tells you a lot about how people look at temperament. People that have a difficult time with temperament are seen by the electo...

Mayor Jesus Ruiz and At Large Rep Rene Rodriguez have filed to run for reelection.  Both were elected in a special election to replaced the previously disgraced regime that was booted out of office by a judge. Under their administration Socorro has seen unprecedented growth and millions of dollars in infrastructure projects that benefit the entire Socorro community.  Under the Gandara regime project work was largely district based and when to supporters and cronies.  Ruiz and Rodriguez spearheaded an initiative to allow the community of San Elizario to incorporate into its own city. The Gandara regime attempted to annex San Elizario and that ultimately led to the bribery attempt made by Jesse Gandara. Gandara was convicted and sentenced to 10 years probation. He has appealed the ruling of that conviction with the 8th Court of Appeals who are expected to rule on the conviction soon.

Since there is a lot of misinformation going around I thought I'd finally chime in and explain a few things about the raise the El Paso County Commissioners Court gave itself recently. First let me be clear about one thing. And I want to say it while I still have your attention because sooner or later one of you fools is going to screw this up, so here goes: I thought the raise was too much at one time and should have been phased in.  I underlined it and italicized it because you people have a bad habit of changing what I say to fit your own narrative sometimes. Now let me hit you with some facts that some of you clearly don't understand. 1. There is no way the raise could have been voted on by the public. The ONLY way the Texas constitution allows a raise for commissioners, or any of the other El Paso County elected officials, is by vote of Commissioners Court. So for all of you saying it should have been taken to the voters, it couldn't have by law. You might want to stop...

We all have that relative that we hate talking politics with, am I right? I was listening to NPR this morning and heard a familiar name in a story about Trump's Wall. The reporter interviewed the Chair of the Hudspeth County Republican Party, Maria Guadalupe Dempsey. The name might ring a bell to you as well. 8 years ago she ran as a Democrat for sheriff along with enough other candidates to field a little league baseball team.  Dempsey was speaking about how she's pro-Trump and anti- immigrant in the story and underlining why she felt it was important to have a wall along the border.  This isn't just interesting because she flipped parties or because she's from El Paso. It's also interesting because of who her daughter is... El Paso County Democratic Chair Iliana Holguin. Holguin is an ardent Hillary supporter and known and very well respected for her work in immigration law with the Diocese of El Paso and now in private practice.  So you have a mother and daughter...

I heard from a couple of city hall people that Tommy Gonzalez was pretty pissed at the Chief of Police for the whole Twitter-blocking caper. Someone asked me earlier today if I was still blocked by PD and so I checked and it turns out, I'm no longer blocked. It'll be interesting to see how long that lasts. I bet there's an even chance I get blocked again today. But the greater question for me is whether there is now a specific policy in place that makes sense and is a guide for PD Twitter account managers for future use. Its a good thing that they ultimately started to unblock people. So if you are one of the many people that were blocked, you should check to see if you still are blocked.

El Paso has a history of electing old white guys. That isn't anything new for the Sun City. Dee Margo's non-announcement announcement was typical Dee Margo. I want to announce, but not really officially announce. Essentially he wants to make sure that other people that the money guys might back won't get in the race. Margo's a different animal and it doesn't surprise me in the least that there will be a desire to overstate his candidacy. So let me tell you some real problems for Margo that people are trying to gloss over. First, lets talk about math. There aren't a lot of Republicans in El Paso. Sure, the municipal electorate is a bit more conservative in general than other elections, but it doesn't even begin to close the gap for Margo in a very partisan town like El Paso. Wait, I know what you're thinking. This is a municipal election and party affiliation means nothing. Hahaha silly goose. Its an entirely different animal when you're an old white...

If you missed the Commissioners Court meeting on Monday there was a dust-up which essentially was the Public Works Director's screw-up that led to a vote that Commissioner Haggerty never should have taken. Before we go further you should understand that most people don't fully grasp that words like "corruption" and "nepotism" have to meet specific circumstances. But all too often the public throws them around incorrectly. That'll make more sense in a minute, walk with me for a second. Here's the short of it, staff recommend approval of a bid that never should've been recommended because the Public Works Director Pat Adauto missed a major flaw in the process - the cost of transporting materials. Public Works has some of the best employees I've never seen and worked with. Like any organization you have some that aren't stellar, but the vast majority are good employees. Somewhere along the line someone completely overlooked the cost of trans...