El Paso Politics

If you're someone who just votes Democratic or republican because your family does or because of the brand, then this post isn't for you. Frankly, this post isn't for you if you're a republican either. You should stop reading now and I'll see you guys in the comment section. This post is for those that are Democrats because of their values. For those of you that are actually Democrats because of your values, you should really consider undervoting. I wrote about this before and it got under the skin of a few people and I feel its necessary to respond to some of the "counter-arguments". First, lets dispel with the myth that any of the two candidates is slightly better or worse than the other. Both are terrible for the border. One voted to gut public education, the other a spoiled right kid who was born with a silver foot in his mouth, to borrow a phrase from former Texas Governor Ann Richards, and a terrible leadership record. Both are bad for El Paso. Secon...

Below is an email sent to me by Don Williams a few days ago about undervoting and I asked him if he'd like me to post it. I'm gonna write a response on why an undervote is the principled action to take, but I think Don makes a lot of valid points here. Don Williams is a past president of the Black El Paso Democrats and member of the El Paso County Democratic Party Hall of Fame. Here is Don's view: I came across the May 19, 2017 LionStar Blog of the "under-voting" exchange between the Chair of the Paso del Norte Tejano Democrats, Mr. Eddie Holguin and the Chair of the State Democratic Party, the Honorable Gilberto Hinojosa.  Mr. Holguin made a claim that was attributed to me that is not accurate and I'd like to address the issue in full. The El Paso Municipal Election is non-partisan.  There were a total of 8 mayoral candidates and all but two were democrats. Since the election is non-partisan and the candidates do not have to declare a political party, the loc...

In a very clear sign of desperation, Jaime Barceleau dropped the most negative mailer I've seen in a really long time. Looks like a Forma piece and if it is, its an example of a candidate needing to reign in their consultants. But it also has the potential to be a major story and headache for another elected official. And if he went to Forma its a recent development because his last mail piece as much cleaner than the rest. The rest of his mailers looked like some cheap-ass furniture store Memorial Day sale advertisements, so he clearly has a new design crew. The reason you know its a sign of desperation is because the mailer was so negative and so late. In order to be effectively leveraged a negative message needs time to work. Dropping it at the last minute is not only ineffective, but often leaves the voter thinking the candidate who sent it is in desperation mode. Interestingly the only other name I noticed on the piece as Barceleau's treasurer Al Velarde. Not sure if he...

BREAKING NEWS! Mayor Oscar Leeser is endorsing Jim Tolbert. That is a MAJOR development. Lol, jk - its not. Of course he's endorsing Tolbert, they are all in the same boat. They don't really have a choice but to stick together. Also, I was noticing the other day how much Jim Tolbert looks like the host of one of my favorite shows, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

David K., Chris Hernandez and Jim Tolbert have been trying to sell the public a bum steer. They have been pushing this mythical story that Jim Tolbert is somehow NOT the subject of a criminal investigation. Their explanation defies logic, but it is funny to say the least. I mean a state agency (DPS) sent out a press release that they say wasn't sent out, to the media that they say never got it (but they did) and say that the DPS spokesperson was wrong for saying that the Texas Rangers are conducting an investigation of Jim Tolbert and others regarding the secret meetings with Max Grossman and others about the downtown arena. Funny thing is that the Texas Rangers could've come out and said that their sister law enforcement agency was lying about an investigation if one truly didn't exist. But they haven't. And we are supposed to suspend belief in reality and buy into the story that despite the fact that the Texas Rangers haven't disputed the press release sent out by...

Maria Reyes, the city rep that will likely cost the tax payers of Socorro a ton of money in a lawsuit because she led the effort oust a political rival without due process, and her tag-team partner on council Yvonne Colon-Villalobos, have apparently decided to take the crazy train on the road to Ysleta. I was catching a ballgame in the YISD district at Ysleta High in my neighborhood and lo and behold, who should I see? Yes, the dynamic duo of Reyes and Colon-Villalobos. I usually hear about things in the valley, but come on, this wasn't even hard to catch. I literally live walking distance from the baseball fields. Why were they there? Watching their son or grandson play in the championship game maybe? Nope. There to root for a Socorro school? Negative Ghostrider. There were no Socorro kids. So why on earth would they show up to a middle school ballgame at Ysleta High School? Simple. Come on, its Socorro people, you know there is a movida involved and you know how this story ends! ...

Come on El Paso, did you really think your mayoral election could out-Socorro Socorro? Don't be silly, Socorro is still the pound-for-pound champ of crazy. They are the Floyd Mayweather of cray-cray. They have a special election for mayor coming up because City Representative Maria Reyes decided to put the city of Socorro in a terrible legal position by having a shady back-room deal to railroad the Mayor Gloria Rodriguez out of her seat. Now get a load of this. The former municipal judge of Socorro is now running for mayor. Her name is "Elia" Garcia. No, I don't know why she always puts it in quotes, but she actually wants to be known by as Judge Garcia. No, she wasn't elected to the position and no, she's not the judge now. And wait til ya find out why. Because she was trying to get a shit ton more money out of tax payers in Socorro. As much crap as I talk about Socorro city government, one thing I am pretty sensitive to is the fact that the people of Socorro...

Jaime Barceleau is a man with a lot of personal flaws. Seriously flaws that should make him the last person to run for office and use words like "trust" and "accountability" and "confidence" and I could go on and on all day. He send out this mailer to voters. He should stop saying this shit. He doesn't hold himself to a higher standard and he should stop saying that because it isn't true. Or he should clarify what that standard is because I have a whole lot of one-liners for that guy! Oh yeah...

I seriously doubt that David Karlsruher is doing all of this denial of a criminal investigation of Jim Tolbert because he's stupid. I mean its possible, but I don't think that is why. I think he's just lying because Tolbert is a family friend. And he's lying a lot. And he has been for a long time. So first of all, David K says there's no investigation of his close family friend. He even goes so far as to say that the DPS told him that they never sent out a press release about an investigation of Tolbert. He also says that only the El Paso Times has even reported it. So here is the press release he says doesn't exist. It says there is an investigation. Its from the DPS. And you can see the time, date, and email addresses it was sent to. Feel free to look through it, its every media outlet in town. "Mind you" David K said this press release didn't exist. He said DPS told him there was no investigation yet here is the press release from the DPS statin...

Apparently there is a rumor going around, allegedly from a particular source that I haven't been independently able to confirm yet that has been telling people that the Texas Democratic Party Chairman has said that it is not okay to undervote in the upcoming election. This became such a thing that the Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats Chairman Eddie Holguin reached out to the State Chairman to ask him if that was the case. In his emailed response, Chairman Hinojosa very clearly states, "Eddie, the Texas Democratic Party never encourages Democratic voters to vote for Republicans - and never will." Later Chairman Hinojosa also states, "If voters want to go to the polls and vote on any of the other contested elections on the ballot they should be encouraged to do so. If they don't want to vote for any of the mayoral candidates then they should skip that position on the ballot or vote a write-in name." So for those of you in the Party that are being told that the ...

I've said this and predictably it pissed some people off. But its true, don't get mad at me just because it happens to be the truth. I know, the small but loud minority of people that have been ringing the cowbell about Duranguito and following around an extreme right-wing conservative like Max Grossman would have you believe that the electorate is really pissed that the arena is in Duranguito, that they are so mad that they want to put it on the ballot again and that we should hire Joyce Wilson again, just so we can fire her. But they aren't. They voted in big numbers for candidates that are in favor of putting the arena in Duranguito. Thats got to piss off poor Maxie. Anywho... Here is the best way to underscore the point I was making about how the voters clearly didn't give a damn about the arena issue. Lets see how Duranguito and Segundo Barrio voted on the issue. They vote in precinct 37 at the Armijo Center. That is in the heart of Segundo Barrio.  Lets start with...

You survived the last presidential campaign cycle, so you already knew that. But I've now seen a pretty funny meme floating around Al Gore's invention that is funny - but mostly because when you see people share it, you immediately know who is stupid, or just lying. For those of you needing a little refreshing of the memory - Tolbert's campaign team has been going around telling people that there's no investigation of Jim Tolbert going on. So someone actually created a meme stating that says in part, "there is no verifiable proof that Jim Tolbert is under investigation". Except that there is. Here's a link to the story that was done on the topic at the El Paso Times . Here's also a screen shot. Pay close attention to what I have highlighted. "The Texas Rangers have begun a formal investigation and there are no further details available at this time." - Lt. Elizabeth Carter, Department of Public Safety Now Tolbert's campaign team has made ...

If you missed the District 8 forum on KTSM you missed pretty much the only time you'll get to see the candidates that are vying to replace City Rep Cortney Niland. Here's a quick run-down of the candidates: Trini Acevedo - Smart guy - but doesn't have a serious chance of winning. He's from Segundo Barrio and is a Bowie grad. He seems to be a nice guy and really focused on what he believes is right, but he doesn't have experience, money, infrastructure, etc to be able to be a contender. Robert Cormell - He ran for mayor last time and was a surprising contender. Did better than a lot of people expected him to. He's a Republican, but that isn't a problem in D8. He's a business owner, has money, and has already dropped mail. He looks and sounds like a city rep. He is one of the major candidates and as long as he can ease up on the Jesus, he is likely going to end being in the run-off. Cissy Lizarraga - The only female in the field of candidates and she has...

I'm helping a candidate in the Hanks area, Cruz Ochoa, try to get elected as the trustee in the area so in full disclosure, I'm totally biased in this one. He's running against Trustee Paul Pearson who has wasted a lot of tax payer money on dumb stuff like paying lawyers to fight efforts to make the school boards more transparent about their finances and paying for frivolous law suits to prevent some retired teachers from getting pay that was owed them. But as much as that stuff bothers me from a policy stand point, I'm most annoyed at something that is a pretty stupid self-inflicted wound. Its Pearson's misplaced priorities. The guy seems more preoccupied with Eastwood than he does his own area. But if the guy wants to represent Hanks and coach at Eastwood and his constituents don't have a problem with it, so be it. But here's what I do have a problem with - taking off early in a school board meeting so that he can go see Phantom of the Opera. I'm not m...

Remember I told you that temperament was going to be a big issue? Well I've got a side story for you before I go on. Former State Rep Marisa Marquez used to pull this shit and I hated it and never let her get away with it. When I interviewed her she always wanted to know in advance what I was going to ask her. Look, if you're a candidate you either do an interview or you don't - but don't try to play that bullshit. Well Barceleau has taken his douchedom to an even more extreme level. Turns out the reason Barceleau was a No Shoeau at the KCOS debate was because he asked for the questions in advance and since he didn't have them, he didn't want to do the debate. What kind of chicken shit is that? Who does he think he is, Hillary Clinton? Where did I get that little nugget of information from? From the debate moderator himself, David Crowder. Take a look at this post from Facebook: Cassandra Brown is no fiery or articulate debater. It appears to be her weakest area...

Jaime Barceleau was a no show last night at the KCOS debate taping. First, I don't blame any candidate that would rather campaign right now than debate. There's no benefit to it - unless its on TV. If I were Margo, I'd be chomping at the bit to take Saucedo into the deep end of the policy pool and drown him. Saucedo is like a fighter (just kidding, he's not like one at all) that is behind on points and his only hope is haymakers. Thats why he's turned into the brown Trump. Or slightly less orange Trump. Whatever. Anywho, the difference between Captain Freedom Fence and Barceleau is that Jaime had originally committed to attending the debate. But come debate time, Barceleau was a no shoeau. Sources indicate that both he and his spouse were called but no one answered. Must've gotten cold feet. A constituent called him out a couple days before about something that happened several years ago at a forum recently and I think it shook him up. Which reminds me, I haven...

I know I really haven't given much love to the district 8 race, but tonight is probably your best chance to hear the candidates before their inevitable run-off election. KTSM will be doing another of their FB live debates, so find their FB page and it should give you details of the particulars. I haven't heard anything from the candidates because I live in the Lower Valley, but I am interested in what the next city council will look like so I'll be tuning it.

As I have said a while back, the bad thing about this election for mayor is that someone has to win and for El Paso, thats a bad thing. As I have said before, neither candidate is someone I feel good about voting for. Now as I have said before I have voted for a Republican previously. It was a judicial race and I feel okay with it because the guy was just a better choice and the Democrat in that race was Manny Barraza. I don't like the idea of electing judges in the first place but that is the system we have in Texas. But the mayoral position is a policy position. Party affiliation is about values, priorities, and governing styles. If you won't vote for a Republican in a policy position like commissioners court, state rep, congress or basically any other policy-making elected position, why on earth would you not be concerned about party when it comes to local policy? That is why I am urging people to truly express their feelings about the field of candidates. We don't have ...

Looks like Max Grossman found out he can't charge the public for shit they already own. Whoopsie!

Well its been a while since I've mentioned ol' Maxie but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the fact that he was a miserable failure at trying to influence the outcome of this election. He berated and bullied a few candidates into adopting his positions, or at least attempted to do so with others, then was a failure at getting his agenda across. Dee Margo supports the downtown arena and went into the run-off with the most votes by a huge margin. Jim Tolbert and Alexsandra Annello were both against the arena, but only one of them isn't being investigated by the Texas Rangers for being part of a shady meeting to hammer out an 11th hour deal on the issue. So that is a wash. In D3 - BOTH the candidates that made the run-off were in favor of the downtown arena and actually made it a part of their campaign message. In D4 - Morgan changed his position on eminent domain a couple of times and eventually landed on being against the downtown arena. Haggerty sounds like he...

Let me start off with a question that has been bothering me. I only know about Gilbert Guillen from the context of the Duranguito conversation - which turned out to be a non-issue to voters and if you don't believe me, just look at the results of the election. I heard there was only one property owner than hasn't signed on the dotted line for the arena yet, but I noticed that the name isn't Gilbert Guillen. So since I only know of him because of the Duranguito thing I'm wondering if he his the lone hold out that hasn't signed with the city yet. Since that is what he has become most notable for as it relates to a bid to replace the controversial Cortney Niland I think the public needs to know one thing... Has he sold-out, or is he the hold-out? That being said, lets move on. The race has a few interesting candidates. Guillen for obvious reasons is one of the more notable candidates and got off to an early start. The other notables in the race are Robert Cormell who p...

The northeast seat has been pretty quiet in the first round of elections - uncharacteristically so. Normally anything having to do with the northeast part of town and politics is a lot of drama featuring El Paso's most diverse community. But don't expect that to stay the same. Expect things to get heated and expect it to come from Sam Morgan based on his behavior in the race so far. Sam Morgan went into the run-off with 42% of the vote. I expected him up around 48% of the vote because the district has seen his name on the ballot before, he came within a few votes of winning previously and was so close to winning that he asked for a recount. So he is sorta the incumbent. He went through the trouble of cutting his hair - and made a public spectacle of it - because he felt like a few votes didn't go his way last time because of his dreds. But lets keep this in perspective, Sam Morgan was in a run-off with an incumbent and managed to lose! That almost never happens. When and in...

Just a few minutes ago Republican candidate for mayor David Saucedo took this pic with Willie Cager. I'm expecting a full press conference on this later this afternoon with Saucedo declaring he was the reason they won the championship and then expose a kick-back scandal involving soccer moms running illegal fundraisers from the concession stands at games. But hey, if everything stays true to form for Saucedo... The rest of the team will then turn around and endorse Margo. Oh wait, the current coach of the Miners has already given him money...

Save him from himself, his advisors, his team, his ego, or whatever it is that made this guy think coming up with an outlandish conspiracy theory was going to be a smart campaign move. Seriously, even David K doesn't come up with conspiracies this stupid. Just kidding, he does. Hell it was probably David K's idea. Word on the street is that the two Republicans hang out and make matching tin foil hats at Morris Pittle's Jew Boy Burger joint in Austin. Anywho, Saucedo makes a stupid claim, can't or won't back it up, and manages to unit basically the entire city council against him. Exactly how bad did Saucedo screw up? He had the last remaining members of council still under the cloud of the Texas Rangers investigation - and the two members of council most opposed to the border wall and GOP's stance on immigration - Svarzbein and Tolbert, endorse Margo. So there's a lot to take in with this particular debacle so lets break it down. Saucedo realizes he's go...

Jaime Barceleau had a huge edge in spending. Big-time lead in money. And he still came in second. No matter how you look at it, Barceleau is in trouble. I know, I joked that he wouldn't even make the run-off because I knew he was going to have a hard time getting voters to support him. Now the choice is between Barceleau and a younger progressive female candidate. Guess who El Pasoans vote for almost always when given the choice? Barceleau is really in trouble because no one around him has told him he doesn't know shit about campaigning. I heard he had the same problem during the EPISD election in which Jaime is actually proud of the fact that he raised your taxes BIGLY in the bond election. Multiple sources in that campaign told me how much of a pain in the ass he was and how he kept coming up with terrible ideas and tried to be the boss. Eventually he was pushed to the side and was just a titular campaign chair. Barceleau has to understand that two things matter in a run-off ...

But he's a huge hypocrite. David K wrote another piece about me and Susie Byrd. I get sick of David K implying shit about me - but I get really bothered by it when he's being a massive hypocrite. I'll get to me in a minute, but lets talk about his comments about Susie Byrd. David K won't admit this in his blog, but he couldn't be more far up Jim's ass if he were a free steak dinner at Ruth's Chris. So he gets mad when anyone is opposed to Jimbo. He blames Tolbert being in a run-off on Susie Byrd. He says its because she's a campaign goddess and that the Times does her bidding. Why does he say that? Because David is a crazy. He hath become that what he dreadeth. First of all, Susie had four Girls Night Out candidates or whatever that PAC is that she runs. Alexsandra Annello, Cassandra Brown, Diana Ramos, and Leila Melendez. Ramos and Melendez lost and didn't make run-off elections. And hate to pull the rug out of your conspiracy theories there David, ...

Now that we are in the run-off I'm interested in seeing how all the candidates that are left deal with the issue of temperament. Normally that is a phrase I only use when speaking about judicial candidates but of the municipal candidates, there is at least one candidate in each race that has issues with temperament. When you consider the behavior of city council over the last couple of years you'll understand why they are often referred to as dysfunctional. People like Niland, Limon, Noe, and Tolbert haven't helped fix that image much. All the fighting has been bad for the city. So I think the temperament of the candidates is going to be something voters consider when it comes to the run-off vote. I don't think voters are going to want to send people to council that are drama queens or have issues with their anger. Lets take a look at the guys with a problem controlling their anger or temperament. David Saucedo - His volume is always at a 10. He's always angry and i...

Saturday night's results showed us that the Texas Rangers investigation matters to voters and that judging by Jud Burgess' absolutely terrible performance, that you still can't campaign via Facebook and hope to win. Incumbent City Rep Jim Tolbert is in a world of trouble and baring some kind of miracle, is going to lose his seat that he won just a short time ago. Rep Tolbert has taken a huge nosedive in popularity within a very short period of time and it was all self-inflicted wounds. Steakgate, Assholegate, the Texas Ranger investigation - all of those mistakes were avoidable and now you end up with an incumbent in a run-off. Incumbents in run-off elections lose. Only one - District Attorney Jaime Esparza was able to overcome that trend but he didn't have anywhere near the problems Tolbert is facing. Tolbert not only ended up in a run-off, he went in to the runoff behind. That doesn't matter much - but it does when you're the incumbent. Annello I don't thi...

Saucedo referred to his campaign on election night as "data-driven" and I almost spit out the water I was drinking. The Saucedo campaign has been modeled after the Trump campaign for those of you who haven't noticed the blatantly obvious. But they are also the biggest producer of fake news of the election cycle. More on that when I hand out sprinkles later. There is a saccharine quality about Saucedo that is completely undeniable. He's about as authentic as NFL merchandise at the Bronco or a J-Town boob job. So the rehearsed and fake confidence at his campaign party on election night wasn't a surprise. I expected it. But let me show you just how "data-driven" that amateur night shit-show of a campaign really is - on May 3 the campaign put out their newsletter and it proudly proclaimed that according to poll data, Saucedo was "officially in a dead heat". Lol, no you weren't. When the first early voting numbers came out, Saucedo was down by n...