County Judge Race

It really doesn't matter who you vote for in this race because neither candidate will really represent any substantive change to Commissioner's Court.

Both candidates have their positives, both have their negatives.

Neither have a compelling message. Two really boring guys with no demonstrable policy differences.

And maybe that is not a bad thing. You have enough drama going on at city council with Heir Margo and this mess with the city attorney.

Commissioner's Court is basically drama-free, other than when Ambassador Stout is trying to sneak another Doo-ruhn-gui-toe item on the agenda for Max Grossman.

My biggest critique of both candidates is that they don't have a deep understanding of the machinations of county government and they don't seem to be in a hurry to get up to speed.

The County Judge isn't the Mayor of the County. They are another Commissioner just like the rest. Which means they vote on every issue. There's a County Administrator but its not analogous to a City Manager.

Department heads don't answer to the County Administrator. Well most of them don't I should say. Most of the department heads are elected officials and therefore budge season at the County is an especially large pain in the ass. If a department doesn't like their budget, they will just sue the County. Hell, if a department head like Norma Favela doesn't think she got a big enough raise, they can grieve it and get an even fatter raise.

Which is what she did.

Seriously, that is a glorified department head. You think commissioners are over paid? You should see what the two clerk electeds make.

There is tremendous need in the unincorporated areas but most of the tax base lives in incorporated areas. So people in incorporated areas bitch about their taxes going to people who live in unincorporated areas, then you have people in unincorporated areas bitching about how they don't get any services.

I'm looking at you Fabens. (I'll get to that special child in just a moment).

Then you have to run the justice system, public safety, public works, etc. But of those three, each of them are headed by an elected official, except public works.

Of course there's the battle of "mandated services" versus the needs of the community. The easiest answer is to say you're only going to focus on mandated services. But what do you do when you have constituents calling about parks, clean running water, waste water services, gas, and a range of other issues.

Thats not even mentioning the fact that the County basically is the weakest form of government in the state, by design. You don't have ordnance making authority, so someone can build a mansion in the unincorporated areas and next door someone can weld a couple of trailers together and have all the farm animals they want. And guess who they call to complain about one another?

Its like running a city only with more people, more area, less deputies to patrol, and almost no money to pay for things like street improvements and sidewalks, - oh, almost forgot, almost no authority to really do anything.

And then theres Fabens. Ah yes, good ol' Fabens. Talk to anyone who is from Fabens, but doesn't live there anymore and they look back on it very fondly. Talk to people who live in Fabens and you'd think there were the most miserable lot of people who ever lived. I've never seen a community love and hate itself at the same time as much as Fabens.

I single out Fabens because, well they complain a lot. But they are now the largest unincorporated community in the County. Now, to hear someone from Fabens tell it, they live in a crime-infested war-torn destitute post apocalyptic every-man-for-himself community forgotten by all of mankind.

They can be a bit dramatic.

The reality is that Fabens has it really good, despite the sad song they sing to basically anyone who will listen. The white Republican farmers that run the town, and trust me, the do - think they pay too much in taxes and don't get enough in return. The reality is that they get a shit ton of agricultural exemptions and pay way less than they'd have you believe and frankly, Fabens has it better than any other unincorporated community by any measure.

Most jobs in an unincorporated community? Fabens.

Most roads paved in an unincorporated community? Fabens.

Most parks in an unincorporated community? Fabens.

Running water? Check

Decent schools? Check

Traffic control? Check

Regular sheriff patrols? Check

Seriously, Fabens has it way better than the rest of the unincorporated communities and is comparable to at least Clint and San Elizario. Fabens wants all the services of city life, but doesn't want to pay for them.

Hell, Fabens' TWO parks have AMENITIES!

Do you know what passes for a park in Tornillo? A patch of dirt occasionally graded by Road and Bridge with a back stop and a couple benches. And BOTH Fabens parks have GRASS!

I know that seems like no big deal, but when Ascarate Park, which is deep in the city of El Paso sucks up all the damn parks budget every year, grass is a big luxury. But to hear people in Fabens tell it, they have nothing despite the fact that their neighboring unincorporated communities don't even have amenities as nice as dog parks in El Paso.

So whether its Mayor Cook or Samaniego that ultimately wins, they are going to be in for a bit of a rude awakening when they realize just how complicated county government can be.