El Paso Politics

Before I get started, I have been warned by several people (Republican and Democrat alike) that I should tread lightly when writing about Republican candidate Rick Seeberger because he is "litigious". I get that a lot. People threaten to sue me all the time and I view it like I view any street fight - if you could, you would and you damn sure wouldn't talk about it, you'd just do it. So Rick Seeberger doesn't scare me. I appreciate your concern but I took a look at what he has filed in the past and it was pretty laughable. Also, since he's a candidate for public office now its a lot harder for him to sue someone that writes a political post about a candidate for office, so good luck with that buddy. Okay, now that we have that out of the way lets talk about what I've found out about Seeberger. He's taking on County Judge Veronica Escobar in the general election in November for El Paso's 16th Congressional District. Despite the fact that he isn'...

I ran across this story on my newsfeed about El Paso ranking among the least educated cities in America. It was a story form KFOX. The other day I ran across this story from the Houston Chronicle . showing the highest paid superintendents in Texas. While we rank amongst the least educated communities, EPISD's superintendent is enjoying his spot at the 7th highest paid superintendent in Texas. Now there is a lot of talk about how much accountability there needs to be on teachers. There is a lot of talk and focus on how students perform on standardized testing. All under the premise that we need to focus on performance and accountability because after all, we should be good stewards of tax payer dollars right? So if you don't see that there is a fundamental problem with an equation that ranks El Paso among the least educated communities and the superintendent of our largest ISD making almost $400 grand after salary and perks, then there is something wrong with you. I believe you...

It really didn't click to me how messed up Mayor Margo's move to kick Rick Bonart was until the White House banned a reporter from CNN yesterday. Trump has made silencing dissenters all the latest rage - which is bad for Democracy. Look, the Mayor has the authority to replace folks if he wants to. That is perfectly within his rights as the Mayor of the City of El Paso. But the reality is that it was, for lack of a better expression, a dick move. First of all Bonart's term wasn't up and there is no real sense of urgency to remove him, other than the fact that he's going against what the mayor wants. Second, he replaces Bonart with Rick Cabrera? Look I like Rick, and he's pretty decent at pick-up basketball, by why on earth would the Mayor risk the optics of appointing someone that works for a company that purchased a company Margo used to own and his son still works for? And Rick...come on vato, you've been around news long enough to know that you'll be s...

Take note of this word.  I love a good story. So gather 'round kids while Tio Jaime tells you a great story. Everybody comfortable? Cool. This is a story your ol' Tio Jaime came across on the inter webs. If you want to read it, just click this link to a story in the Los Angeles Times . Now kids, this is an old story - from 1985. But the latest chapters in the saga were just a couple years go. Here we go. Once upon a time in a far off magical land called California, lived a bunch of young students. These kids went to a school called Eshelman Avenue Elementary School. Their parents had formed a PTA and wanted to do a fundraiser for the kiddos. So some of the parents walked their first graders around their neighborhood selling holiday-themed items like chocolate Santa's and Christmas ornaments. They did pretty well too, racking up about $17 grand in sales. That was supposed to net the PTA about $8,000 in profit - just in time for the holidays. But the company didn't come t...

I saw this billboard a while back and I honestly just laughed aloud for a few reasons. First, I've said this before so you already know what I think about this but billboards are a waste of money. Its like the worlds largest yard sign. But thats not what cracked me up the most. What cracks me up the most is the top of the sign - "What do you have to lose?" If you recall, that is the same line that Trump used on "the blacks" when he was trying to convince the African American community to support him. This comes across as a white guy asking "the browns" the same thing Trump asked the African American community. And we all see how well that worked out, amirite? So if you do what his sign says, Think First - it makes his line even more funny! You want us to think first vato? I got three words for ya. Tore Knee Yo Seeberger is your garden variety Trump supporting Republican. Interestingly though, I caught him during some of the debates during the primary ...

Families in Socorro that live near Coker Road can breath a little easier thanks to a few items passed last Thursday night by the Socorro City Council. Councilman At-Large Rene Rodriguez put an item on the agenda to instruct city staff to explore the use of the area for a dual-use pond and park space. That move would mean that the city can acquire the land via eminent domain, meaning that the home owners would at least get fair market value for their homes. Under an effort supported by City Rep Ralph Duran and Mayor Elia Garcia, the homeowners would not have received any compensation and their homes would have been taken via a nuisance ordinance. Ultimately the measure to direct staff to come up with a public base plan by Rep Rodriguez passed with a 4-0 vote. In other developments, Mayor Elia Garcia was removed as the city's representative on the MPO and council voted in favor of replacing her with City Representative Rene Rodriguez by a 4-1 vote, with Rep Duran voting to keep the m...

Max Grossman is about the most entertaining thing in El Paso politics this side of the rumor of David Saucedo running for the Texas legislature against Lina Ortega. Yeah, that is actually going around - I've heard it from three different places and as much as I'd love for that guy to run for something again for sheer entertainment value, I doubt he actually does it. He's not a Democrat and no one would buy it if he tried to switch parties. And he can't win as a Republican - though he can't win as a Democrat either. Anyhow, back to Max Grossman. He has become El Paso's version of Donald Trump and he wallows in it. Think about it, he's loud, obnoxious, rude, arrogant as all hell, can't stand not being the center of attention, and has a very casual relationship with the truth. Seriously all he's missing is a porn star beefing with him and a Twitter account. But he makes up for the lack of a Twitter account for his middle-of-the-night rants in crazy town...

El Paso's big time conservative dandy Max Grossman has taken on Beto O'Rourke in his latest email tantrum. Grossman, a Trump supporter since he was a candidate, has often used monolingual Spanish speaking seniors as a media prop but hasn't ever been critical of the administration's attacks on the immigrant community or efforts to separate families. So his on-going effort to put on brown face for the purposes of his personal gain has demonstrated the level of hypocrisy Grossman is capable of. But his email also shows another level of hypocrisy that I'll get to in just a moment. First, take a look at how he attacks Beto O'Rourke, who is currently taking on another conservative - Senator Ted Cruz. At a time when most everyone is getting behind O'Rourke because he represents the first chance at a Democrat unseating a statewide Republican, Grossman attacks one of O'Rourke's major policy initiatives when he was a member of city council. Here's the emai...

Congressmen Beto O'Rourke and Will Hurd were awarded for being politically civil with one another. There was a time, certainly before the Trump era, that this was common place. But thanks to Trump, we now award people with lame accolades for stuff that should be common place. Don't get me wrong, I'm voting for Beto and support him 100%, its just a sad commentary on our political system that this lame award is actually a thing. This award's lameness is so high I half expected it to be an award given out by Eliot Shapleigh.

This is the first in a series of posts about the upcoming municipal races.  City Representative Peter Svarzbein is up for re-election. He's the most-vulnerable of the incumbent city representatives up for reelection and its very difficult to see how he keeps his seat. Svarzbein has a major image problem. First, people are going to rightly wonder What has Svarzbein done? Now what most people care about is stuff like potholes, stop signs, parks, etc. Svarzbein had a major staffing problem for a large part of his term in office. His staffer, who is no longer with his office and rumor has it is now working in some sort of capacity with a potential rival candidate, probably didn't keep track of what was done. For the life of me, I don't understand why he even hired that guy in the first place with absolutely no real relevant staffing experience but that is water under the bridge. The only thing I can think of Svarzbein marketing is the trolley, but that is problematic for him. F...

If you've read my blog for any length of time you know that hypocrisy is one the many things that gets on my last nerve. Especially with leaders and ideology. So here is what annoys me about Cassandra Hernandez-Brown and Annie's List. Annie's List is an organization that is dedicated to electing women leaders. They put a lot of money and resources behind women candidates. They very frequently conduct training sessions for future candidates and donate funds to their candidates. Annie's List held one such training recently. As you can see, they tout City Rep Hernandez-Brown in this tweet: So one would assume that such a candidate, when ascending to office, would be inclined to ya know, support other women leaders. In the case of District 3 City Rep Cassandra Hernandez-Brown, you'd be wrong. Remember a while back when the fact that a city with the civil rights record El Paso has still has a street named after Robert E. Lee came to light, there was an opportunity to cha...

Socorro has been synonymous with corruption for decades, mostly because of the Gandara Clan and people like Dora Oaxaca that put them and kept them in office. Long after the Willies went to jail and Little Jessie Gandara was booted out, that shadow of corruption still haunts that city. The latest controversy at the City of Socorro involves a new crop of names, but the story is still the same. Its about power and envy. So here is the latest episode of the telenovela that is Socorro. The City Manager position in Socorro has always been a lightening rod for some reason. The most controversial figure has been Lorenza Fraire, who apparently was so problematic that even the Gandara's thought she was bad for the city's image and they got rid of her. I've written about her exploits many times, so use the search feature on the right if you want to go back and get more details but the short of it is that she has been wanting her job back as city manager now for the better part of a D...

Socorro Mayor Elia Garcia & Councilman Ralph Duran This is why people hate Socorro City Council. Apparently Socorro Mayor Elia Garcia and Councilman Ralph Duran are pushing for a very controversial policy to deal with flooding in a specific area in Socorro. Its particularly controversial given that we are hitting the summer rain season and because of a controversial new policy relating to media at the City of Socorro. Residents on Coker Road have had to deal with flooding for a very long time but the situation has gotten worse over the last few years. The current city council has tried to bounce around the issue for a while now, even kicking the issue down to their city planning commission at one point, rather than deal with the issue themselves. The City of Socorro has the ability to use eminent domain to purchase the land at fair market value from the home owners, giving them the ability to move to another location. But word in Socorro is that Mayor Elia Garcia and City Councilma...

By now most of you have seen the viral video of an El Paso police officer pulling out a weapon and pointing it at a crowd of kids during an arrest. The cops' actions were in no way reasonable or proportionate to the situation. And as typical with these scenarios, Facebook and the rest of social media has simplified this incident down to its dumbest common denominator: You're either with cops or against them . And as you'd expect there's an "I Support Cops" meme that everyone thinks shows what a great citizen and American you are. But lets speak a little truth to power shall we? Identifying a mistake made by an officer doesn't mean you're against cops. It means you want better from them because we are the safest community in the country. If you take that rationale out to its illogical conclusion, anyone who ever criticized the quarterback of their favorite NFL franchise for throwing an interception, or bumbling a play would therefore automatically be a ...

I'm rounding third and heading toward the completion of another year around the sun. Being born on Independence Day means you grow up with a particular affinity toward the value of freedom. Hell, my parents almost named me Freedom - thankfully my grandmother intervened. The separation of families - children robbed of their freedom for the acts of their parents - has been at the forefront of this community for weeks now ever since there was a kids internment camp opened in Tornillo. Elected officials and celebrities have tripped over one another to get their photo-op. There has been demonstration after demonstration out there and in downtown El Paso about the separation of families orchestrated by the Trump Administration. Trump is pushing threw more immigration judges so he can deport people faster. The absurdity of the immigration court system has gotten to the point where children aren't represented in court by an attorney. These actions have been almost universally rejected ...