Noe Seas Gacho

As you by know by now, the race to replace State Representative Joe Pickett is basically just between El Paso Community College Board of Trustees Chair Art Fierro and City Representative Michiel Noe. 

The El Paso Times ran a story the other day about how Chairman Fierro had sewn up the endorsements of several of the members of the state delegation at the time. The article found at this link specifically references State Reps Moody, Gonzalez, and Blanco. 

Since the article was published State Senator José Rodriguez and State Rep Lina Ortega have since also endorsed Fierro, making it a clean sweep of the delegation in favor of Fierro. 

I don't know, maybe Noe will think discretion is the better part of valor and back out (he still has a few days to back out) because when you read his quotes, Noe goes after the state delegation pretty hard. Which from a practical standpoint makes no sense. 

But hell, its probably Dora Oaxaca telling him that smack talking the entire delegation makes sense. She's run all his races before, she's no-doubt calling the shots on this one too. 

In terms of city policy, I mostly agree with Dr. Noe, although there are several points of contention I have with him, like the fact that he and former City Rep Emma Acosta are not friends of transparency. Whats their common denominator? 

Dora Oaxaca. 

As you may recall a while back I did an open records request for text messages and they self-redacted a bunch of stuff that made my open records request that I got back look like classified Cold War documents. 

I also hate his position on the Mexican-American Cultural Center, but as a Chicano community we failed to raise the adequate funds and stay engaged the entire process and it wasn't surprising that we got the outcome that we did. 

But on almost everything else, I pretty much agree with him. The difference is state representatives are really only relevant every other year and relevant for only few months at a time when they are in session. 

What is my point? My point is that City Reps are relevant every other week. They are constantly having votes that will either make their community really happy or piss them off. You rarely hear from state reps and no news is good news. So state reps are FAR more popular with the electorate than city reps (typically), which is why I was confused as to why Noe wanted to declare war on the delegation. 

Not only are they more popular, they have the ability to raise funds to a much better degree than city representatives. 

Noe Seas Gacho

Okay so here is where Noe gets gacho with the state delegation...first he references State Reps Moody, Gonzalez, and Blanco when he says that Art Fierro "...is a better fit in their little club." That is some pretty serious sour grapes going on there. 

But I can tell you with 100% authority that all of the hateraide coming form Noe is because of the Metropolitan Planning Organization. They all sit on the MPO together and the City of El Paso always wants to hog all the regional transportation dollars. County and state leaders are more sensible about the fact that those dollars need to go to the region. 

What Noe doesn't understand is that the "little club" as he refers to it needs to be able to work together to get things done. If they don't, they become a dysfunctional delegation. 

Remember the last time we had a delegation that had a member that didn't get along with the rest of the delegation? Yeah, that was former State Rep Norma Chavez, and we all remember what a disaster that was for this community. In many ways we are still picking up the pieces from her bull in a china shop approach. 

So why Noe would want to come off as the second coming of Norma Chavez is beyond me. 

But the digs just kept coming. He then said, "I have a habit of listening to my constituents and representing them." I guess he's implying that the state delegation doesn't do so. The problem with that rational is that he's simultaneously calling voters stupid by saying they voted those people in. So they are smart for voting for him, but stupid for voting for them. 

All at the same time. Again, not smart. 

But he didn't stop there. He seemed to be determined to channel his inner Norma by then declaring that "I'm not one to be told how to vote because that's what the delegation is wanting me to do," and then going on to say, "I'm not going to lower my standards or ethics or anything just to fit into their clique,"

For one elected official to say they aren't going to lower their standards or ethics just to fit in their clique is a pretty scathing indictment of the people he's saying it about. It is implying that he has higher standards - and more importantly, higher ethics - than three (if not all) members of the delegation. 

Hard to see anyone who owes their political career to Dora Oaxaca say they have higher ethics than anyone else with a straight face. 

I think the most telling part of Dr. Noe's comments is what he says about Art Fierro personally. Noe comes off pretty bitter and makes a personal attack on a guy that is almost universally liked. I mean it is one thing to attack people that have it coming or that no one likes. But Art is really well-liked by a lot of people. 

Here's what Noe said about him, "I believe Art is somebody that the rest of the delegation thinks will go along with the pack and do as he's told, basically."


He's calling his opponent a yes-man. He's saying he'll be obedient and do what he's told. There are few more personal attacks you can make on another elected official than saying that they will do as they are told by other people. 

I get the idea of wanting to show that you are a fighter. Dora did that when she ran for County Commissioner. But there is a fine between fighter and unable to get along with people. She came across angry, abrasive, and confrontational. It didn't help her. 

Dr. Noe came across the same way in the article. 

Hell I'll bet his quotes in the article are the reason the other two members of the delegation ended up endorsing Fierro. 

I know Dr. Noe says there won't be any hard feelings if he wins, but I'm not sure the delegation would feel the same way.