Noe Money, Noe Problems

The finance reports in the race to replace State Rep Joe Pickett had some interesting developments. Democratic candidate Art Fierro raised pretty much the same amount as his opponent Michiel Noe. What was interesting is where Noe got his money and where the money went.

Thus my chingón hip-hop reference in the title that most of you probably didn't get.

First, lets talk about where his money came from. Most of his money came from two PACS, the Texans for Lawsuit Reform and a medical PAC. This revenue is a bid deal for a few reasons.

First, it represents 60% of all revenue he raised, or $30,000. TLR is a very Republican organization. Sure they will occasionally support a DINO here and there, but the overwhelming number of candidates that they back are Republicans.

And Noe has made no secret of the fact that the supports tort reform. He explained it years ago when he was trying to run for city council and I raised the question about his contributions to a Republican PAC at a candidate forum.

That is likely why the medical PAC supported Noe as well.

At the heart of their support for Noe is the fact that those organizations want to limit the amount of money that individuals and/or their surviving families can recoup from things like medical malpractice. This limitation on what compensation people can collect is a very big deal.

Its class warfare at its worst. Wealthy doctors and insurance companies want to keep the money in their pockets and want to severely limit what a family can recoup off of negligence and other issues related to malpractice.

Essentially they are happy to take your money for healthcare but if you lose a body part or a loved one's life - well tough cookies for you and them. That is not good for working families.

The fact that 60% of his contributions come from a Republican organizations is a very big deal, especially in the Trump era of politics.

When you couple that with the fact that only one current or former member of the state legislature from El Paso made a contribution to Noe - Republican former State Representative and current Mayor Dee Margo - then you now have people rightfully questioning Noe's Democratic credentials.

Almost all of the current members of the state legislature made financial contributions to Art Fierro. All of them have endorsed Art Fierro.

So this is a proxy war of Democrats versus Republicans.

And as usual, Forma Group is there to get their mordida of campaign dollars from their candidates. Noe raised a little more money than Fierro but Noe is at a big disadvantage when it comes to leveraging those funds because Forma is running his campaign and they suck up a lot of campaign dollars on "consulting fees" that never actually result in a vote.

More than half of the money Noe spent went to Forma. Actually other than some cash going to their sign guy and some money going to Paul Perez, spouse of former County Commissioner / City Rep / Trustee / JP Barbara Perez, almost all of the money has gone to Forma. A portion of that has gone to what I call "deliverables", meaning tangible campaign assets that you can point to and actually see.

But $21,000 (so far) has gone to Forma in the form of some sort of consulting fee. Obviously they need to get paid for whatever the hell it is that they actually do, but when you suck up more than 50% of the expenditures just in "consulting fees", its amazing that anyone ever hires them.

Other Notes on Reports

Woody Hunt, Stanley Jobe, and Mike Dipp all contributed to both candidates. The fact that Hunt donated an equal amount to both candidates is a big deal. Hunt doesn't usually hedge his bets like that and I can't think of another time that Hunt has donated to a candidate that was in opposition to a Forma candidate.

Former Democratic Party Chair Danny Anchondo appears to have made a contribution to Noe, which will likely draw some criticism from party regulars because of Noe's big Republican money.

If Forma ever loses that relationship with Woody Hunt, they are FUCKED. Hunt doesn't put his money in places he thinks are a waste, so the fact that Team Art got the same amount of money that the Forma candidate got should be making Forma nervous. The only reason they still get candidates, because it damn sure aint' think win-loss record, is because they peddle access to Hunt.

The fact that Noe is a DINO seems to be common knowledge in political circles, which explains why labor overwhelmingly have gotten behind Fierro. Labor has as much vested in Fierro in terms of reputation as anyone else, so I'm guessing they are gonna go all-in for Fierro between now and Election Day.