Candidate Forum Run Down

I'll have video of the EPISD Forum soon, but for now I wanted to do a quick run down of the forum because the video I post, or the live-stream on my blog FB page, is likely the only time you'll be able to get a look at the candidates.

The only other scheduled forum has candidates dropping out of it like flies because they feel like its not going to be an even-handed forum. I'll get to that later.

All of the nine candidate for the EPISD races up for grabs - every candidate participated in the candidate forum with the exception of Franklin area candidate Gary Berglund. Of all the candidates that are vying for a seat on the EPISD school board, he's the ONLY candidate that was a no-show. The El Paso Teachers Association had an event at the same time, but every other candidate was able to participate in both forums without a problem.

The El Paso Democratic Party learned about the schedule discrepancy and reached out to the EPTA to coordinate schedules to ensure that all candidates had the opportunity to participate in both forums.

Specifically for Mr. Berglund. Races were moved around to accommodate everyone and Mr. Berglund was made away that the El Paso Democratic Party Forum would move around time slots to afford him the opportunity to participate.

So Berglund was a no show...for real. He had the capacity to attend, he just chose not to. And to be fair to Mr. Berglund, he informed the Party that despite the efforts we made to accommodate him, he was choosing to focus on the EPTA endorsement...for real.

Even EPISD Trustee Micky Loweree showed up to the forum along with two candidates that are running for EPISD but are Republicans. But Berglund responded via email that he wanted to concentrate on the EPTA forum, which was done about an hour and a half before the candidates from his race were questioned by the moderator, State Board of Education Member for District 1 Georgina Perez.

Member Perez asked the candidates 5 questions, which the exception of Trustee Micky Loweree, who had 6 questions.

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DISTRICT 3 (AUSTIN)

Well enough about who didn't show up to the forum, lets talk about who DID show up to the candidate forum.

This race features four candidates - two who have no business running because they don't know policy and are completely unprepared for the job - and two really great candidates.

Ben Mendoza and Cynthia Cooper are just not prepared to be trustees. Neither know policy and neither have major budget experience. No one rational should be taking Ben Mendoza seriously because he's not a serious candidate.

Rene Vargas and Josh Acevedo are the candidates to watch in this race. Those two demonstrated the most policy knowledge and depth of understanding of the issues. Acevedo isn't a home owner, but he works at UTEP, is a former staffer for Commissioner Stout and has Mike Apodaca running his campaign, so he'll be the guy to beat in that race. Vargas is a home owner and an attorney with the Public Defender's Office. Smart guy and endorsed by AFT.

That race is going to be a close one.

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District 6 (FRANKLIN)

Freddy Klayel-Avalos is running for the seat along with Gary Berglund and Tom Hicks.

Like I said, Berglund was a no-show. Klayel-Avalos hard a rough start to the four but eventually got his footing. He gave the most substance and demonstrated the broadest understanding of the issues despite having a really bad start.

Hicks gets credit for showing up. He's a Republican and it wouldn't have been a big deal had he chosen to pass on the forum but he showed up and he gets points for that. Problem is, he really didn't elaborate on anything and you could tell that he didn't understand most of the questions that were asked but he hid it well.

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District 7 (CORONADO)

Daniel Call and Mickey Loweree both attended the forum.

Call was clear, articulate, and likable. Pretty strong understanding of the issues and opened by giving some of his backstory about being born in a small town in Mexico and how he ended up in El Paso. My biggest takeaway was that he was relaxed and pretty collected.

Trustee Loweree attended and I have to give credit where credit is due. She seemed far more solid on issues than I expected her to be and she also came across as likable. She seemed wound a little tight, but not distractingly so. But she was asked about her association with Carlos Sierra given his record and problems with campaign finance reporting - the backdrop being EPISD's many scandals and the recent allegations against Trent Hatch.

She wasn't expecting Carlos Sierra to come up, which is kind of politically naive of her because Sierra is always going to be a boat anchor around any candidates' neck - particularly in Democratic Party circles - but in general as well.

You'll want to see the video for this one.

I'll have the video done and up later today or this evening so come back and check for it.

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The X Factor

I've pretty much had it with Xavier Miranda's bullshit so I'm gonna rip the bandaid off and tell you that he is pissed off because a lot of candidates are backing out of his forum. At this point his forum looks like its going to be Gary Bergland, Ben Mendoza, Cynthia Cooper, and maybe one or two more candidates. Hell that number could even be lower at this point.

Miranda's problems are self-inflicted. He posted on FB a rant about how upset he was at the union's endorsements. He was really mad about it - mostly because the union didn't endorse his candidate, Gary Bergland.

Later in the post where he was complaining about who got endorsed he said that he was going to be objective in the forum. I think most of the candidates feel like they are going to be ambushed if they are endorsed by the union, so he's having trouble confirming people.

Well at the Democratic Party's forum Xavier Miranda did what he is becoming well-known for - he attacked a candidate. Daniel Call explained to him that he was not going to attend his forum and Miranda blew a gasket. He started raising his voice and eventually cursed at him until I asked him to keep it down because it was disruptive.

Shocking that the candidate felt that he wasn't going to get a fair shake, right?

I bet all of you reading this that personally know Miranda, knows that how he rolls. But let me tell you another quick story about the last time I saw Miranda do something like this. A couple of years ago I was doing some work for another union here in town and we were having an action about fair wages. We invited some elected officials that are supportive of the cause to attend.

Remember, we are talking about ALLIES.

What did Xavier do? He freaking attacked Commissioner Stout and berated him almost the entire time at the event.

I was fucking embarrassed. It was terrible that he treated an ALLY like that. Its one thing to be confrontational when its someone who's not on your side, but there's no reason to berate the people that are on your side.

But like I said, thats how he rolls. The X factor...