El Paso Politics

Carlos Carrillo is a candidate for sheriff and is running in the Democratic Primary against Sheriff Wiles. I've had some concerns about his candidacy as have others in the Democratic Party, primarily around his voting record. Carrillo was a Trump supporter in the 2016 election and he's voted in multiple Republican Primaries. There have been a few other things that have concerned me about his ties to the GOP and an immigration stance. Now he appears to be palling around with "Conservative Anthony" which is a phony name, his real name is Pedro Anthony Aguero, Republican candidate for congress. He's also super anti-immigrant. Carrillo and "Conservative" Anthony have a few things in common. One, they both voted for Donald Trump. Ha ha, just kidding. Only Carrillo did. That is how much of a phony "Conservative Anthony" is - he has only voted once in his lifetime and it wasn't in the 2016 election. Although in "Conservative" Anthony...

I've been a little busy with campaign work lately but I had a night off and I thought I would catch up on some much-needed blogging. Stick around for the next few days because I'm about to get back to something I lost track of... Years ago when I started this blog it was about speaking truth to power. It was about holding electeds accountable, having informed discussions about policy, and sharing inside political info that I think the public should know. Somewhere over the last couple of years I lost that original focus - and truth be told, maybe I lost a little bit of that fire I used to have inside of me. A little righteous rage is a good thing in politics, because if you aren't just a little pissed off about what is going on in politics, then you just aren't paying attention. When you're the only blogger in town, usually the only vato that is going to show up and record things, ask the tough questions, and stand for something, it often makes some folks nervous. S...

I don't know why City Rep Cassandra Hernandez has played the pobresita to some of you but the one thing I pride myself on is callin'em like I see'em. A couple of years ago she was Cassandra Brown and she was positioning herself for a run at the HD 76 seat. Now she's Hernandez, said she was running for mayor, screwed up the rollout, put herself in a resign-to-run position and decided that she wanted to keep her position on council so that she can keep her salary and is no longer a contender for HD 76 now that the seat is open, and will likely turn around and run for mayor after putting her constituents through a big pendejada just to hold her seat a little longer. Stupid, right? Well don't count your pollitos too soon - Hernandez has at least two pretty strong challengers in Will Veliz who is about 25 even though he looks about 18ish, and Brooks Vandivort. Both guys have a couple things in common - they both are involved in the business community, they are both prett...

Trump was in New Mexico on Constitution Day. The El Paso Republican Party posted about Constitution Day on their Facebook page. The very same day President Trump was in New Mexico and he asked the crowd a question, "Who do you like more? The country or the Hispanics?" Its an either-or for President Trump - who is by default, the head of his Party. So that means its the official position of the Republican Party that there is a difference between our country and Hispanics. That is the exact kind of rhetoric that inspires his supporters to drive over 10 hours to come to El Paso and hunt brown people. They should never again be allowed to call themselves patriots. More Latinos have earned the Congressional Medal of Honor than any other minority group. My Tata Pedro Abeytia was a Marine who fought at Iwo Jima. He told me how he was referred to by his fellow Marines as "Mexican Pete".  My grandfather instilled in all the members of my family a profound sense of patriotism...

Well this development could potentially flip the entire political chess board around. Just the other day I wrote about this exact possible development, among others. I mean I'm not clairvoyant or anything, Ray Charles could've seen this coming. But nonetheless, indulge me for a moment and allow me to read from the Book of LionStar: Pickett would be a very compelling Senate candidate. Obviously this is all predicated on Senator Rodriguez retiring. There is yet another round of the Rodriguez is gonna retire rumor mill happening right now. Obviously if he retired there would be several heavyweights ready to throw their name in ring for the seat, but none bigger than State Rep Cesar Blanco and former State Rep Joe Pickett. With over $300k in the bank and the ability to raise more, it would be a very interesting race to watch. It would be one of those races that had a domino affect of other candidates taking a gamble and opening up some other seats.   But if its going to happen, its...

State Reps Mary Gonzalez and Art Fierro both announced their reelection bids recently. What makes it noteworthy is a couple of things. First Gonzalez's long-time assistant pulled a Judas and went to work for the firm that has been trying to unseat her since she first won the seat. I don't know if Josh Carter sold Forma some magic beans but good luck beating Gonzalez. Even when she's had worthy opponents like Mary Sue Femath - or washed-up candidates well beyond their prime like Chente Quintanilla, she's always won by healthy margins. I can't imagine there is a viable candidate for anything, much less state rep, that would take Josh Carter seriously as a campaign consultant. I have lost track of how many times he's lost his own campaigns and the only real campaign work he did for Gonzalez was make her coffee. State Rep Fierro is in a different situation. Former State Rep Joe Pickett is indicating that he's feeling better and that he has a bunch of money left ...

Okay I've heard from several people within the Party about the explanation given regarding money that went from the El Paso County Democratic Party to Eddie Holguin's consulting firm under Iliana Holguin's watch, which was around $9,000. Click here if you missed that post . I'm even more annoyed now at this movida and how it went down. Essentially they are saying that they have receipts and statements that show the money was just a reimbursement to the Holguin business for the cost of the mailers and for postage. Well, isn't that convenient? It would be if there weren't a few giant holes in their story. The fact that the word EP Democratic Party is chueco in this photo is unintentionally funny. I couldn't have pulled that off on my own if I had actually tried to, so don't give me credit for it. But you gotta appreciate the optics of it all.  So first of all - its a political consulting business  located right next to the El Paso County Democratic Party H...

Seriously are you people even paying the slightest attention to the politics happening around you? Another elected official appears to have triggered the resign-to-run clause here in El Paso. This time its a Republican congressional candidate. Canutillo ISD Trustee Blanca Trout has made what was rumored official recently. She's a Republican candidate for Congress. Now the race for the Republican congressional nomination is a complete and total joke. No one should be taken seriously as a candidate and quite frankly, voters will not take any of them seriously. Hell Weed Guy Pierrer from public comment might be more appealing than any of those candidates on the right. But nonetheless, they have to actually have a primary to decide who is going to get trounced by Escobar next November. It doesn't honestly matter which one of them wins because their views are going to be so soundly rejected by the electorate - but someone has to actually win. What kills me about this is how stupid d...

Do you guys remember a couple weeks back when I posted a picture of the El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego all smiles with President Trump? They were in UMC and there were still survivors fighting for their lives in that hospital at the time that the two were yucking it up. Later I wrote about how he was encouraging someone to show the President their Trump socks. Our County Judge. The one Trump called "a respected guy". That picture and video really bothered a lot of people, as it rightfully should. So I asked Iliana Holguin, the Chair of the El Paso County Democratic Party, if we could address it at the next County Executive Committee Meeting, commonly known as the Precinct Chair Meeting. That meeting took place on August 13. The Precinct Chairs voted unanimously to have the Chair send Samaniego a letter admonishing him for the incident. This will take a while, but its worth the trip - so walk with me... When I raised the issue about the County Judge and the picture at ...

The election to replace former City Representative Cassandra Hernandez will take place in November. The vote was 4-3 and there was another vote that ended in a time with the mayor breaking the tie, which was a vote about whether or not Hernandez should be able to vote on the item to place the election on the ballot. So let me set a few things straight about Hernandez's argument about how its not a public announcement. But I'll get to that in a bit. First I want to talk about the vote about Hernandez being able to vote on the item regarding the election. It was an item in which Hernandez had a personal interest in. I don't understand how any members of council could've voted for her to be able to vote. That should've been a 7-0 vote. When it came to the actual vote to put the item on the ballot, I understand two of the three people who voted for Hernandez. Annello is her BFF on council and will suspend rational thought and ideological consistency when it comes time t...