Carlos Carrillo & Conservative Anthony Connection

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's defense, he may have been in prison during that election, I'm not sure when he went in or got out.

Aguero's supporters are hilarious too because a whole lot of them tried to troll me online and ended up looking stupid. They said his arrest record was "fake news" until I posted it.

You'd think people that do nothing but watch Fox News all day would be better at recognizing fake news when they see it. Or maybe they are so indoctrinated by the Fox State News Channel that they can no longer distinguish between reality and Trumpiganda.

They have something else in common but I'm waiting for some records to come in. That is a post for another day.

I wanted to meet with Carrillo to ask him some policy questions so I asked for a sit down. I figured he'd bring his campaign manager - but he actually bought an entourage with him.

Like 6 people.

It was weird.

And confrontational.

They kept asking if I was recording them. I am mildly surprised they didn't try to pat me down or check me for a wire.

They got offended when I asked follow-up questions or pressed on certain issues.

There was a lot of "don't put words in his mouth" when I asked for clarification and Carrillo himself seems like he has a bit of a temper.

I don't blame him, I was suspicious of his candidacy from the start because he's a Trump supporter and because he actually went to go see Trump when he came to El Paso - after he said he suddenly saw the light about Trump.

So if he saw the light about Trump, I can't understand what he was doing at the Trump event.

Point is, this picture is something that should give all Democrats pause about Carrillo.

Conservative Anthony doesn't represent El Paso or our values. His anti-immigrant stances particularly troublesome, especially with his tendency to skirt the law.

One of the main reasons that El Paso has been a safe community is because immigrant communities feel comfortable coming forth and reporting a crime without also putting themselves in some kind of legal jeopardy. That is important for people to consider when making their vote for sheriff.

Carrillo was pretty angry when the topic turned to the sheriff's deputies being banned from moonlighting at the Tornillo Detention Camp. He really was bothered by the fact that Sheriff Wiles said he didn't want his deputies moonlighting at the controversial camp that incarcerated children.

That gives Carrillo a real problem. He's using phrases like "Yo Soy El Paso" but is chummy with Republicans that don't reflect the core values of El Pasoans.

What is worse for Carrillo is that it further underscores the concern that a lot of voters are going to have with Carrillo's ties to the GOP. It is not hard to leverage that in a primary election especially when you're running around taking pictures with the guy.

There was a time with Sheriff Samaniego was running immigration checkpoints. It appears that those days might make a comeback if someone who is chummy with anti-immigrants like Pedro Aguero is elected.

Carrillo was always going to have a hard time making a respectable showing in this race. But now that he's buddy-buddy with Aguero, the pro-immigrant community is going to mobilize against him now. A stunningly bad tactical mistake on the part of Carrillo and his staff to even allow the picture to be taken in the first place.

I mean, unless he agrees with him.