Iliana Holguin: Politics Above Values

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 UMC (she's actually a board member at UMC), while there were still people recovering from the shooting, Holguin seemed remarkably calm about it. She said she was disappointed in him and that she'd ask him about it.

It certainly didn't raise the reaction from her that I thought it would, and for a moment I questioned whether I had overreacted to the picture. She ultimately reluctantly agreed to put it on the next CEC meeting's agenda.

I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t outraged. It is pretty clear to me NOW why she didn’t seem all that enthused about having the conversation, but to her credit, she still put it on the agenda for discussion.

I provided copies of the photo to my fellow precinct chairs and explained the situation at the meeting. The precinct chairs were understandably livid. The item was bundled in a broader conversation about holding elected officials accountable, which was about holding electeds that are Democrats but not upholding the values of the Party - that included Constable Angie Sommers and the County Judge.

During my remarks, I reminded my fellow precinct chairs that the County Judge said at a previous meeting that he wanted us to hold him accountable because he wanted to be known as a Democratic County Judge. That item also included a discussion about Mayor Margo meeting with Trump and welcoming him to El Paso while our other leaders said he shouldn’t come.

When it came time to open it up to discussion the chair immediately recognized a particular precinct chair.

That Precinct Chair argued that in the interest of due process, we should invite Sommers and Samaniego to explain themselves at the next precinct chair meeting. There was no discussion about affording Margo the same invitation.

But the precinct chairs weren’t okay with that. They wanted stronger action against the County Judge and voted UNANIMOUSLY to have the El Paso County Democratic Party Chair send him a letter  to admonish him for the incident. The Chair even went so far as to remark that the Party was giving her "a lot of work to do tonight".

No one voted against sending that letter. The El Paso County Democratic Party rarely agrees on anything - but this vote was unanimous.

In hindsight, I now know what the movida was and why that Precinct Chair in particular was recognized first. It was to control the conversation and try to get the action delayed, rather than having to send a letter that could potentially be problematic for Holguin's political ambitions.

Memmur earlier when I said that the Precinct Chair meeting was August 13? Well just a few days later on August 16, El Paso County Democratic Party Chair Iliana Holguin filed a treasurer and made clear her intent to run for County Commissioner in Precinct 3.

Today is September 6. That meeting was 24 days ago.

Here is what has happened in the 24 days since that meeting: 

- There were deportation raids aimed at Latinos. Children were separated from their parents.

- Trump forced Planned Parenthood from Title X funding - limiting reproductive rights of brown women and women in rural areas.

- Massacre Mitch blocked House bills to end gun violence.

- The Trump Administration moved to detain migrant children indefinitely.

- Trump back-tracked on background checks after pressure from the NRA.

- Gabby Giffords came to El Paso for a town hall to end gun violence and hate against Latinos.

- Iliana Holguin announced her candidacy for County Commissioner.

- Trump Administration eliminated a deferred action program that allowed immigrants undergoing life-saving care to be deported.

- UTEP actually won a football game.

- Another mass shooting in Odessa in which 7 more people lost their lives - including another El Pasoan.

- Walmart announced it would limit ammunition sales.

- The Trump Administration moved to end automatic citizenship for some children of US military and federal personnel born abroad.

- A hurricane ravaged the east coast while Trump golfed.

- Sharpie-gate.

- and today...there will be a Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Immigration and Citizenship in El Paso examining the Trump Administration's border policies and the relationship between anti-immigrant rhetoric and domestic terrorism.

----------------------------------------------------------

And you know what HASN'T happened during that time period?

The letter Iliana Holguin was supposed to send the El Paso County Judge admonishing him for the infamous picture of Trump / Samaniego smiling at UMC while shooting survivors fought for their lives. 

That begs the question of why?

After all the Chair did mention that the Precinct Chairs gave her "a lot of work to do tonight" - referring to the August 13th meeting. Especially because if you look at her social media - there are plenty of interviews of her soaking up the spotlight following the tragedy, but when it comes time to hold the line on the Party's values, ¡NADA!

Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. The meeting was on August 13th, Holguin filed for a treasurer on the 16th, and August 26th was her campaign launch.

You think she wanted to step on the County Judge's toes before her campaign announcement?

As we say in the Valley, ¡CHALE!

You think she wanted to do anything that would hurt the turnout to her campaign event? ¡CHALE!

Iliana Holguin put her own campaign ambition above what the precinct chairs voted unanimously for her to do.

That is not leadership.

If Holguin is afraid to admonish the County Judge for something he was so obviously wrong about, do you think she's going to take on tough issues that other counties have addressed, like bail reform?

¡CHALE! - she's probably gonna take their money! You think she would stand up against a medical waste facility trying to turn the Mission Valley into their dumping ground?

Again, ¡CHALE!

Because that issue already happened. And do you know what Iliana Holguin - who lives within one mile of the facility had to say about that potential dumping ground?

The same thing she said to Samaniego about the Trump incident in the last 26 days - ¡NADA!

Hell even our Republican Governor released 8 executive orders in response to the mass shooting - and none of them addressed gun control - and even THAT was more than what Holguin has done!

So the letter she was supposed to send never got sent. But she sure somehow found the time to release a statement on the shooting in Odessa on her campaign page, formerly known as the El Paso County Democratic Party's Facebook page - "It has been less than one month since El Paso was attacked. We are now watching in horror as another west Texas city is being terrorized. We are in the midst of a gun violence epidemic. We need to demand that our elected officials do something NOW."

But I guess when she means elected officials she doesn't include the County Judge that was yucking it up with Trump?

¡CHALE!

So if she sends the letter now it will only be because I said something about it. But almost a month later, is it even going to matter to the County Judge or anyone else for that matter?

¡CHALE!

Oh, and in case you're wondering how I know that Holguin never sent the letter to the El Paso County Judge regarding the Trump/Samaniego picture - I made an open records request to see if it was ever sent.

You know what answer I got?

¡CHALE!