Claudia Rodriguez Lied About Arrest

District 6 candidate Claudia Rodriguez lied about her arrest record on multiple occasions. There are no two ways about it. Homegirl straight-up lied about it to the media and to the community and didn't even hesitate. There's no misunderstanding. There was no miscommunication. There is no explaining it away. Call it what it was - a lie.

And that isn't the only thing she's not forthcoming about.

She's also a big Trump supporter. To the point that she knew it was going to be a liability and deleted her Facebook page prior to becoming a candidate for the District 6 seat.

And if you need proof she's a Trump supporter there are two good ways to tell. One, is the fact that "Conservative Anthony", who's real name is Pedro Aguero, is a big supporter of hers - along with people like Max Grossman - another avid Trump supporter. The other way you can tell is all the comments in the comment section of the El Paso Times article in which her overt lies about her arrest record were revealed.

Trump supporters are used to overlooking things they would skewer someone else over - its part of the grand hypocrisy of being one of them.

Now "Conservative Anthony" coming to her defense is obviously something very funny considering he himself is a felon. Actually, he has multiple felonies and a pretty long rap sheet going back years. He's the guy who harasses immigrants and given the fact that we live in a border community, it is pretty damn important that we know if someone is a Trump supporter given the issues the City of El Paso faces.

First, Conservative Anthony saying she's "one of us" tells you everything you need to know about her - but the idea that he's trying to sell that she's some threat to the rich is hilarious. She is the rich. She's not poor.

Here's the Facebook post in which he's trying to defend Rodriguez:

If you really want the truth about her support for Trump, watch her supporters lose their mind over the fact that I'm currently telling the truth about her background and the fact that she lied.

So here is the truth about Claudia Rodriguez and her arrest record.

She lied.

There's no two ways about it. There's no gray area. The question was simple, has she ever been arrested. She has and she looked into the camera and without blinking, said no.

When confronted with something that makes her uncomfortable, her reflex was to lie. And that tells you a lot about what kind of representative Rodriguez would be.

The reality is it was a stupid thing to lie about. She simply could have said, yes I was once arrested but the case was dropped and I have no felonies or misdemeanors on my record.

That would have been the end of the conversation. There would be no reason for alarm or critique. And frankly, there would be no story.

But she didn't.

She chose to lie about it.

And the fact that she didn't hesitate to lie is what should scare voters.

She event went to the extreme of trying to come up with a folksy story about stealing something as a child and using it as a way to say she's so super honest now. So it wasn't an accident. She didn't misunderstand the question. She knew what the question was and rather than fight the issue with facts, she tried to avoid the issue with deception and then added a little story on top of it for good measure.

As a resident of District 6 myself, that scares me quite a bit. I don't want to see District 6 slide backward after the progress that has been made over the last few years. But more importantly, I don't want someone who's default settings are to lie when confronted with something uncomfortable.

That is self-preservation, not leadership.

Trying to Have It Both Ways with Law Enforcement 

So the arrest was about serving alcohol to minors. In her explanation to the El Paso Times about the issue, she actually tries to have it both way with law enforcement. She simultaneously tries to act like  she loves law enforcement - while blaming them for why the charges were dismissed.

She's trying to simultaneously be pro-law enforcement and anti-law enforcement at the same time.

But you know what she's not trying to do?

Take responsibility for the lie.

As a said earlier, the cover-up is worse than the crime here. She was accused of a crime and then it was dropped. That happens every day. Its seriously no big deal. But again, she chose to lie rather than deal with the uncomfortable truth.

That goes to her character.

Why Being a Trump Supporter is a Problem

Aside from the obvious that Trump owes this community a lot of money, which is going to be hard for her to navigate while she's being told what to say by a couple of conservative guys, there are important policy issues at stake.

First, how this community deals with the refugee issue right here on our doorstep. Second, Trumps immigration enforcement priorities.

Trump has been anti-Latino and anti-El Paso for a long time and this community has enjoyed leadership that is not afraid to stand up to Trump, his rhetoric, or recent acts of racial terrorism.

And now, because she was trying to skate by on the name "Claudia" she is in a run-off to represent a district who's values don't match hers.

The reality is that the choice is between two Republicans to represent District 6. The truth is Rodriguez's not only doesn't reflect the values of El Paso, but she's done absolutely nothing for District 6.

Nothing.

At all.

And when the single-biggest issue in District 6 was going on over the last couple of years - the possible location of a medical waste facility in District 6, Rodriguez was no where to be found. Debbie Torres is a Republican, but even she knew that having a medical waste facility in the Lower Valley was unacceptable.

Rodriguez not only didn't care about the medical waste issue - but he extremist positions about limited government would mean that if SHE were the city representative at the time, she would've fought for less regulation authority instead of more.

In other words, our community is less safe with someone like Rodriguez on city council.

And that is not hyperbole.