El Paso Politics

Elisa Tamayo tells a lot of tall tales. Its time she was called out on them. The biggest one is this "raised on both sides of the border" thing. She says it all the time and its even printed on most of her lit. She's trying to give the impression that she was born in El Paso and raised in Juarez, which is a pretty common border experience. But like I've been saying all along - she's not really connected to El Paso and she's tipped her hand about that all along the campaign trail with some of the things she has said. However, here's something really interesting to take into consideration about thee whole raised-on-both-sides-of-the-border thing.  This a screenshot from an article in UTEP's paper in which she personally cites Chihuahua City as her hometown. By her own admission. It doesn't say El Paso is her hometown. It very clearly says Chihuahua City. Why? Because Tamayo is a carpet bagger.  Tamayo identifies Chihuahua City as her hometown so that...

Some more fun facts about El Paso Teachers Association Union Boss Ross Moore. That guy has a pretty terrible - and well earned - reputation of being abrasive, hard to deal with, and a massive ego to go with sunny disposition he has. But he's mostly known for being all bark and no bite. And trust me, Ross likes to hear the sound of his own voice. But since Moore is the delegation's lapdog, I think the analogy is apropos. Ay-ay, "apropos". I could spend all day on the stuff Ross Moore has said over the last few weeks, but I want to zero in on a couple that are really interesting, and tell you everything you need to know about Ross Moore. First, just for funsies - lets talk about Ross calling people "DINOs" - short for Democrat in Name Only. That got me curious about his voting record. Mostly because he just seems like your prototypical Democrat that would secretly support someone like Trump. Those of you that work close with him know what I mean, he says some ...

El Paso American Federation of Teachers union boss Ross Moore - who has been making quite a bit of noise about alleged opposition to charter schools - has endorsed a candidate who is not just a documented charter school supporter... ...but a BOARD MEMBER of Harmony Charter Schools. Precinct 3 County Commissioner candidate Iliana Holguin is on the board of the Harmony Charter Schools. Ross Moore might try to pretend he didn't know that, but that would be a lie. Its not like Holguin is trying to hide it either, here's a screenshot from her campaign Facebook page that touts her experience. So she is not only open about the fact that she sits on a charter school board, but she lists it like its an asset. And Ross Moore is endorsing her. Lets be clear, we aren't talking about a rumor, or an alleged contribution from a charter school organization to her campaign - we are talking about a bonafide board member and ADVOCATE for charter schools receiving the endorsement of the EP AFT...

The giant pic he has of himself that he posts on the wall.  Apparently there is no limit to the lengths that Eddie Holguin's clique will go to in order to maintain control of the Tejano Democrats. From what I gather, Lily Limón sent out an email claiming there was no Tejanos meeting Tuesday night. I'm a member in good standing and I didn't get the email so if it was sent out - it was a cherry-picked list of people. (UPDATE: I have since been forwarded the email. In the email it says that if you received the email you're a member in good standing. So that sounds like they are trying to allege that I am not a member in good standing. Which is weird considering the movida they are in trouble for has to do with their membership scandal). So in order to make sure she has her facts straight, there is in fact a meeting Tuesday evening. Same bat time, same bat channel. If you're wondering why grown-ass adults act so childish, I wish I could tell you. I don't have an ans...

Well its about to get real in the Tejano Democrats. Word around the beer cooler is that some subjects in the latest episode of the where's-the-money novela at the Tejano Democrats is that there may be a criminal complaint filed and that at least one - if not more - members that are under scrutiny for the issues going on has lawyered up. That isn't surprising when you take a deep-dive into this on-going dispute. Eddie Holguin tried to get out while he could and distance himself from this internal scandal that has affected his wife, Iliana Holguin's campaign. But his business partner Lily Limón and the other VP that is part of his posse, Chris Acosta, didn't take the same tactic. They, along with Dr. Anna Perez who is the treasurer, have decided to dig their heels in and try to take over following Eddie Holguin's departure. With business partners like that, who needs enemies, amirite? So things look to be escalating and that has to be driving Iliana Holguin's newe...

I know, I know. I haven't written much lately. And yes, there is LOTS to talk about - which I'll get to in due time. But ya know, I really haven't given much attention to our friends on the other side of the aisle, the sacrificial lambs of El Paso politics, the Republican Party. Believe it or not, things are pretty interesting over there this time around. Two of the several Republican candidates for the congressional seat that are fighting for the right to get beat-down in November are really spending a lot of time fixating on one another - Sam Williams and Anthony Aguero. Their fight with one another is reflective of the other big fight in the GOP right now, the faction war for their Chairmanship. Hell they even have had a fight over dueling “official” debates - which were nothing more than Seeberger’s click running their own forum. In one corner you have Adolfo Telles, owner of the iconic Rosa's Cantina. He's the establishment Republican wing. Probably because he...

The Tejano Democrats apparently have some major financial concerns and are even citing a section in the Texas Criminal Code in a letter sent to Tejano Treasurer Dr. Anna Perez. The questions surround questions about expenditures while Dr. Anna Perez was treasurer and while Eddie Holguin was the organization's chair. A letter was sent out from the organization's current Chair, Mary Bowles-Gasca to the Treasurer and copied to the membership asking Dr. Anna Perez to produce certain documents. Apparently the concerns raised circle around possible financial impropriety. A specific allegation isn't made, but it looks like the organization is looking into the concerns and trying to ascertain if in fact, there was some sort of financial issue. Concern#1,  A payment was made from the Paso del Norte Tejano Democrats (PDN) Political Action Committee (PAC) account to Sun Circle Strategic Group located at 1401 Montana Ste H, El Paso, TX on November 1, 2018.  As you know, Sun Circle Stra...

If you miss a Tejano meeting, you miss a lot of drama. Talk about a desmadre at the last meeting! The first and second vice chairs of the Tejano Democrats are in clear violation of the organization's bylaws. The Tejano Bylaws clearly state that officers shall not campaign or work for candidates that are not endorsed by the Tejano Democrats. That provision is in Article IV, Section 3 and it reads: Section 3. Officers shall not endorse a candidate or campaign for a candidate who has not been endorsed by the Chapter or who has been opposed by the general membership. So by that provision in the bylaws, Eddie Holguin had to resign because his consulting firm had several candidates and he was by definition, working for them and it was before the endorsements were done. Second Vince President Lily Limón should have also resigned because she is his partner in that firm. First Vice President Chris Acosta, who never even attends meetings, should have resigned because she was working for a ca...

So campaign finance reports were due the other day and the Precinct 3 County Commissioner's race just gets more weird. First, controversial Mayor Elia Garcia of Socorro failed to file a campaign finance report for the second time. Just completely ignored the requirement to file and the deadline to file. TWICE. When you're a candidate who is defined by controversy, corruption, and an almost slap-stick comedy routine of missteps since the start of her term as Mayor, the last thing you should be doing is ignoring campaign finance reporting rules. The first thing you'd naturally assume if you've ever actually heard Garcia speak is that you can simply just chalk it up to her being inept. No one would blame you for thinking that. But when you miss the second time and never even file the first time - its not longer about ineptitude. Now its time to start asking what she's hiding. The first time - even though she's an elected official and an attorney she should already ...

I know a lot of you come here to get a look at candidates before you make your vote. So I have been collecting video of their debate performance and will post them here so you can make up your minds about who you want to support for various offices.  The first set of candidates I'll post are the candidates for sheriff. Sheriff Wiles hasn't been at any of the forums I have been able to cover so far, but as soon as I can get a chance to be where all of them are one stage together, I'll post that. For now, here are three of the candidates for sheriff at the Eastside Democrats endorsement forum. Carlos Carrillo won the endorsement of the Eastside Democrats. He also won the endorsement of the Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats a couple weeks ago. 

No, I'm serious. That really happened. State Rep 76 candidate and occasional resident of El Paso, Elisa Tamayo backed State Rep Mary Gonzalez for Speaker at a forum last night. I know, that makes things awkward when you review finance reports. Oh don't get me wrong, Tamayo's biggest financial contributors are the delegation, so its no surprise that when asked who she would nominate for Speaker at the We Fill-in the Blank debate last night that Tamayo would pick someone she's beholden to. Its just weird that Joe Moody dropped 5 large on her campaign and she picked backing Mary Gonzalez over Moody. I'm gonna guess that there is a healthy amount of laughter going on in Austin today when they read this. No one in Austin, or in the entire Lone Star State for that matter, really thinks Gonzalez is a legitimate candidate for Speaker of anything. Hell, I don't think she'd be elected Speaker of the Cotton Eye'd Joe if you want me to be real about it. But if you h...

If you ever need to recalibrate your political compass - just find Norma Chavez, see who she supports and execute an about-face. The disgraced former State Rep for House District 76 that ruined her political career by going on an anti-LGBTQ rant against her then-challenger Naomi Gonzalez had a notorious reputation throughout El Paso and Austin as a result of the controversial outburst. Well she's endorsed Elisa Tamayo for her old seat. The funny thing about Norma endorsing Tamayo is how much it must hurt her that Tamayo doesn't advertise the fact that she's endorsed by Norma. Tamayo never met an endorsement she didn't like. She rolls out every "Endorsement alert!" she can. But the one she never talks about is the endorsement of former State Representative Norma Chavez who famously held the same seat until her career self-destructed on the aforementioned attack on an LGBTQ opponent. If you all have forgotten about that, lets walk down memory lane shall we? Its ...

Controversial extremist candidate for El Paso's 16th congressional district on the Republican side, Pedro Anthony Aguero, who goes by the fake name of "Conservative Anthony" finally filed a financial report. And man is that guy doing his best to channel his inner Trump. We'll get to that in a minute. But the guy who has be railing against so-called corruption and been calling for transparency hasn't been filing reports as required by law. Although he recently has and now its pretty clear why he hasn't been filing reports - his are pretty terrible. So after reading his report, I'm guessing that when he says he's a conservative he does't mean a fiscal conservative. Because that vato is in the red a madre. I don't recall the last time I saw a federal candidate with any credibility that was running a deficit on his campaign fundraising. Oh, I know why...because you're not allowed to have a deficit as a candidate at the federal level! Imagine th...

Since we are talking about Precinct 3... So I've been watching a situation since the filing deadline to see if my hunch was right. Eduardo Romero is the candidate for Precinct 3 that you've never heard of. He ran for Ysleta area trustee for YISD recently and loss to Sotero Ramirez. But he somehow came up with over 2,000 - in cold hard cash - to pay the filing fee. He's a student at UTEP that lives in a mobile home. Where does a kid like that come up with that much money, in cash, to file to run for office? Its the part where it was cash that looks strange. The fact that he's done absolutely nothing in terms of campaigning underscore why this looks like someone gave him the cash to file and put him up to run. Before he filed it was Commissioner Perez against two female attorneys - Mayor Elia Garcia of Socorro and El Paso County Democratic Party Chair Iliana Holguin. He has made no effort to run. None at all. A college student doesn't have that kind of money to just b...