El Paso Politics

Photo Courtesy of Ruben Ramirez Reports are circling that KTSM journalist Patty Maese is no longer with KTSM Newschannel 9 following some controversial remarks she recently made against the subject of a story. It is unclear if her participation in an Open El Paso rally on Saturday was part of the decision. It is unclear if she was fired, asked to resign in lieu of termination, or if she resigned on her own. What is clear is that the station made public the fact that it was going to take some action against Maese following controversial remarks she made about an educator. And I want to make it clear that the two issues (the comments and the protest) are very distinct.   Issue one is a comment made by Maese on a KTSM Facebook thread on one of their recent stories. KTSM conducted an interview with Sammy Carrejo who is touted as one of the organizers of the event, but he said something interesting in that interview I want to point out - but I'll get back to that in a minute.  KTSM...

The protest taking place tomorrow at the El Paso County Courthouse is an exercise in how the right will always find a way to be hypocrites, make fools of themselves, and a mockery of what they supposedly stand for. But it is also an exercise of public ego masturbation. Mark my words - you're going to see a bunch of nut cases out there - Trump flags, the assault rifle guys, the anti-women groups (the ones they call "pro choice") etc. But what you won't see is a rational conversation about the current situation with the virus or any conversation about balancing the economic conditions with the medical situation. Nope, you're just gonna see a bunch of selfish people who only care about their economic situation at the moment. And that is the most privileged bullshit you can hear from people who fancy themselves as tough, salt-of-the-earth, self-reliant, pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps people who pretend to be patriot Americans. But they aren't. They are the epi...

El Paso Mayoral candidate Carlos Gallinar released a statement following city council's meeting yesterday in which he opposed the idea of cutting salaries of city staff.  Gallinar is the only mayoral candidate to take a position on this controversial issue so far. He will be facing incumbent Mayor Dee Margo, former Mayor Oscar Leeser, and Veronica Carbajal in the November general election.  I still haven't figured out who the idiot was that thought that moving city elections to November was a good idea but I'm sure there was something in it for them. All moving the city elections to November did was make money an even bigger factor in local races because it costs much more money for your average city council candidate to run for office when facing the prospect of having to penetrate the message of the presidential and gubernatorial races on the ballot.  So now big money plays an even bigger factor in local races and there's no indication that El Paso voters have benefit...

City Rep Henry Rivera had an agenda item to figure out some ways to ensure that large businesses like call centers are complying with the orders relating to mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in the community. Frankly I think the better discussion is how those germ farms are even considered essential work right now, but that is a blog for another day. Bottom line is that call centers are a big potential threat to the community because they employ a lot of people, often in shift work, in tight quarters where employees share keyboards and headsets with the shift before them or after them. Multiple news sources have reported on at least one call center allegedly hiding employees while city inspectors were on the premises along with other alleged violations. Call center employees then go home and potential expose their families - or you and I if they go grocery shopping, etc. So Rivera being responsive to his community wanted to explore some options on how to deal with that issue. Common se...

Photo Credit: Herman Delgado Social distancing is only as good as the enforcement behind it. I saw a story on KVIA last night that stated that there have been thousands of complaints about businesses and residents not adhering to social distancing - but that only 8 citations have been given out by the City of El Paso. Well no wonder you're having a hard time getting the public to comply - if you're telling the public to adhere to social distancing standards and then received complaints from thousands of El Pasoans looking out for their fellow Paseños by reporting violations - and then you only issue 8 citations - then you're sending out the message that social distancing ain't all that important to you. Seriously, the fact that there have been over 4,000 complaints about non-compliance with social distancing orders but only 8 citations being issues SHOULD BE THE STORY! Policy makers should be asking why there are so many complaints ands so few actual citations issued. ...

Sorry, I know I should be blogging way more than I am right now but the reality is that I've been pretty busy. But fear not, I've found a groove to make some time to blog more often. None of the El Paso County Democratic Party auxiliary organizations are meeting during this shelter in place, nor are any of them scheduled to meet anytime in the near future. The Paso Del Norte Tejano Democrats have had some interesting developments though. Right before the crowd restrictions, there was an internal struggle for leadership within the organization between Iliana Holguin's faction - which is made up of Lily Limón, Chris Acosta, and Anna Perez (not the judge - the other one) - and the duly elected Chairwoman, Mary Bowles-Gasca. Most of the back-and-forth struggle has manifested in a series of emails that keep being sent out by the Eddie/Iliana Holguin faction that keeps asking for meetings to be held on alternative days and locations. The emails are sent out only to members who th...

I knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of time. It was just like people exploiting "El Paso Strong" for everything from political campaigns to selling used cars. People will never pass up the opportunity to cash-in on a tragedy or the suffering of others. I can't stop it - and believe me, I wish I could. But I can at least call it out when I see it. I honestly can't believe I have to say this out loud, but you shouldn't be trying to raise money for your political campaign during a time when we are all hunkered down because of the Coronavirus. People are suffering and out of work because of this virus. Seniors and folks with compromised immune systems are locked up in their homes out of fear of catching a virus that is very deadly to them. This is not the time for you to be asking for their money. Or sponsoring social media ads about all the "charity" work you're doing for others. That is trying to capitalize on the plight of others and i...