Gallinar Opposes Salary Cuts of City Employees

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 benefitted in the least. They should reverse this pendejada first chance they get. 

Oscar Leeser is probably reeling from the fact that his consulting firm, Sun Circle - made up of former City Reps Eddie Holguin and Lily Limón who were both recently all but run out of the Tejano Democrats, had a very poor showing in the primary election cycle. There are folks around the mayor that did not want Holguin and Limón to run his campaign and by the looks of it, Leeser is trying to appease everyone in his camp - which is ultimately going to blow up in his face. 

Leeser is going to rely 100% on his name ID - because Lord knows his campaign team isn't getting the job done. Leeser rarely spoke about issues, policy, or substance the last time he ran so don't expect it to happen this time around. 

Margo will talk policy and he's had probably one of the most eventful terms as Mayor of any other mayor if you think about it. He was mayor during the August 3rd shooting and the COVID-19 Pandemic. But he's going to lose and apparently is the only one that doesn't know it. 

So the policy stuff will be between Gallinar and Carbajal. She'd have a much better chance at winning if she weren't so closely aligned with Max Grossman, who seems to go out of his way to make sure he's the most despised Dandy in all of local politics. Okay, he's the only Dandy - but at some point she has to get her own identity separate from him and Duranguito if she wants to be successful. 

Here's Gallinar's comments on council's decision to examine pay cuts for employees:

“The City of El Paso must abandon its plans to cut the salaries of employees impacted by the COVID-19 closures and consider the long-term impact that action will have on our local economy and families,” mayoral candidate Carlos Gallinar said. 
“This is not a time to negotiate pay cuts of any kind for our frontline workers.  We cannot ask our city employees to continue to work during a pandemic while we also cut their wages.” 

Gallinar said the recommendation to cut salaries does not provide significant savings to the city’s budget shortfall and will instead hurt the morale and dignity of our employees. The city must first consider options like hiring freezes and reducing other funds before contemplating cutting salaries.  

“We must also begin to think about a long term strategy for El Paso to be resilient through this pandemic.  Now more than ever, we need strong leaders at city hall with a long-term vision that can work with our partners to advocate for the necessary resources to support our working families and small businesses,” added Gallinar.