IRS Nearly Seized Funds / Property Under Iliana Holguin

The El Paso County Democratic Party has apparently had a cloud hanging over its head from the Internal Revenue Service for several years. The incident started under the late Chairman Butch Maya. 

However it was never dealt with during the entire tenure of former Chairwoman Iliana Holguin and she apparently met with an agent from the IRS in February 2020 regarding the matter. The IRS had threaten to seize property or funds for the amount due to the IRS, which turned out to be a little under $3,000. 

The El Paso County Democratic Party has had plenty of problems over the years, but very few of the party regulars knew the extent of the problems. Certainly not that the Party was in jeopardy of having funds and / or property seized. 

Following the change of leadership from Iliana Holguin to newly elected Democratic Party Chair Dora Oaxaca, a whole host of people and elected officials have all taken turns kissing up to Holguin and telling her what a great job she did as Chairwoman. 

They all apparently didn't have a problem with the fact that her husband, former City Rep Eddie Holguin who's political consulting firm officed across the hall from the Democratic Party, was paid more than 3 times the amount owed to the federal government by the El Paso County Democratic Party. Funds that Iliana Holguin personally gained from. 

Had ANY other chair of the Party done the same thing - those very same elected officials would be calling for a resignation. 

The revelation came during last months meeting of the El Paso County Democratic Party County Executive Committee Meeting when Democratic Party Treasurer Emma Acosta made a presentation regarding the matter. Click this link to see the complete Power Point Presentation on the matter. 

IRS documents show that Holguin knew about this issue since 2017 - at a minimum. Before she was chair, Iliana Holguin was the secretary, so she's been in a leadership position in the Party for many years. This was a problem she has had YEARS to fix and hasn't. 

Very few people outside of her leadership team knew the problem even existed. Most, if not all, precinct chairs - the backbone of the Party - had no idea that the IRS was going to seize property and/or funds from the Party. 

But here is a screenshot from the presentation that shows in black and white, that the Democratic Party has been in that position for YEARS - basically the entirety of Iliana Holguin's time as Chair and the very people that do most of the work and fundraising for the Party, were never informed about this issue. 

The red arrows and notes are part of the presentation. I used a blue arrow to show that since 2017 the IRS was ready to seize property and funds. 

And what did Holguin have to say for all of this? 

Well I'm glad you asked, because its pretty interesting. 

Holguin says she sent two letters to the IRS about this issue - and asking them to basically forgive the debt. However, when the IRS Agent showed up to Party headquarters in February - by Holguin's own admission, they hadn't received any correspondence from Holguin regarding the matter. 

Again, by her own admission, there is no documentation that Holguin ever even attempted to deal with this issue. 

If you're drinking a beverage near whatever device you are reading this on, now is the time to swallow whatever you're drinking and put the beverage away - because you ain't gonna believe this shit. 

Iliana Holguin, former Chair of the El Paso County Democratic Party, and someone WHO WENT TO LAW SCHOOL, said that she figured that since she hadn't heard back from the IRS that the matter was resolved. 

I. Bullshit. You. Not. 

There were a ton of precinct chairs in that meeting so ask anybody that was in on that meeting and they'll tell you thats what she said. 

So ask yourself another really important question... if the IRS actually showed up the Democratic Party Headquarters asking for their money, why weren't the precinct chairs notified? The answer is simple. Because Holguin was in a tight race for County Commissioner and didn't want the public to know. 

From where I sit, that looks a lot like someone who appears to have put her own political ambitions above her responsibility to the Democratic Party as Chairwoman. So all of you elected officials and big shots that trip over yourselves complimenting Holguin for her "outstanding" leadership...she clearly cared more about her own political ambition than whatever could've happened to the Party. 

And for what?

$3k? Thats how little she was willing to sell the Party out for her own political gain?

Can you imagine had their actually been a seizure, over such a small amount of money (perhaps the only reason why the seizure hadn't already happened) the visual that would have been for the Party? That would've undermined the confidence of the people that often donate to the Party.

Especially when the Unity Campaign kicks into full gear for the November election when we have to defeat Trump and the rest of the GOP! 

The CEC had to vote, with just days to spare, to pay off the debt. Thats money that went to the IRS that isn't going toward November.

The new Chair had to clean up the mess. If this happened under her, they’d be calling for her head. 

Again, to quote the classic hip hop group Onyx, from their hit Slam!

"but, but, but wait - it gets worse!"

Speaking of the Unity Campaign....

Here's an image of the Unity Campaign effort. 

The Unity Campaign is an effort every November election cycle to support all the Democratic candidates on the ballot. It is basically the biggest push by the Party Chair during their tenure. There is a fundraising effort to get all the Democratic candidates and office holders to kick in some cash and help the blue jerseys beat the red jerseys. 

Again, even Democratic office holders and candidates that are unopposed or don't have an opponent, kick into this effort. Well there are two candidates on this image that have opponents in November that didn't kick in to support the Democratic Party. 

For those of you regular readers, one of them won't be a surprise. Constable Angie Sommers who is basically a Republican and went on an anti gay rant the summer before last - no pun intended, and none other than the most recent Chair of the El Paso County Democratic Party - Iliana Holguin!

The immediate previous chair...who has an opponent in November...didn't contribute. 

So where are all you Democrats that have been talking about how great she is now?