El Paso Politics

As soon as the holidays are over you'll start to see campaigns start to rev up their engines as they sprint toward the March primary. The races that are going to get all the attention are the gubernatorial, the congressional (even though it won't be close) and the state rep race between State Reps Claudia Ordaz Perez and Art Fierro.  But as important as those races are - the judicial races in this cycle are just as important. First of all, if you need an example of why judicial races are so important, look at the fact that Judge Bonnie Rangel is still on the bench. If a judge that remarks how beautiful a defendant is that admitted to stabbing a dead baby and then hiding the body, then complimenting the embattled DA's office for essentially letting her off the hook, then nothing will get it through to you.  But make no mistake - the races are important. Over this election season I'm going to try to interview all the candidates and ask them the relevant questions and post...

Its not unusual for some candidates to send someone in their place to draw their place on the ballot. Totally normal.  But when you already have questions about your health and lack of attendance at meetings floating around the last thing you want to do is perpetuate the speculation that you aren't medically fit to hold office.  Apparently Commissioner Carl Robinson and his campaign team from Sun Circle are doing a terrible job of hiding the fact that Robinson quite possibly isn't even healthy enough to draw his own ballot number. He had to send someone to draw for his place on the ballot.  The media needs to start looking into this at this point. He was hospitalized within the last month. His health is a campaign issue at this point.  Under scrutiny will also be where he spends his time. If Robinson suddenly was healthy enough to attend holiday events, campaign fundraisers or show up at a Sheriff's union event but hasn't been healthy enough to show up in person to C...

Merry Christmas Eve to all.  I was out and about today and remember that today is the anniversary of tax payers being robbed of $20k of funds for a the most chafa Christmas light display at Shaver park a few years back.  Eddie Holguin was running for County Judge at the time and earmarked thousands of dollars for a light show that clearly should have been sponsored by the Dollar General.  It was embarrassing for the community because we ended up on national news as a result - but more embarrassing for us in the Lower Valley because Eddie (a guy who drives a fucking foreign luxury sedan) had the audacity to call it a "humble" display and equated it with Christ. Seriously, were were a national joke because of how much was spent on the display, which was a display that was less impressive than a singular home in the Eastridge area.  Anywho, I remembered it today and stole this pic from my friend Juan Ma's page. 

No one would blame you if you watched news coverage last week and thought it was the Ghost of News Stories Past revisiting the Borderland. Its easy to see how you might think the Ghost of Christmas Past was replaying the Darren Hunt / Norma Chavez running in the parking lot interview.  But it wasn't.  Embattled District Attorney Yvonne Rosales refused to answer questions regarding a case her office just lost in which court documents cite "Prosecutorial Vindictiveness" from Saul Saenz of KVIA.   KTSM has also been asking questions of the DA and she somehow is never available. But she seems to always be available for community events - so long as she's not asked a question I'm guessing.  Yvonne Rosales is a classic case of an elected official who's position has gone to their head, and in my option is failing by every measure. She is obliged to give answers to the public - she's not doing favors by answering questions.  The case in question in many ways enca...

Justice of the Peace John-John Chatman is in my opinion the absolute worst JP in the county by a long shot. I hope, for the sake of our community that he isn't re-elected.  The backlog of cases in his court is straight-up ridiculous and much like District Attorney Yvonne Rosales, its always everyone's fault but theirs.  He's completely mismanaging his office and I'd like pretty much anyone else to have a chance to straighten up that JP office.  All that being said - Chatman's campaign signs have been vandalized throughout the Lower Valley - and that is not the way a candidate should win or lose.  I know the property owner at this home on North Loop, just west of Lee Treviño. Chatman's opponent Lucilla "Lucy" Najera had her sign up on that property first, as it is closest to the street. Shortly thereafter, Chatman's banner was erected. But as you can clearly see, Najera's sign is untouched.  This is just one example, but several of his signs hav...

Well in the latest installment of the clown car that has become the El Paso District Attorney's Office under Yvonne Rosales, her First Assistant withdrew his request for an ethics opinion from the TEC's office regarding the ethics of advertising purchases by District Attorney Rosales.  I presume the opinion was requested under the premise that the TEC would side with Rosales and it would give them some cover for the expenditures. This was probably a prophylactic strategy because there have been rumblings around the courthouse about attorneys wanting to make formal complaints about the expenditures.  Rather than absolving the DA, turns out that the TEC opinion was that they may have actually committed a crime. Talk about D'oh! I mean you can't write punch lines to jokes that are that funny. Its the Yvonne Rosales Christmas Comedy Special.  But seriously, I don't get the strategy of withdrawing the request for opinion at the last minute - after the results of the opin...

The El Paso County Democratic Party has been doing a great job releasing names daily of people who filed to run for office on the Democratic ticket, but I recognize that not everyone knows where to access that info so I thought I'd post the latest.  I'm writing this on the 7th in the evening, but it won't post until the 8th - so if you're reading this on Wednesday the 8th, this is the most current information available.  Congress 16th District Veronica Escobar (Incumbent) D.M.B Delirus Montanez Berrios Congress 23rd District  John Lira State - Level Offices  STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT 29      CESAR BLANCO STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 74      EDDIE MORALES STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 75      MARY E. GONZALEZ STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 77      EVELINA (LINA) ORTEGA STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 78      JOE MOODY STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 79      ART FIERRO JUSTICE, 8TH COUR...

This is the time of year when incumbents are pretty stressed out, worrying about whether or not they are going to draw opponents. Some are probably lighting candles and praying La Virgencita intervenes on their behalf.  Some incumbents have already drawn opponents, including Congresswoman Escobar, but they are candidates that don't really have a chance of defeating the incumbent. Others - have their work cut out for them but will likely pull it out, like Commissioner David Stout - unless another big name jumps in his race.  And others are in major trouble with opponents, like Justice of the Peace John Chatman. He's got three Latina opponents. But there is talk of a couple of other candidates that are eyeing the position that have more name ID. That race should get interesting. Then there is Commissioner Carl Robinson. He has one opponent in Sissy Byrd, and two big name opponents that are said to be considering running. One of which has already confirmed - Canutillo ISD Trustee...

There are a lot of questions surrounding the health of County Commissioner Carl Robinson, who is up for re-election in this upcoming primary. Sources indicate that at the last El Paso Days functions in Austin at the state legislature, Robinson allegedly passed out.  Prior to COVID-19, Robinson missed a lot of meetings, which is a matter of public record. Once COVID hit, Robinson's participation in meetings was virtual, but almost always over the phone. Rarely, if ever, has he come on camera. Admittedly I'm not familiar with the specifics of the rules governing virtual meetings but it seems having your camera on - at least during a vote - makes sense. Otherwise how do we know he's the one voting? How do we know if he's paying attention in the meetings? How do we know if someone is there telling him what to say or how to vote? The answer is, we don't.  Now I don't know exactly how bad his health is because I ran into him at the American Legion Hall in September I ...