Fierro's Folly Flops

Art Fierro made a last ditch effort to remove Claudia Ordaz Perez from the ballot by suing the local El Paso County Democratic Party. That meant that the local party - already cash strapped from the fact that we've basically had no fundraisers other than some enchilada sales and a car show, had to pony up the money to hire an attorney. 

Art Fierro either knew this was just a political Hail Mary and did it anyway, or he's the least informed state rep on planet earth. The guy actually sits on the ELECTIONS COMMITTEE in the state house. You'd think he'd know the rules!!!

The 8th Court of Appeals ruled against Art Fierro's frivolous lawsuit on Friday night. You likely won't hear an update from Martin Paredes about this lawsuit - and I'll explain why later. 

Here's another fun little nugget for ya - there is a pretty high likelihood that YOU the tax payer are ultimately going to have to foot the bill for Fierro's folly. You see when the complainant loses - in this case its Art Fierro - the Respondent is eligible to receive compensation for the costs associated with the case. In this case, the El Paso County Democratic Party. 

Where does that compensation come from? The Secretary of State's Office. You know, the one funded by YOUR tax dollars. 

You might be asking yourself why Fierro was so desperate to keep Ordaz Perez off the ballot. Because he didn't want to have to face her in bid for what he deems as "his" seat. Its not his seat. Its the people's seat and they decide who holds the office. Fierro wanted to take that choice away from voters. 

And that shouldn't surprise anyone. Art Fierro hasn't really done anything as a state rep. Yeah, Art is a great guy at a party. Fun to hang out with and shoot the shit. I've had plenty a cold beer with Art. But he's not exactly known as a guy who gets shit done. He's kind of the second-coming of Chente Quintanilla. 

Y'all remember Chente right? Art's legislative mentor apparently. Chente was once called "furniture" by a Texas periodical because he didn't do anything at the legislature. In fact his most meaningful bill was a bill to make the sopapilla the state desert or something. 

And it failed. 

Art Fierro's most meaningful bill? To make the Super Bowl a holiday. I bullshit you not. 

It also failed. 

Actually, I'm not being fair to Art - the most meaningful thing he's done isn't the super bowl bill. The most meaningful thing he did is something pretty much no one talks about in local media because everyone is afraid of stepping on the toes of the local delegation. I have no such concerns, so I'll tell it like it is regardless of what the local delegation thinks or efforts at retaliation against me. (Yes, they wanted to go after me a while back because I was critical of some of them). Ni madre, someone has to tell it like it is...

The most meaningful thing Art Fierro has done in his term in office has been to sell out and side with the Republicans on issues affecting education, voting rights, women's health, and the LGBTQ community. And if Art says he didn't side with the GOP on those issues, he's full of it because it was his presence that made it possible for the GOP to pass their modern day Jim Crow agenda. Back when the Texas Democrats left Texas to prevent the GOP from passing that extremist agenda, they did so because it was the last tool in the tool box they had to prevent the GOP from moving forward on those issues. The longer they stayed out, the more attention it drew to those issues and the more pressure it put on the GOP. 

Three members of El Paso's Delegation were the first three Democrats to return - helping give the GOP the quorum they needed to pass those bills. Art Fierro was one of them. 

The two members of El Paso Democratic Delegation that stayed out of Texas and fought hardest against the Republicans and their effort to pass those issues were State Representatives Lina Ortega and Claudia Ordaz Perez. They were punished by Republicans and drawn into the same district. 

The Republicans awarded Art Fierro with a safe seat. And don't let Art Fierro try to tell you any different because he had far less seniority than Lina Ortega and there's no way he should have ended up without having to face off with Ordaz Perez. 

But hey, there's a reason its called the good ol' boy network and not the good ol' girl network, amirite?

Oh, don't get me wrong - I'm not naive. I know how the sausage is made. I know that there have been plenty of elected officials who have made a career out of selling out to the GOP. 

Norma Chavez is a perfect example. She was a Craddick D. You see, this isn't the first time the Texas Democrats fled the state in order to prevent the GOP from passing an extremist agenda. And back then, just like now, there were Democrats that sold out to the Republicans. 

But what makes Art Fierro different than Norma Chavez? Norma used it as an opportunity to get something for her constituents. Norma didn't sell out cheap - she made the GOP reward her district handsomely. And you know what? The people of her district at least got something out of it. 

When Art Fierro sold out, what did his community get? A new medical school? Gaming? More funding for healthcare? More transportation dollars for the Uber-congested Eastside? 

Negative Ghostrider. 

His constituents got nothing. 

But Art Fierro got something. He got a safe seat - or so he thought. 

Fierro tells this story differently. I know, because I confronted him about it. He posted something about the trans community shortly after selling them out and I called him out on it and he called me to talk about it. His story is that "the people that needed to know" knew he was going to return to Austin. Never says exactly who that is, but if you look at the tweets from his colleagues around the time they returned - it doesn't appear any of them knew he was returning to help the Republicans establish quorum. 

He also says he returned to Austin to make the bills less bad. I know, I laughed when I heard him say it too. I mean if he can demonstrate in any way, shape, or form, that the bills passed by the GOP were in fact somehow less extreme than before, then I think he is right and I'll shut my mouth.

But he won't. 

Because he can't. 

Seriously, as State Rep Claudia Ordaz pointed out in her announcement speech - how do you make Jim Crow less Jim Crow? No matter what you do to it, its Jim Crow.

And this is the part where local progressives are going to find themselves in quite a conundrum. A lot of local progressives have been anti COP for awhile. But COP has been the most progressive member of the delegation and is an officer in the Progressive Caucus in the Texas Legislature. Actually, she's also a founding member. 

Art Fierro and the other Democratic members who later returned to Texas, allowed the GOP to pass an extremist agenda that couldn't be a bigger assault against progressive core values if they tried. 

So the question now becomes - do the local progressives stand by their values - or do they excuse bad behavior from people they like?

Now look, I've been quiet about this race so far, but now its time to break it down for you. Martin Paredes has been going after Claudia Ordaz Perez since before she filed to run, first floating the rumor that she wasn't going to run knowing full well she was. It was just wishful thinking. 

Why has Martin Paredes targeted her? The answer is simple. He has a business relationship with Eddie Holguin of Sun Circle and they are Art Fierro's consultants on his campaign. Paredes never discloses that to his readers, he's too busy pretending to be a journalist when he's really just a blogger like me. 

In fact, a lot of what he writes about is due to his personal and business relationship with Holguin - which is probably not going to make the folks at UMC very happy knowing that the main guy attacking them is has a business relationship with the consulting for three members of Commissioner's Court and the spouse of Commissioner Holguin. 

That relationship between Paredes and Holguin goes back several years and Eddie hired him to build him some magic bag of beans software that he was selling to clients that was allegedly better than VAN. 

Neither of them can deny they have business ties. And those business ties are important to know because Paredes passes himself off as a news source when the reality is, he's just part of the Holguin campaign team.