El Paso Politics

I almost never comment on things that aren't political, but I'm making an exception because of the things on Facebook I've read about people's opinions about what went down at the Oscars.  First things first - there are consequences for the things you say. No one knows that better than a political blogger. Chris Rock got a lesson in that up-close and personal. Also, violence isn't the answer.  Both can be true at the same time.  I 100% understand why Will Smith did what he did.  Here's a link to a story about what happened if you somehow have managed to not know about this yet.  People have been all over the place about this "entanglement" as it were, so let me address some of the common themes I've been hearing. First is - Chris Rock is a comedian and Will Smith shouldn't take it personally. Well they are also both humans and in comedy, what makes a lot of things funny is the kernel of truth in the idea expressed. Comedians are one of the last...

The El Paso GOP are eating each other alive again.  The El Paso GOP has been quite the clown car for the last few year because well, in my opinion, one guy - Rick Seeberger. He was a subpar (which says a lot in El Paso GOP circles) as a candidate when he ran for congress because of his many, many, documented financial woes.  He blamed his loss on the El Paso GOP.  It wasn't the Party's fault.  He was a flawed candidate that had no chance of winning - even under the best of circumstances because El Paso is not a conservative city. His loss had so much more to do with the GOP brand, being a white guy, having positions (like all Republicans) that are out-of-step with El Pasoans, and of course, his terrible background.  You've seen this story before, Republicans don't take losing well. Its never their fault. There is always some conspiracy afoot in their minds.  So Seeberger (who probably has no idea that his name is now political shorthand for a shitty candida...

Nothing makes people hate politics more than politicians that say one thing and do another. Its almost a political caricature. Whether its some ultra conservative religious nut who advocates for anti LBGTQ legislation only to be outed as having paid male escorts for sex, or members of congress advocating against corruption only to find out they are on the take - its the hypocrisy that drives voters nuts, makes them hate politicians, and lose faith in our system.  Most elected officials are guilty of at least some low-level hypocrisy from time-to-time, but there was an editorial in El Paso Matters recently that was written by City Rep Cassandra Hernandez that represents some ninja-level mastery of hypocrisy.  The article was written about International Women's Day and Hernandez discusses some strong points about the under-representation of women in elective office in El Paso County is reversing.  As the prototypical "girl dad", this is something I am particularly excited ...

Mayor Dora Aguirre, Clint Okay lets put a pin in the local elections and lets get back to governance.  San Elizario is going to have a new round of municipal elections and I can't underscore the importance of their elections enough. The dichotomy of San Elizario is that its one of the oldest communities in the County and also has a lot of new growth. Think of it like San Elizario is the kid going through middle school. Its a transitional period and the community has one foot in childhood and one foot in teenage years - only in San Eli it has one foot in its deeply rural and historic roots and the other in a relatively new suburban existence.  So obviously and naturally there are growing pains.  Small town communities, probably more than anyone else, need competent representation at the helm that understands policy. Dollar amounts have a bigger impact in smaller communities. One of the biggest problems for San Elizario is that its current mayor, Antonio Araujo, stopped att...

The El Paso County Democratic Party had to pay $12,800 to defend the Party from a lawsuit from Art Fierro where his legal team incorrectly argued that the Party Chair improperly allowed Claudia Ordaz Perez to run against Fierro for the District 79 seat.  The Secretary of State's office determines how much they will approve in funding to cover the expenses of the lawsuit.  I made a motion in the Precinct Chair meeting on Tuesday night to ask Fierro for the money since he ran as a Democrat. Immediately there were a few folks in the Party that were clearly Fierro apologists and immediately questioned why we would ask for Fierro to make the Party whole after the lawsuit. Frankly, I couldn't believe that anyone wouldn't want us to get our money back.  Someone else argued that there was a similar lawsuit a few years ago and no one asked the candidate to pay for the Party's legal expenses. They were talking about when Vince Perez sued the Party for improperly allowing someone ...

Sweet baby Jesus this lady invokes the name of Enrique Moreno like old school Republicans used to bring up the Gipper - or like Republitarians bring up Trump.  She was part of the Eastside Democrats meeting Monday night and in record time drops the name. She's done it from the start of her campaign. Somewhere someone told her that was going to get her support I guess. Moreno is an important figure to the El Paso legal community, did ground breaking stuff and is to be admired.  But to imply that someone who has passed is somehow supporting her is just tacky and disrespectful to his legacy. Someone had to say it.  Her excessive use of the tacky name-dropping has inspired me to create a drinking game for the forums coming up during the run-off. I haven't fleshed out the whole thing yet, but I assure you that Run-Off Bingo will include a square that requires someone to chug a White Claw every time Ol' Lupita name drops Enrique Moreno.  I'm not sure who is running her cam...

Y'all know this is a traditional post-election post. Lets get right into it shall we? It goes without saying that Beto and Veronica Escobar had big wins. Escobar crushed her opponent, as predicted and will do the same in November. I don't know what it is about Escobar that she attracts the strangest opponents, but they are all so weird. This was a warm-up act for Beto, as the big fight is in November. I'm not doing all the races because a few of them were just ho-hum. House District 79 So lets start with the biggest local race - the race for House District 79. As you know by now State Rep Claudia Ordaz handily defeated State Rep Art Fierro for the HD79 seat. This is the 5th campaign for COP in 8 years, and no-one has ever managed to keep her below 60%. She wins, and she wins solidly. As usual, everyone and their Nana in the political establishment lined up against her. And as usual, they end up with egg on their face. Especially City Rep Annello who has made it a practice o...

In every campaign there is a certain level of hypocrisy if you look hard enough. You don't have to look that hard in Art Fierro's campaign - his hypocrisy is lit up like a casino the strip in Vegas at midnight on New Years Eve. Somehow Eddie Holguin and Lily Limón's consulting firm finds a way to talk their candidates into sending out mailers that end up hurting their clients more than helping.  On the very day that Art Fierro's mailer alleging his opponent Claudia Ordaz Perez is supported by Republicans hits mailboxes - Fierro's finance report shows he's taken more money from Republican PAC's than the PACs spent on Republican candidates.  And make no mistake about this political truth - no contribution of the amount given to Fierro, at the time its given - comes without an expectation from who is making the contribution. I can't think of a more clear example of Art Fierro being bought and paid for by Texas Republicans than these last-minute contribution...