Najera's Cash-Only Tranza

So apparently I hit a nerve.

Like nopal en la garganta levels of discomfort.

My last post about the Justices of the Peace and their little wedding-ceremony side hustle has certain folks todos enojados. Phones ringing. Texts flying. Whisper campaigns doing cardio. And honestly? That reaction alone tells you everything you need to know.

Because if nothing shady was happening, there wouldn’t be this much huffing, puffing, and clutching of pearls.

Let’s start with something very simple - because apparently we need flashcards.

No one is forcing any Justice of the Peace to:

• Keep wedding money

• Take it in cash

• Hide how much they make

• Or pretend transparency is some sort of political persecution

They can stop today.

Return the money to taxpayers.

Put it in the County General Fund.

Report it publicly.

Boom. 

End of controversy.

But instead, they’re mad at me.

Ah yes. Classic El Paso politics: “How dare you point at the tranza while the tranza is tranzando.”

Why Lucilla Najera? Because math.

I “zeroed in” on Lucilla Najera because she’s the most egregious example of this wedding-money slush fund nonsense. That’s not personal - that’s arithmetic.

Let’s clear the air since my name is apparently being used in vain.

Facts (not chisme):

• Lucilla Najera makes a six-figure salary as a Justice of the Peace

• Because she holds that public office, she is allowed to perform weddings

• She can charge whatever fee she wants

• Not one single penny of that wedding income is reported to taxpayers

• There is zero public accounting of how much extra money she makes

None.

Nada.

Ni un receipt.

And if anyone says otherwise, they are the ones lying - because there is literally no reporting mechanism. No disclosure. No oversight. No transparency.

We are supposed to just trust politicians.

Your building. Your staff. Your time. HER CASH.

She uses public resources - the courthouse, the staff, the authority of the bench - to generate private income, and none of it goes back to the people who pay her salary.

And here’s where it starts smelling extra funky - like teenager going through puberty funky.

Suddenly - qué casualidad - she’s sponsoring political and civic events left and right. Logos everywhere. Tables paid for. Donations flowing. Right around campaign season.

Now let me be crystal clear for the lawyers in the back:

None of this is illegal.

Not even a little.

It’s all perfectly legal.

But legality is the bare minimum, not the gold standard.

Tone-deaf doesn’t even begin to cover it

At a time when El Pasoans are:

• Crushed by property taxes

• Nickel-and-dimed by fees

• Being told there’s “no money” for basic services

• Her own staff forced to take time off in lieu of a raise

…it is the most tone-deaf thing imaginable for a sitting judge - already making well-over $100,000 - to quietly stack thousands more in unreported cash and then use that money to build political goodwill.

That’s not leadership.

That’s hustle culture in a black toga.

And then there’s the cash-only part… 

This morning I pulled a screenshot straight from her county website.

There’s a fee schedule:

• Copies

• Filings

• Services

All with multiple payment options.

Debit.

Credit.

Check.

And then we get to weddings - all the way at the bottom.

Here, let me zoom in for you because this is important. 

What does it say?

Cash. Only.

No mames.

Even the burrito lady outside your workplace has Cash App, Zelle, Venmo, Apple Pay, and probably crypto-currency.

But a sitting judge?

In 2025?

Cash only?

Why is every other service handled with traceable payments - but the one service that puts money directly in her pocket just happens to be untraceable?

Come on.

Cash-only doesn’t happen by accident.

Cash-only exists to hide things.

And when everything else is transparent except the thing that benefits you personally, the burden is on you to explain how that isn’t shady.

Because from where I’m standing, there is no other explanation.

Call it what it is

I’ve been around a long time.

I’ve watched this city do this dance for decades.

I know a tranza when I see one.

And so do you.

These people think we’re stupid.

That if they say “it’s legal” enough times, we’ll stop asking questions.

That we won’t notice the cash-only sign blinking like a neon warning light.

Sorry.

Not this time.

Transparency is free.

They’re choosing secrecy.

And that choice?

That tells you everything you need to know about their morality.