The Feckless Five: El Paso City Council Spits in the Face of the Community

I'm going to be honest with you. My family suffered a loss on the morning of Election Day, and I needed to step back and be present for what mattered most - family. But what happened at El Paso City Council last night pulled me back to the keyboard, because some things cannot go without being said.

So here we are.

Let's Get the Lies Out of the Way First

The five council members who voted with Meta - and yes, I'm calling them the Feckless Five, because the shoe fits - have been running around spreading misinformation about what the agenda item would have actually done. Let me be clear, because apparently clarity is in short supply at City Hall.

The agenda item would not have triggered immediate litigation from Meta. It would not have terminated the existing contract. What it would have done is bring Meta back to the negotiating table so that El Paso - the community, the people, the ones who actually live here - could get a better deal.

That's it. That's all it was.

Any suggestion otherwise is not a misunderstanding. It's not a difference of opinion. It is a lie. A deliberate, calculated lie told to justify a vote they had already decided to cast before a single community member opened their mouth.

A Historic Night - And Not in a Good Way

I have been watching El Paso local politics for more than 20 years. I have sat through budget fights, redistricting battles, stadium controversies, and more backroom deals than I care to count. And I am telling you without exaggeration: I have never seen anything like last night.

I have never seen that many speakers show up in person. I have never seen the public comment portion of a council meeting stretch on the way it did during an eight-plus hour marathon that tested the endurance of everyone in that chamber. People who had jobs to go to, kids to pick up, and lives to live - they stayed. They waited. They spoke.

And the overwhelming message from the community was unified and simple: renegotiate the deal.

Not kill it. Not blow it up. Bring Meta back to the table and get El Paso a better deal.

Yet somehow five members of council listened to hours upon hours of public testimony and concluded that the public wanted exactly the opposite of what they actually said.

That’s impressive.

It takes a special talent to hear thousands of people yelling “slow down” and somehow interpret it as “floor it.”

If that doesn't make your blood boil, check your pulse.

Oscar Leeser Doesn't Get a Pass Either

Before I zero in on the Feckless Five, let me say something about Mayor Oscar Leeser, because I don't want anyone walking away with the impression that he gets a free ride here.

He was the mayor when the original deal was struck. That means the original terms - the ones the community found so unacceptable that they packed a council chamber for eight hours - happened on his watch. Oscar Leeser should be the last person to escape criticism for how we got here. The last one.

We clear? Good. Now let's talk about the five.

The Feckless Five

Alejandra Chavez. Deanna Maldonado Rocha. Cynthia Boyar Trejo. Ivan Niño. Art Fierro.

Five votes. Five middle fingers pointed directly at the El Paso community.

Let me be precise: Chavez, Rocha, and Trejo are every bit as guilty as the two I'm about to focus on. Don't let them hide behind the bigger names. They cast those votes. They own them. Every single one.

But I want to spend a moment on Fierro and Niño specifically - one because his betrayal was completely predictable, and one because it genuinely blindsided me.

Art Fierro: We've Been Here Before

Art Fierro selling out the community? Homie, I've seen this movie before and I already know how it ends.

His vote surprised me about as much as finding out the sun came up this morning.

When Fierro was serving in the Texas Legislature, he had an opportunity to be a wall - to stand on principle and block some of the most hateful, destructive legislation in the modern history of this state. Legislation that targeted our families, our neighbors, our kids. Legislation that El Paso is still dealing with today.

What did Art do? He played Judas. He went along when it counted most, reportedly calculating that drawing new district lines might give him a more favorable path to keeping his seat.

How'd that work out, Art?

The voters bounced him out of office not long after. El Paso has a long memory when it wants to, and the voters settled that account at the ballot box.

And yet here he is again, back at the table, back to his old habits. Selling out the community when the moment calls for backbone. Art Fierro is not a mystery. He is not complicated. He is a man with a pattern, and last night he ran that pattern again.

No surprises here. Just disappointment for the people foolish enough to give him another chance.

Ivan Niño: The One That Actually Stings

Now this one - this one hurts to write.

I would not have predicted Ivan Niño voting against the community on this. Not on an issue this clear, this unified, this loud. The community wasn't whispering its opposition - they were in that chamber for eight hours making it impossible to miss.

And yet.

Ivan Niño voted with Meta. He voted against the people he represents.

I don't know what was promised, implied, or whispered in his ear before that vote. I don't know what calculation he made in that chamber. What I do know is that the community that expected better from him deserves an explanation - not a press release, not talking points drafted by someone downtown, but a real, honest accounting of why he chose Meta over El Paso.

We're waiting, Ivan.

When Trump Voters and Biden Voters Agree, Maybe Listen

Here's the thing that should have been the loudest alarm bell in that chamber, and yet council somehow missed it entirely.

This data center deal was opposed by both political parties in El Paso.

Let that land for a second.

We are living in an era where Donald Trump - the single most divisive political figure in the history of the American Republic - has turned agreeing on anything across party lines into a near-impossible act. And yet, in El Paso, Texas, Democrats and Republicans actually found a piece of common ground. They looked at this deal and they said, together: this isn't good enough for our community.

That is not a normal political moment. That is extraordinary.

We live in a political era where people can’t agree on the weather without accusing each other of destroying democracy.

People argue about everything.

Everything.

And yet this issue managed to unite Democrats and Republicans in El Paso.

That is almost harder to accomplish than solving traffic on I-10.

When both sides of the political spectrum are standing shoulder to shoulder saying the same thing, elected officials should probably pay attention.

And El Paso City Council looked at that extraordinary moment of unity and decided to blow right past it.

That's not a mistake. That's not a misread of the room. That is a city council that does not fear its electorate. And a council that doesn't fear the voters is a council that answers to someone else.

The question El Paso needs to start asking - loudly, publicly, repeatedly - is who?

The Bottom Line

I came back from grief to write this. I want you to understand what that means.

What happened last night was a slap in the face to every community member who showed up, waited hours, and gave public comment. It was a slap to every person who called, emailed, and made their voice known. It was a slap to the Democratic and Republican activists who - in a near-miracle of civic agreement - stood on the same side of an issue for once.

The Feckless Five had a chance to meet the moment. To represent the people. To do the one thing they were elected to do.

They chose Meta instead.

Remember their names. Remember their votes. And when their names appear on a ballot again -  and they will - remember that they heard El Paso speaking for eight hours straight and decided it wasn't worth listening to.