El Paso Politics

There was an item at city council that no one is talking about but had it been any other city rep than Cassandra Hernandez, it would have made news. City Representative Cassandra Hernandez was unceremoniously and abruptly removed off of the MPO at council yesterday. No one said a thing about it. It was really hush-hush and there was no discussion. The MPO is a board that city reps fight to get on because it is so influential and important. I can't recall an instance where a city representative was removed from the MPO in the middle of their term and when it wasn't a change in mayors. Why it isn't being discussed is a mystery to me, but there must have been a reason that led to this sudden change because it certainly wasn't because she wanted to be off the MPO. She was taken off. The question is, why?

Michiel Noe is a doctor and is running for District 5, the seat that will be vacated by Rachel Quintana. He’s had his initial papers filed with the city for some time now, but no one knew exactly what district he was going to run in because he only had his business address listed on the paperwork  and there was no mention of the office sought. He recently amended the paperwork to reflect the office he is seeking and he lists a different Treasurer now, Ronald Pate, whose address is outside of District 5. Why the city allows a mailing address as opposed to an actual home address so that you know what district they are running in is beyond me, but it is what it is. Why he uses his business address when he actually lives in the district is beyond me as well. After some research, it turns out that Dr. Noe lives in District 5. Word on the street is that he has solicited the support of some notables in the Democratic Party including Dora Oaxaca and Alice Rosas. Oaxaca currently work...

Election season is continuing to ramp up and that means we should start to hear more from the candidates. Problem is, we probably won’t. Here’s what we’ll hear from them. 100% voters will get a mailer, a phone call, and a visit. They matter, people that don’t vote, don’t matter. That might bother some of you, if it does, get over it. If you don’t vote, why would they waste time talking to you? If you don’t care enough to vote, you have no power over them so it should shock you when you are ignored. Don’t like it? Then vote dummy. Regular media won’t spend too much time, if any, covering them unless they screw up and say or do something wrong. But for those of us that actually do cover the candidates, I have a message for you. For far too long this town has had its share of clowns elected as leaders and the reason it happens is because we don’t normally know much about the leaders before they are elected. We are too scared or shy about asking the tough question. We don’t want to be unpo...

So I was reading a piece on another blog about Mayor Pro Tem Emma Acosta and her apparent refusal to give up the position of Mayor Pro Tem. Let me explain a few things for those of you who might not know. As with everything in El Paso politics, there is more than meets the eye here. First of all, you aren’t elected for life to the position of Mayor Pro Tem, it’s a term of two years. Mention was made of a little “tradition” of giving the seat up after a year of service in the post. That’s really interesting because I went back and found that the last couple of Mayor Pro Tem’s actually served a year and a half. But the term of the Mayor Pro Tem is actually set forth in the City Charter. The Mayor and Council don’t actually have the power to make little “traditions” when it comes to things set forth in the City Charter. You see, the voters actually voted the Charter in, so they are the ultimate authority. That’s why I don’t understand the critique of Acosta or the characterization of lit...