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?

It could be a concern about fielding questions about his political affiliation, but in a bit of a surprising development Dr. Michiel Noe was a "no-show" last night at the Eastside Democrats meeting. The organization unanimously endorsed El Paso Community College Trustee Art Fierro for the position. Being the only auxiliary of the Democratic Party on the Eastside, the endorsement is the most important endorsement of this brief election season. Interestingly, the Chair of the Eastside Democrats is former City Representative Emma Acosta. She was not in attendance at the meeting. She and Dr. Noe served as colleagues on the El Paso City Council. Her former staffer Dora Oaxaca is also a former staffer of Dr. Noe and is working on his campaign, so Acosta's absence was likely strategic. But it wasn't unnoticed. Noe Democrat? For his entire political career Dr. Noe has been under a cloud of suspicion about his political affiliation. At one point at a political function Noe men...

The Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo had a major leadership shake-up last week and it couldn't have come at a more precarious time for the Tiguas. The tribe has important legislation at the federal level - which is why they backed Republican Will Hurd over Democrat Gina Ortiz-Jones. Hurd is the one carrying the ball for the Pueblo on that legislation and the YDSP was the margin of victory for Hurd. Had they not voted for him, he would have lost. They also have important economic development issues with the City of El Paso in the works right now as well. All of that is up in the air now given the change in leadership. Not necessarily a sign that any of that is going away, but with an entirely new group of leaders, what exactly will happen with these important issues is certainly in question. Tribal Tradition Let me take a quick moment to bring you up to speed on how tribal government works with the YSDP. I've written about it before but it has been a while and some of you may not remember ...

There is no group more prone to hypocrisy than a bunch of self-righteous Republicans in their circle jerk of elitism on their social media echo chambers. But the hypocrisy of a guy named Anthony Aguero is egregious even by GOP standards. So let me start by explaining who he is. He's a younger member of the El Paso Republican Party and worked with the train wreck that was the Rick Seeberger congressional campaign. The last time I saw him was when he and a few other young guys were trying to ambush Congresswoman Veronica Escobar at a debate forum. However a lot of you have seen him online lately and filled my phone, inbox on Facebook, and email about the guy. He's the guy that has been harassing immigrants that have been dumped at the Greyhound station in the cold and middle of the night. He's gun enthusiast (so am I) and is a danger to this community. Not because of the guns or any particular persuasion of violence - he fancies himself a tough guy until he's caught and c...

Sorry everyone, been busy and haven't had time to write much. Don't worry, the loser post is coming. But I wanted to take a short minute to write about something we shouldn't forget about just because the election is over. Carlos Sierra, who is behind the PAC "Keep El Paso Honest" and is President of Sierra Public Affairs and a partner in Renegade Public Affairs missed another filing deadline. How the hell the guy still gets work in politics when he has such a terrible reputation for playing dirty and not complying with campaign laws is beyond me. But you can't miss the irony of someone having the audacity to have the word Honest appear anywhere in something he is connected to - especially when said PAC hasn't made one single reporting deadline. Seriously, the guy has become a political punchline. The main point of all of this, and he's featured prominently in the upcoming election losers post, is that we have campaign finance laws for a reason. He ap...