El Paso Politics

City Rep Emma Acosta announced her candidacy for mayor recently. Apparently on an internet local talk radio program. I'm sure at least a dozen people caught the exiting announcement. Acosta's non-surprise entry into the mayor race underscores something that I have noticed about the mayoral race so far - there really are no credible Latino candidates running for that office, which frankly is a shame considering the size and population make up of the city. What is funny is that Acosta's announcement for mayor was not a surprise, but this is probably the first you're hearing of it. Proof of a botched roll-out. So before you crazies get your panties in a twist, understand that the point I'm making is that it really is remarkable that a city as old as El Paso has been governed by a minority of the population for a really long time. And its raza who elects them, so its not like anyone is putting a gun to our heads to choose them. But it is interesting isn't it? Quite ...

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...