El Paso Politics

Looks like 8th Court of Appeals candidate Maria Ramirez fixed her billboards.  If you look closely you can see that the word "for" was added. You may recall that a complaint was filed with the Ethics Commission by a constituent about the lack of the word "for" in her campaign signs. This will likely get her off the hook with the ethics commission.

Every once in awhile something or someone gets under my skin. I'll admit, its a bit of a weakness of mine, and it may someday be my undoing, but I love a good fight. But this is beyond the rush of a good exchange. I'm pissed. Don Kirkpatrick,precinct chair, longtime Democratic Party activist and member of the Democratic Party Hall of Fame, sends out emails to party activists. Next to Don Williams' email list, its the largest in the party.  Today, following the announcement of the endorsements of the El Paso Young Democrats, Mr. Kirkpatrick sent out the following email: It is difficult to understand the Young Democrats' endorsement of a candidate who is backed solidly -- with significant financial support -- by a coterie of wealthy Republicans.  Their purposes, obviously, are diametrically opposed to the goals of all Democrats. It seems to me, in view of the fact that City Council elections are non-partisan, that endorsements by political parties are inappropriate. I...

"Pull my little string and I'll turn you some flips, I'm your puppet..." I'm your puppet is a great song. I hear it every Sunday on The Fox Jukebox with Mike Guerrero and whenever I DJ a gig in the valley. But when its political candidates, its not such a great concept. But according to several witnesses that attended the EPISO Forum on Sunday afternoon, it looks like Zulema Lazarin is just that, a puppet. But I was surprised to hear who the supposed puppetmaster is...Nacho Padilla. Witnesses say that Padilla was signaling Lazarin how to answer questions. Its not like there haven't been other candidates that have had handlers guide them on how to answer questions. But thats prep that is done before a forum, not during! He was literally giving her the thumbs up or thumbs down for Lazarin when she was asked questions. Now Lazarin has given us plenty of reasons to question her judgement, everything from her decision to run, the district she ran in, the creation o...

When Dee Margo ran against Joe Moody for State Rep District 78, his main argument wasn't what Joe Moody did, he ran on what he said Joe Moody didn't do. In fact, I remember a large part of his argument was that Moody didn't get another building for the medical center. In fact, he once said, "he didn't even try". It would naturally follow that if his criticism of Moody was that he didn't even try to get another medical building, he was going to. Which is interesting because the deadline to file bills has come and gone and guess what? We don't have another building for the medical center. From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia Not only do we not have another building for the medical center...Margo apparently didn't even try to get it for us. WARNING, THIS IS GOING TO GET A LITTLE NERDY, SO TRY TO FOLLOW ALONG. Below is a list of bills for each of the 5 El Paso Reps. First, a little explanation about what it, and what is not on this list. What is he...

Alfredo Borrego, candidate for El Paso Independent School Board held a fundraiser on Wednesday night. Borrego had a rather strong show of support from some noted El Paso politico's including Mayor Pro Temp Emma Acosta, County Commissioner Sergio Lewis, former County Commissioner Carlos Aguilar, and prominent El Paso Attorney Mr. Rosales. Also in attendance were EPISD Trustee Isela Castanon-Williams, Dan Olivas, Tim Besco, Mayela Mejia, Dora Oaxaca, Jay Desai, Pee Wee Mier, and Ken Sutherland. Here are some of the highlights and an interview I did with him.

I had a chance to visit with Dr. Noe on a while back for a cup of coffee and some discussion on his candidacy and where he stands on various issues. I meant to write about this a while back but had a full plate with the station changes. From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia From The Lion Star Blog by Jaime Abeytia Dr. Noe, as he did at the Tejano Democrats meeting Tuesday night, explained to me that he came from a family of Republicans and had at one point voted for President Bush. He also explained that he eventually switched parties to become a Democrat. This has caused quite a bit of concern from local Democrats who aren't entirely convinced that his conversion is genuine. Interestingly some of these same people didn't have a problem with Brian Haggerty who changed parties recently as well. My best analysis is that Noe is in fact a Democrat, albeit a conservative one. We visited for a little over an hour and I asked him policy-based questions. Its good to see a candidate...

When I heard it, I thought it was another bad Johnson Jewlers commercial. Something along the lines of the mayor is a blue jumper with his name on a patch on his chest with a wrench in his hand. Queue the close up. "I don't wanna be your plumber!" But no, instead of a bad Johnson's Jewlers commercial, it was Mayor Cook being interviewed on the road by a KTSM reporter. Click here to see the entire story and hear the Mayor in his own words. "Did they want me to restore their water? I'm not a plumber," Mayor Cook said in a phone interview today. Mayor Cook was apparently on VACATION while his constituents were dealing with the weather issues. I know the Mayor has a life, I get it. I know that the Mayor had no control over what is going on with the weather. But surely someone close to the Mayor could've told him that the remark was ignorant and completely insensitive to his consitituents who are still without water. What makes it worse, is that he soun...

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...

There was a hearing today for a case that sounds a lot like a plot to a movie. Picture this: A poor Latino community that is in the throws of an identity crisis trying to feel its way in the world and torn between being known as a city or rural community, takes a powerful, all-Anglo, utility district to court. Sounds like a movie, but it isn't. The City of Socorro and Horizon are locked in a battle over, of all things, waste water. Not for who gets it, but essentially who gets stuck with it. According to the arguments made in court, here's how things transpired. In 2006 the Horizon Municipal Utility District (MUD), an elected board, planned for a $2.2 million expansion of their waste water project. In 2009 MUD applied for and obtained a permit to do so from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The project was to pipe waste water from Horizon through some county areas and the city of Socorro in to an area in Socorro and eventually in to the Rio Grande. That's pre...

By Jaime Abeytia My two favorite chants last night..."Farley, Farley, Farley" and "Fredo, Fredo, Fredo". Last nights State of the Union watch party at the McCall center was a packed house and there were a few notables in the room. Representative Eddie Holguin (he was lost, he thought it was a Republican event. Just kidding.), Joe Moody, Eliot Shapleigh were the current or former electeds in the room. Shapleigh sporting his trademark denim and UTEP hat had a somewhat awkward reunion with his former communications director, Claudia Ordaz, who is now the deputy press secretary for Congressman Reyes' office. If you don't understand why its awkward allow me to explain. Leaving Team Shapleigh to work for Team Reyes is like leaving the Yankees to play for the Red Sox. (I know, that things happens all the time now, don't even get me started on free agency, but you get the point.) Jerome Tighlman, one of my colleagues at Talk Radio 1150am, who once considered run...

Sources in City Hall indicate that Zulema Lazarin, former secretary of the El Paso Latino National Republican Coalition intended to file candidacy papers to pursue the office being vacated by City Rep Rachel Quintana. Her desire to pursue the office was also written about it in my homie Sammy C's blog a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, according to multiple sources at city hall, Lazarin couldn't file to run for District 5. Turns out there was a little problem along the way for Lararin... she doesn't live in the district . Lazarin in fact lives in Representative Holguin's district. According to sources she spent some time on the 10th floor yesterday after finding out she lived in the wrong district. There was no indication as to what she was doing but I'm told she was in the Mayor's office and Representative Holguin's office. I don't know for sure, but I'm betting she went to inquire with Holguin if he intended to run for re-election. Lazarin was ...

You aren't going to believe this email, so take your time reading it, it's certainly worth the read. I'll let you know one thing that will make you want to keep reading, it ends with FUCK YOU! I HOPE YOU'LL ROT IN HELL! From Burges Candidate Forum The following is an email sent out via an mass email communications program. I obtained this email just a few moments ago and checked with one source in the Republican Party to verify its authenticity. To the best of their knowledge, this came from Tim Besco's Campaign: THANKS FOR NOTHING All of you who are getting this email should know why. From the very start of my campaign - I have had nothing but criticism from many of you. All I'd hear was, "You don't speak well." or "You can't do this or that." I'd even ask for your help at different events, but I'd get very little or no help. Then when I hired someone who is a professional consultant - I would get nothing but even more hatred...

A couple of more thoughts on the Antcliff/Lizarraga race. Antcliff seems to always find his way back on to the bench after adversity, mostly because he’s very dialed in with appointment process. I recently wrote about the departure of Judge David Guaderrama. Even if Antcliff loses, which he will, he will likely be reappointed to replace Guaderrama until he loses to the next Democratic Party challenger. He’s a well-respected jurist by his peers and dialed in to the appointment process, so his re-appointment is likely. That is of course, predicated on a victory on the part of Governor Perry. That’s no longer a foregone conclusion…

From The Lion Star Blog Gilbert Sanchez is making no secret about the fact that he is considering another run for political office. Sanchez has openly discussed running for City Council and County Commissioner's Court. A run a city hall would put him up against City Rep V. Rachel Quintana, if she chooses to run for re-election, or a large field of candidates that many on the eastside are predicting to surface. A run at County Commissioner's Court would pit Sanchez against Commissioner Anna Perez. A run in a field of candidates for the city rep seat is the better play for Sanchez because he's used to that type of campaign and has the family support needed to gather the most amount of votes and end up in a run-off. From The Lion Star Blog A run against Perez is probably not a good idea because Perez has already shown herself to be more than capable of beating an opponent with baggage. Its way too soon for Sanchez to jump in a race like that. Even if Sanchez beats the rap, whi...

From The Lion Star Blog The El Paso chapter of the Latino National Republican Coalition issued a statement to the media today calling for Senator Harry Reid's (D-NV) resignation as Majority Leader in the Senate because of comments he made questioning why Latinos would be members of the Republican Party. "The El Paso Latino National Republican Coalition finds the comments made by Harry Reid on a campaign stop in Nevada to be racialist and demeaning to the Hispanic Community. For many years Hispanics have been a part of the Republican Party not only in El Paso but nationally as well and the numbers have been steadily growing as more and more Hispanics find themselves being over taxed, don't want big government and are tired of working hard so others can live off of social programs. For Harry Reid to even think that all Hispanics should think a certain way only feeds into the stereotype that all Hispanics should also all look a certain way and should all talk a certain way. H...

From The Lion Star Blog I’m betting the spin cycle goes in to full gear regarding the resignations from Camino Real Mexican American Democrats starting at around 4:00 this afternoon. I’ve seen a bit of what is being sold to the public as far as spin goes already and I gotta tell ya, they aren’t doing a very good job! So let me lay out some important things that really can’t be disputed (from what I can see so far). I apologize in advance for a lot of direct quotes here, but I wanted to be very specific). On page 2 of the Campaign Finance Guide for Political Committees , “a political committee that meets any one of the descriptions set out below is a general purpose committee.” Several scenarios are laid out but the one that fits Camino Real MAD is actually used as an example. “A political committee that supports candidates who are members of a particular political party is a general-purpose political committee…” Which would then lead to the section on page 4 titled Filing an Appointmen...

There is more to what I posted but I am in the process of digging around and getting some background from attorneys in terms of process before I write the rest, so stay tuned. A quick search of county records does show that the organization is registered as a proprietorship. This link shows that the group was first organized under Ricardo Armendariz. More commonly known as Rick Armendariz. He's a political consultant here in El Paso and is known for working on campaigns regardless of political affiliation. He recently ran Gus Haddad's bid for Mayor and has done some political work for State Representative Norma Chavez in the past. I wrote about a mailer that was done by Armendariz for Chavez a couple years back and a similar design was done for her opponent, State Representative-Elect Naomi Gonzalez, who recently defeated Chavez. This link shows an active registration under the name ANIBAL HIDALGO OLAGUE and lists an eastside address. This link shows an active registration un...

From The Lion Star Blog A member of the Executive Committee of the newly-elected Camino Real Mexican American Democrats confirms that most of the officers and all of the Executive Committee with the exception of State Representative Norma Chavez, have resigned from MAD. Alfredo Longoria, the Secretary of the Camino Real Mexican American Democrats says he turned in his resignation in writing last week to the newly-elected Chairman (and Mayor of Socorro) Willie Gandara Sr. Longoria also confirmed that the Chair and Vice-Chair Dora Oaxaca (senior staffer of County Commissioner Willie Gandara Jr.)also resigned. Though not specific as to why he resigned, Longoria did state that he felt the organization had "...been mismanaged over the last 8 years..." Longoria also said something that may shed some light on his reasons for leaving the organization. He said, "...I felt defrauded. I gave MAD my money and it was spent on other purposes..." Longoria has been active in the El...

I could go on and on about this topic for days, but I'll restrict my current critiques to just a couple of areas. At some point I am going to write about the fact that we are the "Democratic stronghold of the state of Texas" but people don't "need" the party to win elections in this town. In fact, most of the people in town that have won elections lately aren't party regulars, so its pretty sad that the party is largely irrelevant in elections when we are the "Democratic stronghold of the state of Texas". But here are two problems with our local Democratic Party. #1-The website. What the hell? The site is fugly and many parts are not updated or functional. Click here to see what I mean. By comparison, check out the Republicans' website . They kick our ass. A good website should be clean, easy to navigate, intuitive, and updated regularly. I will volunteer myself and a team to help with this if necessary. #2-El Paso's answer to Vladimir ...