El Paso Politics

I try really hard to be factually accurate and when I get it wrong, I have no problem correcting the record. So I have to correct two errors I made over the last month about City Rep Cassandra Hernandez. First, I erroneously identified her as the City Rep for District 7 when she is the City Rep for District 3. Second, I mentioned that she was removed from the MPO yesterday. That is correct, but I didn't give the whole story and that isn't fair to Rep Hernandez. So my bad, let me clear the record. Rep Hernandez was actually replaced on a few boards, rather than just the MPO. Rep Hernandez deserves accuracy as much as anyone else and I should have been more accurate about how things went down at city council the other day. I got it wrong and I try hard to get it right. So mea culpa - Hernandez is now off of most, if not all the boards she was appointed to - not just the MPO. My bad. I'll try harder to get things right in the future and not be in such a rush to blog something ...

Gotta love David K. I mean the guy's family has maxed out their contributions to Dori Fenenbock and he's always done Jim Tolbert's bidding and now he's directing Jim Tolbert's latest attempt at staying relevant. Seriously can't recall a more blatant example of a guy being on the take for a political class in El Paso than David K. So he posted a letter that Jim Tolbert wrote and it became a story in the Times. I'm writing about it today because I found it hilarious that Norma Chavez's announcement messed up David K and Tolbert's little movida. In the article Tolbert alleges something I think everyone had already assumed, that Susie Byrd helped him write the ethics complaint about Larry Romero and the City Manager. Apparently that was some sort of earth shattering revelation to David K because well, he's kinda obsessed with Byrd in a weird way. But it shouldn't have been. Jim should've been honest with his boy The Juice and told him the tru...

When there is flooding in the Mission Valley and farmers and families are losing their homes and livelihoods, where is your state rep? The answer all too often is State Rep Mary Gonzalez is out partying while you nervously wait out the storms.  But that isn’t the issue that is the central focus on the HD 75 race. I’ll get back to that in a minute, walk with me… Forma has been gunning for Gonzalez since she took office. Most of the time they don’t have a decent candidate. Last time they had to dust-off Chente Quintanilla to run against Gonzalez.  Thats not really giving the voters much of a choice. I watched that whole campaign and waited to hear some compelling reason why they should send Chente back to Austin.  Not because I don’t think he’d be any better or worse, I mean lets be real…what the hell has Gonzalez actually done in Austin? I can’t think of a meaningful accomplishment for her district. I mean there’s some identity stuff, but with a district that has as much n...

This ain't a dis track. I'm just gonna tell it like it is. Former State Rep Norma Chavez is running for congress, which you undoubtedly know by now. So lets talk about the implications of a Chavez candidacy. She suffered the worst self-inflicted political wound in history and it led to her ouster from local politics. No one should feel sorry for her about that either. No one forced her to make bigoted comments about her opponent. The fact that she still has the audacity to compare someone's sexuality with being a biker shows that she really hasn't learned anything. A person's sexuality is how they are oriented and should never be equated with a leisure activity like being a biker. Thats just flat-out ignorant. I knew she would say that it was taken out of context. Well there is no context in the world that would justify that kind of blatant attack. Its also not the only time she raise her opponent's sexuality. But in that video, I showed all the context of what ...

Click this link to go to the local party's website and see all the filings as of yesterday. George Ybarra and Lily Limón, under the leadership of Chairwoman Holguin have done a great job of keeping information updated. Special shout out to George, Lily, and Ayle Sarinana for working well on such a hectic day. Having to get stuff done with me, Eddie Holguin, and Pee Wee in the room being loud and obnoxious could not have been easy. Especially me and Eddie, we were laughing and joking all day. But everyone got their work done despite us distractions.  Except Eddie Holguin. He had one job to do and failed! So here are some quick highlights.  Embattled Judge Mike Herrera, who is currently a District Court Judge, filed to run for a County Court. Why take a step down on the food chain? Mostly because it doesn't affect him in any way but positive.  Frankly, this and two other judicial filings are really important news stories but lets be honest, everyone more interested in the ...

Here's an interesting little conversation. In the Northeast Democrats candidate forum, candidate Enrique Garcia raised the issue of Dori Fenenbock correcting him when he said he was the only attorney running for the congressional seat. Personally, I don't think that is an asset, but thats just me.  Anywho, Fenenbock corrected him and said she was an attorney. It caught my attention because Garcia made a comment that she hadn't passed the bar in Texas or Oklahoma. It was obviously a touchy subject for Fenenbock because as he's talking about it, she physically puts her hands on him, which I found as odd body language.  Here's the video of the exchange. So I checked with ALL 50 freaking states to see what the facts are. I didn't check with the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, etc because well damn it, you people don't pay me for the time I put into this stuff, so 50 states is enough! After checking with all 50 states, there wasn't one single sta...

The editorial in today's edition of the El Paso Times underscores a point I have been making about Republican candidate for Sheriff, Tom Buchino. The editorial was about Crime Stats Again Puncture Border Myths and outlined the fact that while crime was up slightly nationwide, the areas that were consistently bucking that trend were urban areas along the border that have consistently seen drops in the rate of crime. But you already knew that because you live in El Paso. And that is really the point that I have been making about Buchino. Take a look at any of his social media, look him up on YouTube, etc and you will see that he clearly has an agenda of further militarizing the Sheriff's Department if elected. In the words of Levar Burton, "But you don't have to take my word for it..." forget the dress-up or the time he actually fired a weapon in his video and just check out what Buchino says in his own words in any number of his campaign videos. Here's one go...

For whatever reason Republican challenger for Sheriff of El Paso County, Tom Buchino has been getting a pass from media about his antics. As I've previously documented , much like Trump, Buchino's demeanor has been called into question. And much like Trump, guys who spend a long time being in charge tend to be pretty cavalier about the things they say about women. During the debate the other night Hillary Clinton spent a lot of time listing all the sexist things Trump has said over the years and broke out a new one we hadn't heard before - an insult Trump made to a Latina beauty pageant winner by calling her Miss Housekeeping. Which is why I'm glad people on social media like to tag me in stuff about Tom Buchino. I'm a Democrat and union supporter who believes that law enforcement should have a cooperative relationship with immigrant communities because it keeps us safer and I believe a sheriff should not be a hot head who loses his cool and punches people. So I...

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 ...

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.

He's not the politico I was alluding to over my last couple of posts, but there are some indications and more than a few whispers that State Rep Chente Quintanilla may run for County Commissioner in Precinct #3, currently represented by Willie Gandara, Jr. If true, this is yet another indicator that Gandara won't seek re-election. This puts one person in particular in the limelight. A former staffer for both Gandara and Quintanilla, Dora Oaxaca. First, lets talk about why this makes sense for Quintanilla. Quintanilla had yet another bad session in Austin. I looked at population numbers for his district and he's way over populated in his district. His district is going to be redrawn and its going to look a lot more Republican. He's a conservative Democrat, but still a Democrat. The only way he'd fight off a Republican challenger is if he switched parties and became a Republican. Which honestly wouldn't surprise me given some of the votes he's made. Secondly, ...

If you’re expecting something witty, snarky, or humorous, in this letter you will be disappointed. David K does that much better than I. There is a reason I am not the most popular guy in the party; its because of letters like this one. But then again, I’m not going anywhere, have no intention of leaving the party, and am not really concerned with being popular. Someone has to speak truth to power. I guess I always have to be the asshole. Dear Danny Anchondo, Don Williams, and Yolanda Clay: Recently at the Black El Paso Democrats annual dinner, the key note speaker, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr, gave a moving speech that was partially a warning. It was a warning for the Democratic Party to not sleep through a revolution. Two of the three of you were in attendance. Actually, more accurately put, two of the three of you sat at the head table during that speech. Simply put, we are in the middle of a long, deep sleep. There is a revolution happening in our town and its happening right unde...

Wednesday night's forum would've had all the candidates in attendance but Abe Peinado did not attend the forum. According to Ken Sutherland of the West El Paso Democrats, Peinado had confirmed his attendance to the event twice. Sutherland said that he had received no indication or notice from Peinado that he would not be in attendance at this election season's first candidate forum. As you can see in this video Sutherland explains Peinado didn't call to cancel and also goes over the voting record of the candidates. There has also been talk amongst some west side politicos that Peinado might drop out of the race. I sent a text message to Peinado to inquire about his absence and if he was going to drop out of the race. His response, "I had issues with a client. Back out? Never."

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 ...