El Paso Politics

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...

Sorry this one was a little late, but I've been a little busy. I've been to many fundraisers over the years in politics. El Paso fundraisers are usually pretty sad affairs. The real money in most campaigns doesn't come from people who show up to fundraisers. The big money guys prefer to donate in private. But nonetheless they are still fun to attend because who how shows up, who doesn't, and all the info you can usually find out about. Usually the fundraisers are a big flop and quite often, they end up costing the candidate more money than they raise. But Isela Castanon-Williams, who is running for re-election to the EPISD school board had the most successful fundraiser in terms of attendance that I've ever been to. It was held at Andale's Restaurant on the Eastside and the place was packed. There was no room to sit. She doesn't have an opponent yet, and judging by who was there to support Castanon-Williams, it wouldn't be advisable for anyone to through...

Wanna see a wrap up of Isela Castanon-Williams announcement and fundraiser? Wanna hear which Latino elected official in town said they were supportive of UTEP's decision to eliminate Cesar Chavez as a holiday? Which city council rep candidate is afraid to answer a few simple questions? Which city council rep worked for a non-profit and got in trouble for losing a laptop and sending political emails from her work email address? Find out this weekend on The LionStar Blog...

Brooks Vandivort, who is a member of the City Planning Commission, has said that he was going to take the weekend to decide if he was going to make a run for city council. Vandivort lives in District 1 and if he made the decision to run, it would be against City Rep Ann Lily who is the incumbent and Manny Hinojosa. So whats the big rumor? Well its been going around in Republican circles that my co-host Greg Freyermuth would be running for city council. Here's what I know in terms of facts. Freyermuth has made no announcement to run for anything. But I do know that he has received invitations from people in the business community to discuss issues important to them. Let's face facts people, business people tend to be conservative and Greg is El Paso's arch-conservative, so naturally he would be someone that they would like to have conversations with. Stay tuned.

City Rep Eddie Holguin has an opponent that has confirmed she will be running against him. So I wondered what the incumbent had to say about having a challenger. I called Holguin and started the interview by asking him what he felt about having an opponent in his upcoming re-election bid. “I think its great. I think anyone who wants to run should run.” I asked Holguin what he thought about running against a Republican and he replied, “I think its great to have a Republican like Lazarin and a Democrat like myself run. The voters get to decide whether they want a Republican or a fiscally conservative Democrat.” When asked about the fact that his opponent originally though she lived in another district and whether he thought it would be an issue to voters, Holguin's answer was “That's something the voters will have to decide on.” Holguin reminded me that the official filing window hasn't even opened yet which is why he hasn't had an official announcement yet, but it appea...

Omar Macias has dropped out of the District 5 race citing the fact that he is not living in the District at this time. He is currently in District 6 because he is house-sitting for a friend. Macias says he's lived in the district for over 10 years but due to the fact that he is currently house-sitting, he didn't want it to be a distraction. This is now the second candidate who originally wanted to run in District 5 but actually lives in District 6. Macias is not planning a run for District 6. The other candidate that didn't live in the district she wanted to run in, Zulema Lazarin , has announced that she will be taking on Holguin. She may not be in the position to quit at this point. Sources at city hall indicate that she made an interesting revelation when she was on the 10th floor. Apparently she revealed that she had to run because she had already recieved contributions. At the time she allegedly made this comment, she hadn't filed for a treasurer for her campaign ...

Zulema Lazarin, former Secretary of the El Paso Latino National Republican Coalition has decided to take on City Representative Eddie Holguin for his positon in District 6, which is made up mostly of the Lower Valley and does have a portion of El Paso's Eastside. That's a decision that has several people, some in her own party in fact, questioning the decision. Lazarin lives near the very upper boundary of the district. I ran in to Lazarin at a fundraiser for a Democrat, Isela Castanon-Williams who is running for re-election to the El Paso ISD Board. Lazarin with sitting with her spouse and Manny Hinojosa, who is a Republican precinct chair and candidate running for District 1 against Ann Morgan Lily. I wasn't expecting to see the Republicans there but since they are running in non-partisan races it makes sense that they would make the rounds at as many events as they possibly can. In light of the fact that Lazarin was going to file to run for the seat in District 5 until s...