El Paso Politics

This is a letter sent out today from the President of the El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats to membership. I think its an important message for people who believe in social justice to see which is why I am passing it on.  I also th ink its interesting considering the email was sent as a response to the fact that Leader Pelosi says that the Democratic Party should come out for full marriage equality. Congressman Reyes recently had Leader Pelosi in El Paso and the Reyes campaign has been touting the Congressman's record on equality as of late.  Dear El Paso Stonewall Young Democrats:      As I'm sure many of you have heard, issues of equality have been a major area of opportunity for our El Paso County Democratic Party.  Last month, in January, our El Paso County Democratic Party Chairman, Daniel Anchondo, was asked by a local precinct chairwoman, Christina Fenstermacher, who is the daughter of El Paso County's SDEC woman, Yolanda Clay, about what t...

Glenn "Butch" Maya's fundraiser was last night and drew a pretty decent size crowd considering the fact that State Representative Marisa Marquez was also holding a fundraiser at the same time in another location. Sending a clear message about who the Congressman would like to see as the next Chair of the El Paso Democratic Party, Maya was introduced by Chuy Reyes. Maya has wide support throughout the Democratic Party as demonstrated by the fact that County Judge Veronica Escobar was originally set to introduce Maya. But Escobar ended up attending some transportation meetings in San Antonio for the County and she was unable to be in attendance. Maya spoke about the need for unity within the party and his ability to work with people across various political factions in order to get things done.

Diana Navarrete went on offense against Theresa Caballero, her opponent, in the race from Criminal District Court #1 last Thursday night at the Eastside Civic Association Forum. Caballero was not in attendance but word on the street is that she was hosting an event for Precinct Chairs. Navarrete was given the opportunity to ask a question of her opponent and then ask the question for Caballero. Here are her remarks. It was pretty interesting because its the first time I've seen Navarrete go on offense. I was expecting to see that happen at the endorsement roundtable for the El Paso Young Stonewall Democrats but nothing happened that night.

The San Antonio Courts have tentatively set a date for the primary election. It is tentatively set for May 29th. That is the TENTATIVE date, but I don't think its going to change. That's a long time from now if that date sticks. The Courts told the Democratic and Republican Parties to prepare for an election on that date and so far it looks like they are both going to keep their conventions as scheduled, which is just two weeks after the election. Somewhere along the way they are supposed to have county conventions as well. That is going to be tricky. That means the run-off elections will be after the convention. The courts stated that they would finalize the date based on how the maps conversation goes. I wouldn't start printing the date on campaign materials yet, but I would start my walking, phone-banking, and mailing plan based on that date. The courts have not indicated a filing deadline as of yet. I'll keep you posted.

Here is video of the candidates running for Congress at the Eastside Civic Association Meeting. Quick highlights - I asked Ben Mendoza to elaborate on his Mexican commonwealth argument. I asked Jerome Tilghman to name a specific new policy he would advocate for. I asked Beto O'Rourke about comments he made last year about not being able to do the Mayor's job and running for Congress.

I wrote a long time ago about how Beto O'Rourke would benefit from the Citizen's United decision. I think as far back as around the time of his announcement. I might have even asked him about it on camera, I'm going to have to check it out, but I recall talking with him about it because he kept talking about how he was going to be out-spent in this race. I knew that wasn't going to the case. Before we go any further, lets get one thing straight. Both candidates for the race (I'm referring to the serious candidates, Beto O'Rourke and Silvestre Reyes) are getting PAC money. Both of them, so wrap your head around that fact because I also wrote a long time ago about how we were going to hear the most senseless argument in the history of stupid things to argue about...who's money is worse. The point is, if you believe money is an influence on candidates, them both candidates have outside influences working on them. And point of fact, Congressman Reyes has receive...

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