El Paso Politics

Look if I spent all my time correcting El Paso's biggest douchebag, that being Max Powers) I'd never have time for anything else. You remember him, he's the guy who has a blog about my blog and is definitely not, under any circumstances, Rick Armendariz. Honest. Anywho, let me correct the baboso...again. I don't live in Socorro, I live in Ysleta. Yes, I disagree with Rep Gonzalez on two policy issues. But I've disagreed with every elected official in town on policy issues at one point or another. Including, wait for it...County Judge Veronica Escobar. I thought she was wrong on redistricting a few years back. Still do.  Hell I've often said Rep Acosta reminds me of my mother. I've disagreed with her too. But most electeds understand that you won't always get 100% agreement on policy. That's part of our system.  Il Douche doesn't get that because well, he's a pendejo. And because the circle he runs with freaks the hell out when you disagree as...

The Gandaras are back in office in Socorro. Another cousin has been elected to office in Socorro and he's filling the seat omce held Jesse Gandara. What's Jesse been up to these days? Well aside from running a Facebook page everyone in town knows is his, he's been getting ready for trial in January. But he apparently took time to walk his cousin into the administration building in Socorro yesterday for a sit down with the city manager. The one thing everyone was concerned about was the return of Jesse.  The new Ganadara took office last night and he is filling the rest of the term of the late Chito Bowling who stomped a mud hole in Jesse Gandara in the special election last year. People in Socorro are pretty forgiving and willing to give people a chance but the new Gandara showing up to city hall admin with his now infamous cousin isn't exactly starting things off on the right foot. Interestingly Socorro isn't giving up the video from the admin building that shows t...

According to an article in the El Paso Times by Diana Washington-Valdez, University Medical Center (UMC) is getting slapped with a fine. That has an impact on the tax payer no matter how this tries to get spun. The fines are from penalties the feds are whacking UMC with because of health problems people acquired while they were hospitalized for something else if I understand correctly. That means that is such a problem at UMC that it rises to the level of getting punished for it. UMC's side of the story, and it has some merit, is the fact that we are under-insured and under-cared for so when we go to UMC, we are therefore more likely to get something else. That makes sense and is basically reasonable. But it doesn't explain away the issue entirely. Look, no matter how this tries to get shaped, UMC scored the worst possible score for "hospital-acquired conditions". UMC earned a 10, with 10 being the worst possible score you can possibly achieve. Interestingly Valenti i...

I've been practically screaming at the top of my lungs for months about the problems at Clint ISD and there is no action from the "education representative". Maria Garcia of KVIA did a story on Tornillo's school board problems last year. Fabens school board members are about ready to face the wrath of the community as well. It seems like several school districts with major issues have all popped up in the valley. It might seem like that, but this isn't a new problem. This is a problem that has plagued the valley for years and why people have such little trust in local government. Its a damn shame too. First, props to Maria Garcia and KVIA for doing the story and shining light on an issue that is a big problem. She was probably tipped by a community member to go out and cover the story and good for her for doing so. But if more people knew the crap that was going on, there's no way it would be tolerated. Tornillo's ISD did a forensic audit and God only know...

The next session of the Texas legislature will be starting soon and El Paso's delegation has filed their normal pile of bills. I'm still going through most of them but a couple of them are noteworthy. The weed bill and the cow bill. Representative Joe Moody (HD 78) has filed a bill that has drawn praise from newspapers across the state of Texas (San Antonio, Houston, Dallas) but for whatever reason really hasn't gained any attention here in El Paso. Essentially what Moody wants to do is decriminalize user amounts of weed. Its probably the most common-sense approach to dealing with the "War on Drugs" anyone in the delegation has ever proposed. We pay more for our judicial system and jail system in El Paso County than anywhere else in the state. Decriminalizing weed is likely a pretty good tax-saver for El Paso.  Moody is a former prosecutor, so he's got some clout and street cred being the state representative that introduces the bill. If this bill was introduc...

(If you love Creepy Rob Lowe and Steve Carell, stick around until the end of this one.) Well since I seem to be the object of obsession for Maxi Pad lately I thought I'd give him a little gift this Christmas. The gift of laughter.  Maxi Pad, who is definitely not Rick Armendariz of Forma Group (no seriously, I really mean it, honest to gosh) has been pretty obsessed with me lately.  And while I firmly believe Maxi Pad and Martin Paredes should be able to be legally wed in all 50 states, I am regrettably going to have to turn down Maxi Pads advances. While I am impressed that you purchased my name as a domain name and point it to your blog (not creepy at all) and I'm flattered that you care about my hair cuts, my sex life, the fact that i don't drink over-priced beverages in order to maintain some status, my junk, how I speak, my affinity toward cholas, and the way I dress, I am however, uninterested in being the top to your bottom. But fear not Maxi Pad, I know a nice young...

In the never-ended drama headquarters of west Texas that is El Paso City Council, there was an interesting incident recently. Sources at city hall indicate that there was a holiday party that was supposed to be for city staff and it was hosted by City Reps Limon and Robinson. Limon likes to through a lot of parties from what I'm told. Anywho, the staff from the other city rep offices weren't invited to the exclusive little shin dig. Having been a staffer, thats a pretty big violation of staffer code. Typically staff have an unwritten rule that while you are always expected to remain loyal to the boss, you still have to get along with the other staff. So having a party for all city staff but not inviting your colleagues' staff is not only a ZAS to the colleagues, but it creates bad blood with staff. That is NEVER a good thing for an elected that has to work with other electeds. Funny part is, from what I hear from city hall peeps, Robinson and Limon allegedly has the huevos ...