El Paso Politics

Sorry it took so long, I guess it was my connection. Any who, here's the debate video for the D2 candidates. The debate video of the other candidates will be posted soon. Sorry for the delay. Its still processing, check back from time to time to see if its done.

The video is still loading. I don't know what the problem is but I've started it over a few times. But its over 50% now, so I'm hoping that by election day the damn thing might actually be done! Here's my analysis of the Tax Assessor Collector Debate: Ruben Gonzalez is essentially the incumbent and as such joins the District Attorney Jaime Esparza as the two incumbents in a run-off facing younger Latina candidates. And both incumbents have a path to victory which is remarkable considering incumbents in run-off elections lose. SIDEBAR: I was able to actually find ONE instance of an incumbent in a run-off. Jaime Esparza's predecessor was in a run-off against Danny Anchondo way back when, and he pulled off a very close win. The campaign manager was then the First Assistant to the DA and is now, Judge Bill Moody. Other than that, being in a run-off is a political death sentence for an incumbent. Interestingly both Gonzalez and Esparza each have a decent shot at fending ...

Well for whatever reason, the 40+ minute segment of the District 2 debate held by the Progressive Democrats of El Paso is taking forever for me to upload to YouTube. I started loading that thing this morning and it still says it has 391 minutes today. Must be my connection. In the meantime, here is some analysis of the debate. I'll cut right to the chase, anyone who watched the debate knows that Jim Tolbert and Cemelli de Aztlán were head and shoulders above the rest of the candidates in terms of preparedness. The big takeaway from the debate was how little most of the candidates for the office know about the job. Many of them had no clue about questions relating to issues before the city council now. Embarrassingly so. So the quick rundown on the other candidates is that David Nevarez is a nice guy, but doesn't have the requisite knowledge of council or the job. You'd think he would because he's on a committee that he says he "founded". Not sure he can really...

At the Progressive Democrats of El Paso debate I was a little surprised to see Dora Oaxaca show up.  But it's possible that she's working with a campaign. She obviously does a lot of campaign work.  The event was also a fundraiser for the organization and plates of food were being sold for $10. Keeping it classy in that special way that only Dora knows how to, she ate a plate of food without purchasing a ticket. Which is weird considering she is paid by multiple members of council.  Oh well, I'll take care of the meal, I wouldn't want none of the workers to get in trouble as a result. The mujer  Obrera ladies work really hard, Theybshouldnt be shorted.

Probably the most meaningful debate for the District 2 candidates will be taking place tonight at Cafe Mayan at 6:00pm. The candidates for the 8th Court of Appeals, Tax Assessor Collector, and District Attorney will also be participating. The debate is being sponsored by the Progressive Democrats of El Paso and will feature a panel made up of local journalists. Since early voting has already started, this may be the last big chance to see all the D2 candidates debate one another.

You'll have to pardon David K, he has this nasty habit of talking out of both sides of his mouth.  First the Times endorsement doesn't matter because Tolbert had it and lost last time, but when you confront him about all the people who have won with the endorsement he changes the subject. Yesterday he says I act like the world revolves around me, but he can't stop writing about me.  Actually, look over the last year and you'll see he reacts to what I write regularly.  But I digress.  I was all set to write about how Ali Razavi's friends at Forma have no candidates in the run-off and they have no candidates in the D2 race either. Pretty surprising for the city's supposed elite political consulting firm. But then all of a sudden I hear David L has now reversed himself within 24 hours and now thinks I'm running CDA's campaign. I haven't seen a complete reversal from someone that fast since Rep Noe changed his tune from calling the street fiasco "co...

I didn't want to go to the grand opening of the plazita because I didn't want to fall for the city's propaganda machine. I wanted to make up my own mind about the project. So I waited until a workday, in the late afternoon after lunch time, at a time I expected to get an idea of what its like when it would most likely be deserted.  Let's start with the obvious - the plazita is a hell of a lot cooler and nicer than it used to be.  The Good: The plazita is a meeting place again. Couples, families, people on their lunch breaks, tourists, and regular Paseños are all using the plazita again. In fact, I was surprised at how many people were there and how many went in and out. The cafe is a cool addition. I saw someone complaining about the pricing but frankly its not really too expensive. Its probably on the lower-end in pricing when you compare it to other downtown eating options.  Los Lagartos. I struggled with putting this in here for a few minutes. When you think about it...