El Paso Politics

A reader asked me to post a reminder that tonight is the EPISD Candidate Forum. It starts at 6pm at the McCall Center on Wyoming. The El Paso Teachers' Association is also holding their endorsement meeting tonight but that is only open to membership, however they have worked with the Democratic Party to ensure that candidates can attend both events this evening. Once again, the event will be recorded for rebroadcast as a podcast. Party officials indicate that most candidates have confirmed their attendance.

Ah, just when I thought that all the drama was gone from Democratic Party functions...it came roaring back last night at the Eastside Democrats meeting. City Rep Henry Rivera was updating the members on the Eastside Master Plan. The floor was opened up for questions. It didn't go well. And that is when it all turned into a desmadre. Frankly the Party auxiliaries are all getting along just fine now. But leave it to Hurricane Dora to screw it all up. Dora likes to take pictures of people. I think in her mind that it is somehow intimidating to other people. She was taking pics of City Rep Lily Limón eating dinner during the meeting. I know, its silly, but if you know Dora personally, you know she really likes doing stupid stuff like that. Eventually Former City Representative Eddie Holguin asked a question about the discrepancy of funds between the westside and the valley in the Eastside Master Plan. Pretty simple question. Rivera gave an answer that most of the crowd kind of thought ...

You'll get a chance to kick the tires of the candidates for EPISD at a forum that is being hosted by the El Paso County Democratic Party and moderated by State Board of Education Member District 1 Georgina Perez this Thursday, March 7th. This is likely to be the biggest forum both because it will likely have the most candidates participating in it and will likely have the most attendees. Though the Democratic Party is hosting the forum, it is a non-partisan race and the questions will be obviously centered around education, not party platform issues. The questions are being formulated by a cross-section of community, policy, and education professionals. I don't have information on the format, but having an education policy expert who runs a tight ship like Perez moderating the forum means that the questions will be substantive and there's not going to be any craziness that happens. No one that has endorsed or supported a candidate publicly or privately is participating in t...

I get asked a few times a week about the vacancy in Commissioner Vince Perez's office and when its going to get filled. The vacancy opened several months ago when one of his staffers was offered a department head position. I can finally pass on that the position has been filled. Since then Perez has had a pretty exhaustive search that included opening and closing the position each a couple of times, administering tests, etc. Seriously, the hiring process was longer than the fist season of American Idol. So here is the person he selected. I don't know the person and don't know much about him other than what is in this press release, but his résumé is pretty impressive and it took Perez a long time to settle on someone who appears to have a pretty broad skill set. Here's the press release: El PASO, TX– El Paso County Commissioner Vince Perez has selected Joaquin Rodriguez, a native El Pasoan, to serve as Senior Policy Advisor after an extensive search. Rodriguez previousl...

Okay you know Ol' LionStar is scraping the bottom of the barrel when he's writing about community college board races, but hey its a slow election season. Don't worry, we'll get back to more of the fun stuff like that lengua larga Carlos Sierra who is running Mickey Loweree's race in due time...and trust me, that is going to be hilarious. But hey speaking of Republicans, back to the EPCC races... There are three races up for grabs in the the least consequential elected body in the county. There's a reason that you didn't even know there was a community college board until I wrote this post. I had to actually look up who was the trustee that represents me and I'm the Mutha Fuckin' LionStar! Turns out its Bonnie Najera - which is cool because she's a good patriotic American, which is to say she's a Redskins fan, so I therefore think she's a badass. Anywho, there's the seat to replace State Representative Art Fierro, the seat that was va...

Nico Dominguez is one of my favorite characters that occasionally runs for office, right up there with Ben Mendoza. You know, ridiculous candidates that have no business being elected to anything but simply won't get it through their heads no matter how many times voters rejected them. He just doesn't get it. Thus the title of this post. But I actually think he knows exactly what he is doing this time and he just doesn't give a damn about rules - yet another reason no one should ever vote for the guy. His campaign signs blatantly violate campaign rules. You can't use the logo of the political subdivision you are running for. Everyone knows that. If he doesn't, he's too stupid to hold office. Or he knew, and someone that willing to violate rules shouldn't be in office. Here's a look at the sign: The funny thing about this pendejada is that its an EXPENSIVE move. He's going to get in trouble for using the logo. Does this dumbass not realize he's ru...

Josh Carter, who recently added Guerra to his last name, is a candidate for the Montwood feeder pattern on Socorro ISD. Now full disclosure, I seriously hate the incumbent Hector Gonzalez. He’s a self-hating racist, homophobe, anti-immigrant Republican extremist.  But as bad as Gonzalez is for the district, Carter is worse.  Let me explain why.  At least with Gonzalez, you know what you’re getting.  Carter drives me nuts, so this is gonna take awhile so be patient.  Walk with me… Josh Carter was part of a mentorship program that is part of an initiative of the office of State Board of Education District 1 Member Georgina Perez. The program is an initiative that is purposely not meant for the all-star students in the top ten in their class. Those kids are gonna be fine and will have no trouble getting into good schools for college.  Perez’s program is geared toward that “C” student, who has huge potential but is probably dealing with a range of barriers to s...