El Paso Politics

Sorry, been a little busy and haven't had a chance to blog much, but if you haven't seen it yet - go to Javier Aaron Paz's Facebook page and watch him go full-on late-40's-suburban-white-Soccer-mom-swing-bob-bleach-blonde-Karen at the Carolina Center the other day when I was putting up a couple of signs.  Seriously, it is some funny shit. He is huffing and puffing, stomping and pretty close to crying. He was so angry his hands were shaking.  He pulls his phone out to record everything and everyone. He think it intimidates people. Its the classic weapon of choice for Karen's across the land when they are bothered by even the most basic things.  Its even a meme.  So to give you the thumbnail of it all, I was putting up a couple of signs at Carolina the other day and Iliana Holguin has rented a mobile advertising truck with a big picture of her face and logo on it and parked it there.  The signs I have are ridiculously heavy because of El Paso winds. I was just of...

There's a video floating around on Facebook right now about showing Judge Laura Strathmann removing a sign of her opponent from a property.  Maybe its because I'm used to far worse things happening with signs in the Lower Valley in basically every campaign, even more so in this campaign season, that it is just not a big deal to me.  Except for one thing... It was totally a set up. I mean how dumb do you have to be to not see that.  Turns out there's a couple versions of that video floating around - one that actually turned down the audio and swapped it out for more dramatic audio.  I have the original video that was posted and my own question is - how much of this clearly planned set-up did Marlene Gonzalez know about? Is the guy following her around getting paid to do that, or is it just some weird obsession? Seriously, that campaign is crazy town so its a legit question - is he being paid or just following around a judge for the weird fun of it? Also...uh...what th...

It looks like there is now the political courage in El Paso to change the name of a school named after a treasonous confederate general that had far more Americans killed than Osama Bin Ladin.  Long over due, but EPISD is got it done - and its something pushed by a half-Latino, half-Palestinian trustee.  Gotta love El Paso.  But we still have a road bearing Robert E. Lee's name - in a community famous for having the first all-African American basketball team win a national championship.  Obviously renaming a street is normally a more difficult and more complicated affair than changing the name of a school. But in this case, its really not that difficult at all. Or is it? You see, a few years ago - that was the bullshit City Rep Cassandra Hernandez was trying to sell people.  There was an effort a few years ago to change Robert E. Lee to another name - Dolores Huerta. The only reason it wasn't done is because City Rep Cassandra Hernandez simply didn't have the po...

Judicial candidate Marlene Gonzalez is apparently trying to use the legal system to silence criticism. Over the weekend Gonzalez sent out an email to people indicating that she has had to "hire counsel to represent me and take all available legal and professional action against her to set the record straight..." and later in the same email says "To that end, in recent days, I have filed... a “Petition Requesting Deposition to Investigate Potential Claims or Lawsuit” to explore the possibility of a lawsuit... for defamation." In other words, she can't figure out what to sue for, but wants to sue for something - and she wants a court to help her figure it out.  Gonzalez is upset about some email that was sent to precinct chairs and other people about her campaign or campaign supporters allegedly setting up a facebook page that is pretty nasty toward her opponent Judge Laura Strathmann. That Facebook page makes some pretty serious allegations about Strathmann'...

The fallout against local elected officials in the wake of the murder by cop of George Floyd, a local Twitter user named Gracielita (@GBinEP on twitter) compiled a list of local elected officials and candidates that have received political money since 2018 from law enforcement organizations . I am unsure if they contributed to federal candidates and the spreadsheet doesn't indicate if they have or haven't. According to the user's totals, El Paso County Democratic Party Chair and candidate for County Commissioner Iliana Holguin received about 50% more than the next nearest recipient - although that amount is only up to the last 8 day report of the primary election. Holguin is in a run-off election and has likely received even more funding. She is far and away the largest recipient of money from the law enforcement unions. Thats the group that typically finances the defense funds of officers on the very rare occasions that they are actually charged with wrong-doing. They stan...

A friend of mine that is supporting Iliana Holguin posted on his page recently that she “will put respect and integrity back into that District and El Paso County”. On her campaign material she claims “trusted leadership”. The facts say otherwise -particularly over the last few days.  It’s hard to say you’re trusted leadership when your family business received funds from the Democratic Party while you are the Chair of the Party.  Its even harder to make that claim when - for the second time - you failed to uphold the values of the Party you are the Chairwoman of.  Constable Angie Sommers is up to the same thing she did last year at this time - only this time she’s defending the cop that murdered George Floyd. In fact, she is quite possibly the ONLY law enforcement official - or law enforcement professional for that matter - that I have seen defend the cop.  And it smacks of racism.  Sommers is undergoing a lot of heat because of her controversial statements tha...

Its a hard video to watch, but George Floyd begged and pleaded with an agent of the government - who is charged with protecting life and property - to let him breath. The cop kneeled on his neck casually, with his hands in his pockets. Like he was waiting for the city bus casually. And several other officers sat there and watched it all happen. Not a single one of them did anything to stop the officer. Its murder by cop - and the other officers are accessories. How many stories have we seen of the black man, in custody, killed by a cop now? I've lost track. Seriously, its that many. Understandably, the riots started shortly thereafter. And now middle America and Trump supporters are wagging their fingers about how wrong the looting and rioting are. Equating loss of property or a business to loss of human life is not only stupid beyond words - but its certainly not a "pro-life" stance by any stretch.  The death at the hands of a police officer, a person in a position of pu...