El Paso Politics

I feel like a broken record writing a similar post almost every election cycle, but at some point candidates need to get it through their thick skulls. Social media kills campaigns.  The last primary election is probably the most egregious example of how social media posts tank a campaign. One judicial candidate had pics on social media with Chapo Guzman's wife that lead to the revelation that she was briefly involved in a case involving the cartel king. Another candidate had posted a tik-tok video that many in El Paso's legal field led to her departure from an appointed bench position.  And there are probably another 50 examples of stupid things candidates do on social media.  The best - I mean absolute best you can hope for is for your social media to NOT be a problem.  You can do a lot with the internet these days - shop, work from home, gaming, education, get your favorite food or adult beverage delivered or hail a ride somewhere.  But it can't help you win ...

In a very controversial session of El Paso City Council recently, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser cast the deciding vote against an effort to de-prioritize the investigations of women having abortions.  Cutting through all the BS - Leeser voted with the Republicans.  This is pretty ironic considering his political consulting firm, now re-branded to "Politico Consulting" that now includes Martin Paredes, was former city reps Eddie Holguin and Lily Limón, both prominent members of the El Paso County Democratic Party. The duo run the Paso Del Norte chapter of the Tejano Democrats.  A woman's right to choose is a core plank in the Democratic Party Platform. For the most part, the El Paso County Democratic Party stays out of non-partisan races. But when Leeser was running for a second term for mayor, Holguin and Limón went around the local party - who had specifically voted to not endorse in the non-partisan race (primarily because both candidates had Republican voting records) ...

Photo Credit: El Paso Matters By now you all have seen the news coverage over the last few days regarding District Attorney Yvonne Rosales and the Walmart Shooter case.  If you haven't, the short of it is that the presiding judge in the state court is Judge Sam Medrano and he basically publicly reprimanded the District Attorney for risking the ability to take the shooter to trial because of her media statements calling for a trial next year .  The judge questioned how her office would be ready when they hadn't, to the date of the hearing, filed on single document with the Court on the matter. He issued a gag order, preventing Rosales for repeating her mistake again.  So I'm gonna rip the band aide off here and just speak truth to power here for a moment if I may.  If you don't regret voting for Rosales by now, there is a problem.  During the primary I tried to warn you all. I warned you that Rosales had basically zero trial experience and someone who ran a small...

City Council races are going to be the main event in the November election since pretty much all the state and county races are over-with at the end of the primary election cycle.  I mean Beto is going to be the big draw, Escobar is going to trounce Irene Armendariz-Jackson, and Sergio Coronado is likely going to win the Commissioner's race.  So the competitive races are going to be the city council races. Although competitive is a relative term. The District 5 and District 6 races will be competitive. District 1 seems to have only one candidate right now, Analisa Cordova Silverstein. I haven't really looked into her much or kicked the tires, but I got some weird text messages from someone who is a supporter but is super secretive and annoying so I blocked the number after repeated attempts to find out who the person was. I now know who he is.   District 6 District 6 race has three candidates so far, incumbent City Rep Claudia Rodriguez who is a hard-core Trump supporter,...

I've had a few people hit me up over the weekend about Eddie Holguin and Lily Limón starting another political consulting firm, this time with fake "journalist" Martin Paredes.  There are two important takeaways from this.  One, Paredes is now admitting what I have been saying for a long time. He's not now, nor has ever been, an independent journalist. He's always been a hack for one interest or another. Say what you want about me, I don't claim to be a news site or unbiased. But Paredes used to lay it on real thick and had a long track record of being super biased.  And he's always worked with Lily and Eddie. Thats how you know who their candidates are - because Paredes attacks their opponents.  And two - he's always worked with them. He's just now no longer denying it. And the real reason this is happening is because they are trying their hardest to rebrand from the Sun Circle desmadre. They blew a bunch of races this election cycle and they thin...

A source at the City of El Paso leaked a draft of a press release from City Rep Peter Svarzbein announcing a complaint he's filing against El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser alleging Leeser told him to "shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you" before shortly there after "squaring up" to Svarzbein.  Click this link to read the entire complaint  and draft press release.  The press release indicates that the altercation occurred earlier this year but Svarzbein decided initially not to file the complaint, however following another heated meeting Svarzbein appears to have decided to go ahead and file.  This isn't the first time Mayor Leeser has been involved in a story alleging physical violence. As you recall during Mayor Leeser's first term there was an alleged altercation between Leeser and an octogenarian spouse of a former city representative at Thyme Matters on the Westside.  El Paso Matters broke this story and indicates that City Rep Isabel Salcido may ha...

There's a rumor floating around the GOP circles that Republican Congressional Sacrificial Lamb Candidate Irene Armendariz-Jackson took money from Planned Parenthood - which would be a major problem for her.  Well only a main problem in the sense that what little votes she's going to get would be further reduced because the Republican "base" (more like a stump in El Paso) would not be pleased.  As much as I'd like to let this rumor continue, or hell better yet, throw gas on it - I need to clear it up.  Even though Republicans never let facts get in their way - the truth is that rumor got started by someone who is stupid.  It started because someone at some point over the last couple of years saw a finance report from Planned Parenthood - which they are required to complete regularly. The report has a portion that itemizes the campaigns that they have spent money on.  The problem is that its money that they spent on a campaign - in support of - or opposition to....